The best way to construct macOS apps utilizing solely the Swift Bundle Supervisor?

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Swift scripts and macOS apps

Swift compiler 101, you may create, construct and run a Swift file utilizing the swiftc command. Contemplate the simplest Swift program that we will all think about in a predominant.swift file:

print("Hiya world!")

In Swift if we need to print one thing, we do not even must import the Basis framework, we will merely compile and run this piece of code by working the next:

swiftc predominant.swift 	# compile predominant.swift
chmod +x predominant 		# add the executable permission
./predominant 			# run the binary

The excellent news that we will take this one step additional by auto-invoking the Swift compiler beneath the hood with a shebang.

#! /usr/bin/swift

print("Hiya world!")

Now in the event you merely run the ./predominant.swift file it will print out the well-known “Hiya world!” textual content. 👋

Because of the program-loader mechanism and naturally the Swift interpreter we will skip an additional step and run our single-source Swift code as simple as a daily shell script. The excellent news is that we will import all form of system frameworks which are a part of the Swift toolchain. With the assistance of Basis we will construct fairly helpful or utterly ineffective command line utilities.

#!/usr/bin/env swift

import Basis
import Dispatch

guard CommandLine.arguments.depend == 2 else {
    fatalError("Invalid arguments")
}
let urlString =  CommandLine.arguments[1]
guard let url = URL(string: urlString) else {
    fatalError("Invalid URL")   
}

struct Todo: Codable {
    let title: String
    let accomplished: Bool
}

let process = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { information, response, error in 
    if let error = error {
        fatalError("Error: (error.localizedDescription)")
    }
    guard let response = response as? HTTPURLResponse, response.statusCode == 200 else {
        fatalError("Error: invalid HTTP response code")
    }
    guard let information = information else {
        fatalError("Error: lacking response information")
    }

    do {
        let decoder = JSONDecoder()
        let todos = strive decoder.decode([Todo].self, from: information)
        print("Checklist of todos:")
        print(todos.map { " - [" + ($0.completed ? "✅" : "❌") + "] ($0.title)" }.joined(separator: "n"))
        exit(0)
    }
    catch {
        fatalError("Error: (error.localizedDescription)")
    }
}
process.resume()
dispatchMain()

In case you name this instance with a URL that may return a listing of todos it will print a pleasant listing of the objects.

./predominant.swift https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos

Sure, you may say that this script is totally ineffective, however for my part it is an incredible demo app, because it covers how one can examine command line arguments (CommandLine.arguments), it additionally exhibits you how one can wait (dispatchMain) for an async process, comparable to a HTTP name by means of the community utilizing the URLSession API to complete and exit utilizing the proper technique when one thing fails (fatalError) or in the event you attain the tip of execution (exit(0)). Just some traces of code, however it accommodates a lot data.

Have you ever observed the brand new shebang? You probably have a number of Swift variations put in in your system, you need to use the env shebang to go together with the primary one which’s accessible in your PATH.

It isn’t simply Basis, however you may import AppKit and even SwiftUI. Nicely, not beneath Linux after all, since these frameworks are solely accessible for macOS plus you’ll need Xcode put in in your system, since some stuff in Swift the toolchain remains to be tied to the IDE, however why? 😢

Anyway, again to the subject, here is the boilerplate code for a macOS software Swift script that may be began from the Terminal with one easy ./predominant.swift command and nothing extra.

#!/usr/bin/env swift

import AppKit
import SwiftUI

@accessible(macOS 10.15, *)
struct HelloView: View {
    var physique: some View {
        Textual content("Hiya world!")
    }
}

@accessible(macOS 10.15, *)
class WindowDelegate: NSObject, NSWindowDelegate {

    func windowWillClose(_ notification: Notification) {
        NSApplication.shared.terminate(0)
    }
}


@accessible(macOS 10.15, *)
class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
    let window = NSWindow()
    let windowDelegate = WindowDelegate()

    func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) {
        let appMenu = NSMenuItem()
        appMenu.submenu = NSMenu()
        appMenu.submenu?.addItem(NSMenuItem(title: "Stop", motion: #selector(NSApplication.terminate(_:)), keyEquivalent: "q"))
        let mainMenu = NSMenu(title: "My Swift Script")
        mainMenu.addItem(appMenu)
        NSApplication.shared.mainMenu = mainMenu
        
        let dimension = CGSize(width: 480, top: 270)
        window.setContentSize(dimension)
        window.styleMask = [.closable, .miniaturizable, .resizable, .titled]
        window.delegate = windowDelegate
        window.title = "My Swift Script"

        let view = NSHostingView(rootView: HelloView())
        view.body = CGRect(origin: .zero, dimension: dimension)
        view.autoresizingMask = [.height, .width]
        window.contentView!.addSubview(view)
        window.heart()
        window.makeKeyAndOrderFront(window)
        
        NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.common)
        NSApp.activate(ignoringOtherApps: true)
    }
}

let app = NSApplication.shared
let delegate = AppDelegate()
app.delegate = delegate
app.run()

Particular thanks goes to karwa for the authentic gist. Additionally in case you are into Storyboard-less macOS app growth, you must positively check out this text by @kicsipixel. These assets helped me so much to place collectively what I wanted. I nonetheless needed to prolong the gist with a correct menu setup and the activation coverage, however now this model acts like a real-world macOS software that works like a appeal. There is just one problem right here… the script file is getting crowded. 🙈

Swift Bundle Supervisor and macOS apps

So, if we comply with the identical logic, which means we will construct an executable bundle that may invoke AppKit associated stuff utilizing the Swift Bundle Supervisor. Simple as a pie. 🥧

mkdir MyApp
cd MyApp 
swift bundle init --type=executable

Now we will separate the elements into standalone information, we will additionally take away the provision checking, since we will add a platform constraint utilizing our Bundle.swift manifest file. If you do not know a lot about how the Swift Bundle Supervisor works, please learn my SPM tutorial, or in case you are merely curious concerning the construction of a Bundle.swift file, you may learn my article concerning the Swift Bundle manifest file. Let’s begin with the manifest updates.


import PackageDescription

let bundle = Bundle(
    title: "MyApp",
    platforms: [
        .macOS(.v10_15)
    ],
    dependencies: [
        
    ],
    targets: [
        .target(name: "MyApp", dependencies: []),
        .testTarget(title: "MyAppTests", dependencies: ["MyApp"]),
    ]
)

Now we will place the HelloView struct into a brand new HelloView.swift file.

import SwiftUI

struct HelloView: View {
    var physique: some View {
        Textual content("Hiya world!")
    }
}

The window delegate can have its personal place inside a WindowDelegate.swift file.

import AppKit

class WindowDelegate: NSObject, NSWindowDelegate {

    func windowWillClose(_ notification: Notification) {
        NSApplication.shared.terminate(0)
    }
}

We will apply the identical factor to the AppDelegate class.

import AppKit
import SwiftUI

class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
    let window = NSWindow()
    let windowDelegate = WindowDelegate()

    func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) {
        let appMenu = NSMenuItem()
        appMenu.submenu = NSMenu()
        appMenu.submenu?.addItem(NSMenuItem(title: "Stop", motion: #selector(NSApplication.terminate(_:)), keyEquivalent: "q"))
        let mainMenu = NSMenu(title: "My Swift Script")
        mainMenu.addItem(appMenu)
        NSApplication.shared.mainMenu = mainMenu
        
        let dimension = CGSize(width: 480, top: 270)
        window.setContentSize(dimension)
        window.styleMask = [.closable, .miniaturizable, .resizable, .titled]
        window.delegate = windowDelegate
        window.title = "My Swift Script"

        let view = NSHostingView(rootView: HelloView())
        view.body = CGRect(origin: .zero, dimension: dimension)
        view.autoresizingMask = [.height, .width]
        window.contentView!.addSubview(view)
        window.heart()
        window.makeKeyAndOrderFront(window)
        
        NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.common)
        NSApp.activate(ignoringOtherApps: true)
    }
}

Lastly we will replace the primary.swift file and provoke all the things that must be achieved.

import AppKit

let app = NSApplication.shared
let delegate = AppDelegate()
app.delegate = delegate
app.run()

The excellent news is that this method works, so you may develop, construct and run apps regionally, however sadly you may’t submit them to the Mac App Retailer, because the closing software bundle will not seem like an actual macOS bundle. The binary just isn’t code signed, plus you may want an actual macOS goal in Xcode to submit the applying. Then why trouble with this method?

Nicely, simply because it’s enjoyable and I may even keep away from utilizing Xcode with the assistance of SourceKit-LSP and a few Editor configuration. One of the best half is that SourceKit-LSP is now a part of Xcode, so you do not have to put in something particular, simply configure your favourite IDE and begin coding.

You can too bundle assets, since this function is accessible from Swift 5.3, and use them by means of the Bundle.module variable if wanted. I already tried this, works fairly effectively, and it’s so a lot enjoyable to develop apps for the mac with out the additional overhead that Xcode comes with. 🥳



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