JSONDrivenUI

Build native SwiftUI views from JSON — or convert SwiftUI code back to JSON.

Features

JSON to SwiftUI — Render dynamic UI from JSON data at runtime
SwiftUI DSL to JSON — @resultBuilder DSL that looks like SwiftUI but produces JSON
21 view types — Text, Image, Button, Toggle, TextField, NavigationStack, Grid, and more
25+ modifiers — Padding, colors, shadows, blur, rotation, corner radius, accessibility...
Action callbacks — Handle button taps, toggle changes, and text field submissions
Accessibility — Labels, hints, and hidden support baked in
160 unit tests — Comprehensive coverage across all components

Screenshots

Installation

Swift Package Manager

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/EnesKaraosman/JSONDrivenUI.git", from: "1.0.0")
]

Quick Start

JSON to SwiftUI

import JSONDrivenUI
// From a JSON string
JSONDataView(jsonString: """
    {
        "type": "VStack",
        "properties": { "spacing": 12, "padding": 16 },
        "subviews": [
            { "type": "Text", "values": { "text": "Hello World" }, "properties": { "font": "title" } },
            { "type": "Image", "values": { "systemIconName": "star.fill" }, "properties": { "height": 40, "foregroundColor": "#FFD700" } }
        ]
    }
""")
// With action handling
JSONDataView(jsonString: myJSON) { actionId in
    print("Action triggered: \(actionId)")
}

SwiftUI DSL to JSON

import JSONDrivenUI
let json = buildJSONString {
    VStackNode(spacing: 16) {
        TextNode("Hello World", font: "title", fontWeight: "bold")
            .foregroundColor("#007AFF")
        HStackNode(spacing: 8) {
            ImageNode(systemName: "star.fill")
                .foregroundColor("#FFD700")
                .frame(width: 24, height: 24)
            TextNode("Favorited")
        }
        ButtonNode("Tap Me", actionId: "my_action")
            .padding(12)
            .backgroundColor("#007AFF")
            .foregroundColor("#FFFFFF")
            .cornerRadius(10)
    }
    .padding(20)
}
// Render the generated JSON right back
JSONDataView(jsonString: json)

Supported View Types

| Type | Description | Key Values / Properties | |------|-------------|------------------------| | Text | Text label | text, font, fontWeight | | Image | System, local, or remote | systemIconName, localImageName, imageUrl | | Button | Tappable | actionId, text, or use subviews as label | | Toggle | On/off switch | text, isOn, actionId | | TextField | Text input | placeholder, actionId | | VStack | Vertical stack | spacing, horizontalAlignment | | HStack | Horizontal stack | spacing, verticalAlignment | | ZStack | Depth stack | — | | LazyVStack | Lazy vertical stack | spacing, horizontalAlignment | | LazyHStack | Lazy horizontal stack | spacing, verticalAlignment | | ScrollView | Scrollable container | axis, showsIndicators | | List | List container | — | | Grid | Grid layout | spacing | | GridRow | Row inside Grid | — | | NavigationStack | Navigation container | — | | NavigationLink | Push navigation | text, first subview = destination | | Color | Solid color fill | foregroundColor | | Rectangle | Rectangle shape | — | | Circle | Circle shape | — | | Spacer | Flexible space | minLength | | Divider | Line separator | — |

Supported Properties

Layout

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | padding | Int | All-edge padding | | spacing | Int | Stack spacing | | width / height | Float | Fixed dimensions | | maxWidth / maxHeight | Float | Maximum dimensions | | minLength | Float | Spacer minimum length |

Appearance

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | foregroundColor | String | Hex color (e.g. #FF0000) | | backgroundColor | String | Hex color | | font | String | largeTitle, title, headline, subheadline, body, callout, footnote, caption | | fontWeight | String | ultraLight, thin, light, regular, medium, semibold, bold, heavy, black | | opacity | Float | 0.0 to 1.0 | | grayscale | Float | 0.0 to 1.0 | | blur | Float | Blur radius | | rotation | Float | Degrees |

