Singleton is a creational design pattern, which ensures that only one object of its kind exists and provides a single point of access to it for any other code.
Singleton has almost the same pros and cons as global variables. Although they’re super-handy, they break the modularity of your code.
You can’t just use a class that depends on a Singleton in some other context, without carrying over the Singleton to the other context. Most of the time, this limitation comes up during the creation of unit tests.
This example illustrates the structure of the Singleton design pattern and focuses on the following questions:
What classes does it consist of?
What roles do these classes play?
In what way the elements of the pattern are related?
After learning about the pattern’s structure it’ll be easier for you to grasp the following example, based on a real-world Swift use case.
Example.swift: Conceptual example
import XCTest
/// The Singleton class defines the `shared` field that lets clients access the
/// unique singleton instance.
class Singleton {
/// The static field that controls the access to the singleton instance.
///
/// This implementation let you extend the Singleton class while keeping
/// just one instance of each subclass around.
static var shared: Singleton = {
let instance = Singleton()
// ... configure the instance
// ...
return instance
}()
/// The Singleton's initializer should always be private to prevent direct
/// construction calls with the `new` operator.
private init() {}
/// Finally, any singleton should define some business logic, which can be
/// executed on its instance.
func someBusinessLogic() -> String {
// ...
return "Result of the 'someBusinessLogic' call"
}
}
/// Singletons should not be cloneable.
extension Singleton: NSCopying {
func copy(with zone: NSZone? = nil) -> Any {
return self
}
}
/// The client code.
class Client {
// ...
static func someClientCode() {
let instance1 = Singleton.shared
let instance2 = Singleton.shared
if (instance1 === instance2) {
print("Singleton works, both variables contain the same instance.")
} else {
print("Singleton failed, variables contain different instances.")
}
}
// ...
}
/// Let's see how it all works together.
class SingletonConceptual: XCTestCase {
func testSingletonConceptual() {
Client.someClientCode()
}
}
Output.txt: Execution result
Singleton works, both variables contain the same instance.
Real World Example
Example.swift: Real world example
import XCTest
/// Singleton Design Pattern
///
/// Intent: Ensure that class has a single instance, and provide a global point
/// of access to it.
class SingletonRealWorld: XCTestCase {
func testSingletonRealWorld() {
/// There are two view controllers.
///
/// MessagesListVC displays a list of last messages from a user's chats.
/// ChatVC displays a chat with a friend.
///
/// FriendsChatService fetches messages from a server and provides all
/// subscribers (view controllers in our example) with new and removed
/// messages.
///
/// FriendsChatService is used by both view controllers. It can be
/// implemented as an instance of a class as well as a global variable.
///
/// In this example, it is important to have only one instance that
/// performs resource-intensive work.
let listVC = MessagesListVC()
let chatVC = ChatVC()
listVC.startReceiveMessages()
chatVC.startReceiveMessages()
/// ... add view controllers to the navigation stack ...
}
}
class BaseVC: UIViewController, MessageSubscriber {
func accept(new messages: [Message]) {
/// handle new messages in the base class
}
func accept(removed messages: [Message]) {
/// handle removed messages in the base class
}
func startReceiveMessages() {
/// The singleton can be injected as a dependency. However, from an
/// informational perspective, this example calls FriendsChatService
/// directly to illustrate the intent of the pattern, which is: "...to
/// provide the global point of access to the instance..."
FriendsChatService.shared.add(subscriber: self)
}
}
class MessagesListVC: BaseVC {
override func accept(new messages: [Message]) {
print("MessagesListVC accepted 'new messages'")
/// handle new messages in the child class
}
override func accept(removed messages: [Message]) {
print("MessagesListVC accepted 'removed messages'")
/// handle removed messages in the child class
}
override func startReceiveMessages() {
print("MessagesListVC starts receive messages")
super.startReceiveMessages()
}
}
class ChatVC: BaseVC {
override func accept(new messages: [Message]) {
print("ChatVC accepted 'new messages'")
/// handle new messages in the child class
}
override func accept(removed messages: [Message]) {
print("ChatVC accepted 'removed messages'")
/// handle removed messages in the child class
}
override func startReceiveMessages() {
print("ChatVC starts receive messages")
super.startReceiveMessages()
}
}
/// Protocol for call-back events
protocol MessageSubscriber {
func accept(new messages: [Message])
func accept(removed messages: [Message])
}
/// Protocol for communication with a message service
protocol MessageService {
func add(subscriber: MessageSubscriber)
}
/// Message domain model
struct Message {
let id: Int
let text: String
}
class FriendsChatService: MessageService {
static let shared = FriendsChatService()
private var subscribers = [MessageSubscriber]()
func add(subscriber: MessageSubscriber) {
/// In this example, fetching starts again by adding a new subscriber
subscribers.append(subscriber)
/// Please note, the first subscriber will receive messages again when
/// the second subscriber is added
startFetching()
}
func startFetching() {
/// Set up the network stack, establish a connection...
/// ...and retrieve data from a server
let newMessages = [Message(id: 0, text: "Text0"),
Message(id: 5, text: "Text5"),
Message(id: 10, text: "Text10")]
let removedMessages = [Message(id: 1, text: "Text0")]
/// Send updated data to subscribers
receivedNew(messages: newMessages)
receivedRemoved(messages: removedMessages)
}
}
private extension FriendsChatService {
func receivedNew(messages: [Message]) {
subscribers.forEach { item in
item.accept(new: messages)
}
}
func receivedRemoved(messages: [Message]) {
subscribers.forEach { item in
item.accept(removed: messages)
}
}
}
Output.txt: Execution result
MessagesListVC starts receive messages
MessagesListVC accepted 'new messages'
MessagesListVC accepted 'removed messages'
======== At this point, the second subscriber is added ======
ChatVC starts receive messages
MessagesListVC accepted 'new messages'
ChatVC accepted 'new messages'
MessagesListVC accepted 'removed messages'
ChatVC accepted 'removed messages'
