I have enabled runtime concurrency warnings to check for future problems concerning concurrency: Build Setting / Other Swift Flags:
-Xfrontend -warn-concurrency -Xfrontend -enable-actor-data-race-checks
When trying to call the async form of PHPhotoLibrary.shared().performChanges{} I get the following runtime warning: warning: data race detected: @MainActor function at ... was not called on the main thread in the line containing performChanges.
My sample code inside a default Xcode multi platform app template is as follows:
import SwiftUI
import Photos
@MainActor
class FotoChanger{
func addFotos() async throws{
await PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization(for: .addOnly)
try! await PHPhotoLibrary.shared().performChanges{
let data = NSDataAsset(name: "Swift")!.data
let creationRequest = PHAssetCreationRequest.forAsset()
creationRequest.addResource(with: .photo, data: data, options: PHAssetResourceCreationOptions())
}
}
}
struct ContentView: View {
var body: some View {
ProgressView()
.task{
try! await FotoChanger().addFotos()
}
}
}
You would have to have a Swift data asset inside the asset catalog to run the above code, but the error can even be recreated if the data is invalid.
But what am I doing wrong? I have not found a way to run perform changes, the block or whatever causes the error on the main thread.
PS: This is only test code to show the problem, don't mind the forced unwraps.
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I am currently publishing an application that uses WebView,
I am currently publishing an application that uses WebView, but I am having trouble with data in LocalStorage sometimes disappearing.
The website displayed in WebView is made with PHP,
By writing the following code in JavaScript,
When WKWebView is opened, localStorage is saved and retrieved.
window.localStorage.setItem('isAlreadyAgree', true);
window.localStorage.getItem('isAlreadyAgree');
The problem is that sometimes this getItem does not get the data.
・This is not reproducible and does not always occur when some process is performed.
・Is it possible that the storage of the application is cleared due to distribution using MDM?
・Is it possible to store too much data in UserDefault, which would cause the LocalStorage space to be overwhelmed and disappear?
I would appreciate any hints you can give me.
Thank you in advance.
One challenging aspect of Swift concurrency is flow control, aka backpressure. I was explaining this to someone today and thought it better to post that explanation here, for the benefit of all.
If you have questions or comments, start a new thread in App & System Services > Processes & Concurrency and tag with Swift and Concurrency.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
Why is flow control important?
In Swift concurrency you often want to model data flows using AsyncSequence. However, that’s not without its challenges. A key issue is flow control, aka backpressure.
Imagine you have a network connection with a requests property that returns an AsyncSequence of Request values. The core of your networking code might be a loop like this:
func processRequests(connection: Connection) async throws {
for try await request in connection.requests {
let response = responseForRequest(request)
try await connection.reply(with: response)
}
}
Flow control is important in both the inbound and outbound cases. Let’s start with the inbound case.
If the remote peer is generating requests very quickly, the network is fast, and responseForRequest(_:) is slow, it’s easy to fall foul of unbounded memory growth. For example, if you use AsyncStream to implement the requests property, its default buffering policy is .unbounded. So the code receiving requests from the connection will continue to receive them, buffering them in the async stream, without any bound. In the worst case scenario that might run your process out of memory. In a more typical scenario it might result in a huge memory spike.
The outbound case is similar. Imagine that the remote peer keeps sending requests but stops receiving them. If the reply(with:) method isn’t implemented correctly, this might also result in unbounded memory growth.
The solution to this problem is flow control. This flow control operates independently on the send and receive side:
On the send side, the code sending responses should notice that the network connection has asserted flow control and stop sending responses until that flow control lifts. In an async method, like the reply(with:) example shown above, it can simply not return until the network connection has space to accept the reply.
On the receive side, the code receiving requests from the connection should monitor how many are buffered. If that gets too big, it should stop receiving. That causes the requests to pile up in the connection itself. If the network connection implements flow control properly [1], this will propagate to the remote peer, which should stop generating requests.
[1] TCP and QUIC both implement flow control. Use them! If you’re tempted to implement your own protocol directly on top of UDP, consider how it should handle flow control.
Flow control and Network framework
Network framework has built-in support for flow control. On the send side, it uses a ‘push’ model. When you call send(content:contentContext:isComplete:completion:) the connection buffers the message. However, it only calls the completion handler when it’s passed that message to the network for transmission [2]. If you send a message and don’t receive this completion callback, it’s time to stop sending more messages.
On the receive side, Network framework uses a ‘pull’ model. The receiver calls a receive method, like receiveMessage(completion:), which calls a completion handler when there’s a message available. If you’ve already buffered too many messages, just stop calling this receive method.
