I'm trying to store a generic Array in NSUserDefaults but I get the following error: Cannot convert value of type 'Array<T>' to expected argument type 'AnyObject?'.
How can I solve this problem?
public class PropertyStore {
private let userDefaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults()
public func loadSet<T>(key: String) -> Set<T>? {
guard let array = userDefaults.objectForKey(key) as? [T] else {
return nil
}
return Set<T>(array)
}
public func saveSet<T>(key: String, value: Set<T>) {
let array = Array(value)
userDefaults.setObject(array, forKey: key) // <- ERROR
}
}
Like #lucasD said, T needs to conform to NSCoding atleast. So the code looks like this.
public func saveSet<T: NSCoding>(key: String, value: Set<T>) {
let array = Array(value)
userDefaults.setObject(array, forKey: key)
}
However, this will not work for many reasons like:
public func loadSet<T: NSCoding>(key: String) -> Set<T>? {
guard let array = userDefaults.objectForKey(key) as? [T] else {
return nil
}
return Set<T>(array)
}
let defaults = PropertyStore()
defaults.saveSet("array", value: [1,2,3])
///defaults.loadSet<Int>("array") ===> Cannot explicitly specialize a function
///defaults.loadSet("array") ===> Cannot infer Type T
//let a: Set<Int>? = defaults.loadSet("array") ==> T cannot be inferred
In the case of loadSet type T cannot be inferred properly because we cannot specify it from outside, as far as i know. I would first try to return NSObject or Set<AnyObject> or Set<NSCoding> and then type cast it explicitly. Let me know if theres a better way though.
You can take a look at this SO post for more information on why a generics parameter cannot be specialised from outside. SO Generics specialization
You should define T as NSCoding conforming class. So when you're going to store the array, you are going to store an array of NSKeyedArchiver.archiveDataWithRootObject() results. Then, to return a Set<T> in the loadSet method, you should unarchive all the objects:
let storedData = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults. ...
return storedData.flatMap { return NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObjectWithData($0) }
Related
my question might be simple, but it got me puzzled a bit:
Imagine I have an array of different objects which all have a common parent class "MyClass".
var values = [MyClass]()
However they all have their specific subclass like for example "MyClassSubclass".
values.append(MyClassSubclass())
I now want to create a generic method returning me the first object inside this array which is of type MyClassSubclass. I would like to prevent casting the object, but instead have a generic method which takes the subclass object as T parameter and returns me the first occurrence of subclass T inside this array.
I thought of something like this (but surely that does not work):
func getFirst<T: MyClass>(_ ofType : T.Type) -> T?
I guess I'm just stuck and I don't know what to search for, so if someone could help me I would greatly appreciate it.
Edit Example based on the above values:
class MyClass {}
class MyClassSubclass : MyClass {}
class MyClassSubclass2 : MyClass{}
var values = [MyClass]()
values.append(MyClassSubclass())
values.append(MyClassSubclass2())
//Return the first class element appearing here as a subclass type
func getFirst<T>(_ ofType : T.Type) -> T?{}
Thanks
One approach is to iterate over the array and use optional binding
to check if an element is of the given type:
func getFirst<T: MyClass>(ofType: T.Type) -> T? {
for elem in values {
if let item = elem as? T {
return item
}
}
return nil
}
This can be simplified using for case with the as pattern:
func getFirst<T: MyClass>(ofType: T.Type) -> T? {
for case let item as T in values {
return item
}
return nil
}
Another approach is to use flatMap to find all items of the given
type and return the first one:
func getFirst<T: MyClass>(ofType: T.Type) -> T? {
return values.flatMap { $0 as? T }.first
}
If the array can be large and you want to avoid the creation of an
intermediate array then you can use lazy:
func getFirst<T: MyClass>(ofType: T.Type) -> T? {
return values.lazy.flatMap { $0 as? T }.first
}
As an array extension method this would be
extension Array {
func getFirst<T>(ofType: T.Type) -> T? {
return flatMap { $0 as? T }.first
}
}
If you'd like to use global function, which is not recommended, try this
func getFirst<T>(ofType: T.Type) -> T? where T: MyClass {
for value in values where value is T {
return value as? T
}
return nil
}
let first = getFirst(ofType: MyClassSubclass2.self)
The first answer should be better for Swift.
