Toll-free bridging and pointer access in Swift

Question

I am porting an App from Objective-C to Swift and I need to use the following method:

CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost(alloc: CFAllocator!, host: CFString!, port: UInt32, \
readStream: CMutablePointer<Unmanaged<CFReadStream>?>, \
writeStream: CMutablePointer<Unmanaged<CFWriteStream>?>)

The old logic looks like this (which several web sites seem to agree on):

CFReadStreamRef readStream = NULL;
CFWriteStreamRef writeStream = NULL;
CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost(NULL, (__bridge CFStringRef)(host), port, \
                                   &readStream, &writeStream);

NSInputStream inputStream = (__bridge_transfer NSInputStream *)readStream;
NSOutputStream outputStream = (__bridge_transfer NSOutputStream *)writeStream;

Which works fine thanks to toll-free bridging. However, ARC does not exist in "Swift-space", and the type system has changed.

How do I turn my streams into instances of

CMutablePointer<Unmanaged<CFReadStream>?>, and
CMutablePointer<Unmanaged<CFWriteStream>?>

And then convert them back into NSStream subclasses after the CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost call?

Answer 1

I got it to work, here's my code: Make sure you keep a reference of the connection class somewhere :-)

class Connection : NSObject, NSStreamDelegate {
    let serverAddress: CFString = "127.0.0.1"
    let serverPort: UInt32 = 8443

    private var inputStream: NSInputStream!
    private var outputStream: NSOutputStream!

    func connect() {
        println("connecting...")

        var readStream:  Unmanaged<CFReadStream>?
        var writeStream: Unmanaged<CFWriteStream>?

        CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost(nil, self.serverAddress, self.serverPort, &readStream, &writeStream)

        // Documentation suggests readStream and writeStream can be assumed to
        // be non-nil. If you believe otherwise, you can test if either is nil
        // and implement whatever error-handling you wish.

        self.inputStream = readStream!.takeRetainedValue()
        self.outputStream = writeStream!.takeRetainedValue()

        self.inputStream.delegate = self
        self.outputStream.delegate = self

        self.inputStream.scheduleInRunLoop(NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop(), forMode: NSDefaultRunLoopMode)
        self.outputStream.scheduleInRunLoop(NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop(), forMode: NSDefaultRunLoopMode)

        self.inputStream.open()
        self.outputStream.open()
    }

    func stream(stream: NSStream, handleEvent eventCode: NSStreamEvent) {
        println("stream event")
    }
}

Answer 2

I worked out how to do it. A few important notes:

1. CMutablePointers will be automatically created if you use the & operator.
2. You can get at the T in an Unmanaged<T> with .getUnretainedValue() and getRetainedValue() (Seems .getUnretainedValue() is analogous to __bridge_transfer)
3. Optionals are automatically initialised to nil.
4. If an optional is nil it will translate into a false condition.

So far I have (untested):

var readStream: Unmanaged<CFReadStream>?
var writeStream: Unmanaged<CFWriteStream>?

CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost(kCFAllocatorDefault, host, port, \
&readStream, &writeStream)

if (readStream && writeStream) {
    inputStream = readStream!.takeUnretainedValue();
    outputStream = writeStream!.takeUnretainedValue();
}

Answer 3

I am using getStreamsToHostWithName function of NSStream class. It is more easy and beeter than CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost

func initNetworkCommunication() {

print("connecting...")

let serverAddress = "gzoa.vps.infomaniak.com"
let serverPort = 1234

NSStream.getStreamsToHostWithName(serverAddress, port: serverPort, inputStream: &inputStream, outputStream: &outputStream)

self.inputStream!.delegate = self
self.outputStream!.delegate = self

self.inputStream!.scheduleInRunLoop(NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop(), forMode: NSDefaultRunLoopMode)
self.outputStream!.scheduleInRunLoop(NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop(), forMode: NSDefaultRunLoopMode)

self.inputStream!.open()
self.outputStream!.open()

}

Answer 4

Swift 3 version of CF and NS code. Both work for me.

CF:

class Connection: NSObject, StreamDelegate {

private var inputStream: InputStream!
private var outputStream: OutputStream!

var connected = false

func connect(host: String, port: UInt32) {
    var readStream:  Unmanaged<CFReadStream>?
    var writeStream: Unmanaged<CFWriteStream>?

    CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost(nil, host as CFString, port, &readStream, &writeStream)

    self.inputStream = readStream!.takeRetainedValue()
    self.outputStream = writeStream!.takeRetainedValue()

    if let inputStream = inputStream, let outputStream = outputStream {
        inputStream.delegate = self
        outputStream.delegate = self

        inputStream.schedule(in: RunLoop.current, forMode: RunLoopMode.defaultRunLoopMode)
        outputStream.schedule(in: RunLoop.current, forMode: RunLoopMode.defaultRunLoopMode)

        inputStream.open()
        outputStream.open()

        connected = true
    }
}

func stream(_ aStream: Stream, handle eventCode: Stream.Event) {
    print("stream event, \(eventCode)")
}

}

NS:

class NSConnection: NSObject, StreamDelegate {

private var inputStream: InputStream?
private var outputStream: OutputStream?

var connected = false

func connect(host: String, port: Int) {
    Stream.getStreamsToHost(withName: host, port: port, inputStream: &inputStream, outputStream: &outputStream)

    if let inputStream = inputStream, let outputStream = outputStream {
        inputStream.delegate = self
        outputStream.delegate = self

        inputStream.schedule(in: RunLoop.current, forMode: RunLoopMode.defaultRunLoopMode)
        outputStream.schedule(in: RunLoop.current, forMode: RunLoopMode.defaultRunLoopMode)

        inputStream.open()
        outputStream.open()
    }
}

func stream(_ aStream: Stream, handle eventCode: Stream.Event) {
    print("stream event, \(eventCode)")
}

}

Answer 5

I wasn't able to get the examples others have provided in this thread to work. Sure, they compiled, but they crashed as soon as the connection was open.

However, I noticed in the WWDC 2014 discussions (and iOS 8 release notes) that there is a new method for initializing an NSStream for creating a bound pair of in/out streams.

See below:

var inputStream: NSInputStream?
var outputStream: NSOutputStream?

NSStream.getStreamsToHostWithName("localhost", port: 1234, inputStream: &inputStream, outputStream: &outputStream)

This removes the need for the awkward CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToHost call as well as removing the need for Unmanaged resources.