How do you create custom notifications in Swift 3?

Question

In Objective-C, a custom notification is just a plain NSString, but it's not obvious in the WWDC version of Swift 3 just what it should be.

Answer 1

I did my own implementation mixing things from there and there, and find this as the most convenient. Sharing for who any that might be interested:

public extension Notification {
    public class MyApp {
        public static let Something = Notification.Name("Notification.MyApp.Something")
    }
}

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                               selector: #selector(self.onSomethingChange(notification:)),
                                               name: Notification.MyApp.Something,
                                               object: nil)
    }

    deinit {
        NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self)
    }

    @IBAction func btnTapped(_ sender: UIButton) {
        NotificationCenter.default.post(name: Notification.MyApp.Something,
                                      object: self,
                                    userInfo: [Notification.MyApp.Something:"foo"])
    }

    func onSomethingChange(notification:NSNotification) {
        print("notification received")
        let userInfo = notification.userInfo!
        let key = Notification.MyApp.Something 
        let something = userInfo[key]! as! String //Yes, this works :)
        print(something)
    }
}

Answer 2

Easier way:

let name:NSNotification.Name = NSNotification.Name("notificationName")
NotificationCenter.default.post(name: name, object: nil)

Answer 3

This is just reference

// Add observer:
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
    selector: #selector(notificationCallback),
    name: MyClass.myNotification,
    object: nil)

    // Post notification:
    let userInfo = ["foo": 1, "bar": "baz"] as [String: Any]
    NotificationCenter.default.post(name: MyClass.myNotification,
        object: nil,
        userInfo: userInfo)

Answer 4

You can add a custom initializer to NSNotification.Name

extension NSNotification.Name {
    enum Notifications: String {
        case foo, bar
    }
    init(_ value: Notifications) {
        self = NSNotification.Name(value.rawValue)
    }
}

Usage:

NotificationCenter.default.post(name: Notification.Name(.foo), object: nil)

Answer 5

The advantage of using enums is that we get the compiler to check that the name is correct. Reduces potential issues and makes refactoring easier.

For those who like using enums instead of quoted strings for notification names, this code does the trick:

enum MyNotification: String {
    case somethingHappened
    case somethingElseHappened
    case anotherNotification
    case oneMore
}

extension NotificationCenter {
    func add(observer: Any, selector: Selector, 
             notification: MyNotification, object: Any? = nil) {
        addObserver(observer, selector: selector, 
                    name: Notification.Name(notification.rawValue),
                    object: object)
    }
    func post(notification: MyNotification, 
              object: Any? = nil, userInfo: [AnyHashable: Any]? = nil) {
        post(name: NSNotification.Name(rawValue: notification.rawValue), 
             object: object, userInfo: userInfo)
    }
}

Then you can use it like this:

NotificationCenter.default.post(.somethingHappened)

Though unrelated to the question, the same can be done with storyboard segues, to avoid typing quoted strings:

enum StoryboardSegue: String {
    case toHere
    case toThere
    case unwindToX
}

extension UIViewController {
    func perform(segue: StoryboardSegue) {
        performSegue(withIdentifier: segue.rawValue, sender: self)
    }
}

Then, on your view controller, call it like:

perform(segue: .unwindToX)

Answer 6

There is a cleaner (I think) way to achieve it

extension Notification.Name {

    static let onSelectedSkin = Notification.Name("on-selected-skin")
}

And then you can use it like this

NotificationCenter.default.post(name: .onSelectedSkin, object: selectedSkin)