(SwiftUI change detection) What is wrong with this piece of code? - swiftui

Question

When debugging an issue with an app I am working on, I managed to shrink it down to this minimal example:
class RadioModel: ObservableObject {
#Published var selected: Int = 0
}
struct RadioButton: View {
let idx: Int
#EnvironmentObject var radioModel: RadioModel
var body: some View {
Button(action: {
self.radioModel.selected = self.idx
}, label: {
if radioModel.selected == idx {
Text("Button \(idx)").background(Color.yellow)
} else {
Text("Button \(idx)")
}
})
}
}
struct RadioListTest: View {
#ObservedObject var radioModel = RadioModel()
var body: some View {
return VStack {
Text("You selected: \(radioModel.selected)")
RadioButton(idx: 0)
RadioButton(idx: 1)
RadioButton(idx: 2)
}.environmentObject(radioModel)
}
}
struct ContentView: View {
#State var refreshDate = Date()
func refresh() {
print("Refreshing...")
self.refreshDate = Date()
}
var body: some View {
VStack {
Text("\(refreshDate)")
HStack {
Button(action: {
self.refresh()
}, label: {
Text("Refresh")
})
RadioListTest()
}
}
}
}
This code looks pretty reasonable to me, although it exhibit a peculiar bug: when I hit the Refresh button, the radio buttons stop working. The radio buttons are not refreshed, and keep a reference to the old RadioModel instance, so when I click them they update that, and not the new one created after Refresh causes a new RadioListTest to be constructed. I suspect there is something wrong in the way I use EnvironmentObjects but I didn't find any reference suggesting that what I am doing is wrong. I know I could fix this particular problem in various ways that force a refresh in the radio buttons, but I would like to be able to understand which cases require a refresh forcing hack, I can't sprinkle the code with these just because "better safe than sorry", the performance is going to be hell if I have to redraw everything every time I make a modification.
edit: a clarification. The thing that is weird in my opinion and for which I would want an explanation, is this: why on refresh the RadioListTest is re-created (together with a new RadioModel) and its body re-evaluated but RadioButtons are created and the body properties are not evaluated, but the previous body is used. They both have only a view model as state, the same view model actually, but one have it as ObservedObject and the other as EnvironmentObject. I suspect it is a misuse of EnvironmentObject that I am doing, but I can't find any reference to why it is wrong

Answer 1

this works: (yes, i know, you know how to solve it, but i think this would be the "right" way.
problem is this line:
struct RadioListTest: View {
#ObservedObject var radioModel = RadioModel(). <<< problem
because the radioModel will be newly created each time the RadioListTest view is refreshed, so just create the instance one view above and it won't be created on every refresh (or do you want it to be created every time?!)
class RadioModel: ObservableObject {
#Published var selected: Int = 0
init() {
print("init radiomodel")
}
}
struct RadioButton<Content: View>: View {
let idx: Int
#EnvironmentObject var radioModel: RadioModel
var body: some View {
Button(action: {
self.radioModel.selected = self.idx
}, label: {
if radioModel.selected == idx {
Text("Button \(idx)").background(Color.yellow)
} else {
Text("Button \(idx)")
}
})
}
}
struct RadioListTest: View {
#EnvironmentObject var radioModel: RadioModel
var body: some View {
return VStack {
Text("You selected: \(radioModel.selected)")
RadioButton<Text>(idx: 0)
RadioButton<Text>(idx: 1)
RadioButton<Text>(idx: 2)
}.environmentObject(radioModel)
}
}
struct ContentView: View {
#ObservedObject var radioModel = RadioModel()
#State var refreshDate = Date()
func refresh() {
print("Refreshing...")
self.refreshDate = Date()
}
var body: some View {
VStack {
Text("\(refreshDate)")
HStack {
Button(action: {
self.refresh()
}, label: {
Text("Refresh")
})
RadioListTest().environmentObject(radioModel)
}
}
}
}

Answer 2

What is wrong with this piece of code?
Your RadioListTest subview is not updated on refresh() because it does not depend on changed parameter (refreshDate in this case), so SwiftUI rendering engine assume it is equal to previously created and does nothing with it:
HStack {
Button(action: {
self.refresh()
}, label: {
Text("Refresh")
})
RadioListTest() // << here !!
}
so the solution is to make this view dependent somehow on changed parameter, if it is required of course, and here fixed variant
RadioListTest().id(refreshDate)