iOS: Subclass singleton in swift - ios

I have a framework where I have a singleton class, let's say Singleton. This class is used by other classes in the framework.
In the app project I want to subclass this singleton class, e.g. AppSingleton: Singleton. Is it possible? What is the right solution?

I provide a solution but it may be a little hacky.
Class A {
open class var shared: A {
return A.privateShared
}
private static let privateShared = A()
}
Class B {
open class var shared: B {
return A.privateShared
}
private static let privateShared = B()
}
I must clarify, this ways isn't perfect since it actually create 2 instance! So, it will technically not a singleton any more.
However, you can override the class B's property or method to call A.shared method or property instead. You must know what you are doing and consider use the other way to fix the problem you want to solve.

Related

Subclass/Extend UIView so all other Views (UIImageView, UITextField ...) inherit upon creation

what is the suggested approach when I want to add a functionality to UIView so all views inside my app get those? As a matter of fact I need to add some stored properties too so an Extension is not possible. Since I need to deal with Textfields, ImageViews, Views (and who knows what else will come) I dont want to subclass every each of the too add that functionality, so the goal would be to make a subclass of UIView and all my controls (if its possible) get that functionality out of the box.
With an extension it would be easy, but as I said, I need to store some stuff too, so is this goal achievable with a subclass? Or what would be the right approach (maybe there is a third option)
Thanks
Why don't you define a protocol and provide default implementations in the protocol extension, then have UIView conform to that protocol? Here is an example:
protocol MyProto {
var someVar: Bool { get set }
func someFunc() -> Void
}
extension MyProto {
var someVar: Bool {
get {
// provide default implementation
return true
}
set {
}
}
func someFunc() -> Void {
// provide common implementation
}
}
extension UIView: MyProto {}
You can also use the where clause to constrain the default behaviour for a type.
extension MyProto where Self: UIControl {
var someVar: Bool {
get {
return isUserInteractionEnabled
}
set {
isUserInteractionEnabled = newValue
}
}
}
extension MyProto where Self: UITextField {
var someVar: Bool {
get {
return isFirstResponder
}
set {
newValue ? becomeFirstResponder() : resignFirstResponder()
}
}
}
TLDR; You can't do this and you will need to subclass each UI element that you want to introduce new properties to.
You can't do this (without access to the source code) as you would effectively be changing the class inheritance tree by injecting your own class between UIView and its subclasses.
Consider the implications if a language allowed this:
Class A defines a property, a
Class Binherits from Class A and defines a property b, which is fine because Class A does not have this property.
Class C inherits from Class B and has both a and b properties.
Now, what could happen if you could 'inject' Class A1 somehow 'below' Class A?
Class A1 could define a property, b, which is fine because Class A does not have this property
Class B now has a problem though, because its b clashes with the superclass b
Class C has a multiple-inheritance diamond-problem with property b
Of course, you only intend to add properties that don't clash (although you can't know this because you don't know of all possible subclass implementations) and don't need the subclasses to access your property, so the multiple inheritance
isn't an issue, but if such a feature were in a language, these potential issues would need to be addressed because you can't rely on everyone having the same intentions as you.

Why Can Singleton classes be used as regular classes

I was under the impression that the main reason for using singletons was to make sure that only one instance could be created in a program. I thought that the compiler wouldn't let you create instances of a singleton as if it would be a regular class.
In the following code I have a singleton where I'm creating multiple instances of it and it behaves as a regular class, but for some reason I was expecting an error.
What makes a singleton different than a regular class if it lets you create multiple instances?
// singleton class
class Car {
static let sharedCar = Car()
func run(){
print("Running")
}
}
// use
Car.sharedCar.run()
// other instances- I was expecting an error here
var jetta = Car()
jetta.run()
var cobalt = Car()
cobalt.run()
What am I missing here, can someone explain singletons?
I thought that the compiler wouldn't let you create instances of a singleton as if it would be a regular class.
There is no language feature called "singleton", it is an idiomatic pattern. If you leave your implementation of singleton open for instantiations from outside, there is nothing the compiler can do about that.
In the following code I have a singleton where I'm creating multiple instances of it and it behaves as a regular class, but for some reason I was expecting an error.
You should add a private init to make sure there are no external instantiations:
class Car {
static let sharedCar = Car()
func run(){
print("Running")
}
private init() {
}
}
Now you are the only one who can instantiate your class. Users of Car class outside of your code are forced to rely on sharedCar instance that you create for them.

