How to import private framework headers in a Swift framework?

Question

I have an Objective-C framework (framework A) that exposes some public and some private headers. The public headers are also declared in the framework's umbrella header. I have a second Swift framework (framework B) that links with the Objective-C framework.

Now, if I want to import the public headers of A in B I simply need to do an import A.

But how do I go about importing the private headers?

I know a bridging header is not an option since that's not supported for frameworks. Do I need to somehow create a separate umbrella header for the private headers?

Answer 1

You need to modify framework A, So that it export a private module.

1. Create a private module map file in A project. This would be something like this:

   A/private.modulemap:

   explicit module A.Private {      // Here is the list of your private headers.     header "Private1.h"     header "Private2.h"      export * } 

2. In the "Build Settings" of framework A target, search "Private Module Map File" line, and make that:

   $(SRCROOT)/A/private.modulemap 

3. Do not include private.modulemap file in "Compile Sources". That causes unnecessary warnings.

4. Clean and Build framework A target.

5. In framework B Swift files. you can import the private module like this:

   import A import A.Private 

Answer 2

It is some time since this question was posted. The accepted answer is very good, and as far as I'm concerned it is a common approach.

The problem is, it is not really "private". You can do this inside your framework to access the "private" part:

// Framework A Swift file import A.Private 

But If you use framework A in an app (or you ship it to your client), he can still do:

// Client App Swift file import A import A.Private  // access "private" framework methods and classes 

I was trying to resolve that, as I had recently a situation when I needed to hide it from users (closed source framework) - I just could not let anyone access it, as it was a threat to SDK integrity.

I found a solution to that problem, but a bit too complex to paste it here as a whole.

I made a post about it no medium. Maybe it will help someone checking that problem, that's the link to my article:

https://medium.com/@amichnia_31596/creating-swift-framework-with-private-objective-c-members-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-4d726386644b