Returning a processed String of an Enum on Swift iOS - ios

Question

I was just creating a localization module for my project, and as I'm new to Swift I had an idea of if the following was possible.
I have an enum like this:
enum Localizations : String
{
case StringId1 = "string_to_translate_1"
case StringId2 = "string_to_translate_2"
case StringId3 = "string_to_translate_3"
var localized : String {
return NSLocalizedString(self.rawValue, tableName: nil, bundle: NSBundle.mainBundle(), value: "", comment: "")
}
}
With this enum I can have the localized string with this command:
let myString = Localizations.StringId1.localized
But when you have to put lots of strings the .localized it's like redundant as you already have Localizations before.
So what I'm looking for is if I can do something like this:
let myString = Localizations.StringId1
And myString would be something like "Press Button to Continue"
I have managed to do something working, but not in all cases.
Found in this link: https://appventure.me/2015/10/17/advanced-practical-enum-examples/
On the 'Advanced Enum Usage Protocols' Step it suggests a modification like the following would get what I want:
protocol CustomStringConvertible {
var description: String { get }
}
enum Trade: CustomStringConvertible {
case Buy, Sell
var description: String {
switch self {
case Buy: return "We're buying something"
case Sell: return "We're selling something"
}
}
}
let action = Trade.Buy
print("this action is \(action)")
// prints: this action is We're buying something
My modifications are theses ones:
protocol CustomEnumString {
var localized: String { get }
}
enum Localizations : String, CustomEnumString
{
case StringId1 = "string_to_translate_1"
case StringId2 = "string_to_translate_2"
case StringId3 = "string_to_translate_3"
var localized : String {
return NSLocalizedString(self.rawValue, tableName: nil, bundle: NSBundle.mainBundle(), value: "", comment: "")
}
}
But when printing it if shows me the enum literal, and when passing to a function the compilers tells me it's invalid:
let localizedString = Localizations.StringId1
print("localization: \(localizedString)")
// prints: "localization: StringId1"
// note: AlertStrings is an struct with two strings
// this fails to compile saying that cannot convert value of type 'Localizations' to expected argument type 'String'
let alertStrings = AlertStrings(title: Localizations.StringId1, message: Localizations.StringId2)
// this one works, but it's not the purpose I had in mind
let alertStrings = AlertStrings(title: Localizations.StringId1.localized, message: Localizations.StringId2.localized)
So... in short, I would like to be able to do this:
let localizedString = Localizations.StringId1
print("localization: \(localizedString)")
// prints: "localization: Press Button To Continue"
let alertStrings = AlertStrings(title: Localizations.StringId1, message: Localizations.StringId2)
But in the enum I only would like to specify literals once, not first on case's and later inside a switch.
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

phelgo, A member of NSBarcelona just told me about this, and works perfectly!
enum Localizations {
static let StringId1 = NSLocalizedString("string_to_translate_1", comment: "")
}
let myString = Localizations.StringId1
It may look unfamiliar to have an enum with no cases, but we get to
keep all of its safety (and code completion), while still preventing
Localizations from being instantiated by mistake (if it was a
struct)

Answer 2

Conform your enum to CustomStringConvertible and rename localized to description:
enum Localizations: String, CustomStringConvertible
{
case StringId1 = "string_to_translate_1"
case StringId2 = "string_to_translate_2"
case StringId3 = "string_to_translate_3"
var description : String {
return NSLocalizedString(self.rawValue, tableName: nil, bundle: NSBundle.mainBundle(), value: "", comment: "")
}
}
let alertStrings = AlertStrings(title: Localizations.StringId1.description, message: Localizations.StringId2.description)