Native MacOs app has strange behavior

[Higher08]

I use this library in MacOS SwiftUi;
And it doesn't change screens at the same position; it opens a new type of window. I don't think that's right
Here is screenshot

How can I fix this?

[johnpatrickmorgan]

Hi, thanks for raising this issue. I'm afraid navigationViewStyle(.columns) is the only navigation view style supported on macOS at the moment. It gives the behaviour you've described. From your description, I guess you'd like to be able to use navigationViewStyle(.stack) but that's not currently available on macOS. Hopefully in the future, it or something similar will be.

[Higher08]

If you look at the appkit, which for about 15 years still does not have the ability to change the view in one window (only open a new one), then it is very doubtful that this will appear in swiftui. However, if just remove the NavigationView, it works fine. But each time it creates a new one View, but does not clear the old from memory. I was able to solve this through the AnyView array, and made additional parameters for switching views as separate ViewModel parameters.

[zntfdr]

@Higher08 not really a solution, but you can refer to this sample app from Apple for an alternative approach.

In short navigation master/detail share a binding, and the detail screen changes based on that (no need to pop/push).

I hope this helps! 🙌🏻

[Higher08]

@zntfdr This approach is not navigation anyway. Yeah, I change view content but not navigate. And it can be a huge problem when I need to change the view not from the sidebar

[igortxito]

@johnpatrickmorgan what approach would you recommend using your library if it's for an ipad app where sometimes is neccsary the navigationViewStyle(.columns) approach?
THANKS!

[johnpatrickmorgan]

Hi @igortxito! On macOS, you can have a coordinator whose root screen is the side bar, that pushes screens into the second (and possibly third) columns, e.g.:

NavigationView {
  MainCoordinator()
  MiddleColumnPlaceholder()
  RightColumnPlaceholder()
}

where the MainCoordinator would use a Router whose root screen (the sidebar) would have embedInNavigationView: false, since you are managing the NavigationView outside the coordinator.

However, on iPad, SwiftUI behaves rather strangely for the columns style. When a pushed screen is dismissed (a NavigationLink's binding is set to false) it doesn't dismiss the screen - it remains visible and can be interacted with, which makes things a bit trickier.