Where should I put DateFormatter() and xxx.dateFormat = "xxx" in SwiftUI

Question

Where should I put the following code in SwiftUI:

let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd.MM.yyyy"

If I put it outside struct ... {...} I get "Expressions are not allowed at the top level"

If I put it inside I get var body: some View {...} I get Function declares an opaque return type, but has no return statements in its body from which to infer an underlying type.

Answer 1

There are several ways of doing it.

You can create a static property in the view - then you'll always use the same formatter:

struct ContentView: View {
    static let dateFormatter: DateFormatter = {
        let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd.MM.yyyy"
        return dateFormatter
    }()
    
    ...
}

You can also create a formatter directly in the body and then return some View:

struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd.MM.yyyy"
        return VStack {
            ... // use the `dateFormatter` as you wish
        }
    }
}