New V6 API for Swift and Objective-C

[ApolloZhu]

First of all, allow me to apologize for making breaking changes without changing the major version in the next release (probably v6.1.0). However, as noted, v6.0.0 is a pre-release (we had to do this because compile time error on Xcode 12).

What's new in the V6 API?

We took a look at the generator API, and realized that it's kind of like builder pattern, but you can't chain the calls that sets the parameters. With the new API, you can:

EFQRCodeGenerator(content: content, encoding: encoding, size: size)
    .withWatermark(watermark, mode: watermarkMode)
    .withColors(backgroundColor: backgroundColor, foregroundColor: foregroundColor)
    .withInputCorrectionLevel(inputCorrectionLevel)
    .withIcon(icon, size: iconSize)
    .withTransparentWatermark(isWatermarkTransparent)
    .withPointShape(pointShape)
    .withMode(mode)
    .withMagnification(magnification)
    .withPointOffset(pointOffset)
    .withStyledTimingPoint(isTimingPointStyled)
    .generate()

If you don't like builder pattern, now you can directly set the properties themselves as well. You might also notice that some parameters have a new name. I hope you find the new names more consistent and clear (in regards to what they do).

Objective-C Support

Currently, it's possible to use EFQRCode in Objective-C projects. However, some methods might be inaccessible due to recent Swift changes. In v6, we made sure all features of EFQRCodeGenerator and EFQRCodeRecognizer are available in Objective-C.

To help you get started, we included ObjCTests.m as an example of how to use EFQRCode in Objective-C.

Swift only APIs

Since Objective-C doesn't support default argument values, the helper methods from EFQRCode are only available in Swift. For Objective-C users, please use generator/recognizer directly and supply arguments as needed.

With the builder pattern, we also introduced a helper method that sets a property and returns self:

extension EFQRCodeGenerator {
    @discardableResult
    public func with<T>(_ keyPath: ReferenceWritableKeyPath<EFQRCodeGenerator, T>,
                        _ newValue: T) -> EFQRCodeGenerator {
        self[keyPath: keyPath] = newValue
        return self
    }
}

Migration

To see this in action, we recorded an example migration process for you to reference.

To make the transition easier, we are only deprecating old APIs, and you can almost use fix-its to complete the transition process. Just select the first fix-it suggestion in Xcode, and use keyboard shortcut control + option + command + F to apply all fix-its in scope.

However, there are a few manual changes required after applying those fix-its:

0. We "removed" pathToSave parameter from generateGIF in 6926207, and now it's officially gone. Make sure you are saving the generated GIF data somewhere yourself (remove the extra argument also).
1. We also rearranged orders of some parameters, which Xcode can't rearrange while migrating. Instead, you'll get some some compile time errors after migration. But no worries, there will be another fix-it that does the rearrangement for you.
2. We now use nil to represent EFQRCodeMode.none, so you might need to update to handle EFQRCodeMode? instead.
3. EFQRCodeRecognizer now expects non-nil CGImage input and output non-nil [String]. You might need to check for nil image before passing to a recognizer, and no longer need to check if the recognized contents array is nil. Checking for empty array, however, is still needed in case if the input image is not a proper QR code.

Documentation Updates

In addition to the updated user guide/readme, you'll start to see method/property description in Xcode quick help, as well as in the documentation website: https://efprefix.github.io/EFQRCode. There'll also be migration guides/demo videos.

同时，我们新发布了简体中文的 README 和用户指南到 https://efprefix.github.io/EFQRCode/zh （暂定，欢迎建议其他 URL）。

	English	简体中文
README	README & Playground	项目概览
User Guide	User Guide & Playground	用户指南
Migration	YouTube	bilibili

Questions/Concerns?

When you have time, please take a look at the new API/documentation, and let us know what you think about the changes.

• v6 code changes
• v6 documentation/README update
• v6 migration example