These techniques are readily adaptable to Swift concurrency using Swift’s CheckedContinuation type. That works for both send and receive, but there’s a wrinkle. If you want to model receive as an AsyncSequence, you can’t use AsyncStream. That’s because AsyncStream doesn’t support flow control. So, you’ll need to come up with your own AsyncSequence implementation [3].
[2] Note that this doesn’t mean that the data has made it to the remote peer, or has even been sent on the wire. Rather, it says that Network framework has successfully passed the data to the transport protocol implementation, which is then responsible for getting it to the remote peer.
[3] There’s been a lot of discussion on Swift Evolution about providing such an implementation but none of that has come to fruition yet. Specifically:
The Swift Async Algorithms package provides AsyncChannel, but my understanding is that this is not yet ready for prime time.
I believe that the SwiftNIO folks have their own infrastructure for this. They’re driving this effort to build such support into Swift Async Algorithms.
Avoid the need for flow control
In some cases you can change your design to avoid the need for control. Imagine that your UI needs to show the state of a remote button. The network connection sends you a message every time the button is depressed or released. However, your UI only cares about the current state.
If you forward every messages from the network to your UI, you have to worried about flow control. To eliminate that worry:
Have your networking code translate the message to reflect the current state.
Use AsyncStream with a buffering policy of .bufferingNewest(1).
That way there’s only ever one value in the stream and, if the UI code is slow for some reason, while it might miss some transitions, it always knows about the latest state.
2024-12-13 Added a link to the MultiProducerSingleConsumerChannel PR.
2024-12-10 First posted.
I'm making an app using SwiftUI and trying to use the TextEditor view. However when I run it, and I try entering text into the TextEditor, the characters don't appear, they do however appear in the terminal that i used to run the app. The same problem exists with the TextField view.
I usually run it using swift run but have also tried swift build and running the produced executable as well as using release mode.
Minimal example:
import SwiftUI
@main
struct Example: App {
var body: some Scene {
WindowGroup {
ContentView()
}
}
}
struct ContentView: View {
@State var text: String = ""
var body: some View {
TextEditor(text: $text)
}
}
if I set UIApplicationPreferredDefaultSceneSessionRole to UISceneSessionRoleImmersiveSpaceApplication then my Immersive Space for image is working fine but when I try with UIWindowSceneSessionRoleApplication this option and try to open Immersive space on particular sub screen then its not showing image in immersive space(Immersive space not open).
Any one have idea what the issue.
<key>UIApplicationSceneManifest</key>
<dict>
<key>UIApplicationPreferredDefaultSceneSessionRole</key>
<string>UIWindowSceneSessionRoleApplication</string>
<key>UIApplicationSupportsMultipleScenes</key>
<true/>
<key>UISceneConfigurations</key>
<dict>
<key>UISceneSessionRoleImmersiveSpaceApplication</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>UISceneInitialImmersionStyle</key>
<string>UIImmersionStyleFull</string>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</dict>
My info.plist value as above
Hello everyone,
I’m currently working on a Swift project using the Network framework to create a multicast-based communication system. Specifically, I’m implementing both a multicast receiver and a sender that join the same multicast group for communication. However, I’ve run into some challenges with the connection management, replying to multicast messages, and handling state updates for both connections and connection groups.
Below is a breakdown of my setup and the specific issues I’ve encountered.
I have two main parts in the implementation: the multicast receiver and the multicast sender. The goal is for the receiver to join the multicast group, receive messages from the sender, and send a reply back to the sender using a direct connection.
Multicast Receiver Code:
import Network
import Foundation
func setupMulticastGroup() -> NWConnectionGroup? {
let multicastEndpoint1 = NWEndpoint.hostPort(host: NWEndpoint.Host("224.0.0.1"), port: NWEndpoint.Port(rawValue: 45000)!)
