Introduction

RxSwift is a framework that enables reactive programming in iOS apps. It enables developers to write code that more intuitively and efficiently responds to changes in data and events. RxSwift is built on top of the ReactiveX framework, which is a cross-platform reactive programming implementation.

RxSwift advantages

RxSwift offers several advantages to developers, including:

• Using a declarative programming model to simplify asynchronous programming.
• Reducing code complexity by eliminating callbacks and boilerplate code.
• Increasing code composability by allowing developers to easily chain operations together.
• Providing a unified method of handling events and data across multiple platforms and languages.

Two important concepts: Observable and Observer

The Observer and Observable are the two most important concepts in RxSwift.

Observables

Observables generate events or data, which observers receive and respond to. This is similar to the observer pattern, which is a popular design pattern in software development.

These events can contain any type of data, including integers, strings, and custom objects. Observables can be created in a variety of ways, including converting existing asynchronous APIs, creating custom observables, and transforming existing observables with operators.

Observer

An Observer is a type of object that can receive and respond to observable events. Observers in RxSwift are typically closures or functions that receive an event or data and perform some type of action in response. An observable can emit various types of events, including next events, error events, and completion events.

Let’s see an example

Let’s look at an example of creating an Observable and Observer with RxSwift. In this example, we’ll make an Observable that emits a random number every second, as well as an Observer that prints that number to the console.

import RxSwift
import RxCocoa

let disposeBag = DisposeBag()

let observable = Observable<Int>.interval(.seconds(1), scheduler: MainScheduler.instance)
    .map { _ in Int.random(in: 1...100) }

observable.subscribe(onNext: { number in
    print(number)
}).disposed(by: disposeBag)

First of all, we import the RxSwift and RxCocoa frameworks in this code and create a dispose bag to manage the subscription. The interval operator is then used to create an Observable that emits a new event every second. We also employ the map operator to convert the emitted events into random integers ranging from 1 to 100.

The subscribe method is then used to subscribe to the Observable. This includes a closure that is called whenever the Observable emits a new event. In this case, the random number is printed to the console. Finally, we dispose of the subscription by using the disposed method.

Code elements

Let’s se now in detail those elements:

• Observable. In this example, an Observable of type is generated. The type of data that will be emitted by the observable is specified by the generic parameter , so the observable will output integers in this case.

• interval. This operator from RxSwift generates an Observable that emits a new event every predetermined amount of time (1 second in the example).

• map. This is yet another operator offered by RxSwift that enables to modify the events that an observable emits. In the example, we utilize it to generate random integers between 1 and 100 from the emitted events.

• subscribe. This RxSwift method enables to subscribe to an Observable and get the events that it emits. In the example, we pass in a closure that will be called each time a new event is emitted and subscribe to the Observable.

• onNext. An Observable can emit this kind of event, and it represents a subsequent event that contains the Observable’s subsequent value. The random number is printed to the console using it in the example.

• disposeBag. This is an object that RxSwift makes available and which controls Observable subscriptions. A subscription can be disposed of when it is no longer required by using the disposed(by:) method on the dispose bag. In the example, we manage the subscription to the Observable we generated using the dispose bag.

Conclusion

In this post, we focused on the Observer and Observable concepts as the foundation in order to use RxSwift in app development. RxSwift offers an effective and adaptable method for managing event-based data and asynchronous programming in iOS apps.