🐤 Bird α

Bird is currently in alpha stage and should therefore not yet be used in a production environment.

Bird is a lightweight HTTP networking library written in Swift.
It is based on Apples new Reactive Framework Combine and focused on maintain- and extendability.

How to

Step 0: Install 🤝

If the first version is ready,
Bird will be available via SPM.

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/SebastianBoldt/Bird", from: "0.0.1"),
]

Step 1: Create a Request ⚙️

The first thing you need to create is an Object that conforms to the RequestDefinition-Protocol.
This can be a struct, enum or class. It will provide all relevant values for making an actual HTTP-request.
In this Example we create a RequestDefinition
for an Endpoint of the PokeAPI that returns a Pokemon by its Pokdex-Number:

struct GetPokemon: RequestDefinition {
    let pokedexNumber: Int
    
    init(pokedexNumber: Int) {
        self.pokedexNumber = pokedexNumber
    }
}

extension GetPokemon {
    var method: HTTPMethod {
        return .get
    }

    var url: String {
        return "pokeapi.co"
    }

    var path: String {
        return "/api/v2/pokemon/\(pokedexNumber)"
    }
}

Step 2: Create a Model 👩

Create the expected Model that will be returned by the Server.
It has to be Codable.

struct Pokemon: Codable {
    var name: String?
}

Step 3: Create a RequestService 🐦

After the Model was declared you need to create an Instance of Type: RequestService
You can do that by calling a static function on the class Bird.

let requestService = Bird.makeRequestService()

Step 4: Make a Request 🦅

Because Bird is using Combine you will be familiar with the semantics.
Just sink & go to receive the response you requested.

let defition = GetPokemon(pokedexNumber: 3)
let request = try! requestService.request(defintion, responseType: Pokemon.self)
subscription = request.receive(on: RunLoop.main).sink(receiveCompletion: { completion in
    switch completion {
        case .finished:
            // Handle Finished Subscription
        case .failure(let error):
            // Handle Failure
    }
}, receiveValue: { pokemon in
    // Handle Success
})

Plugins ⚡️

Plugins can be used e.g. to prepare requests or log responses.
A Plugin will be notified by 3 different function calls.

• prepare
• willSend
• didReceive

struct ExamplePlugin: Plugin {
    func prepare(request: URLRequest, definition: RequestDefinition) -> URLRequest {
        // Manipulate the request with Authorization Headers etc. 
        return request
    }
    
    func willSend(request: URLRequest, definition: RequestDefinition) {
        // Request will be send in the next Step
    }
    
    func didReceive(result: URLSession.DataTaskPublisher.Output, definition: RequestDefinition) {
        // Request was successfull and will be published to the subscriber
    }
}

Planned Features 🕘

• Stubbing
• PublisherPlugins
• nested URL Parameters
• Plugin-Suite

Author

Sebastian Boldt, https://www.sebastianboldt.com

I am a mobile software architect and developer specializing in iOS. Passionate about creating awesome user experiences, designing beautiful user interfaces, and writing maintainable, structured, and best-practice orientated code. Continuously trying to improve skills and learn new technologies.

License

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