WWDC gave us many causes to each migrate libraries to SwiftPM and to develop new ones to assist our work. The combination between Xcode growth and SwiftPM dependencies retains rising stronger and extra essential.
Apple’s Enhancing a Package deal Dependency as a Native Package deal assumes you’ll drag in your bundle to an Xcode challenge as a neighborhood bundle overrides one which’s imported by means of a standard bundle dependency.
In Creating a Swift Package deal in Tandem with an App, Apple writes, “To develop a Swift bundle in tandem with an app, you’ll be able to leverage the habits whereby a neighborhood bundle overrides a bundle dependency with the identical identify…in case you launch a brand new model of your Swift bundle or wish to cease utilizing the native bundle, take away it from the challenge to make use of the bundle dependency once more.”
I don’t use this strategy. It’s not dangerous or flawed, it simply doesn’t match my fashion.
However, opening the Package deal.swift file on to develop has drawbacks in that it doesn’t absolutely provide Xcode’s suite of IDE assist options but.
So I’ve been engaged on a private resolution that greatest works for me. I need my bundle growth and its exams to stay individually from any particular shopper app outdoors a testbed. I would like to make sure that my code will swift construct and swift check correctly however I additionally wish to use Xcode’s built-in compilation and unit testing with my completely satisfied inexperienced checks.
I set out to determine how greatest, at the very least for me, to develop Swift packages below the xcodeproj umbrella.
I first explored swift bundle generate-xcodeproj. This builds an Xcode library challenge full with exams and a bundle goal. You need to use the --type flag to set the bundle to executable, system-module, or manifest as an alternative of the default (library) throughout swift bundle init:
Generate% swift bundle init Creating library bundle: Generate Creating Package deal.swift Creating README.md Creating .gitignore Creating Sources/ Creating Sources/Generate/Generate.swift Creating Checks/ Creating Checks/LinuxMain.swift Creating Checks/GenerateTests/ Creating Checks/GenerateTests/GenerateTests.swift Creating Checks/GenerateTests/XCTestManifests.swift Generate% swift bundle generate-xcodeproj generated: ./Generate.xcodeproj
Though SwiftPM creates a .gitignore file for you as you see, it doesn’t initialize a git repository. Additionally, I all the time find yourself deleting the .gitignore as I take advantage of a personalized world ignore file. That is what the ensuing challenge seems like:
As you see, the generated Xcode challenge has the whole lot however a testbed for you. I actually like having an on-hand testbed, whether or not a easy SwiftUI app or a command line utility to play with concepts. I appeared into utilizing a playground however let’s face it: too sluggish, too glitchy, too unreliable.
It’s a ache so as to add a testbed to this set-up, so I got here up with a special method to construct my base bundle atmosphere. It’s hacky however I a lot favor the result. As a substitute of producing the challenge, I begin with a testbed challenge after which create my bundle. This strategy naturally packs a pattern with the bundle however none of that pattern leaks into the bundle itself:
I find yourself with three targets: the pattern app, a library constructed from my Sources, and my exams. The library folder you see right here incorporates solely an Data.plist and a bridging header. It in any other case builds from no matter Sources I’ve added.
I a lot favor this set-up to the generate-xcodeproj strategy, though it takes barely longer to set-up. The explanation for that is that SwiftPM and Xcode use completely different philosophies for a way a challenge folder is structured. SwiftPM has its Sources and Checks. Xcode makes use of a supply folder named after the challenge.
So I take away that folder, add a Sources group to the challenge, and make sure that my construct phases sees and compiles these information. The Checks want comparable tweaks, plus I’ve so as to add a symbolic hyperlink from Xcode’s exams identify (e.g. “ProjectNameChecks”) to my SwiftPM Checks folder on the high degree of my challenge to get it to all dangle collectively. As soon as I’ve completed so my inexperienced checks are prepared and ready simply as if I had opened the Package deal.swift file straight. However this time, I’ve all the correct instruments at hand.
Since I’m speaking about set-up, let me add that my duties additionally embody organising the README, including a license and creating the preliminary change log. These are SwiftPM setup duties that swift bundle init doesn’t cowl the best way I like. I trash .gitignore however since I’ve Xcode set-up to mechanically initialize model management, I don’t should git init by hand.
I believe this can be a short-term workaround as I anticipate the mixing of SwiftPM and Xcode to proceed rising over the subsequent couple of years. Since WWDC, I’ve been significantly enthusiastic about creating, deploying, and integrating SwiftPM packages. I believed I’d share this in case it’d assist others. Let me know.
