Extending optionals
Basics article available: OptionalsI love the fact that optionals are enums in Swift - it makes it so easy to extend them with convenience APIs for certain types. Especially useful when doing things like data validation on optional values.
func validateTextFields() -> Bool {
guard !usernameTextField.text.isNilOrEmpty else {
return false
}
...
return true
}
// Since all optionals are actual enum values in Swift, we can easily
// extend them for certain types, to add our own convenience APIs
extension Optional where Wrapped == String {
var isNilOrEmpty: Bool {
switch self {
case let string?:
return string.isEmpty
case nil:
return true
}
}
}
// Since strings are now Collections in Swift 4, you can even
// add this property to all optional collections:
extension Optional where Wrapped: Collection {
var isNilOrEmpty: Bool {
switch self {
case let collection?:
return collection.isEmpty
case nil:
return true
}
}
}