In iOS 16, SwiftUI comes with a brand new view referred to as ShareLink
. When customers faucet on the share hyperlink, it presents a share sheet for customers to share content material to different functions or copy the information for later use.
The ShareLink
view is designed to share any varieties of knowledge. On this tutorial, we’ll present you use ShareLink
to let customers share textual content, URL, and pictures.
Fundamental Utilization of ShareLink
Let’s start with an instance. To create a share hyperlink for sharing a URL, you possibly can write the code like this:
var physique: some View
VStack
ShareLink(merchandise: url)
struct ContentView: View personal let url = URL(string: “https://www.appcoda.com”)!
var physique: some View VStack ShareLink(merchandise: url)
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SwiftUI robotically renders a Share button with a small icon.

When tapped, iOS brings up a share sheet for customers to carry out additional actions similar to copy and including the hyperlink to Reminders.

To share textual content, as an alternative of URL, you possibly can merely cross the a string to the merchandise
parameter.
ShareLink(merchandise: “Try this new characteristic on iOS 16”) |
Customizing the Look of Share Hyperlink
To customise the looks of the hyperlink, you possibly can present the view content material within the closure like this:
ShareLink(merchandise: url) Picture(systemName: “sq..and.arrow.up”)
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On this case, SwiftUI solely shows the share icon for the hyperlink.

Alternatively, you possibly can current a label with a system picture or customized picture:
ShareLink(merchandise: url) Label(“Faucet me to share”, systemImage: “sq..and.arrow.up”)
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When initializing the ShareLink
occasion, you possibly can embody two further parameters to offer further details about the shared merchandise:
ShareLink(merchandise: url, topic: Textual content(“Try this hyperlink”), message: Textual content(“If you wish to study Swift, check out this web site.”)) Picture(systemName: “sq..and.arrow.up”)
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The topic
parameter permits you to embody a title concerning the URL or any merchandise to share. The message
parameter lets you specify the outline of the merchandise. Relying on the actions the person shares to, iOS will current the topic or message or each. Say, in the event you add the URL to Reminders, the Reminders app shows the preset message.

Sharing Photographs
Aside from URLs, you possibly can share pictures utilizing ShareLink
. Here’s a pattern code snippet:
var physique: some View
VStack(alignment: .main, spacing: 10)
picture
.resizable()
.scaledToFit()
ShareLink(merchandise: picture, preview: SharePreview(“Large Ben”, picture: picture))
.padding(.horizontal)
struct ContentView: View personal let picture = Picture(“bigben”)
var physique: some View VStack(alignment: .main, spacing: 10) picture .resizable() .scaledToFit()
ShareLink(merchandise: picture, preview: SharePreview(“Large Ben”, picture: picture))
.padding(.horizontal)
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For the merchandise
parameter, you specify the picture to share. And, you present a preview of the picture by passing an occasion of SharePreview
. Within the preview, you specify the title of the picture and the thumbnail. While you faucet the Share button, iOS brings up a share sheet with the picture preview.

Conforming to Transferable
Aside from URLs, the merchandise
parameter accepts any objects that conforms to the Transferable
protocol. In iOS, the next varieties are the usual Transferable
varieties:
- String
- Information
- URL
- Attributed String
- Picture
Transferable is a protocol that describes how a kind interacts with transport APIs similar to drag and drop or copy and paste.
So what if in case you have a customized object, how will you make it transferable? Let’s say, you create the next Picture
construction:
struct Picture: Identifiable var id = UUID() var picture: Picture var caption: String var description: String
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To let ShareLink
share this object, it’s important to undertake the Transferable
protocol for Picture
and implement the transferRepresentation
property:
extension Picture: Transferable static var transferRepresentation: some TransferRepresentation ProxyRepresentation(exporting: .picture)
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There are a variety of Switch Representations together with ProxyRepresentation
, CodableRepresentation
, DataRepresentation
, and FileRepresentation
. Within the code above, we use the ProxyRepresentation
which is a switch illustration that makes use of one other kind’s switch illustration as its personal. Right here, we use the Picture
‘s built-in Transferable
conformance.

Since Picture
now conforms to Transferable
, you possibly can cross the Picture
occasion to ShareLink
:
ShareLink(merchandise: picture, preview: SharePreview(picture.caption, picture: picture.picture)) |
When customers faucet the Share button, the app brings up the share sheet for sharing the picture.
What’s Subsequent
This tutorial exhibits you use ShareLink
for sharing textual content, URL, and pictures. Actually, this new view lets you share any varieties of knowledge so long as the kind conforms to the Transferable
protocol.
For customized varieties, you undertake the protocol and supply a switch illustration by utilizing one of many built-in TransferRepresentation
varieties. We briefly talk about the ProxyRepresentation
kind. If it’s essential share a file between functions, you should utilize the FileRepresentation
kind. In later tutorials, we’ll talk about extra on that.