let multicastParameters = NWParameters.udp
multicastParameters.multipathServiceType = .aggregate
do {
let multicastGroup = try NWMulticastGroup(for: [multicastEndpoint1], from: nil, disableUnicast: false)
let multicastConnections = NWConnectionGroup(with: multicastGroup, using: multicastParameters)
multicastConnections.stateUpdateHandler = InternalConnectionStateUpdateHandler
multicastConnections.setReceiveHandler(maximumMessageSize: 16384, rejectOversizedMessages: false, handler: receiveHandler)
multicastConnections.newConnectionHandler = newConnectionHandler
multicastConnections.start(queue: .global())
return multicastConnections
} catch {
return nil
}
}
func receiveHandler(message: NWConnectionGroup.Message, content: Data?, isComplete: Bool) {
print("Received message from \(String(describing: message.remoteEndpoint))")
if let content = content, let messageString = String(data: content, encoding: .utf8) {
print("Received Message: \(messageString)")
}
let remoteEndpoint = message.remoteEndpoint
message.reply(content: "Multicast group on 144 machine ACK from recv handler".data(using: .utf8))
if let connection = multicastConnections?.extract(connectionTo: remoteEndpoint) {
connection.stateUpdateHandler = InternalConnectionRecvStateUpdateHandler
connection.start(queue: .global())
connection.send(content: "Multicast group on 144 machine ACK from recv handler".data(using: .utf8), completion: NWConnection.SendCompletion.contentProcessed({ error in
print("Error code: \(error?.errorCode ?? 0)")
print("Ack sent to \(connection.endpoint)")
}))
}
}
func newConnectionHandler(connection: NWConnection) {
connection.start(queue: .global())
connection.send(content: "Multicast group on 144 machine ACK".data(using: .utf8), completion: NWConnection.SendCompletion.contentProcessed({ error in
print("Error code: \(error?.errorCode ?? 0)")
print("Ack sent to \(connection.endpoint)")
}))
}
func InternalConnectionRecvStateUpdateHandler(_ pState: NWConnection.State) {
switch pState {
case .setup:
NSLog("The connection has been initialized but not started")
case .preparing:
NSLog("The connection is preparing")
case .waiting(let error):
NSLog("The connection is waiting for a network path change. Error: \(error)")
case .ready:
NSLog("The connection is established and ready to send and receive data.")
case .failed(let error):
NSLog("The connection has disconnected or encountered an error. Error: \(error)")
case .cancelled:
NSLog("The connection has been canceled.")
default:
NSLog("Unknown NWConnection.State.")
}
}
func InternalConnectionStateUpdateHandler(_ pState: NWConnectionGroup.State) {
switch pState {
case .setup:
NSLog("The connection has been initialized but not started")
case .waiting(let error):
NSLog("The connection is waiting for a network path change. Error: \(error)")
case .ready:
NSLog("The connection is established and ready to send and receive data.")
case .failed(let error):
NSLog("The connection has disconnected or encountered an error. Error: \(error)")
case .cancelled:
NSLog("The connection has been canceled.")
default:
NSLog("Unknown NWConnection.State.")
}
}
let multicastConnections = setupMulticastGroup()
RunLoop.main.run()
Multicast Sender Code:
import Foundation
import Network
func setupConnection() -> NWConnection {
let params = NWParameters.udp
params.allowLocalEndpointReuse = true
return NWConnection(to: NWEndpoint.hostPort(host: NWEndpoint.Host("224.0.0.1"), port: NWEndpoint.Port(rawValue: 45000)!), using: params)
}
func sendData(using connection: NWConnection, data: Data) {
connection.send(content: data, completion: .contentProcessed { nwError in
if let error = nwError {
print("Failed to send message with error: \(error)")
} else {
print("Message sent successfully")
}
})
}
func setupReceiveHandler(for connection: NWConnection) {
connection.receive(minimumIncompleteLength: 1, maximumLength: 65000) { content, contentContext, isComplete, error in
print("Received data:")
print(content as Any)
print(contentContext as Any)
print(error as Any)
setupReceiveHandler(for: connection)
}
}
let connectionSender = setupConnection()
connectionSender.stateUpdateHandler = internalConnectionStateUpdateHandler
connectionSender.start(queue: .global())
let sendingData = "Hello, this is a multicast message from the process on mac machine 144".data(using: .utf8)!
sendData(using: connectionSender, data: sendingData)
setupReceiveHandler(for: connectionSender)
RunLoop.main.run()
Issues Encountered:
Error Code 0 Even When Connection Refused:
On the receiver side, I encountered this log:
nw_socket_get_input_frames [C1.1.1:1] recvmsg(fd 8, 9216 bytes) [61: Connection refused]
Error code: 0
Ack sent to 10.20.16.144:62707
Questions:
how do I reply to the message if above usage pattern is wrong?
how do I get a NWConnection from the received message to create a separate connection for communication with the sender.
Any insights or suggestions on resolving these issues or improving my multicast communication setup would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks :)
Hi all,
I am creating an app that, when you right-click on a file and select a custom option in the context menu, it pops open a window then processes this file.
Currently, I am writing that file name and path to a plist in my app's group container folder, sending a notification from my finder sync extension to my main app, and then reading the values in my plist.
Is this the best way to pass data between the finder sync extension and the main app? What is the industry standard way of doing this?
