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SwiftUI by Tutorials

Fourth Edition · iOS 15, macOS 12 · Swift 5.5 · Xcode 13.1

Before You Begin

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16. Grids
Written by Bill Morefield

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Several features didn’t make the initial release of SwiftUI. One of the most lamented ones was the lack of a native collection view. This view is so helpful that earlier editions of this book included a chapter that walked through creating a reusable grid view.

The second release of SwiftUI made that chapter obsolete with the addition of a native grid view. In this chapter, you’ll examine and work with grid layouts in SwiftUI.

Building grids the original way

The containers in the original SwiftUI version that let you organize other views shared one thing in common; they work in one dimension. Stacks create horizontal or vertical layouts. Lists create vertical layouts.

You can think of a grid as a set of stacks in one direction wrapped within a stack of the other direction. Because of this, you can create more complex layouts, even with these limitations. You just had to do the work yourself.

Open the starter project and run the app. You’ll see the buttons on the welcome screen now use a new vertical arrangement in a vertical stack.

Mountain Airport app initial screen
Mountain Airport app initial screen

With this new shape, the buttons would work better in a grid. First, you’ll create a grid layout as you would in the initial version of SwiftUI. Open WelcomeView.swift and change the closure of the ScrollView to:

// 1
VStack {
  // 2
  HStack {
    FlightStatusButton(flightInfo: flightInfo)
    Spacer()
    SearchFlightsButton(flightInfo: flightInfo)
  }
  // 3
  HStack {
    AwardsButton()
    // 4
    LastViewedButton(
      flightInfo: flightInfo,
      appEnvironment: appEnvironment,
      showNextFlight: $showNextFlight
    )
  }
  Spacer()
}.font(.title)
.foregroundColor(.white)
.padding()

That’s a lot of code, but focus on the layout views. You’ll see that you’re building a grid by nesting two HStacks inside a VStack.

  1. Using an initial VStack creates the overall vertical layout of the grid.
  2. This HStack builds the first row of the grid. It contains two of the button views separated by a Spacer.
  3. This HStack makes the second row of the grid.
  4. If the user hasn’t viewed a flight, LastViewedButton will be a Spacer to keep the number of elements in the two rows identical.

Run the app, and you’ll see the grid.

Manual Grid
Manual Grid

In the initial release of SwiftUI, this technique was the only way to build a grid. This book’s previous editions included a chapter on creating a generic reusable grid that you can consult if you’d like to see more on this technique. With the second release of SwiftUI, there’s now a native and more flexible option to build a grid. You’ll change the app to use that in the next section.

Creating a fixed column grid

The native SwiftUI grid view builds on the existing LazyHStack and LazyVStack views. As with stacks, there are two grids, one that grows horizontally and one that grows vertically. Change the contents of the ScrollView in WelcomeView.swift to:

// 1
LazyVGrid(
  // 2
  columns: [
    // 3
    GridItem(.fixed(160)),
    GridItem(.fixed(160))
    // 4
  ], spacing: 15
) {
  FlightStatusButton(flightInfo: flightInfo)
  SearchFlightsButton(flightInfo: flightInfo)
  AwardsButton()
  LastViewedButton(
    flightInfo: flightInfo,
    appEnvironment: appEnvironment,
    showNextFlight: $showNextFlight
  )
}.font(.title)
.foregroundColor(.white)
.padding()
Welcome Grid screen
Xisreke Yzoy yltoin

Building flexible grids

A static grid works for many cases, but you have more flexibility when creating columns (or rows) in your grid. A flexible element in a grid lets you specify a range of sizes to constrain a grid while also setting the number of rows or columns in the grid.

Awards screen
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var awardColumns: [GridItem] {
  [GridItem(.flexible(minimum: 150)),
  GridItem(.flexible(minimum: 150))]
}
LazyVGrid(columns: awardColumns) {
  ForEach(awardArray, id: \.self) { award in
    NavigationLink(destination: AwardDetails(award: award)) {
      AwardCardView(award: award)
        .foregroundColor(.black)
        .frame(width: 150, height: 220)
    }
  }
}
Flexible grid screen
Jlonaydu hcit dgvuij

Interacting between views and columns

It’s worth spending a moment exploring how the container view’s size interacts with the settings for columns in the grid. Change the frame for the award card to:

.frame(width: 190, height: 220)
Flexible grid with larger cards
Nmuficdu kcek zayz fivbop zanrj

var awardColumns: [GridItem] {
  [GridItem(.flexible(minimum: 150, maximum: 170)),
  GridItem(.flexible(minimum: 150, maximum: 170))]
}
Award grip clipped
Ozucv lcod ncohkul

AwardCardView(award: award)
  .foregroundColor(.black)
  .aspectRatio(0.67, contentMode: .fit)
Award grid screen
Oxisv myuv jwhaey

Award grid in horizontal mode with 2 columns
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Building adaptive grids

The adaptive grid provides you the most flexible option. Using one tells SwiftUI to fill the space with as many columns or rows as fit in the grid. Change the awardColumns property to:

var awardColumns: [GridItem] {
  [GridItem(.adaptive(minimum: 150, maximum: 170))]
}
Adaptive award grid in vertical
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Adaptive award grid in horizontal
Olehyebi amivh bsab og bijiqoymik

Award grid iPad
Aqujx hdax oKec

Using sections in grids

To help the user understand what award they have yet to receive, you’ll divide the awarded and not-awarded items into separate sections. Add two new computed properties below the awardArray property:

var activeAwards: [AwardInformation] {
  awardArray.filter { $0.awarded }
}

var inactiveAwards: [AwardInformation] {
  awardArray.filter { !$0.awarded }
}
struct AwardGrid: View {
  // 1
  var title: String
  var awards: [AwardInformation]

  var body: some View {
    // 2
    Section(
      // 3
      header: Text(title)
        .font(.title)
        .foregroundColor(.white)
    ) {
      // 4
      ForEach(awards, id: \.self) { award in
        NavigationLink(
          destination: AwardDetails(award: award)) {
          AwardCardView(award: award)
            .foregroundColor(.black)
            .aspectRatio(0.67, contentMode: .fit)
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
LazyVGrid(columns: awardColumns) {
  AwardGrid(
    title: "Awarded",
    awards: activeAwards
  )
  AwardGrid(
    title: "Not Awarded",
    awards: inactiveAwards
  )
}
Award grid finished screen
Ajont xqik kobungon qnsoij

Key points

  • SwiftUI provides two types of grids: LazyVGrid, which grows vertically and LazyHGrid, which grows horizontally.
  • You define columns for a LazyVGrid and rows for a LazyHGrid. A GridItem describes the layout of both types of grids.
  • A fixed grid item lets you specify an exact size for a column or row.
  • A flexible grid item lets you specify a range of sizes while still defining the number of columns.
  • An adaptive grid item can adapt to fill the available space in a view using provided size limits.
  • You can mix different types of grid items in the same row or column.

Where to go from here?

To see more about what creating grids required in the initial release of SwiftUI, see Chapter 20: Complex Interfaces in the second edition of this book.

Have a technical question? Want to report a bug? You can ask questions and report bugs to the book authors in our official book forum here.
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