Apexy
The library for organizing a network layer in a project.
- Separate the objects to work with the network in a separate module, target or library, so that they are isolated in their
namespace
. - Break down requests into separate structures. Classes are not forbidden, but make them non-mutable. Use
enum
if different requests have the same response.
Installation
CocoaPods
To integrate Apexy into your Xcode project using CocoaPods, specify it in your Podfile.
If you want to use Apexy with Alamofire:
pod 'Apexy'
If you want to use Apexy without Alamofire:
pod 'Apexy/URLSession'
If you want to use ApexyLoader:
pod 'Apexy/Loader'
Swift Package Manager
If you have Xcode project, open it and select File → Swift Packages → Add package Dependency and paste Apexy repository URL:
https://github.com/RedMadRobot/apexy-ios
There are 3 package products: Apexy, ApexyAlamofire, ApexyLoader.
Apexy — Uses URLSession under the hood
ApexyAlamofire — Uses Alamofire under the hood
ApexyLoader — add-on for Apexy to store fetched data in memory and observe loading state. See the documentation for details ApexyLoader:
If you have your own Swift package, add Apexy as a dependency to the dependencies value of your Package.swift.
dependencies: [
.package(url: "https://github.com/RedMadRobot/apexy-ios.git")
]
Endpoint
Endpoint
- one of the basic protocols for organizing work with REST API. It is a set of request and response processing.
Must not be mutable.
- Creates
URLRequest
for sending the request. - Validates a server response for API errors.
- Converts a server response to the right type (
Data
,String
,Decodable
).
public struct Book: Codable, Identifiable {
public let id: String
public let name: String
}
public struct BookEndpoint: Endpoint {
public typealias Content = Book
public let id: Book.ID
public init(id: Book.ID) {
self.id = id
}
public func makeRequest() throws -> URLRequest {
let url = URL(string: "books")!.appendingPathComponent(id)
return URLRequest(url: url)
}
public func validate(_ response: URLResponse?, with body: Data) throws {
// TODO: check API / HTTP error
}
public func content(from response: URLResponse?, with body: Data) throws -> Content {
return try JSONDecoder().decode(Content.self, from: body)
}
}
let client = Client ...
let endpoint = BookEndpoint(id: "1")
client.request(endpoint) { (result: Result<Book, Error>)
print(result)
}
Client
Client
- an object with only one method for executing Endpoint
.
- It's easy to mock, because it has only one method.
- It's easy to send several
Endpoint
. - Easily wraps into decorators or adapters. For example, you can wrap in
Combine
and you don't have to make wrappers for each request.
The separation into Client
and Endpoint
allows you to separate the asynchronous code in Client
from the synchronous code in Endpoint
. Thus, the side effects are isolated in Client
, and the pure functions in the non-mutable Endpoint
.
Getting Started
Since most requests will receive JSON, it is necessary to make basic protocols at the module level. They will contain common requests logic for a specific API.
JsonEndpoint
- basic protocol for requests waiting for JSON in the response body.
public protocol JsonEndpoint: Endpoint where Content: Decodable {}
extension JsonEndpoint {
public func validate(_ response: URLResponse?, with body: Data) throws {
// TODO: check API / HTTP error
}
public func content(from response: URLResponse?, with body: Data) throws -> Content {
return try JSONDecoder().decode(Content.self, from: body)
}
}
VoidEndpoint
basic protocol for requests not waiting for a response body.
public protocol VoidEndpoint: Endpoint where Content == Void {}
extension VoidEndpoint {
public func validate(_ response: URLResponse?, with body: Data) throws {
// TODO: check API / HTTP error
}
public func content(from response: URLResponse?, with body: Data) throws {}
}
BookListEndpoint
- get a list of books.
public struct BookListEndpoint: JsonEndpoint, URLRequestBuildable {
public typealias Content = [Book]
public func makeRequest() throws -> URLRequest {
return get(URL(string: "books")!)
}
}
BookEndpoint
- get a book by ID
.
public struct BookEndpoint: JsonEndpoint, URLRequestBuildable {
public typealias Content = Book
public let id: Book.ID
public init(id: Book.ID) {
self.id = id
}
public func makeRequest() throws -> URLRequest {
let url = URL(string: "books")!.appendingPathComponent(id)
return get(url)
}
}
UpdateBookEndpoint
- update a book.
public struct UpdateBookEndpoint: JsonEndpoint, URLRequestBuildable {
public typealias Content = Book
public let Book: Book
public func makeRequest() throws -> URLRequest {
let url = URL(string: "books")!.appendingPathComponent(Book.id)
return put(url, body: .json(try JSONEncoder().encode("Book")))
}
}
For the convenience of
URLRequest
building you can use functions fromHTTP
.
DeleteBookEndpoint
- delete a book by ID
.
public struct DeleteBookEndpoint: VoidEndpoint, URLRequestBuildable {
public let id: Book.ID
public init(id: Book.ID) {
self.id = id
}
public func makeRequest() throws -> URLRequest {
let url = URL(string: "books")!.appendingPathComponent(id)
return delete(url)
}
}
Sending a large amount of data to the server
You can use UploadEndpoint
to send files or large amounts of data. In the makeRequest()
method you need to return URLRequest
and the data you are uploading, it can be a file .file(URL)
, a data .data(Data)
or a stream .stream(InputStream)
. To execute the request, call the Client.upload(endpoint: completionHandler:)
method. Use Progress
object to track the progress of the data upload or cancel the request.
public struct FileUploadEndpoint: UploadEndpoint {
public typealias Content = Void
private let fileUrl: URL
init(fileUrl: URL) {
self.fileUrl = fileUrl
}
public func content(from response: URLResponse?, with body: Data) throws {
// ...
}
public func makeRequest() throws -> (URLRequest, UploadEndpointBody) {
var request = URLRequest(url: URL(string: "upload")!)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.setValue("application/octet-stream", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")
return (request, .file(fileUrl))
}
}
Network Layer Organization
If your application is called Household
, the network module will be called HouseholdAPI
.
Split the network layer into folders:
Model
a folder with network-level models. That's what we send to the server and what we get in the response.Endpoint
a folder with requests.Common
a folder with common helpers e.g.APIError
.
The final file and folder structure
- Household
- HouseholdAPI
- Model
- Book
- Endpoint
JsonEndpoint
VoidEndpoint
- Book
BookListEndpoint
BookEndpoint
UpdateBookEndpoint
DeleteBookEndpoint
- Common
APIError
- Model
- HouseholdAPITests
- Endpoint
Book
BookListEndpointTests
BookEndpointTests
UpdateBookEndpointTests
DeleteBookEndpointTests
- Endpoint
Requirements
- iOS 11.0+ / macOS 10.13+ / tvOS 11.0+ / watchOS 4.0+
- Xcode 12+
- Swift 5.3+