Thanks,
James
Hello, I have been implementing faceID authentication using LocalAuthentication, and I've noticed that if i use swift 5 this code compiles but when i change to swift 6 it gives me a crash saying this compile error:
i have just created this project for this error purpose so this is my codebase:
import LocalAuthentication
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
@State private var isSuccess: Bool = false
var body: some View {
VStack {
if isSuccess {
Text("Succed")
} else {
Text("not succeed")
}
}
.onAppear(perform: authenticate)
}
func authenticate() {
let context = LAContext()
var error: NSError?
if context.canEvaluatePolicy(.deviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics, error: &error) {
let reason = "We need to your face to open the app"
context.evaluatePolicy(.deviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics, localizedReason: reason) { sucexd, error in
if sucexd {
let success = sucexd
Task { @MainActor [success] in
isSuccess = success
}
} else {
print(error?.localizedDescription as Any)
}
}
} else {
print(error as Any)
}
}
}
#Preview {
ContentView()
}
also i have tried to not use the task block and also gives me the same error. i think could be something about the LAContext NSObject that is not yet adapted for swift 6 concurrency?
also i tried to set to minimal but is the same error
Im using xcode 16.1 (16B40) with M1 using MacOS Seqouia 15.0.1
Help.
Hello. I am re-writing our way of storing data into Core Data in our app, so it can be done concurrently.
The solution I opted for is to have a singleton actor that takes an API model, and maps it to a Core Data object and saves it.
For example, to store an API order model, I have something like this:
func store(
order apiOrder: APIOrder,
currentContext: NSManagedObjectContext?
) -> NSManagedObjectID? {
let context = currentContext ?? self.persistentContainer.newBackgroundContext()
// …
}
In the arguments, there is a context you can pass, in case you need to create additional models and relate them to each other. I am not sure this is how you're supposed to do it, but it seemed to work.
From what I've understood of Core Data and using multiple contexts, the appropriate way use them is with context.perform or context.performAndWait.
However, since my storage helper is an actor, @globalActor actor Storage2 { … }, my storage's methods are actor-isolated.
This gives me warnings / errors in Swift 6 when I try to pass the context for to another of my actor's methods.
let context = …
return context.performAndWait {
// …
if let apiBooking = apiOrder.booking {
self.store(booking: apiBooking, context: context)
/* causes warning:
Sending 'context' risks causing data races; this is an error in the Swift 6 language mode
'self'-isolated 'context' is captured by a actor-isolated closure. actor-isolated uses in closure may race against later nonisolated uses
Access can happen concurrently
*/
}
// …
}
From what I understand this is because my methods are actor-isolated, but the closure of performAndWait does not execute in a thread safe environment.
With all this, what are my options? I've extracted the store(departure:context:) into its own method to avoid duplicated code, but since I can't call it from within performAndWait I am not sure what to do.
Can I ditch the performAndWait? Removing that makes the warning "go away", but I don't feel confident enough with Core Data to know the answer.
I would love to get any feedback on this, hoping to learn!
In my project, i am initialising bytes with some character in cpp function, func CreateByteWithVal (), and passing to a function, func CreateNSStringFromCString(_ pPtr : UnsafeMutableRawPointer, _ pLength : Int), in swift using Swift-Cpp interop.
CreateByteWithVal () allocates bytes on heap with value "AAAAAAAAAA", also calls swift function CreateNSStringFromCString.
And func CreateNSStringFromCString (_ pPtr : UnsafeMutableRawPointer, _ pLength : Int) creates a NSString instance using NSString's BytesNoCopy initialiser using the bytes (pPtr) passed to it in parameter.
Cpp code:
void
CppClass::CreateByteWithVal ()
{
char * bytesForString = (char *) malloc (10);
memset (bytesForString, 65, 10);
Interop_Swift::CreateNSStringFromCString (bytesForString, 10);
}
Swift code:
public func CreateNSStringFromCString (_ pPtr : UnsafeMutableRawPointer, _ pLength : Int) {
let ns_string:NSString = NSString (bytesNoCopy: pPtr, length: pLength, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue, freeWhenDone: false)
}
If we modify the byte values in memory from C++ directly, the NSString instance, which is supposed to be immutable by nature, reflects these changes. Is this approach appropriate, or is there something we're overlooking or need to address? In our project, we are mutating the byte values directly like this, and the changes are being reflected in the NSString instance :
memset (bytesForString, 66, 5);
Essentially, I want to confirm whether we can use this method to modify values through C++ without directly mutating the NSString instance.
For the UI, we'll be reading the NSString instance by creating a native Swift String instance from it, like this:
let str:String = ns_string as String
Will the value of str remain consistent as long as we ensure that the correct bytes are provided by C++?
