In Swift, some APIs such as RxSwift use a technic that confines the code they’re exposing in a dedicated namespace. In this post we will figure out how this is done in the most generic and versatile way.

let myButton = UIButton()
myButton.rx.tap.subscribe(…) // this is a RxCocoa kind of code

Have you ever wondered how is it possible in Swift to write such a line of code ?

This is the .rx. part that seems awkward at first glance, isn’t it ? It acts like some kind of custom namespace.

Is this a variable ?
Is this an inner class ?

We have some clues to figure that out:

As it is accessible via a dot notation. it must be a member of the UIButton class
It as some properties such as tap, so it is a data structure

With these two clues we can try to make our very own namespace.

Step 1: The naive and not so useful approach

In the following examples we will try to add a custom name space to UIButton that exposes a single function hello.

As the namespace must be a data structure, let’s try with a Swift struct:

struct ButtonNameSpace {
    func hello () {
        print ("Hello")
    }
}

So far so good. Since the namespace should be a member of UIButton, we will add it as a computed property:

extension UIButton {
    var nameSpace: ButtonNameSpace {
        return ButtonNameSpace()
    }
}

Now, we can use it like that:

let myButton = UIButton()
myButton.nameSpace.hello()

The result of this call will be: “Hello”.

What can this be used for ? Nothing interesting I would say because in the namespace we cannot access the UIButton properties and functions. We will only do some UIButton external stuff, it would be great to add some context to our namespace.

Step 2: The useful approach

In order to access the UIButton properties and functions, we have to give a reference on this button to the data structure used for the namespace.

struct ButtonNameSpace {
    private let button: UIButton

    init(with button: UIButton) {
        self.button = button
    }

    func hello () {
        let title = self.button.title(for: .normal) ?? ""
        print ("Hello \(title)")
    }
}

The ButtonNameSpace struct holds a reference on the UIButton that creates it.

We still add a computed property to UIButton, and when the ButtonNameSpace is created, we pass a reference to the button itself. We can now access the button properties, such as the title.

extension UIButton {
    var nameSpace: ButtonNameSpace {
        return ButtonNameSpace(with: self)
    }
}

We can still use it like that:

let myButton = UIButton()
myButton.setTitle("My button", for: .normal)
myButton.nameSpace.hello()

The result of this call will be: “Hello My Button”. The namespace makes a lot more sense here as it is related to the object within which it is created.

What if we had to write a namespace for UIImage for instance ? In the actual approach we should declare a ImageNameSpace struct as well.

Actually the true goal of such a struct is to hold a reference on the object in which it is created. It sounds like generics could be involved in this ? No ?

Step 3: The best approach

The answer is YES. This struct MUST be generic.

struct MyNameSpace<Base> {
    private let base: Base

    init(with base: Base) {
        self.base = base
    }
}

As we can see, the only purpose of this struct is to hold a reference on something that is given as an init parameter so that we can access it in further calls.

Now, we can use something really great in Swift: conditional extensions. It will allow us to add features to this struct only and only if Base matches the type we want. For instance, if Base is a UIButton we add a Hello function that will perform the same stuff than the old ButtonNameSpace:

extension MyNameSpace where Base: UIButton {
    func hello () {
        let title = self.base.title(for: .normal) ?? ""
        print ("Hello \(title)")
    }
}

Instead of accessing self.button.title, we can access self.base.title as we know that base is a UIButton for sure. We can add a computed property to UIButton by taking care of the name space genericity.

extension UIButton {
    var myNameSpace: MyNameSpace<UIButton> {
        return MyNameSpace(with: self)
    }
}

The usage and the result are still the same.

let myButton = UIButton()
myButton.setTitle("My button", for: .normal)
myButton.myNameSpace.hello()

Let’s get back to the UIImage case. It is no more necessary to define a dedicated namespace struct, we can use our generic one combined to a new conditional extension.

extension UIImage {
    var myNameSpace: MyNameSpace<UIImage> {
        return MyNameSpace(with: self)
    }
}

extension MyNameSpace where Base: UIImage {
    func hello () {
        let title = self.base.accessibilityHint ?? ""
        print ("Hello \(title)")
    }
}

let myImage = UIImage()
myImage.accessibilityHint = "My Image"
myImage.myNameSpace.hello()

In fact this is exactly the way RxSwift has implemented the rx name space as we can see here: Reactive.swift

Hope this helps.

Stay tuned.

Versatile Namespace.

Step 1: The naive and not so useful approach

Step 2: The useful approach

Step 3: The best approach