Retain is an object lifecycle helper that provides a simple way to control object retaining and observing it

To run the example project, clone the repo, and run pod install from the Example directory first.

• Swift 5.5 or higher
• iOS 13.0 or higher
• MacOS 10.15 or higher
• TVOS 13.0 or higher
• WatchOS 8.0 or higher
• XCode 13 or higher

Retain is available through CocoaPods. To install it, simply add the following line to your Podfile:

pod 'Retain', '~> 1.0.2'

• Add it using XCode menu File > Swift Package > Add Package Dependency
• Add https://github.com/hainayanda/Retain.git as Swift Package URL
• Set rules at version, with Up to Next Major option and put 1.0.2 as its version
• Click next and wait

Add as your target dependency in Package.swift

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/hainayanda/Retain.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "1.0.2"))
]

Use it in your target as a Retain

 .target(
    name: "MyModule",
    dependencies: ["Retain"]
)

hainayanda, [email protected]

Retain is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.

You can observe object deallocation very easily by using the global function whenDeallocate(for:do:):

let cancellable = whenDeallocate(for: myObject) {
    print("myObject is deallocated")
}

It will produce Combine's AnyCancellable and the closure will be called whenever the object is being deallocated by ARC.

If you prefer to get the underlying publisher instead, use deallocatePublisher(of:):

let myObjectDeallocationPublisher: AnyPublisher<Void, Never> = deallocatePublisher(of: myObject)

there's one protocol named DeallocateObservable that can expose the global function as a method so it can be used directly from the object itself:

class MyObject: DeallocateObservable { 
    ...
    ...
}

so then you can do this to the object:

// get the publisher
let myObjectDeallocationPublisher: AnyPublisher<Void, Never> = myObject.deallocatePublisher

// listen to the deallocation
let cancellable = myObject.whenDeallocate {
    print("myObject is deallocated")
}

There's a propertyWrapper that enables DeallocateObservable behavior without implementing one named WeakSubject:

@WeakSubject var myObject: MyObject?

this propertyWrapper will store the object in a weak variable and can be observed like DeallocateObservable by accessing its projectedValue:

// get the publisher
let deallocationPublisher: AnyPublisher<Void, Never> = $myObject.deallocatePublisher

// listen to the deallocation
let cancellable = $myObject.whenDeallocate {
    print("current value in myObject propertyWrapper is deallocated")
}

It will always emit an event for as many objects assigned to this propertyWrapper as long the object is deallocated when still in this propertyWrapper.

RetainableSubject is very similar to WeakSubject. The only difference is, we can control whether this propertyWrapper will retain the object strongly or weak:

@RetainableSubject var myObject: MyObject?

to change the state of the propertyWrapper retain state, just access the projectedValue:

// make weak
$myObject.state = .weak
$myObject.makeWeak()

// make strong
$myObject.state = .strong
$myObject.makeStrong()

Since RetainableSubject is DeallocateObservable too, you can do something similar with WeakSubject:

// get the publisher
let deallocationPublisher: AnyPublisher<Void, Never> = $myObject.deallocatePublisher

// listen to the deallocation
let cancellable = $myObject.whenDeallocate {
    print("current value in myObject propertyWrapper is deallocated")
}

You know how, just clone and do a pull request