Hello
I want to be able to save Date in @AppStorage, and it works however I was wondering what was the difference between these two extensions, which one is better and why?
extension Date: RawRepresentable {
static var dateFormatter: DateFormatter = {
let formatter = DateFormatter()
formatter.dateStyle = .long
return formatter
}()
public var rawValue: String {
Date.dateFormatter.string(from: self)
}
public init?(rawValue: String) {
self = Date.dateFormatter.date(from: rawValue) ?? Date()
}
}
and
extension Date: RawRepresentable {
private static let formatter = ISO8601DateFormatter()
public var rawValue: String {
Date.formatter.string(from: self)
}
public init?(rawValue: String) {
self = Date.formatter.date(from: rawValue) ?? Date()
}
}
Thank You!
A few years ago [1] Xcode added new warnings that help detect a nasty gotcha related to the lifetime of unsafe pointers. For example:
Initialization of 'UnsafeMutablePointer<timeval>' results in a dangling pointer
Inout expression creates a temporary pointer, but argument 'iov_base' should be a pointer that outlives the call to 'init(iov_base:iov_len:)'
I’ve seen a lot of folks confused by these warnings, and by the lifetime of unsafe pointers in general, and this post is my attempt to clarify the topic.
If you have questions about any of this, please put them in a new thread in the Programming Languages > Swift topic.
Finally, I encourage you to watch the following WWDC presentations:
WWDC 2020 Session 10648 Unsafe Swift
WWDC 2020 Session 10167 Safely manage pointers in Swift
These cover some of the same ground I’ve covered here, and a lot of other cool stuff as well.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"
[1] Swift 5.2.2, as shipped in Xcode 11.4. See the discussion of SR-2790 in Xcode 11.4 Release Notes.
Basics
In Swift, the ampersand (&) indicates that a parameter is being passed inout. Consider this example:
func addVarnish(_ product: inout String) {
product += " varnish"
}
var waffle = "waffle"
addVarnish(&waffle) // line A
print(waffle)
// printed: waffle varnish
On line A, the ampersand tells you that waffle could be modified by addVarnish(_:).
However, there is another use of ampersand that was designed to help with C interoperability. Consider this code:
var tv = timeval()
gettimeofday(&tv, nil)
print(tv)
// printed: timeval(tv_sec: 1590743104, tv_usec: 77027)
The first parameter to gettimeofday is an UnsafeMutablePointer<timeval>. Here the ampersand denotes a conversion from a timeval to an UnsafeMutablePointer<timeval>. This conversion makes it much easier to call common C APIs from Swift.
This also works for array values. For example:
var hostName = [CChar](repeating: 0, count: 256)
gethostname(&hostName, hostName.count)
print(String(cString: hostName))
// printed: slimey.local.
In this code the ampersand denotes a conversion from [CChar] to an UnsafeMutablePointer<CChar> that points to the base of the array.
While this is convenient, it’s potentially misleading, especially if you come from a C background. In C-based languages, using ampersand in this way yields a pointer to the value that’s valid until the value gets deallocated. That’s not the case in Swift. Rather, the pointer generated by the ampersand syntax is only valid for the duration of that function call.
To understand why that’s the case, consider this code:
struct TimeInTwoParts {
var sec: time_t = 0
var usec: Int32 = 0
var combined: timeval {
get { timeval(tv_sec: sec, tv_usec: usec) }
set {
sec = newValue.tv_sec
usec = newValue.tv_usec
}
}
}
var time = TimeInTwoParts()
gettimeofday(&time.combined, nil) // line A
print(time.combined)
// printed: timeval(tv_sec: 1590743484, tv_usec: 89118)
print(time.sec)
// printed: 1590743484
print(time.usec)
// printed: 89118
Here combined is a computed property that has no independent existence in memory. Thus, it simply makes no sense to take the address of it.
So, how does ampersand deal with this? Under the covers the Swift compiler expands line A to something like this:
var tmp = time.combined
gettimeofday(&tmp, nil)
time.combined = tmp
Once you understand this it’s clear why the resulting pointer is only valid for the duration of the call: As soon as Swift cleans up tmp, the pointer becomes invalid.
A Gotcha
This automatic conversion can be a nasty gotcha. Consider this code:
var tv = timeval()
let tvPtr = UnsafeMutablePointer(&tv) // line A
// ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
// Initialization of 'UnsafeMutablePointer<timeval>' results in a dangling pointer
gettimeofday(tvPtr, nil) // line B
This results in undefined behaviour because the pointer generated by the ampersand on line A is no longer valid when it’s used on line B. In some cases, like this one, the later Swift compiler is able to detect this problem and warn you about it. In other cases you’re not so lucky. Consider this code:
guard let f = fopen("tmp.txt", "w") else { … }
var buf = [CChar](repeating: 0, count: 1024)
setvbuf(f, &buf, _IOFBF, buf.count) // line A
let message = [UInt8]("Hello Crueld World!".utf8)
fwrite(message, message.count, 1, f) // line B
fclose(f) // line C
This uses setvbuf to apply a custom buffer to the file handle. The file handle uses this buffer until after the close on line C. However, the pointer created by the ampersand on line A only exists for the duration of the setvbuf call. When the code calls fwrite on line B the buffer pointer is no longer valid and things end badly.
