Passing functions as parameters in Swift

Question

I have the following function working as I expect, in iOS 8:

func showConfirmBox(msg:String, title:String,
    firstBtnStr:String,
    secondBtnStr:String,
    c         


        

Answer 1

I wrote this routine based on various site examples. Here is how I call the routine...

@IBAction func buttonClick(_ sender: Any) {
    SS_Alert.createAlert(parmTitle: "Choose", parmMessage: "Please select Yes or No", parmOptions: ["Yes","No","Cancel"], parmFunctions: [testYes, testNo, nil])
}

func testYes() {
    print("yes")
}

func testNo() {
    print("no")
}

You can pass in button options and the functions to performed when the buttons are selected. Took a little time to figure out how to pass functions as parameters, but appears to work fine now. I did encounter a strange problem trying to use loops to dynamically add buttons, and finally gave up and used a switch/case. I included the loop code I tried to use, if someone can figure out what I was doing wrong let me know. Thanks.

https://github.com/blakeguitar/iOS/blob/0e243d13cb2decd6e1dbe134a8a046c2caed3876/SS_Alert.swift

Answer 2

Oneword answer for your question is Closures

The Default Syntax for closures is () -> ()

Instead of Selector you could directly mention the method definition

func showConfirmBox(msg:String, title:String,
    firstBtnStr:String, firstSelector:(sampleParameter: String) -> returntype,
    secondBtnStr:String, secondSelector:() -> returntype,
    caller:UIViewController) {
    //Your Code
}

But using this will create readability problems so i suggest you to use typeAlias

typealias MethodHandler1 = (sampleParameter : String)  -> Void
typealias MethodHandler2 = ()  -> Void

func showConfirmBox(msg:String, title:String,
                    firstBtnStr:String, firstSelector:MethodHandler1,
                    secondBtnStr:String, secondSelector:MethodHandler2) {

    // After any asynchronous call
    // Call any of your closures based on your logic like this
    firstSelector("FirstButtonString")
    secondSelector()
}

You can call your method like this

func anyMethod() {
   //Some other logic 

   showConfirmBox(msg: "msg", title: "title", firstBtnStr: "btnString", 
         firstSelector: { (firstSelectorString) in
              print(firstSelectorString) //this prints FirstButtonString
         }, 
         secondBtnStr: "btnstring") { 
           //Invocation comes here after secondSelector is called

         }
}

Answer 3

Just in case anyone else stumbles upon this. I worked out an updated simple solution for Swift 5.1 while I was working through this for while building a global alert utility for a project.

Swift 5.1

Function with Closure:

func showSheetAlertWithOneAction(messageText: String, dismissButtonText: String, actionButtonText : String, presentingView : NSWindow, actionButtonClosure: @escaping () -> Void) {
        let alert = NSAlert()
        alert.messageText = messageText
        alert.addButton(withTitle: actionButtonText)
        alert.addButton(withTitle: dismissButtonText)
        alert.beginSheetModal(for: presentingView) { (response) in
            if response == .alertFirstButtonReturn {
                actionButtonClosure()
            }
        }
    }

Function Called:

showSheetAlertWithOneAction(messageText: "Here's a message", dismissButtonText: "Nope", actionButtonText: "Okay", presentingView: self.view.window!) {
                                            someFunction()
                                }

Answer 4

Adding to got2jam's answer... If you're working with UIAlertController

The generic function to show an alert with closure:

func showAlertAction(title: String, message: String, actionClosure: @escaping () -> Void){
  let alertController = UIAlertController(title: title, message: message, preferredStyle: .alert)
  alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Ok", style: UIAlertAction.Style.default, handler: {(action: UIAlertAction!) in actionClosure()}))
  self.present(alertController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}

Now you can call it like that:

showAlertAction(title: "This is the title", message: "This is the message") {
   self.close()
}

in this case, close is the particular UIAlertAction to execute

func close(){
  dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
}