I've been working on an iOS application in Swift (much of it being moved from Objective-C). I'm using Core Data and trying to use extensions to add functionality to classes auto-generated from my model. One thing I readily did in Objective-C was to add a method in a category on class A and override that method in a category on class B (which derived from A), and I was hoping to do the same in Swift.
For a while now I've had the following code in my project (and this is just one example), and though I have not used the functionality yet, the compiler has worked just fine compiling this code:
// From CellType.swift -- NOTE: Imports from Foundation and CoreData
@objc(CellType)
class CellType: NSManagedObject {
@NSManaged var maxUses: NSNumber
@NSManaged var useCount: NSNumber
// Other properties removed for brevity
}
// From SwitchCellType.swift -- NOTE: Imports from Foundation and CoreData
@objc(SwitchCellType)
class SwitchCellType: CellType {
@NSManaged var targetCellXIndex: NSNumber
@NSManaged var targetCellYIndex: NSNumber
@NSManaged var targetCellType: CellType
// Other properties removed for brevity
}
// From CellTypeLogic.swift -- NOTE: Imports from Foundation and CoreData
extension CellType
{
var typeLabel : String { get { return "Empty"; } }
func isEqualToType(otherCellType : CellType) -> Bool
{
return (self.typeLabel == otherCellType.typeLabel &&
self.maxUses.isEqualToNumber(otherCellType.maxUses) &&
self.useCount.isEqualToNumber(otherCellType.useCount));
}
// Code removed for brevity
}
// From SwitchCellTypeLogic.swift -- NOTE: Imports from Foundation and CoreData
extension SwitchCellType // YES, this compiles with the overrides!
{
override var typeLabel : String { get { return "Switch"; } }
override func isEqualToType(otherCellType : CellType) -> Bool
{
var answer = false;
if let otherSwitchCellType = otherCellType as? SwitchCellType
{
answer = super.isEqualToType(otherCellType) &&
self.targetCellXIndex.isEqualToNumber(otherSwitchCellType.targetCellXIndex) &&
self.targetCellYIndex.isEqualToNumber(otherSwitchCellType.targetCellYIndex) &&
self.targetCellType.isEqualToType(otherSwitchCellType.targetCellType);
}
return answer;
}
// Code removed for brevity
}
class A
{
}
class B : A
{
}
extension A
{
var y : String { get { return "YinA"; } }
}
extension B
{
override var y : String { get { return "YinB"; } } // Compiler error (see below) -- What??
}
class A : NSObject { }
class B : A { }
class SubNSObject : NSObject {}
class NotSubbed {}
enum SomeEnum { case c1, c2; }
extension A
{
var y : String { get { return "YinA"; } }
func f() -> A { return A(); }
func g(val: SubNSObject, test: Bool = false) { }
func h(val: NotSubbed, test: Bool = false) { }
func j(val: SomeEnum) { }
func k(val: SubNSObject, inout test: Bool) { }
}
extension B
{
// THESE OVERIDES DO COMPILE:
override var y : String { get { return "YinB"; } }
override func f() -> A { return A(); }
override func g(val: SubNSObject, test: Bool) { }
// THESE OVERIDES DO NOT COMPILE:
//override func h(val: NotSubbed, test: Bool = false) { }
//override func j(val: SomeEnum) { }
//override func k(val: SubNSObject, inout test: Bool) { }
}
It seems that overriding methods and properties in an extension works with the current Swift (Swift 1.1/Xcode 6.1) only for Objective-C compatible methods and properties.
If a class is derived from NSObject
then all its members are automatically available
in Objective-C (if possible, see below). So with
class A : NSObject { }
your example code compiles and works as expected. Your Code Data extension overrides
work because NSManagedObject
is a subclass of NSObject
.
Alternatively, you can use the @objc attribute for a method or property:
class A { }
class B : A { }
extension A
{
@objc var y : String { get { return "YinA" } }
}
extension B
{
@objc override var y : String { get { return "YinB" } }
}
Methods which are not representable in Objective-C cannot be marked with @objc
and cannot be overridden in a subclass extension. That applies for example to
methods having inout
parameters or parameters of an enum
type.