Unfortunately the compiler isn’t able to detect this problem. Worse yet, the code might actually work initially, and then stop working as you change optimisation settings, update the compiler, change unrelated code, and so on.
Another Gotcha
There is another gotcha associated with the ampersand syntax. Consider this code:
class AtomicCounter {
var count: Int32 = 0
func increment() {
OSAtomicAdd32(1, &count)
}
}
This looks like it’ll implement an atomic counter but there’s no guarantee that the counter will be atomic. To understand why, apply the tmp transform from earlier:
class AtomicCounter {
var count: Int32 = 0
func increment() {
var tmp = count
OSAtomicAdd32(1, &tmp)
count = tmp
}
}
So each call to OSAtomicAdd32 could potentially be operating on a separate copy of the counter that’s then assigned back to count. This undermines the whole notion of atomicity.
Again, this might work in some builds of your product and then fail in other builds.
Note The above discussion is now theoretical because Swift 6 added a Synchronization module that includes comprehensive support for atomics. That module also has a Mutex type (if you need a mutex on older platforms, check out OSAllocatedUnfairLock). These constructs use various different mechanisms to ensure that the underlying value has a stable address.
Summary
So, to summarise:
Swift’s ampersand syntax has very different semantics from the equivalent syntax in C.
When you use an ampersand to convert from a value to a pointer as part of a function call, make sure that the called function doesn’t use the pointer after it’s returned.
It is not safe to use the ampersand syntax for functions where the exact pointer matters.
It’s Not Just Ampersands
There’s one further gotcha related to arrays. The gethostname example above shows that you can use an ampersand to pass the base address of an array to a function that takes a mutable pointer. Swift supports two other implicit conversions like this:
From String to UnsafePointer<CChar> — This allows you to pass a Swift string to an API that takes a C string. For example:
let greeting = "Hello Cruel World!"
let greetingLength = strlen(greeting)
print(greetingLength)
// printed: 18
From Array<Element> to UnsafePointer<Element> — This allows you to pass a Swift array to a C API that takes an array (in C, arrays are typically represented as a base pointer and a length). For example:
let charsUTF16: [UniChar] = [72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 32, 67, 114, 117, 101, 108, 32, 87, 111, 114, 108, 100, 33]
print(charsUTF16)
let str = CFStringCreateWithCharacters(nil, charsUTF16, charsUTF16.count)!
print(str)
// prints: Hello Cruel World!
Note that there’s no ampersand in either of these examples. This technique only works for UnsafePointer parameters (as opposed to UnsafeMutablePointer parameters), so the called function can’t modify its buffer. As the ampersand is there to indicate that the value might be modified, it’s not used in this immutable case.
However, the same pointer lifetime restriction applies: The pointer passed to the function is only valid for the duration of that function call. If the function keeps a copy of that pointer and then uses it later on, Bad Things™ will happen.
Consider this code:
func printAfterDelay(_ str: UnsafePointer<CChar>) {
print(strlen(str))
// printed: 18
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1.0) {
print(strlen(str))
// printed: 0
}
}
let greeting = ["Hello", "Cruel", "World!"].joined(separator: " ")
printAfterDelay(greeting)
dispatchMain()
The second call to strlen yields undefined behaviour because the pointer passed to printAfterDelay(_:) becomes invalid once printAfterDelay(_:) returns. In this specific example the memory pointed to by str happened to contain a zero, and hence strlen returned 0 but that’s not guaranteed. The str pointer is dangling, so you might get any result from strlen, including a crash.
Advice
So, what can you do about this? There’s two basic strategies here:
Extend the lifetime of the pointer
Manual memory management
Extending the Pointer’s Lifetime
The first strategy makes sense when you have a limited number of pointers and their lifespan is limited. For example, you can fix the setvbuf code from above by changing it to:
let message = [UInt8]("Hello Crueld World!".utf8)
guard let f = fopen("tmp.txt", "w") else { … }
var buf = [CChar](repeating: 0, count: 1024)
buf.withUnsafeMutableBufferPointer { buf in
setvbuf(f, buf.baseAddress!, _IOFBF, buf.count)
fwrite(message, message.count, 1, f)
fclose(f)
}
This version of the code uses withUnsafeMutableBufferPointer(_:). That calls the supplied closure and passes it a pointer (actually an UnsafeMutableBufferPointer) that’s valid for the duration of that closure. As long as you only use that pointer inside the closure, you’re safe!