This feels a bit like abuse of generics, but here's an extension:
extension Array where Element == MyClass {
func getFirst<T>(_ ofType: T.Type) -> T? {
return self.first(where: { ofType == type(of: $0) }) as? T
}
}
The method can then be called as let first = values.getFirst(MyClassSubclass.self).
I'd personally prefer simply casting inline for clarity:
let first = values.first(where: { type(of: $0) == MyClassSubclass.self }) as? MyClassSubclass
I have a Protocol called Composite.
This protocol has an array composites: [Composite]
I also have a generic subclass GenericSubclass<T>: Composite
When iterating over the array the best I can come up with looks like this:
for item in composites {
if let item = item as? GenericSubclass<A> {
let sc = SomeOtherClass<A>
} else if let item = item as? GenericSubclass<B> {
let sc = SomeOtherClass<B>
} //and so on...
}
Is there any way to get a hold of GenericSubclass without specifying the Generic? In my use case there is absolutely no need for me to know about the T. I just have to instantiate another class with the same generic type.
Any help is much appreciated.
It's not clear what you're trying to accomplish with the "generic" (pun intended) class names you've chosen. I don't think there's a way to directly accomplish what you want. I.e. you can't just leave it as a generic T because the compiler needs some way to determine what T will be in use at runtime.
However, one way to solve the issue is to hoist the API into the Composite protocol:
protocol Composite {
var composites: [Composite] { get set }
func otherClass() -> OtherProtocol
}
protocol OtherProtocol { }
class GenericSubclass<T>: Composite {
var composites: [Composite] = []
func otherClass() -> OtherProtocol {
return SomeOtherClass<T>()
}
}
class SomeOtherClass<T>: OtherProtocol {}
So now when you implement your loop, you can rely on the fact that since each element is a Composite, you know it must provide an instance of OtherProtocol via the otherClass() method:
var c = GenericSubclass<Int>()
c.composites = [GenericSubclass<Double>(), GenericSubclass<Int>(), GenericSubclass<Character>()]
for item in c.composites {
let sc = item.otherClass()
print(sc)
}
Alternatively, if only GenericSubclass should vend an OtherProtocol, you can make the return type Optional and define an extension for all the other implementations of Composite:
protocol Composite {
var composites: [Composite] { get set }
func optionalClass() -> OtherProtocol?
}
extension Composite {
func optionalClass() -> OtherProtocol? {
return nil
}
}
I did some experiment on this in the playground and i came up with this
protocol Composite {
var composites: [Composite] { get set }
}
class GenericSubclass<T>: Composite {
var composites: [Composite] = []
}
let subclass = GenericSubclass<String>()
for item in subclass.composites {
let className = String(describing: type(of: item))
let aClassType = NSClassFromString(className) as! NSObject.Type
let instance = aClassType.init() // we create a new object
print(instance) //Output: GenericSubclass<String>
}
Hope this will help someone.
I think it's not possible to do that in array.
While you creat some different GenericSubclass<T> then put it in array , you will lose <T> no matter the composites is [Composite] or [Any].
// this line won't compile
let array = [GenericSubclass<Int>(),GenericSubclass<Double>()]
//error: heterogenous collection literal could only be inferred to '[Any]'; add explicit type annotation if this is intentional
You want donging something like this func below, the param should be GenericSubclass<T> to compile success
func genericFunc<T>(param:GenericSubclass<T>) {
let sc = SomeOtherClass<T>()
print(sc)
}
Anyway you can implement it with member var for the instance like the code below:
class Subclass {
var type : Any
init(type : Any) {
self.type = type
}
}
class SomeOtherClass : CustomDebugStringConvertible{
var type : Any
init(type : Any) {
self.type = type
}
var debugDescription: String{
return String(describing: type.self)
}
}
let array : [Subclass] = [Subclass(type : Int.self),Subclass(type : Double.self),Subclass(type : String.self)]
let scArray = array.flatMap {SomeOtherClass(type:$0.type.self)}
print(scArray) // prints [Int, Double, String]
You need to add one method to protocol which creates new item of Type supported this protocol. So now you can use enums, structs and classes without any knowledge of creating object of specific type.
