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Page updated May 16, 2024

Quickstart

Prerequisites

Before you get started, make sure you have the following installed:

Starting fresh?
Create an XCode project

Open Xcode and select Create New Project...

Shows the Xcode starter video to start project

In the next step select the App template under iOS. Click on next.

Shows the template of apps for iOS

Next steps are:

  • Adding a Product Name (e.g. MyAmplifyApp)
  • Select a Team (e.g. None)
  • Select a Organization Identifier (e.g. com.example)
  • Select SwiftUI an Interface.
  • Press Next

Shows the project details dialog

Now you should have your project created.

Shows the base project for SwiftUI

Create Backend

The easiest way to get started with AWS Amplify is through npm with create-amplify command. You can run it from your base project directory.

Terminal
cd my-app
npm create amplify@latest
? Where should we create your project? (.) # press enter

Running this command will scaffold Amplify backend files in your current project with the following files added:

├── amplify/
│   ├── auth/
│   │   └── resource.ts
│   ├── data/
│   │   └── resource.ts
│   ├── backend.ts
│   └── package.json
├── node_modules/
├── .gitignore
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

To deploy your backend use Amplify's per-developer cloud sandbox. This feature provides a separate backend environment for every developer on a team, ideal for local development and testing. To run your application with a sandbox environment, you can run the following command:

Terminal
npx ampx sandbox

Once the sandbox environment is deployed, it will create an amplify_outputs.json. However, Xcode won't be able to recognize them. For recognizing the files, you need to drag and drop the generated files to your project.

Adding Authentication

The initial scaffolding already has a pre-configured auth backend defined in the amplify/auth/resource.ts file. We've configured it to support email and password login but you can extend it to support a variety of login mechanisms, including Google, Amazon, Sign In With Apple, and Facebook.

The fastest way to get your login experience up and running is to use our Authenticator UI component available in the Amplify UI library.

To use the Authenticator, open your project in Xcode and select File > Add Packages... and add the following dependencies:

Shows the Amplify library for Swift

  • Amplify Library for Swift: Enter its GitHub URL (https://github.com/aws-amplify/amplify-swift), select Up to Next Major Version and click Add Package Dependencies... and select the following libraries:

    • Amplify
    • AWSCognitoAuthPlugin

Shows the Amplify library for Swift

Shows the Amplify library for Swift

Now update the MyAmplifyAppApp class with the following code:

import Amplify
import Authenticator
import AWSCognitoAuthPlugin
import SwiftUI


@main
struct MyApp: App {
    init() {
        do {
            try Amplify.add(plugin: AWSCognitoAuthPlugin())
            try Amplify.configure(with: .amplifyOutputs)
        } catch {
            print("Unable to configure Amplify \(error)")
        }
    }


    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
        }
    }
}

Update ContentView with the following code:

import Amplify
import Authenticator


struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        Authenticator { state in
            VStack {
                Button("Sign out") {
                    Task {
                        await state.signOut()
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

The Authenticator component auto-detects your auth backend settings and renders the correct UI state based on the auth backend's authentication flow.

Run your application in your local environment again. You should be presented with a login experience now.

Adding Data

The initial scaffolding already has a pre-configured data backend defined in the amplify/data/resource.ts file. The default example will create a Todo model with content field.

Let's modify this to add the following:

  • A boolean isDone field.
  • An authorization rules specifying owners, authenticated via your Auth resource can "create", "read", "update", and "delete" their own records.
  • Update the defaultAuthorizationMode to sign API requests with the user authentication token.
import { type ClientSchema, a, defineData } from '@aws-amplify/backend';


const schema = a.schema({
  Todo: a
    .model({
      content: a.string(),
      isDone: a.boolean().required()
    })
    .authorization((allow) => [allow.owner()])
});


export type Schema = ClientSchema<typeof schema>;


export const data = defineData({
  schema,
  authorizationModes: {
    defaultAuthorizationMode: 'userPool'
  }
});

Next, let's implement UI to create, list, and delete the to-do items.

Amplify can automatically generate code for interacting with the backend API. The command below generates model classes from the Data schema:

Terminal
npx ampx generate graphql-client-code --format modelgen --model-target swift

Move the generated files to your project. You can do this by dragging and dropping the files to your project.

Shows the drag and drop phase

Once you are done, add the API dependencies to your project. Select File > Add Package Dependencies... and add the AWSAPIPlugin.

Shows the Amplify API library for Swift selected

After adding the dependencies, update the init part of your MyAmplifyAppApp.swift file with the following code:

MyAmplifyAppApp.swift
init() {
    do {
        try Amplify.add(plugin: AWSCognitoAuthPlugin())
        try Amplify.add(plugin: AWSAPIPlugin(modelRegistration: AmplifyModels()))
        try Amplify.configure(with: .amplifyOutputs)
    } catch {
        print("Unable to configure Amplify \(error)")
    }
}

Create a new file called TodoViewModel.swift and the createTodo function with the following code:

TodoViewModel.swift
import Amplify


@MainActor
class TodoViewModel: ObservableObject {
    func createTodo() {
        let creationTime = Temporal.DateTime.now()
        let todo = Todo(
            content: "Random Todo \(creationTime)",
            isDone: false,
            createdAt: creationTime,
            updatedAt: creationTime
        )
        Task {
            do {
                let result = try await Amplify.API.mutate(request: .create(todo))
                switch result {
                case .success(let todo):
                    print("Successfully created todo: \(todo)")
                case .failure(let error):
                    print("Got failed result with \(error.errorDescription)")
                }
            } catch let error as APIError {
                print("Failed to create todo: ", error)
            } catch {
                print("Unexpected error: \(error)")
            }
        }
    }
}

The code above will create a random todo with the current time.

