Using SecRandomCopyBytes in Swift

Question

I want to generate random bytes using SecRandomCopyBytes in Swift 3.0. Here is how I did it in Swift 2.2

private static func generateRandomBytes() -> String? {
    let data = NSMutableData(length: Int(32))

    let result = SecRandomCopyBytes(kSecRandomDefault, 32, UnsafeMutablePointer<UInt8>(data!.mutableBytes))
    if result == errSecSuccess {
        return data!.base64EncodedString(options: NSData.Base64EncodingOptions(rawValue: 0))
    } else {
        print("Problem generating random bytes")
        return nil
    }
}

In Swift 3, I tried to do it like this, since I know the concept of unsafemutablebytes is different now, but it doesn't allow me to return. If I comment out the return part, it still says Generic Parameter ResultType could not be inferred

fileprivate static func generateRandomBytes() -> String? {
    var keyData = Data(count: 32)
    _ = keyData.withUnsafeMutableBytes {mutableBytes in
        let result = SecRandomCopyBytes(kSecRandomDefault, keyData.count, mutableBytes)
        if result == errSecSuccess {
            return keyData.base64EncodedString(options: NSData.Base64EncodingOptions(rawValue: 0))
        } else {
            print("Problem generating random bytes")
            return nil
        }
    }
    return nil
}

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks

Answer 1

You were close, but return inside the closure returns from the closure, not from the outer function. Therefore only SecRandomCopyBytes() should be called in the closure, and the result passed back.

func generateRandomBytes() -> String? {

    var keyData = Data(count: 32)
    let result = keyData.withUnsafeMutableBytes {
        (mutableBytes: UnsafeMutablePointer<UInt8>) -> Int32 in
        SecRandomCopyBytes(kSecRandomDefault, 32, mutableBytes)
    }
    if result == errSecSuccess {
        return keyData.base64EncodedString()
    } else {
        print("Problem generating random bytes")
        return nil
    }
}

For a "single-expression closure" the closure type can inferred automatically, so this can be shortened to

func generateRandomBytes() -> String? {

    var keyData = Data(count: 32)
    let result = keyData.withUnsafeMutableBytes {
        SecRandomCopyBytes(kSecRandomDefault, 32, $0)
    }
    if result == errSecSuccess {
        return keyData.base64EncodedString()
    } else {
        print("Problem generating random bytes")
        return nil
    }
}

Swift 5 update:

func generateRandomBytes() -> String? {

    var keyData = Data(count: 32)
    let result = keyData.withUnsafeMutableBytes {
        SecRandomCopyBytes(kSecRandomDefault, 32, $0.baseAddress!)
    }
    if result == errSecSuccess {
        return keyData.base64EncodedString()
    } else {
        print("Problem generating random bytes")
        return nil
    }
}

Answer 2

This is the simplest and "Swiftiest" way to implement your function using Swift 5:

func generateRandomBytes() -> String? {
    var bytes = [UInt8](repeating: 0, count: 32)
    let result = SecRandomCopyBytes(kSecRandomDefault, bytes.count, &bytes)

    guard result == errSecSuccess else {
        print("Problem generating random bytes")
        return nil
    }

    return Data(bytes).base64EncodedString()
}

Generally it is best practice in Swift to use guard statements as opposed to if/else statements when the control flow of a function depends on the success or failure of an expression or the presence of a non-nil value.