You can play in playground with the following code:
import UIKit
//This is your protocol
protocol MyAwesomeProtocol {
//this methods leaves implementaion detailes
//to concrete type
func createNewObject()->MyAwesomeProtocol
}
//Just create empty string
extension String: MyAwesomeProtocol {
func createNewObject() -> MyAwesomeProtocol {
return String()
}
}
//create Enum with default value
extension UIControlState: MyAwesomeProtocol {
func createNewObject() -> MyAwesomeProtocol {
return UIControlState.normal
}
}
//create viewController of any type
extension UIViewController: MyAwesomeProtocol {
func createNewObject() -> MyAwesomeProtocol {
return type(of:self).init()
}
}
//This is test function
//it creates array of newly created items and prints them out
//in terminal
func doSomeCoolStuffWith(items:[MyAwesomeProtocol]){
var newItems = [MyAwesomeProtocol]()
for anItem in items {
let newOne = anItem.createNewObject()
newItems.append(newOne)
}
print("created new ones:\n\(newItems)\nfrom old ones:\n\(items)\n")
}
doSomeCoolStuffWith(items: [UIControlState.focused,UIControlState.disabled])
doSomeCoolStuffWith(items: [UISplitViewController(),UINavigationController(),UICollectionViewController()])
doSomeCoolStuffWith(items: ["I","love","swift"])
This will produce the following result:
created new ones:
[__C.UIControlState(rawValue: 0), __C.UIControlState(rawValue: 0)]
from old ones:
[__C.UIControlState(rawValue: 8), __C.UIControlState(rawValue: 2)]
created new ones:
[<UISplitViewController: 0x7fa8ee7092d0>, <UINavigationController: 0x7fa8f0044a00>, <UICollectionViewController: 0x7fa8ee705f30>]
from old ones:
[<UISplitViewController: 0x7fa8ee7011e0>, <UINavigationController: 0x7fa8f004e600>, <UICollectionViewController: 0x7fa8ee708fb0>]
created new ones:
["", "", ""]
from old ones:
["I", "love", "swift"]
I have a protocol, 'VariousThings', and two classes which conform to it, 'ThingType1' and 'ThingType2'. I've put some objects of these two types of classes into an array containing 'VariousThings'. I now want to just take all the objects out of that array that are of class type 'ThingType2' for example. How can I do this?
Here's what I have so far:
protocol VariousThings: class {
}
class ThingType1: VariousThings {
}
class ThingType2: VariousThings {
}
let array: [VariousThings] = [ThingType1(), ThingType2()]
func itemsMatchingType(type: VariousThings.Type) -> [VariousThings] {
return array.filter { variousThing in
return (variousThing.self === type)
}
}
let justThingTypes1: [VariousThings] = itemsMatchingType(ThingType1)
I would use compactMap instead of filter here in order to give you better type safety. You can use a conditional downcast to filter out the elements you want and generics in order to preserve type information. This takes advantage of the fact that compactMap can filter out nil results from the transform function.
let array: [VariousThings] = [ThingType1(), ThingType2()]
func itemsMatchingType<T : VariousThings>(_ type: T.Type) -> [T] {
return array.compactMap { $0 as? T }
}
let justThingTypes1 = itemsMatchingType(ThingType1.self) // of type [ThingType1]
Now the array you get out of your itemsMatchingType function is [ThingType1] if you pass in ThingType1, rather than simply [VariousThings]. That way you don't have to deal with ugly forced downcasts later down the line.
You could use a generic
func itemsMatchingType<T : VariousThings>(type: T.Type) -> [VariousThings] {
return array.filter { $0 is T }
}
You can use the filter for this:
let justThingsTypes1 = array.filter { $0 is ThingType1 }
let justThingTypes1: [VariousThings] = array.filter {
variousThing in
return Mirror(reflecting: variousThing).subjectType == ThingType1.self
}
How can a swift array be extended to access members of a particular type?
This is relevant if an array contains instances of multiple classes which inherit from the same superclass. Ideally it would enforce type checking appropriately.
Some thoughts and things that don't quite work:
Using the filter(_:) method works fine, but does enforce type safety. For example:
protocol MyProtocol { }
struct TypeA: MyProtocol { }
struct TypeB: MyProtocol { }
let myStructs:[MyProtocol] = [ TypeA(), TypeA(), TypeB() ]
let filteredArray = myStructs.filter({ $0 is TypeA })
the filteredArray contains the correct values, but the type remains [MyProtocol] not [TypeA]. I would expect replacing the last with let filteredArray = myStructs.filter({ $0 is TypeA }) as! [TypeA] would resolve that, but the project fails with EXEC_BAD_INSTRUCTION which I do not understand. Perhaps type casting arrays is not possible?