Trouble mocking singleton for unit testing in Swift

Hello I am trying to mock one of the singletons I use to test that various view controllers actually call properly it's methods.
I have the singleton declared as such
public class ModelsManager {
static let sharedInstance = ModelsManager()
private init() {}
[...]
}
In the view controllers that use the singleton, it is set to a lazy computed property as such:
class MyViewController: UIViewController {
lazy var Models = {
return ModelsManager.sharedInstance
}()
[...]
}
I am trying to mock the ModelsManager singleton in my XCTestCase as such:
[...]
func testSomething() {
let vc = MyViewController(nibName: "MyView", bundle: nil)
var mockModelsManager = ModelsManagerMock.sharedInstance
vc.Models = mockModelsManager
[... do something that calls a function in ModelsManager...]
expect(mockModelsManager.flag) == true // Using Nimble here
}
class ModelsManagerMock: ModelsManager {
var flag = false
override func test() {
flag = true
}
}
In the expect() assertion I am getting Value of type 'ModelsManager' has no member 'flag'
What am I missing here?
EDIT
It appears that what I was missing was ModelsManagerMock.sharedInstance still returns IRModelsManager() from the superclass. Due to the fact that static can't be overwritten by subclasses, how do I get around this?
The correct solution must involve not subclassing your singleton. Creating a singleton with a private init method prohibits you from subclassing this method.
If the goal is to test the current functionality of the singleton, why do you want to add additional functionality to it? The key point of a singleton is that there should only ever be one. If you want to support more than one, you shouldn't make it a singleton, even if it's just for testing.

How to use multiple protocols in Swift with same protocol variables?

In swift I'm implementing two protocols, GADCustomEventInterstitial and GADCustomEventBanner.
Both of these protocols require a property called delegate. delegate is a different type in each protocol, and thus a conflict arises.
class ChartBoostAdapter : NSObject, GADCustomEventInterstitial, GADCustomEventBanner, ChartboostDelegate{
var delegate:GADCustomEventInterstitialDelegate?; // Name conflict
var delegate:GADCustomEventBannerDelegate?; // Name conflict
override init(){
}
...
}
They are libraries/frameworks it's not my definition
Then obviously you cannot make the same class adopt both protocols. But you don't really need to. Just separate this functionality into two different classes, as is evidently intended by the designer of these protocols. You are supposed to have one class that adopts GADCustomEventInterstitial and has its delegate, and another class that adopts GADCustomEventBanner and has its delegate. What reason do you have for trying to force these to be one and the same class? As in all things where you are using a framework, don't fight the framework, obey it.
It is actually possible, I just encountered same situation. I had two different but kind of related protocols. In some cases I needed both to be implemented by delegate and in other cases only one and I didn't want to have two properties eg... delegate1, delegate2.
What you need to do is create another combined protocol that inherits from both protocols:
protocol ChartBoostAdapterDelegate: GADCustomEventInterstitialDelegate, GADCustomEventBannerDelegate { }
class ChartBoostAdapter : NSObject, GADCustomEventInterstitial, GADCustomEventBanner, ChartboostDelegate {
weak var delegate: ChartBoostAdapterDelegate?
override init(){
}
...
}
The simple answer is that you can't.
Maybe one protocol depends on another, in which case you would use the dependent protocol for the type of your delegate.
Note that this can be solved using Mixins (possible since Swift 2.0) if you are in a Swift-only environment. It just cannot be solved as long as you need to have the code bridged to Obj-C, as this problem is unsolvable in Obj-C. Yet that can usually be solved by a wrapper class, which I will show later on.
Let's break this down to a minimalist example:
import Foundation
#objc
protocol ProtoA {
var identifier: String { get }
}
#objc
protocol ProtoB {
var identifier: UUID { get }
}
#objc
class ClassA: NSObject, ProtoA, ProtoB {
let identifier = "ID1"
let identifier = UUID()
}
The code above will fail as no two properties can have the same name. If I only declare identifier once and make it a String, compiler will complain that ClassA does not conform to ProtoB and vice verse.
But here is Swift-only code that actually does work:
import Foundation
protocol ProtoA {
var identifier: String { get }
}
protocol ProtoB {
var identifier: UUID { get }
}
class ClassA {
let stringIdentifier = "ID1"
let uuidIdentifier = UUID()
}
extension ProtoA where Self: ClassA {
var identifier: String {
return self.stringIdentifier
}
}
extension ProtoB where Self: ClassA {
var identifier: UUID {
return self.uuidIdentifier
}
}
extension ClassA: ProtoA, ProtoB { }
Of course, you cannot do that:
let test = ClassA()
print(test.identifier)
The compiler will say ambigous use of 'identifier', as it has no idea which identifier you want to access but you can do this:
let test = ClassA()
print((test as ProtoA).identifier)
print((test as ProtoB).identifier)
and the output will be
ID1
C3F7A09B-15C2-4FEE-9AFF-0425DF66B12A
as expected.
Now to expose a ClassA instance to Obj-C, you need to wrap it:
class ClassB: NSObject {
var stringIdentifier: String { return self.wrapped.stringIdentifier }
var uuidIdentifier: UUID { return self.wrapped.uuidIdentifier }
private let wrapped: ClassA
init ( _ wrapped: ClassA )
{
self.wrapped = wrapped
}
}
extension ClassA {
var asObjCObject: ClassB { return ClassB(self) }
}
If you put it directly into the class declaration of ClassA, you could even make it a stored property, that way you don't have to recreate it ever again but that complicates everything as then ClassB may only hold a weak reference to the wrapped object, otherwise you create a retain cycle and neither of both objects will ever be freed. It's better to cache it somewhere in your Obj-C code.
And to solve your issue, one would use a similar wrapper approach by building a master class and this master class hands out two wrapper class, one conforming to GADCustomEventInterstitial and one conforming to GADCustomEventBanner but these would not have any internal state or logic, they both use the master class as storage backend and pass on all requests to this class that implements all required logic.

