Using Generics in completionHandler - ios

Question

I have a simple app, that communicates with server via TCP Socket using custom protocol. I want to achieve HTTP-like response-request behaviour, abstracting from socket layer.
So I have simple protocol:
protocol ResponseType {
init(with frame: SocketMessage)
}
And some of examples:
struct MessageAck: ResponseType {
var messageId: String
init(with frame: SocketMessage) {
messageId = frame.messageId
}
}
I created simple protocol for sending requests:
protocol APIClient {
func send<T: ResponseType>(request: SocketAPIRequest, completion: ((Result<T>) -> Void)?)
}
enum SocketAPIRequest {
case textMessage(messageId: String, ...)
...
}
And finally:
enum Result<T> {
case success(T)
case failure(Error)
}
class SocketAPIClient: APIClient {
typealias MessageId = String
private var callbacks = [Receipt: ((Result<ResponseType>) -> Void)]()
...
func send<T>(request: SocketAPIRequest, completion: ((Result<T>) -> Void)?) where T : ResponseType {
....
callbacks[stompFrame.receiptId] = completion
....
}
}
So, when I want to store callback for each request, to call it after answer will be received, I got such error:
Cannot assign value of type '((Result<T>) -> Void)?' to type '((Result<ResponseType>) -> Void)?'
I guess the problem with mixing Type's and objects, or maybe something else.

Answer 1

Swift generics are not covariant (with special hard-coded exceptions for Array which involve copying the elements). That means that Result<Apple> is not a subtype of Result<Fruit>. See Swift Generics & Upcasting for examples of why.
In your case, what would prevent you from passing a Result<MessageBody> to a callback that expected a Result<MessageAck>? For example:
for callback in callbacks {
callback(result)
}
How could you know this was legal at compile time for any given type of result?
EDIT (BETTER ANSWER):
You can hide the type inside a closure to get what you want. Try this:
class SocketAPIClient: APIClient {
typealias MessageId = String
private var callbacks = [Receipt: ((Result<SocketMessage>) -> Void)]() // <--- Change
func send<T>(request: SocketAPIRequest, completion: ((Result<T>) -> Void)?) where T : ResponseType {
// Store the closure we don't understand inside a closure we do
callbacks[stompFrame.receiptId] = { result in
switch result {
case .success(let message):
completion?(.success(T.init(with: message)))
case .failure(let error):
completion?(.failure(error))
}
}
}
}
Now, instead of trying to hold T directly in callbacks, it's held in each individual closure, hidden from the rest of the class, and T never escapes this function. When you get to wherever you call callback in your code, just pass it the Result<SocketMessage> that I assume you already have somewhere.
OLD ANSWER:
The simplest solution to your problem is to have the callback always pass a Result<Data> and remove T entirely:
protocol APIClient {
func send(request: SocketAPIRequest, completion: ((Result<Data>) -> Void)?)
}
Then leave it to the MessageAck (in the completion handler) to deserialize itself from the raw data.
There are other ways to achieve all this with type erasers, but they're much more complex and sometimes very fiddly.

Answer 2

Have you tried the following signature
func send<T:ResponseType>(request: SocketAPIRequest, completion: ((Result<T>) -> Void)?){ ... }
and still getting error?
Edit 1:
or probably you should try something like this
protocol APIClient {
associatedtype T
func send(request: SocketAPIRequest, completion: ((Result<T>) -> Void)?)
}
and,
class SocketAPIClient: APIClient {
typealias MessageId = String
typealias T = ResponseType
private var callbacks = [Receipt: ((Result<ResponseType>) -> Void)]()
...
func send(request: SocketAPIRequest, completion: ((Result<T>) -> Void)?) {
....
callbacks[stompFrame.receiptId] = completion
....
}
}