Is there any way to use storyboard and SwiftUI in same iOS Xcode project?
XcodeStoryboardSwiftuiXcode Problem Overview
As Swift 5 introduces the SwiftUI framework for creating the views, but we are currently using the storyboard for UI design.
So I just wanted to know the procedure to use Storyboard and Swift UI in same iOS Single View Application.
Xcode Solutions
Solution 1 - Xcode
I just started to look at the SwiftUI
. Sharing a small example.
- In the
storyboard
addHosting View Controller
- Subclass the
UIHostingController
with your own class (ChildHostingController
) ChildHostingController
should look something like that:
import UIKit
import SwiftUI
struct SecondView: View {
var body: some View {
VStack {
Text("Second View").font(.system(size: 36))
Text("Loaded by SecondView").font(.system(size: 14))
}
}
}
class ChildHostingController: UIHostingController<SecondView> {
required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: coder,rootView: SecondView());
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
}
}
For more details have a look at Custom UIHostingController
Apple Docs UIhostingController (Unfortunatelly it hasn't been documented yet)
Integrating SwiftUI Video
Solution 2 - Xcode
Mixing UIKit with SwiftUI
Both can be embedded and mixed SwiftUI in Storyboards and the other way around
UIViewControllerRepresentable used for embedding Storyboards in SwiftUI
Create the ViewController on a Storyboard and give it a Storyboard ID
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
var body: some View {
StoryboardViewController()
}
}
struct ContentView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
static var previews: some View {
ContentView()
}
}
struct StoryboardViewController: UIViewControllerRepresentable {
func makeUIViewController(context: Context) -> some UIViewController {
let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Storyboard", bundle: Bundle.main)
let controller = storyboard.instantiateViewController(identifier: "Main")
return controller
}
func updateUIViewController(_ uiViewController: UIViewControllerType, context: Context) {
}
}
Communication between UIKit and SwiftUI can be through @Binding variable. This will let SwiftUI view inject variable state and control the it, func updateUIViewController will be called to do the work when changed.
UIViewRepresentable used same way for views
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
@State var color = UIColor.green
var body: some View {
SampleView(color: $color).frame(width: 100, height: 100
, alignment: .center)
}
}
struct ContentView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
static var previews: some View {
ContentView()
}
}
struct SampleView: UIViewRepresentable {
@Binding var color: UIColor
func makeUIView(context: Context) -> some UIView {
return UIView()
}
func updateUIView(_ uiView: UIViewType, context: Context) {
uiView.backgroundColor = color
}
}
UIHostingController used for embedding SwiftUI in UIKit
First is to be created programmatically
let childViewController = UIHostingController(rootView: SwiftUIContentView())
addChild(childViewController)
childViewController.view.frame = frame
view.addSubview(childViewController.view)
childViewController.didMove(toParent: self)
Second with Xcode 11 by adding Hosting View Controller to the storyboard and create a segue to it and then create an @IBSegueAction by Control-drag from the segue to your ViewController and then create an instance of the SwiftUI view and pass it to HostingViewController initializer
Third is by adding Hosting View Controller to the storyboard and then subclassing it as mentioned in the previous answer above https://stackoverflow.com/a/58250271/3033056
Solution 3 - Xcode
Yes you can do that! Here are the steps you can take to do so:
-
Go to your current Xcode project -> Storyboard, click on the + sign (right upper corner) and search for Hosting Controller (just like you would for a button or label).
-
Drag Hosting Controller to your Storyboard. Create a Segue connection from your UI element (I'm using a button) to that Hosting Controller and select Push. Create an outlet connection from that Segue to your View Controller (it's a new feature - just like you would create an outlet for a Label), and name it.
- Declare your view inside of this outlet connection (you can do that, don't have to use PrepareForSegue method), and return it.
For example: I created a SwiftUI view in my current project (in Xcode: File -> New -> File -> SwiftUI View) and called it DetailsView. My outlet connection would look like this:
import UIKit
import SwiftUI
class ViewController: UIViewController {
@IBSegueAction func showDetails(_ coder: NSCoder) -> UIViewController? {
let detailsView = DetailsView()
return UIHostingController(coder: coder, rootView: detailsView)
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// some code
}
}
That's it! Now run it.
Solution 4 - Xcode
as Edgell Mentioned, there is a new ViewController
named HostViewController
that can host a SwiftUI
page inside it.
there's a complete talk about integrating SwiftUI in existing project at WWDC that answers your question very well.
Integrating SwiftUI: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/231/
Solution 5 - Xcode
You need to add a "Host View Controller" to the Storyboard. The SwiftUI form will be displayed in the Host View Controller and is callable from any Storyboard Form.
Be advised, the Host View Controller does not display in the Library for Xcode 11 on Mohave, you must be on Catalina. This is a bug, because once you have a project with a Host View Controller created on Catalina, that same project will run fine on Mohave, in fact, you can even copy that Host View Controller to other Storyboards and it will wok fine.