Override var conforming to a protocol with a var conforming to a child of the overridden var protocol

This is my inheritance structure
Protocols
protocol BaseProtocol {
}
protocol ChildProtocol: BaseProtocol {
}
Classes
class BaseClass: NSObject {
var myVar: BaseProtocol!
}
class ChildClass: BaseClass {
override var myVar: ChildProtocol!
}
I'm receiving a compiler error:
Property 'myVar' with type 'ChildProtocol!' cannot override a property with type 'BaseProtocol!'
What is the best approach to achieve this?
UPDATE
I updated the question trying to implement the solution with generics but it does not work :( This is my code (now the real one, without examples)
Protocols
protocol TPLPileInteractorOutput {
}
protocol TPLAddInteractorOutput: TPLPileInteractorOutput {
func errorReceived(error: String)
}
Classes
class TPLPileInteractor<T: TPLPileInteractorOutput>: NSObject, TPLPileInteractorInput {
var output: T!
}
And my children
class TPLAddInteractor<T: TPLAddInteractorOutput>: TPLPileInteractor<TPLPileInteractorOutput>, TPLAddInteractorInput {
}
Well, inside my TPLAddInteractor I can't access self.output, it throws a compiler error, for example
'TPLPileInteractorOutput' does not have a member named 'errorReceived'
Besides that, when I create the instance of TPLAddInteractor
let addInteractor: TPLAddInteractor<TPLAddInteractorOutput> = TPLAddInteractor()
I receive this other error
Generic parameter 'T' cannot be bound to non-#objc protocol type 'TPLAddInteractorOutput'
Any thoughts?
#tskulbru is correct: it can't be done, and this has nothing to do with your protocols. Consider the example below, which also fails…this time with Cannot override with a stored property 'myVar':
class Foo {
}
class Goo: Foo {
}
class BaseClass: NSObject {
var myVar: Foo!
}
class ChildClass: BaseClass {
override var myVar: Foo!
}
To understand why, let's reexamine the docs:
Overriding Properties
You can override an inherited instance or class property to provide
your own custom getter and setter for that property, or to add
property observers to enable the overriding property to observe when
the underlying property value changes.
The implication is that if you are going to override a property, you must write your own getter/setter, or else you must add property observers. Simply replacing one variable type with another is not allowed.
Now for some rampant speculation: why is this the case? Well, consider on the one hand that Swift is intended to be optimized for speed. Having to do runtime type checks in order to determine whether your var is in fact a Foo or a Bar slows things down. Then consider that the language designers likely have a preference for composition over inheritance. If both of these are true, it's not surprising that you cannot override a property's type.
All that said, if you needed to get an equivalent behavior, #tskulbru's solution looks quite elegant, assuming you can get it to compile. :)
I don't think you can do that with protocols
The way i would solve the problem you are having is with the use of generics. This means that you essentially have the classes like this (Updated to a working example).
Protocols
protocol BaseProtocol {
func didSomething()
}
protocol ChildProtocol: BaseProtocol {
func didSomethingElse()
}
Classes
class BaseClass<T: BaseProtocol> {
var myProtocol: T?
func doCallBack() {
myProtocol?.didSomething()
}
}
class ChildClass<T: ChildProtocol> : BaseClass<T> {
override func doCallBack() {
super.doCallBack()
myProtocol?.didSomethingElse()
}
}
Implementation/Example use
class DoesSomethingClass : ChildProtocol {
func doSomething() {
var s = ChildClass<DoesSomethingClass>()
s.myProtocol = self
s.doCallBack()
}
func didSomething() {
println("doSomething()")
}
func didSomethingElse() {
println("doSomethingElse()")
}
}
let foo = DoesSomethingClass()
foo.doSomething()
Remember, you need a class which actually implements the protocol, and its THAT class you actually define as the generic type to the BaseClass/ChildClass. Since the code expects the type to be a type which conforms to the protocol.
There are two ways you can go with your code, depending what you want to achieve with your code (you didn't tell us).
The simple case: you just want to be able to assign an object that confirms to ChildProtocol to myVar.
Solution: don't override myVar. Just use it in ChildClass. You can do this by design of the language Swift. It is one of the basics of object oriented languages.
Second case: you not only want to enable assigning instances of ChildProtocol, you also want to disable to be able to assign instances of BaseProtocol.
If you want to do this, use the Generics solution, provided here in the answers section.
If you are unsure, the simple case is correct for you.
Gerd

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