1

Properties are great. They allow us to write the more naturally looking

myButton.hidden = true

instead of

myButton.setHidden(true)

However, they don't take any parameters. That’s why we still have to write

myButton.setImage(myImage, forState: .Normal)

instead of

myButton.imageForState(.Normal) = myImage

The syntax to write such a function would be pretty straight-forward:

var imageForState(state: UIControlState): UIImage? {
    get { … }
    set { … }
}

Functions such as setHidden(_:forState:) are basically setters of properties, disguised as functions. This proposal would take away this ambiguity.

2

Tim Vermeulen via swift-evolution <swift-evolution@...> writes:

Properties are great. They allow us to write the more naturally looking

myButton.hidden = true

instead of

myButton.setHidden(true)

However, they don't take any parameters. That’s why we still have to write

myButton.setImage(myImage, forState: .Normal)

instead of

myButton.imageForState(.Normal) = myImage

The syntax to write such a function would be pretty straight-forward:

var imageForState(state: UIControlState): UIImage? {
    get { … }
    set { … }
}

Alternatively, in a Swift 2.2 overlay:

public extension UIButton {
    @nonobjc public subscript(imageForState state: UIControlState) -> UIImage? {
        get {
            return imageForState(state)
        }
        set {
            setImage(newValue, forState: state)
        }
    }
}

myButton[imageForState: .Normal] = myImage

Apparently, C#'s "indexed properties" were rejected by the Swift design team:

<https://github.com/apple/swift/blob/master/docs/proposals/Accessors.rst&gt;

-- Ben

3

Tim Vermeulen via swift-evolution<swift-evolution@...>writes:

> Properties are great. They allow us to write the more naturally looking
>
> myButton.hidden = true
>
> instead of
>
> myButton.setHidden(true)
>
> However, they don't take any parameters. That’s why we still have to write
>
> myButton.setImage(myImage, forState: .Normal)
>
> instead of
>
> myButton.imageForState(.Normal) = myImage
>
> The syntax to write such a function would be pretty straight-forward:
>
> var imageForState(state: UIControlState): UIImage? {
> get { … }
> set { … }
> }
Alternatively, in a Swift 2.2 overlay:

public extension UIButton {
@nonobjc public subscript(imageForState state: UIControlState) ->UIImage? {
get {
return imageForState(state)
}
set {
setImage(newValue, forState: state)
}
}
}

myButton[imageForState: .Normal] = myImage

Apparently, C#'s "indexed properties" were rejected by the Swift design team:

<https://github.com/apple/swift/blob/master/docs/proposals/Accessors.rst&gt;

-- Ben

You can indeed do all those things with subscripts, but I think the function syntax would be more readable, especially in case of more than one parameter.