Ideally this behavior could be wrapped up in an array extension. The following doesn't compile:
extension Array {
func objectsOfType<T:Element>(type:T.Type) -> [T] {
return filter { $0 is T } as! [T]
}
}
Here there seem to be at least two problems: the type constraint T:Element doesn't seem to work. I'm not sure what the correct way to add a constraint based on a generic type. My intention here is to say T is a subtype of Element. Additionally there are compile time errors on line 3, but this could just be the same error propagating.
SequenceType has a flatMap() method which acts as an "optional filter":
extension SequenceType {
/// Return an `Array` containing the non-nil results of mapping
/// `transform` over `self`.
///
/// - Complexity: O(*M* + *N*), where *M* is the length of `self`
/// and *N* is the length of the result.
#warn_unused_result
#rethrows public func flatMap<T>(#noescape transform: (Self.Generator.Element) throws -> T?) rethrows -> [T]
}
Combined with matt's suggestion to use as? instead of is you
can use it as
let myStructs:[MyProtocol] = [ TypeA(), TypeA(), TypeB() ]
let filteredArray = myStructs.flatMap { $0 as? TypeA }
Now the type of filteredArray is inferred as [TypeA].
As an extension method it would be
extension Array {
func objectsOfType<T>(type:T.Type) -> [T] {
return flatMap { $0 as? T }
}
}
let filteredArray = myStructs.objectsOfType(TypeA.self)
Note: For Swift >= 4.1, replace flatMap by compactMap.
Instead of testing (with is) how about casting (with as)?
let myStructs:[MyProtocol] = [ TypeA(), TypeA(), TypeB() ]
var filteredArray = [TypeA]()
for case let t as TypeA in myStructs {filteredArray.append(t)}
Casting arrays does not work in Swift. This is because arrays in Swift use generics, just like you can't cast a custom class, where only the type T changes. (class Custom<T>, Custom<Int>() as! Custom<String>).
What you can do is create an extension method to Array, where you define a method like this:
extension Array {
func cast<TOut>() -> [TOut] {
var result: [TOut] = []
for item in self where item is TOut {
result.append(item as! TOut)
}
return result
}
}
I think the canonical FP answer would be to use filter, as you are, in combination with map:
let filteredArray = myStructs.filter({ $0 is TypeA }).map({ $0 as! TypeA })
alternatively, you can use reduce:
let filtered2 = myStructs.reduce([TypeA]()) {
if let item = $1 as? TypeA {
return $0 + [item]
} else {
return $0
}
}
or, somewhat less FP friendly since it mutates an array:
let filtered3 = myStructs.reduce([TypeA]()) { ( var array, value ) in
if let item = value as? TypeA {
array.append(item)
}
return array
}
which can actually be shortened into the once again FP friendly flatMap:
let filtered4 = myStructs.flatMap { $0 as? TypeA }
And put it in an extension as:
extension Array {
func elementsWithType<T>() -> [T] {
return flatMap { $0 as? T }
}
}
let filtered5 : [TypeA] = myStructs.elementsWithType()
I'm a newbie in Swift and I found on the internet a utiliy class to handle errors when I use Objective C classes from swift. Here the utility class, which is a enum:
enum Result<A> {
case Success(Box<A>), Error(NSError)
static func success(v: A) -> Result<A> {
return .Success(Box(v))
}
static func error(e: NSError) -> Result<A> {
return .Error(e)
}
}
final class Box<A> {
let value: A
init(_ value: A) {
self.value = value
}
}
I have a function that returns an Array of strings of type result
func getFiles(account:DBAccount, curFolder:String) ->Result<[String]>{ ...}
Now how can I access the results in an easy way. A println on the console gives me (Enum Value).
I tried to get the results using the following:
let dicList = getFiles(account, currFolder)
switch dicList {
case let .Success(aBox): results = aBox.value
case let .Error(err): results = []
}
now the array results contains the data, but is there no easier way to access the results.
thanks
arnold