How to refresh Widget data?

Question

My Code fetches two JSON variables and should show them on my Widget. The Widget stays blank. Without widget it shows me everything correct in my application.

What am I doing wrong? The API in the code is only for testing so you can also check that. Is there something I need to change to make it show in the widget?

My Struct:

import Foundation

struct Results: Decodable {
    let data: [Post]
}

struct Post: Decodable, Identifiable {
    let id: String
    var objectID: String {
        return id
    }
    let home_name: String
    let away_name: String
}

Fetching JSON:

import Foundation

class NetworkManager: ObservableObject {
    
    @Published var posts = [Post]()
    
    @Published var test = ""
    @Published var test2 = ""
    
    func fetchData() {
        if let url = URL(string: "https://livescore-api.com/api-client/teams/matches.json?number=10&team_id=19&key=I2zBIRH3S01Kf0At&secret=6kLvfRivnqeNKUzsW84F0LISMJC1KdvQ&number=7&team_id=46") {
            let session = URLSession(configuration: .default)
            let task = session.dataTask(with: url) { (gettingInfo, response, error) in
                if error == nil {
                    let decoder = JSONDecoder()
                    if let safeData = gettingInfo {
                        do {
                            let results = try decoder.decode(Results.self, from: safeData)
                            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                                self.posts = results.data
                                self.test = results.data[0].away_name
                                self.test2 = results.data[0].home_name
                            }
                        } catch {
                            print(error)
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            task.resume()
        }
    }
}

Showing Widget:

import WidgetKit
import SwiftUI
import Intents

struct Provider: IntentTimelineProvider {
    func placeholder(in context: Context) -> SimpleEntry {
        SimpleEntry(date: Date(), configuration: ConfigurationIntent())
    }

    func getSnapshot(for configuration: ConfigurationIntent, in context: Context, completion: @escaping (SimpleEntry) -> ()) {
        let entry = SimpleEntry(date: Date(), configuration: configuration)
        completion(entry)
    }

    func getTimeline(for configuration: ConfigurationIntent, in context: Context, completion: @escaping (Timeline<Entry>) -> ()) {
        var entries: [SimpleEntry] = []

        // Generate a timeline consisting of five entries an hour apart, starting from the current date.
        let currentDate = Date()
        for hourOffset in 0 ..< 5 {
            let entryDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .hour, value: hourOffset, to: currentDate)!
            let entry = SimpleEntry(date: entryDate, configuration: configuration)
            entries.append(entry)
        }

        let timeline = Timeline(entries: entries, policy: .atEnd)
        completion(timeline)
    }
}

struct SimpleEntry: TimelineEntry {
    let date: Date
    let configuration: ConfigurationIntent
}

struct WidgetNeuEntryView : View {
    
    @ObservedObject var networkManager = NetworkManager()
    var entry: Provider.Entry
    var body: some View {
        Text(networkManager.test)
    }
}

@main
struct WidgetNeu: Widget {
    let kind: String = "WidgetNeu"

    var body: some WidgetConfiguration {
        IntentConfiguration(kind: kind, intent: ConfigurationIntent.self, provider: Provider()) { entry in
            WidgetNeuEntryView(entry: entry)
        }
        .configurationDisplayName("My Widget")
        .description("This is an example widget.")
    }
}

struct WidgetNeu_Previews: PreviewProvider {
    static var previews: some View {
        WidgetNeuEntryView(entry: SimpleEntry(date: Date(), configuration: ConfigurationIntent()))
            .previewContext(WidgetPreviewContext(family: .systemSmall))
    }
}

networkManager.test should be shown as text but as I said it is blank.

Answer 1

You can't use the ObservedObject like you'd normally use in your App.

In Widgets you use a TimelineProvider which creates an Entry for your view.

---

1. Add another property to your TimelineEntry, let's call it clubName:

struct SimpleEntry: TimelineEntry {
    let date: Date
    let clubName: String
}

2. Update the NetworkManager and return results in the completion:

class NetworkManager {
    func fetchData(completion: @escaping ([Post]) -> Void) {
        ...
        URLSession(configuration: .default).dataTask(with: url) { data, _, error in
            ...
            let result = try JSONDecoder().decode(Results.self, from: data)
            completion(result.data)
            ...
        }
        .resume()
    }
}

3. Use the NetworkManager in the TimelineProvider and create timelines entries when the fetchData completes:

struct Provider: TimelineProvider {
    var networkManager = NetworkManager()

    func placeholder(in context: Context) -> SimpleEntry {
        SimpleEntry(date: Date(), clubName: "Club name")
    }

    func getSnapshot(in context: Context, completion: @escaping (SimpleEntry) -> Void) {
        let entry = SimpleEntry(date: Date(), clubName: "Club name")
        completion(entry)
    }

    func getTimeline(in context: Context, completion: @escaping (Timeline<Entry>) -> Void) {
        networkManager.fetchData { posts in
            let entries = [
                SimpleEntry(date: Date(), clubName: posts[0].home_name)
            ]
            let timeline = Timeline(entries: entries, policy: .never)
            completion(timeline)
        }
    }
}

4. Use entry.clubName in the view body:

struct WidgetNeuEntryView: View {
    var entry: Provider.Entry

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Text(entry.date, style: .time)
            Text("Club: \(entry.clubName)")
        }
    }
}

---

Note that in the above example the reload policy is set to never to only load the data once.

You can easily change it to atEnd or after(date:) if you want to reload the timeline automatically.

If you need to reload the timeline manually at any point you can just call:

WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines()

This will work in both App and Widget.

---

_{Here is a GitHub repository with different Widget examples including the Network Widget.}