swift-cocoa-extensions

Replace framework boilerplate one seam at a time

CocoaExtensions is a broad Apple UI toolbox. Its value is not a new architecture; it is a set of small, reusable pieces for construction, menus, collections, SwiftUI bridging, and graphics.

Custom base classes centralize programmatic and coder-based initialization in one overridable hook.

@MainActor
final class StatusView: CustomCocoaView {
  let label = CocoaTextField()

  override func _init() {
    super._init()
    // Build hierarchy and constraints once.
  }
}

Embed Cocoa in SwiftUI without a representable type

Even a one-off platform view normally needs a complete UIViewRepresentable and NSViewRepresentable pair.

#if canImport(UIKit)
import SwiftUI
import UIKit

struct StatusComponent: UIViewRepresentable {
  var isHidden: Bool

  func makeUIView(context: Context) -> UIView {
    UIView()
  }

  func updateUIView(_ view: UIView, context: Context) {
    view.isHidden = isHidden
  }
}
#elseif canImport(AppKit)
import AppKit
import SwiftUI

struct StatusComponent: NSViewRepresentable {
  var isHidden: Bool

  func makeNSView(context: Context) -> NSView {
    NSView()
  }

  func updateNSView(_ view: NSView, context: Context) {
    view.isHidden = isHidden
  }
}
#endif

import CocoaExtensions
import SwiftUI

struct StatusComponent: View {
  var isHidden: Bool

  var body: some View {
    CocoaComponent(CocoaView()) { view, _ in
      view.isHidden = isHidden
    }
  }
}

CocoaComponent also accepts construction closures, coordinators, view controllers, and an optional sizeThatFits closure. Reach for CocoaViewRepresentable instead when the bridge deserves its own named type.

Pick the helper that removes your boilerplate

Result builders make nested menus read like their visual structure while closure-backed items keep actions local.

let menu = NSMenu("Actions") {
  NSMenuItem("Refresh") { refresh() }
  NSMenu.Submenu("Export") {
    NSMenuItem("JSON") { exportJSON() }
  }
}

Import the narrow product that replaces concrete boilerplate, keep UI work on MainActor, and verify platform availability – AppKit and UIKit surfaces intentionally differ where the underlying frameworks differ.