There are a variety of other routines like withUnsafeMutableBufferPointer(_:), including:
The withUnsafeMutablePointer(to:_:) function
The withUnsafeBufferPointer(_:), withUnsafeMutableBufferPointer(_:), withUnsafeBytes(_:), and withUnsafeMutableBytes(_:) methods on Array
The withUnsafeBytes(_:) and withUnsafeMutableBytes(_:) methods on Data
The withCString(_:) and withUTF8(_:) methods on String.
Manual Memory Management
If you have to wrangle an unbounded number of pointers — or the lifetime of your pointer isn’t simple, for example when calling an asynchronous call — you must revert to manual memory management. Consider the following code, which is a Swift-friendly wrapper around posix_spawn:
func spawn(arguments: [String]) throws -> pid_t {
var argv = arguments.map { arg -> UnsafeMutablePointer<CChar>? in
strdup(arg)
}
argv.append(nil)
defer {
argv.forEach { free($0) }
}
var pid: pid_t = 0
let success = posix_spawn(&pid, argv[0], nil, nil, argv, environ) == 0
guard success else { throw NSError(domain: NSPOSIXErrorDomain, code: Int(errno), userInfo: nil) }
return pid
}
This code can’t use the withCString(_:) method on String because it has to deal with an arbitrary number of strings. Instead, it uses strdup to copy each string to its own manually managed buffer. And, as these buffers are manually managed, is has to remember to free them.
Change History
2024-12-11 Added a note about the Synchronization module. Made various editorial changes.
2021-02-24 Fixed the formatting. Added links to the WWDC 2021 sessions. Fixed the feedback advice. Minor editorial changes.
2020-06-01 Initial version.
Is there any way to get dock size?
I got Dock Window using CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo.
But I found its frame covers my entire screen.
Same promble as Notification Center.
Any way to get their size?
I have implemented ShowInAppSearchResultsIntent and AppShortcutsProvider. But on iOS 18.1+ getting and error in console :- Failed to generate TargetContentIdentifier for criteria.
In iOS 18.0 it's working fine.
The code I have implemented
@AssistantIntent(schema: .system.search)
struct SearchIntent: ShowInAppSearchResultsIntent {
// static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "Search in Cineverse for"
static let searchScopes: [StringSearchScope] = [.general]
@Parameter(requestValueDialog: IntentDialog("What would you like to search for?"))
var criteria: StringSearchCriteria
@MainActor
func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult {
let searchString = criteria.term
print("Searching for \(searchString)")
return .result()
}
}
class AppShortcuts: AppShortcutsProvider {
static var appShortcuts: [AppShortcut] {
AppShortcut(
intent: SearchIntent(),
phrases: [
"using \(.applicationName) search for",
"search on \(.applicationName) app"
],
shortTitle: "Search Movie",
systemImageName: "magnifyingglass"
)
}
}
Everyone knows that dictionaries in swift are unordered collections, there is no problem with that.
I've noticed some behavior that I can't explain and hope someone can help me.
The first variant
We have a very simple code:
struct Test {
let dict = [1: “1”, 2: “2”, 3: “3”, 4: “4”, 5: “5”]
func test() {
for i in dict {
print(i)
}
}
}
If you call test() several times in a row, the output to the console on my computer looks something like this:
(key: 5, value: “5”)
(key: 1, value: “1”)
(key: 2, value: “2”)
(key: 3, value: “3”)
(key: 4, value: “4”)
(key: 2, value: “2”)
(key: 3, value: “3”)
(key: 1, value: “1”)
(key: 4, value: “4”)
(key: 5, value: “5”)
(key: 1, value: “1”)
(key: 3, value: “3”)
(key: 2, value: “2”)
(key: 5, value: “5”)
(key: 4, value: “4”)
At each new for loop we get a random order of elements
It seemed logical to me, because a dictionary is an unordered collection and this is correct behavior.
However
The second variant
the same code on my colleague's computer, but in the console we see something like this:
(key: 2, value: “2”)
(key: 3, value: “3”)
(key: 1, value: “1”)
(key: 4, value: “4”)
(key: 5, value: “5”)
(key: 2, value: “2”)
(key: 3, value: “3”)
(key: 1, value: “1”)
(key: 4, value: “4”)
(key: 5, value: “5”)
(key: 2, value: “2”)
(key: 3, value: “3”)
(key: 1, value: “1”)
(key: 4, value: “4”)
(key: 5, value: “5”)
always, within the same session, we get the same order in print(i)
We didn't use Playground, within which there may be differences, but a real project.
swift version 5+
we tested on Xcode 14+, 15+ (at first I thought it was because the first version had 14 and the second version had 15, but then a third colleague with Xcode 15 had the behavior from the first scenario)
we did a lot of checks, several dozens of times and always got that on one computer random output of items to the console, and in another case disordered only in the first output to the console
Thanks
I am having a very strange problem with await ExternalLinkAccount.canOpen
On some apps using the same project and code (different targets) it reports false, but works in the simulator.