Next, update the listTodos function in the TodoViewModel.swift for listing to-do items:

TodoViewModel.swift
@MainActor
class TodoViewModel: ObservableObject {
    @Published var todos: [Todo] = []


    func createTodo() {
        /// ...
    }


    func listTodos() {
        let request = GraphQLRequest<Todo>.list(Todo.self)
        Task {
            do {
                let result = try await Amplify.API.query(request: request)
                switch result {
                case .success(let todos):
                    print("Successfully retrieved list of todos: \(todos)")
                    self.todos = todos.elements
                case .failure(let error):
                    print("Got failed result with \(error.errorDescription)")
                }
            } catch let error as APIError {
                print("Failed to query list of todos: ", error)
            } catch {
                print("Unexpected error: \(error)")
            }
        }
    }
}

This will assign the value of the fetched todos into a Published object.

Now let's update the UI code to observe the todos. Update the VStack in the ContentView.swift file with the following code:

ContentView.swift
struct ContentView: View {


    // Create an observable object instance.
    @StateObject var vm = TodoViewModel()


    var body: some View {
        Authenticator { state in
            VStack {
                Button("Sign out") {
                    Task {
                        await state.signOut()
                    }
                }
                Button(action: {
                    vm.createTodo()
                    vm.listTodos()
                }) {
                    HStack {
                        Text("Add a New Todo")
                        Image(systemName: "plus")
                    }
                }
                .accessibilityLabel("New Todo")
            }
        }
    }
}

Throughout the Swift implementation, the async/await pattern has been used and for using it easily, we take advantage of the Task structure. For more information about the Task structure, you can check the documentation.

The code will create a todo and update the todo list each time a todo is created.

Next step is to update and delete the todos. For that, create updateTodo and deleteTodo functions in the TodoViewModel.swift file with the following code:

TodoViewModel.swift
@MainActor
class TodoViewModel: ObservableObject {
    @Published var todos: [Todo] = []


    func createTodo() {
        // ...
    }


    func listTodos() {
        // ...
    }


    func deleteTodos(indexSet: IndexSet) {
        for index in indexSet {
            let todo = todos[index]
            Task {
                do {
                    let result = try await Amplify.API.mutate(request: .delete(todo))
                    switch result {
                    case .success(let todo):
                        print("Successfully deleted todo: \(todo)")
                    case .failure(let error):
                        print("Got failed result with \(error.errorDescription)")
                    }
                } catch let error as APIError {
                    print("Failed to deleted todo: ", error)
                } catch {
                    print("Unexpected error: \(error)")
                }
            }
        }
    }


    func updateTodo(todo: Todo) {
        Task {
            do {
                let result = try await Amplify.API.mutate(request: .update(todo))
                switch result {
                case .success(let todo):
                    print("Successfully updated todo: \(todo)")
                case .failure(let error):
                    print("Got failed result with \(error.errorDescription)")
                }
            } catch let error as APIError {
                print("Failed to updated todo: ", error)
            } catch {
                print("Unexpected error: \(error)")
            }
        }
    }
}

Update the List in the ContentView.swift file with the following code:

ContentView.swift
struct ContentView: View {
    @StateObject var vm = TodoViewModel()


    var body: some View {
        Authenticator { state in
            VStack {
                // ... Sign out Button
                List {
                    ForEach($vm.todos, id: \.id) { todo in
                        TodoRow(vm: vm, todo: todo)
                    }.onDelete { indexSet in
                        vm.deleteTodos(indexSet: indexSet)
                        vm.listTodos()
                    }
                }
                // ... Add new Todo button
            }
        }
    }
}

Lastly, create a new file called TodoRow.swift with the following code:

TodoRow.swift
struct TodoRow: View {
    @ObservedObject var vm: TodoViewModel
    @Binding var todo: Todo


    var body: some View {
        Toggle(isOn: $todo.isDone) {
            Text(todo.content ?? "")
        }
        .toggleStyle(SwitchToggleStyle())
        .onChange(of: todo.isDone) { _, newValue in
            var updatedTodo = todo
            updatedTodo.isDone = newValue
            vm.updateTodo(todo: updatedTodo)
            vm.listTodos()
        }
    }
}

This will update the UI to show a toggle to update the todo isDone and a swipe to delete the todo. Now if you run the application you should see the following flow.

You can terminate the sandbox environment now to clean up the project.

Publishing changes to cloud

For publishing the changes to cloud, you need to create a remote git repository. For a detailed guide, you can follow the link here.

🥳 Success

That's it! You have successfully built a fullstack app on AWS Amplify. If you want to learn more about how to work with Amplify, here's the conceptual guide for how Amplify works.

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