SwiftUI

SwiftUI is a declarative framework^[1] for building user interfaces for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS and macOS, developed by Apple Inc. for the Swift programming language.

SwiftUI

Developer(s)	Apple Inc.
Initial release	June 3, 2019
Operating system	iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, visionOS
Type	Software framework
License	Proprietary
Website	https://developer.apple.com/xcode/swiftui/

Overview

SwiftUI is declarative, contrasting with the imperative syntax used in other Apple development frameworks such as UIKit and AppKit. SwiftUI allows for 2D drawing, animations, event handling, widgets, and data binding. SwiftUI automatically synchronizes between UI views and data.^[2]

SwiftUI integrates with other Apple technologies, such as Xcode and Swift Playgrounds to provide for real-time previews during editing,^[3][4] alongside support for debugging and other development features.

SwiftUI allows for interoperability with UIKit and AppKit views via the UIViewRepresentable and NSViewRepresentable protocols respectively.^[5][6]

History

SwiftUI was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 3, 2019, and was added in iOS 13 and macOS Catalina.^[1]

During WWDC 2020 and the iOS 14 release cycle, Apple natively added support for maps with the Map view, with an interface based on Apple Maps via MapKit.^[7] MapKit allows for map annotation and satellite imagery.

During WWDC 2021 and the iOS 15 release cycle, Apple added the Canvas element, adding support for Immediate mode drawing and performant 2D drawing.^[8]

During WWDC 2022 and the iOS 16 release cycle, Apple released Swift Charts, a framework for making customizable and accessible charts.^[9]

During WWDC 2023, Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro, and support for the device was added to SwiftUI, alongside new views for AR content such as RealityView and ImmersiveSpace.^[10]

Examples

The following is an example of a simple Hello World program. The @main attribute defines the entry point into the app. It is standard practice in SwiftUI to separate the application struct and views into different structs, according to the Model–View–ViewModel (MVVM) architectural pattern.^{[11][self-published source?]}

import SwiftUI

@main
struct AnApp: App {
    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
        }
    }
}

struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        Text("Hello, World!")
    }
}

References

1. Mayo, Benjamin (June 3, 2019). "Apple announces SwiftUI, a modern declarative user interface framework for Apple platforms". 9to5mac.com. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
2. "SwiftUI". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
3. "Previews in Xcode". Previews in Xcode – Apple Developer Documentation. Archived from the original on 2023-11-07. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
4. "Swift Playgrounds". Apple Developer. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
5. "Interfacing with UIKit". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
6. "AppKit integration". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
7. "MapKit for SwiftUI". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
8. "Canvas". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
9. "Swift Charts". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
10. "Meet SwiftUI for spatial computing - WWDC23 - Videos". Apple Developer. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
11. Hudson, Paul (2018). Swift Design Patterns. Paul Hudson.

External links

• SwiftUI at Apple Developer

Further reading

• Lee, Wei-Meng (2020). SwiftUI for dummies. Hoboken: Wiley. ISBN 978-1-119-65270-0.
• Cahill, Bear (2021). UI Design for iOS App Development. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-6449-2. ISBN 978-1-4842-6448-5. S2CID 229306131.
• Barker, Chris (2020-04-03). Learn SwiftUI: An introductory guide to creating intuitive cross-platform user interfaces using Swift 5. Packt Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-83921-087-7.