Spm and nested frameworks


My notes on Swift package manager + XCode + Nested frameworks

Pretext

Lets make an awesome HackerNewsApp in 2 days. For that you need to be modular and re-use other peoples code. We need AlamoFire for http, SwiftJSON for json and Element for GUI.

Nested frameworks

The chain of dependencies looks like this: Its only 3 level deep: (It can go deeper if needed)

img

Manifest

Inside your Package.swift file you write this:

import PackageDescription
let package = Package(
    name: "HackerNews",
	dependencies: [
		/*Downloads Element + swift-utils*/
		.Package(url: "https://github.com/eonist/Element.git", Version(0, 0, 0, prereleaseIdentifiers: ["alpha", "5"])),
		/*Downloads AlamoFire*/
		.Package(url: "https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire.git",MajorVersion:4,minor:3),
		/*Downloads SwiftyJSON*/
		.Package(url: "https://github.com/SwiftyJSON/SwiftyJSON.git",MajorVersion:3,minor:1)
    ]
)

Where is the swift-utils dependency you might ask? When you download Element SPM will also look inside a Package.swift file that is in the Element repo on github. And automatically start downloading the swift-utils dependency.

Workflow

  1. Terminal: cd dev/HackerNews
  2. Terminal: swift package init ๐Ÿ‘ˆ Creates boilerplate Package.swift etc
  3. Replace the content inside HackerNews/Package.swift with the code written in the Manifest paragraph
  4. Terminal: swift build ๐Ÿ‘ˆ Downloads and builds all the dependencies.
  5. Terminal: swift package generate-xcodeproj ๐Ÿ‘ˆ Creates .xcodeproj
  6. Follow my Tutorial on how to Create an SPM App project from a SPM created .xcodeproj file
  7. Once you have your first โ€œHello worldโ€ going. Start adding some innovative UX ideas to your App project.
  8. Need to update dependencies or add new ones? Just edit your Package.swift file and Terminal: swift build
  9. To add your app project to Github all you do is make a new project on github.com and add a .gitignore file that ignores /.build, /Tests,/ Packages and .xcodeproj. Then you can stay in-sync with other team-members etc.

Final word

I would love to include some HackNewsApp Example code. And I plan to. Until then you have to figure out how to use AlamoFire, Element and SwiftyJSON your self. At least now you have a basic foundation on how to start making Apps with SPM.

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