[swift] What is the purpose of willSet and didSet in Swift?

Swift has a property declaration syntax very similar to C#'s:

var foo: Int {
    get { return getFoo() }
    set { setFoo(newValue) }
}

However, it also has willSet and didSet actions. These are called before and after the setter is called, respectively. What is their purpose, considering that you could just have the same code inside the setter?

NOTE

willSet and didSet observers are not called when a property is set in an initializer before delegation takes place

You can also use the didSet to set the variable to a different value. This does not cause the observer to be called again as stated in Properties guide. For example, it is useful when you want to limit the value as below:

let minValue = 1

var value = 1 {
    didSet {
        if value < minValue {
            value = minValue
        }
    }
}

value = -10 // value is minValue now.

One thing where didSet is really handy is when you use outlets to add additional configuration.

@IBOutlet weak var loginOrSignupButton: UIButton! {
  didSet {
        let title = NSLocalizedString("signup_required_button")
        loginOrSignupButton.setTitle(title, for: .normal)
        loginOrSignupButton.setTitle(title, for: .highlighted)
  }

The willSet and didSet observers for the properties whenever the property is assigned a new value. This is true even if the new value is the same as the current value.

And note that willSet needs a parameter name to work around, on the other hand, didSet does not.

The didSet observer is called after the value of property is updated. It compares against the old value. If the total number of steps has increased, a message is printed to indicate how many new steps have been taken. The didSet observer does not provide a custom parameter name for the old value, and the default name of oldValue is used instead.

My understanding is that set and get are for computed properties (no backing from stored properties)

_{if you are coming from an Objective-C bare in mind that the naming conventions have changed. In Swift an iVar or instance variable is named stored property}

Example 1 (read only property) - with warning:

var test : Int {
    get {
        return test
    }
}

This will result in a warning because this results in a recursive function call (the getter calls itself).The warning in this case is "Attempting to modify 'test' within its own getter".

Example 2. Conditional read/write - with warning

var test : Int {
    get {
        return test
    }
    set (aNewValue) {
        //I've contrived some condition on which this property can be set
        //(prevents same value being set)
        if (aNewValue != test) {
            test = aNewValue
        }
    }
}

Similar problem - you cannot do this as it's recursively calling the setter. Also, note this code will not complain about no initialisers as there is no stored property to initialise.

Example 3. read/write computed property - with backing store

Here is a pattern that allows conditional setting of an actual stored property

//True model data
var _test : Int = 0

var test : Int {
    get {
        return _test
    }
    set (aNewValue) {
        //I've contrived some condition on which this property can be set
        if (aNewValue != test) {
            _test = aNewValue
        }
    }
}

Note The actual data is called _test (although it could be any data or combination of data) Note also the need to provide an initial value (alternatively you need to use an init method) because _test is actually an instance variable

Example 4. Using will and did set

//True model data
var _test : Int = 0 {

    //First this
    willSet {
        println("Old value is \(_test), new value is \(newValue)")
    }

    //value is set

    //Finaly this
    didSet {
        println("Old value is \(oldValue), new value is \(_test)")
    }
}

var test : Int {
    get {
        return _test
    }
    set (aNewValue) {
        //I've contrived some condition on which this property can be set
        if (aNewValue != test) {
            _test = aNewValue
        }
    }
}

Here we see willSet and didSet intercepting a change in an actual stored property. This is useful for sending notifications, synchronisation etc... (see example below)

Example 5. Concrete Example - ViewController Container

//Underlying instance variable (would ideally be private)
var _childVC : UIViewController? {
    willSet {
        //REMOVE OLD VC
        println("Property will set")
        if (_childVC != nil) {
            _childVC!.willMoveToParentViewController(nil)
            self.setOverrideTraitCollection(nil, forChildViewController: _childVC)
            _childVC!.view.removeFromSuperview()
            _childVC!.removeFromParentViewController()
        }
        if (newValue) {
            self.addChildViewController(newValue)
        }

    }

    //I can't see a way to 'stop' the value being set to the same controller - hence the computed property

    didSet {
        //ADD NEW VC
        println("Property did set")
        if (_childVC) {
//                var views  = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings(self.view)    .. NOT YET SUPPORTED (NSDictionary bridging not yet available)

            //Add subviews + constraints
            _childVC!.view.setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints(false)       //For now - until I add my own constraints
            self.view.addSubview(_childVC!.view)
            let views = ["view" : _childVC!.view] as NSMutableDictionary
            let layoutOpts = NSLayoutFormatOptions(0)
            let lc1 : AnyObject[] = NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("|[view]|",  options: layoutOpts, metrics: NSDictionary(), views: views)
            let lc2 : AnyObject[] = NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("V:|[view]|", options: layoutOpts, metrics: NSDictionary(), views: views)
            self.view.addConstraints(lc1)
            self.view.addConstraints(lc2)

            //Forward messages to child
            _childVC!.didMoveToParentViewController(self)
        }
    }
}


//Computed property - this is the property that must be used to prevent setting the same value twice
//unless there is another way of doing this?
var childVC : UIViewController? {
    get {
        return _childVC
    }
    set(suggestedVC) {
        if (suggestedVC != _childVC) {
            _childVC = suggestedVC
        }
    }
}

Note the use of BOTH computed and stored properties. I've used a computed property to prevent setting the same value twice (to avoid bad things happening!); I've used willSet and didSet to forward notifications to viewControllers (see UIViewController documentation and info on viewController containers)

I hope this helps, and please someone shout if I've made a mistake anywhere here!