Shape & Border

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | cornerRadius | Float | Corner rounding | | clipShape | String | circle, capsule, rectangle | | borderColor | String | Hex color | | borderWidth | Int | Border thickness |

Shadow

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | shadowRadius | Float | Shadow blur | | shadowColor | String | Hex color | | shadowX / shadowY | Float | Shadow offset |

Alignment (Stacks)

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | horizontalAlignment | String | leading, center, trailing | | verticalAlignment | String | top, center, bottom, firstTextBaseline, lastTextBaseline | | axis | String | vertical, horizontal (ScrollView) | | showsIndicators | Bool | ScrollView indicators |

Accessibility

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | accessibilityLabel | String | VoiceOver label | | accessibilityHint | String | VoiceOver hint | | accessibilityHidden | Bool | Hide from VoiceOver |

Action Handling

Interactive elements fire a callback with their actionId:

JSONDataView(jsonString: """
{
    "type": "VStack",
    "subviews": [
        { "type": "Button", "values": { "text": "Save", "actionId": "save" } },
        { "type": "Toggle", "values": { "text": "Notifications", "isOn": true, "actionId": "notif_toggle" } },
        { "type": "TextField", "values": { "placeholder": "Search...", "actionId": "search" } }
    ]
}
""") { actionId in
    switch actionId {
    case "save": print("Save tapped")
    case "notif_toggle": print("Toggle changed")
    case "search": print("Search submitted")
    default: break
    }
}

Builder DSL Reference

All node types mirror their JSON counterparts:

VStackNode(alignment:spacing:) { }    HStackNode(alignment:spacing:) { }
ZStackNode { }                         ScrollViewNode(axis:showsIndicators:) { }
ListNode { }                           GridNode(spacing:) { }
GridRowNode { }                        NavigationStackNode { }
TextNode("text", font:fontWeight:)     ImageNode(systemName:) / ImageNode(url:) / ImageNode(localName:)
ButtonNode("text", actionId:)          ButtonNode(actionId:) { / label / }
ToggleNode("label", isOn:actionId:)    TextFieldNode(placeholder:text:actionId:)
NavigationLinkNode("text") { / destination / }
SpacerNode(minLength:)                 DividerNode()
RectangleNode()                        CircleNode()
ColorNode(hex:)

Chainable modifiers:

.padding(16)              .frame(width:height:)      .maxFrame(width:height:)
.foregroundColor("#hex")   .backgroundColor("#hex")   .cornerRadius(8)
.clipShape("circle")       .opacity(0.8)              .rotation(45)
.blur(3)                   .grayscale(0.5)            .shadow(radius:color:x:y:)
.border(color:width:)      .font("title")             .fontWeight("bold")
.accessibilityLabel("")    .accessibilityHint("")      .accessibilityHidden()

Error Handling

Invalid JSON shows descriptive errors in debug builds:

// Debug: shows "JSON decoding failed: Missing key 'type' at ..."
// Release: shows "Failed to load view"
JSONDataView(jsonString: "{ invalid json }")

A recursion depth limit of 50 prevents stack overflow from deeply nested structures.

Example App

The Example/ directory contains a multiplatform demo app (iOS + macOS) with:

Basic — Text, Image, SF Symbols
Layout — HStack, VStack, ZStack, Grid, LazyVStack, ScrollView
Interactive — Button with callbacks, Toggle, TextField
Styling — Shadows, rounded corners, opacity, blur, rotation, grayscale
Navigation — NavigationStack with NavigationLinks
SwiftUI to JSON — Write SwiftUI-like code with syntax highlighting, see the generated JSON and live preview
Live Editor — Edit JSON directly with syntax highlighting and see it rendered in real-time
Builder DSL — Round-trip demo: Swift DSL builds JSON, then renders it

Requirements

iOS 17.0+ / macOS 14.0+
Swift 5.9+
Xcode 15.0+

Dependencies

Kingfisher 8.0+ — Remote image loading and caching

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

EnesKaraosman/JSONDrivenUI: Build native SwiftUI views from JSON — or convert SwiftUI code back to JSON. Supports 21 view types, 25+ modifiers, action callbacks, and a result-builder DSL.