Table and Collection view data sources

• O(N) algorithm for calculating differences
  • the algorithm has the assumption that all sections and items are unique so there is no ambiguity
  • in case there is ambiguity, fallbacks automagically on non animated refresh
• it applies additional heuristics to send the least number of commands to sectioned view
  • even though the running time is linear, preferred number of sent commands is usually a lot less than linear
  • it is preferred (and possible) to cap the number of changes to some small number, and in case the number of changes grows towards linear, just do normal reload
• Supports extending your item and section structures
  • just extend your item with IdentifiableType and Equatable, and your section with AnimatableSectionModelType
• Supports all combinations of two level hierarchical animations for both sections and items
  • Section animations: Insert, Delete, Move
  • Item animations: Insert, Delete, Move, Reload (if old value is not equal to new value)
• Configurable animation types for Insert, Reload and Delete (Automatic, Fade, ...)
• Example app
• Randomized stress tests (example app)
• Supports editing out of the box (example app)
• Works with UITableView and UICollectionView

Writing table and collection view data sources is tedious. There is a large number of delegate methods that need to be implemented for the simplest case possible.

RxSwift helps alleviate some of the burden with a simple data binding mechanism:

1. Turn your data into an Observable sequence
2. Bind the data to the tableView/collectionView using one of:

• rx.items(dataSource:protocol<RxTableViewDataSourceType, UITableViewDataSource>)
• rx.items(cellIdentifier:String)
• rx.items(cellIdentifier:String:Cell.Type:_:)
• rx.items(_:_:)

let data = Observable<[String]>.just(["first element", "second element", "third element"])

data.bind(to: tableView.rx.items(cellIdentifier: "Cell")) { index, model, cell in
  cell.textLabel?.text = model
}
.disposed(by: disposeBag)

This works well with simple data sets but does not handle cases where you need to bind complex data sets with multiples sections, or when you need to perform animations when adding/modifying/deleting items.

These are precisely the use cases that RxDataSources helps solve.

With RxDataSources, it is super easy to just write

let dataSource = RxTableViewSectionedReloadDataSource<SectionModel<String, Int>>(configureCell: configureCell)
Observable.just([SectionModel(model: "title", items: [1, 2, 3])])
    .bind(to: tableView.rx.items(dataSource: dataSource))
    .disposed(by: disposeBag)

Given the following custom data structure:

struct CustomData {
  var anInt: Int
  var aString: String
  var aCGPoint: CGPoint
}

1. Start by defining your sections with a struct that conforms to the SectionModelType protocol:

• define the Item typealias: equal to the type of items that the section will contain
• declare an items property: of type array of Item

struct SectionOfCustomData {
  var header: String    
  var items: [Item]
}
extension SectionOfCustomData: SectionModelType {
  typealias Item = CustomData

   init(original: SectionOfCustomData, items: [Item]) {
    self = original
    self.items = items
  }
}

2. Create a dataSource object and pass it your SectionOfCustomData type:

let dataSource = RxTableViewSectionedReloadDataSource<SectionOfCustomData>(
  configureCell: { dataSource, tableView, indexPath, item in
    let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "Cell", for: indexPath)
    cell.textLabel?.text = "Item \(item.anInt): \(item.aString) - \(item.aCGPoint.x):\(item.aCGPoint.y)"
    return cell
})

3. Customize closures on the dataSource as needed:

• titleForHeaderInSection
• titleForFooterInSection
• etc

dataSource.titleForHeaderInSection = { dataSource, index in
  return dataSource.sectionModels[index].header
}

dataSource.titleForFooterInSection = { dataSource, index in
  return dataSource.sectionModels[index].footer
}

dataSource.canEditRowAtIndexPath = { dataSource, indexPath in
  return true
}

dataSource.canMoveRowAtIndexPath = { dataSource, indexPath in
  return true
}

4. Define the actual data as an Observable sequence of CustomData objects and bind it to the tableView

let sections = [
  SectionOfCustomData(header: "First section", items: [CustomData(anInt: 0, aString: "zero", aCGPoint: CGPoint.zero), CustomData(anInt: 1, aString: "one", aCGPoint: CGPoint(x: 1, y: 1)) ]),
  SectionOfCustomData(header: "Second section", items: [CustomData(anInt: 2, aString: "two", aCGPoint: CGPoint(x: 2, y: 2)), CustomData(anInt: 3, aString: "three", aCGPoint: CGPoint(x: 3, y: 3)) ])
]

Observable.just(sections)
  .bind(to: tableView.rx.items(dataSource: dataSource))
  .disposed(by: disposeBag)

RxDataSources provides two special data source types that automatically take care of animating changes in the bound data source: RxTableViewSectionedAnimatedDataSource and RxCollectionViewSectionedAnimatedDataSource.

To use one of the two animated data sources, you must take a few extra steps on top of those outlined above:

• SectionOfCustomData needs to conform to AnimatableSectionModelType
• Your data model must conform to
  • IdentifiableType: The identity provided by the IdentifiableType protocol must be an immutable identifier representing an instance of the model. For example, in case of a Car model, you might want to use the car's plateNumber as its identity.
  • Equatable: Conforming to Equatable helps RxDataSources determine which cells have changed so it can animate only these specific cells. Meaning, changing any of the Car model's properties will trigger an animated reload of that cell.

Xcode 10.2

Swift 5.0

For Swift 4.x version please use versions 3.0.0 ... 3.1.0 For Swift 3.x version please use versions 1.0 ... 2.0.2 For Swift 2.3 version please use versions 0.1 ... 0.9

We'll try to keep the API as stable as possible, but breaking API changes can occur.

Podfile

pod 'RxDataSources', '~> 4.0'

Cartfile

github "RxSwiftCommunity/RxDataSources" ~> 4.0

Create a Package.swift file.

import PackageDescription

let package = Package(
    name: "SampleProject",
    dependencies: [
        .package(url: "https://github.com/RxSwiftCommunity/RxDataSources.git", from: "4.0.0")
    ]
)

If you are using Xcode 11 or higher, go to File / Swift Packages / Add Package Dependency... and enter package repository URL https://github.com/RxSwiftCommunity/RxDataSources.git, then follow the instructions.