Extend UICollectionViewDataSource Protocol to add default implementations

Question

I have a fairly big application which has a lot of collection views. Most of the collection view have same implementations for Data Source and the Flow Layout Delegate (same sizes, margins etc). I am trying to create a single protocol which provides the default implementations of UICollectionViewDataSource and UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout. Here is my code.

protocol TiledCollectionView{}

extension UICollectionViewDataSource where Self: TiledCollectionView{
    //default implementation of the 3 methods to load the data ...
}
extension UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout where Self: TiledCollectionView {
    //default implementation for layout methods to set default margins etc...
}

class MyViewController: UIViewController, TiledCollectionView, UICollectionViewDataSource, UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout{
    // the rest of the required logic for view controller
    // here I Don't implement any CollectionView methods since I have provided the default implementation already
}

The problem is that, the compiler complains that MyViewController does not conform to UICollectionViewDataSource. This should not be the case because I am clearly saying that add the default implementations if the type is TiledCollectionView.

Can some one help?

Answer 1

I know it's not exactly what you asked, I tried - it didn't work. Now looking for possible answer, because had similiar situation. But I can offer you such on option how to hide in your custom protocol all the logic for delegate/dataSource implementation.

class CollectionViewProtocolHandler: NSObject, UICollectionViewDelegate, UICollectionViewDataSource  {

    func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return 0
    }

    func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
        return UICollectionViewCell() // only for test
    }
}

protocol CollectionViewProtocol {
    var handler: CollectionViewProtocolHandler! {get set}
    mutating func useProtocolForCollectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView)
}

extension CollectionViewProtocol {
    mutating func useProtocolForCollectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView) {
        handler = CollectionViewProtocolHandler()
        collectionView.delegate = handler
        collectionView.dataSource = handler
    }
}

class ViewController: UIViewController, CollectionViewProtocol {
    var handler: CollectionViewProtocolHandler! // CollectionViewProtocol convenience

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let collectionView = UICollectionView(frame: view.bounds, collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewFlowLayout())
        collectionView.backgroundColor = .redColor()
        view.addSubview(collectionView)
        var reference = self
        reference.useProtocolForCollectionView(collectionView) // for initialize protocol
    }
}