The many well-written existing answers cover the question well, but I'll mention, in some detail, an addition that I believe is worth covering.

The willSet and didSet property observers can be used to call delegates, e.g., for class properties that are only ever updated by user interaction, but where you want to avoid calling the delegate at object initialization.

I'll cite Klaas up-voted comment to the accepted answer:

willSet and didSet observers are not called when a property is first initialized. They are only called when the property’s value is set outside of an initialization context.

This is a quite neat as it means e.g. the didSet property is a good choice of launch point for delegate callbacks & functions, for your own custom classes.

As an example, consider some custom user control object, with some key property value (e.g. position in rating control), implemented as a subclass of UIView:

// CustomUserControl.swift
protocol CustomUserControlDelegate {
    func didChangeValue(value: Int)
    // func didChangeValue(newValue: Int, oldValue: Int)
    // func didChangeValue(customUserControl: CustomUserControl)
    // ... other more sophisticated delegate functions
}

class CustomUserControl: UIView {

    // Properties
    // ...
    private var value = 0 {
        didSet {
            // Possibly do something ...

            // Call delegate.
            delegate?.didChangeValue(value)
            // delegate?.didChangeValue(value, oldValue: oldValue)
            // delegate?.didChangeValue(self)
        }
    }

    var delegate: CustomUserControlDelegate?

    // Initialization
    required init?(...) { 
        // Initialise something ...

        // E.g. 'value = 1' would not call didSet at this point
    }

    // ... some methods/actions associated with your user control.
}

After which your delegate functions can be used in, say, some view controller to observe key changes in the model for CustomViewController, much like you'd use the inherent delegate functions of the UITextFieldDelegate for UITextField objects (e.g. textFieldDidEndEditing(...)).

For this simple example, use a delegate callback from the didSet of the class property value to tell a view controller that one of it's outlets have had associated model update:

// ViewController.swift
Import UIKit
// ...

class ViewController: UIViewController, CustomUserControlDelegate {

    // Properties
    // ...
    @IBOutlet weak var customUserControl: CustomUserControl!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // ...

        // Custom user control, handle through delegate callbacks.
        customUserControl = self
    }

    // ...

    // CustomUserControlDelegate
    func didChangeValue(value: Int) {
        // do some stuff with 'value' ...
    }

    // func didChangeValue(newValue: Int, oldValue: Int) {
        // do some stuff with new as well as old 'value' ...
        // custom transitions? :)
    //}

    //func didChangeValue(customUserControl: CustomUserControl) {
    //    // Do more advanced stuff ...
    //}
}

Here, the value property has been encapsulated, but generally: in situations like these, be careful not to update the value property of the customUserControl object in the scope of the associated delegate function (here: didChangeValue()) in the view controller, or you'll end up with infinite recursion.

In your own (base) class, willSet and didSet are quite reduntant , as you could instead define a calculated property (i.e get- and set- methods) that access a _propertyVariable and does the desired pre- and post- prosessing.

If, however, you override a class where the property is already defined, then the willSet and didSet are useful and not redundant!

Getter and setter are sometimes too heavy to implement just to observe proper value changes. Usually this needs extra temporary variable handling and extra checks, and you will want to avoid even those tiny labour if you write hundreds of getters and setters. These stuffs are for the situation.

I do not know C#, but with a little guesswork I think I understand what

foo : int {
    get { return getFoo(); }
    set { setFoo(newValue); }
}

does. It looks very similar to what you have in Swift, but it's not the same: in Swift you do not have the getFoo and setFoo. That is not a little difference: it means you do not have any underlying storage for your value.

Swift has stored and computed properties.

A computed property has get and may have set (if it's writable). But the code in the getter and setter, if they need to actually store some data, must do it in other properties. There is no backing storage.

A stored property, on the other hand, does have backing storage. But it does not have get and set. Instead it has willSet and didSet which you can use to observe variable changes and, eventually, trigger side effects and/or modify the stored value. You do not have willSet and didSet for computed properties, and you do not need them because for computed properties you can use the code in set to control changes.

These are called Property Observers:

Property observers observe and respond to changes in a property’s value. Property observers are called every time a property’s value is set, even if the new value is the same as the property’s current value.

Excerpt From: Apple Inc. “The Swift Programming Language.” iBooks. https://itun.es/ca/jEUH0.l

I suspect it's to allow for things we would traditionally do with KVO such as data binding with UI elements, or triggering side effects of changing a property, triggering a sync process, background processing, etc, etc.