Some apps work both in the simulator and a device and, but some apps only work in the simulator. They are all sharing the same code.
What could be wrong? They all have SKExternalLinkAccount and the correct url in plist and they also have the com.apple.developer.storekit.external-link.account entitlement
Hello everyone,
I have a question regarding the behavior of network listeners in my application. Here's the scenario I'm seeing:
When I open a .v6 listener, it accepts both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic. However, when I run the netstat -tln command, the socket is shown as udp6.
When I open a NWListener with the IP version set to .any, I receive both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic on the listener. In this case, running netstat -tln shows a udp46 socket.
My understanding is that if I create a socket with .v6, it should only accept IPv6 connections, not both IPv4 and IPv6. However, the .v6 listener appears to be accepting both types of traffic, which is causing some confusion.
Additionally, I am seeking to understand the difference between a udp6 socket and a udp46 socket, and also the difference between sockets created using .v6 and .any. What exactly does udp46 represent, and how is it different from udp6 in terms of accepting traffic?
Is this expected behavior, or is there something I am missing in how the listeners are set up?
Looking forward to hearing your insights!
Hello everyone,
We have a use case where we need to disable the sending and receiving of fragmented packets on the network while using NWConnection.
However, even after setting the disableFragmentation flag to true, the connection still sends fragmented packets.We’ve tried setting the flag as follows, but the packets are still being fragmented:
var connection : NWConnection
var udp_options : NWProtocolUDP.Optionsudp_options = NWProtocolUDP.Options()
var connection_parameters = NWParameters(dtls: nil, udp: udp_options)
let ip_options = connection_parameters.defaultProtocolStack.internetProtocol! as! NWProtocolIP.Options
ip_options.disableFragmentation = true
connection = NWConnection (host: "XX.XX.XX.***", port: NWEndpoint.Port(25000), using: connection_parameters)
The issue we are encountering is that even though we’ve set disableFragmentation to true on the sender, the receiver still receives fragmented UDP packets. This can be observed using Wireshark, where we are sending a 10k byte data from the sender and receiving the fragmented datagram packets on the receiver end while both the devices are on the same WiFi network. Additionally, Wireshark shows that the packet has the "DF" bit set to '0', indicating that fragmentation is allowed.
What is exactly expected from the disableFragmentation flag? Are we misunderstanding how this flag works? Or is there something else we should be doing to ensure that fragmentation is completely disabled?
Looking forward to your insights!
Hi all,
Very new to this. Just getting into swift data, and am frustrated with the canvas not working with modelContainers in SwiftData. My understanding is that they work if inMemory = true, but not in the default case where data is persistent after an app is quit.
Can anyone tell me if it is possible to conditionally create the modelContainer type based on a flag... If Bool:Canvas then inMemory = True, Else False... Then using this flag for all data models so my list views populate on the canvas, without having to run the simulator each time... I would assume you could also pre-populate the inMemory option if it is empty also...
Or is there a simple and obvious solution that I am oblivious to.
If it is possible, is it worth the time, hassle, and any possible issues?
Hi everyone,
I am working on a 3D reconstruction project.
Recently I have been able to retrieve the intrinsics from the two cameras on the back of my iPhone.
One consideration is that I want this app to run regardless if there is no LiDAR, but at least two cameras on the back. IF there is a LiDAR that is something I have considered to work later on the course of the project.
I am using a AVCaptureSession with the two cameras AVCaptureDevice:
builtInWideAngleCamera
builtInUltraWideCamera
The intrinsic matrices seem to be correct. However, the when I retrieve the extrinsics, e.g., builtInWideAngleCamera w.r.t. builtInUltraWideCamera the matrix I get looks like this:
Extrinsic Matrix (Ultra-Wide to Wide):
[0.9999968, 0.0008149305, -0.0023960583, 0.0]
[-0.0008256607, 0.9999896, -0.0044807075, 0.0]
[0.002392382, 0.0044826716, 0.99998707, 0.0].
[-14.277955, -8.135408e-10, -0.3359985, 0.0]
The extrinsic matrix of the form: [R | t], seems to be correct for the rotational part, but the translational vector is ALL ZEROS. Which suggests that the cameras are physically overlapped as well the last element not being 1 (homogeneous coordinates).
Has anyone encountered this 'issue' before?
Is there a flaw in my reasoning or something I might be missing?
Any comments are very much appreciated.