SwiftUI

June 25, 2021

Federico Zanetello @zntfdr

Xcode 13 beta 2 has just been released, and it comes with new SwiftUI goodies: let's have a look at what's new!

textSelection

struct ContentView: View { 
  var body: some View { 
    Text("FIVE STARS")
      .font(.largeTitle)
      .textSelection(.enabled)
  }
}

The textSelection(_:) modifier is now available on iOS, this view modifier allows users to select/copy the content of Text views.

Mini ControlSize

struct ContentView: View {
  var body: some View { 
    VStack { 
      ForEach(ControlSize.allCases, id: \.self) { size in 
        Button {
        } label: {
          Text(String(describing: size))
        }
        .controlSize(size)
        .controlSize(size) 
      }
    }
    .buttonStyle(.bordered)
    .controlProminence(.increased) 
  }
}

We have a new .mini ControlSize:
it doesn't seem to be different than the .small size in this specific example, but it might in other systems/contexts.

As of Xcode 13b2, .mini is not part of ControlSize.allCases (FB9208000). Update: Xcode 13b3 fixes this issue.

dismissSearch

struct ContentView: View {
  @State private var query = ""
  @Environment(\.dismissSearch) private var dismissSearch

  var body: some View {
    NavigationView {
      List {
        // ...
      }
      .searchable(text: $query) {
      }
      .toolbar {
        Button("Cancel") {
          dismissSearch()
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

There's a new dismissSearch environment value which, when triggered:

• will set isSearching to false
• any search text will be cleared
• any search field will lose focus

presentationMode deprecation

extension EnvironmentValues {
  @available(iOS, introduced: 13.0, deprecated: 100000.0, message: "Use isPresented or dismiss")
  @available(macOS, introduced: 10.15, deprecated: 100000.0, message: "Use isPresented or dismiss")
  @available(tvOS, introduced: 13.0, deprecated: 100000.0, message: "Use isPresented or dismiss")
  @available(watchOS, introduced: 6.0, deprecated: 100000.0, message: "Use isPresented or dismiss")
  public var presentationMode: Binding<PresentationMode> { get }
}

presentationMode has been soft deprecated in favor of the new isPresented and dismiss environment values.

This is something I suggested/mentioned in What's new in SwiftUI.

Text format initializer

struct ContentView: View {
  var body: some View {
    Text(0.005, format: .number)
    Text(5, format: .number)
    Text(5_000, format: .number)
    Text(5_000_000, format: .number)
  }
}

Text has gained a new init(_:format:) initializer, specifically dedicated to formatting values.

Searchable Prompt

struct ContentView: View {
  @State var query: String = ""
  var body: some View {
    NavigationView {
      List {
        EmptyView()
      }
//    .searchable("Title", text: $query)  👈🏻 Old way
      .searchable(text: $query, prompt: "Prompt") //  👈🏻 New way
      .navigationTitle("Search")
    }
  }
}

Similar to TextFields, also the searchable modifier is now embracing prompts instead of titles.

Conclusions

iOS 15 is still a few months away: while we might get even more features in upcoming betas, this is the perfect time to test out our apps and report any beta issue we spot to Apple.

Did you find anything else interesting in Xcode 13 beta 2? Please let me know!

This article is part of a series exploring new SwiftUI features. We will cover many more during the rest of the summer: subscribe to Five Stars's feed RSS or follow @FiveStarsBlog on Twitter to never miss new content!