Building a document browser app for custom file formats

At a glance

Project structure

Source bundle/
├── Particles/
│   ├── EditorViewController.swift
│   ├── AppDelegate.swift
│   ├── Document.swift
│   ├── DocumentBrowserViewController.swift
│   ├── DocumentViewController.swift
│   ├── ParticleViewController.swift
│   └── Base.lproj/
│       └── LaunchScreen.storyboard
├── ParticlesPreview/
│   └── PreviewViewController.swift
├── ParticlesThumbnails/
│   └── ThumbnailProvider.swift
├── Configuration/
│   └── SampleCode.xcconfig
└── Particles.xcodeproj/
    ├── .xcodesamplecode.plist
    └── project.pbxproj

Structure observations

• Architecturally prominent files are ranked from entry points and role-named declarations; resource-only paths are omitted.
• Primary languages: Swift.
• The verified tree contains 9 project/configuration file(s) and 12 source declaration(s).

Overall architecture

flowchart LR
    N1["AppDelegate"]
    N2["DocumentBrowserViewController"]
    N3["Document"]
    N4["ThumbnailProvider"]
    N5["UIKit APIs"]
    N1 --> N2
    N2 --> N3
    N3 --> N4
    N4 --> N5

Reference code

Particles/AppDelegate.swift:11 — architecture anchor

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    // ...
    var window: UIWindow?
    // ...
}

Interpretation

The arrows summarize the source-visible entry, role-named types or folders, and framework direction; when nodes come from structural folders, the sequence is a high-level interpretation rather than proof that every adjacent node calls the next. Ownership is claimed only where the next section cites a stored property or assignment. The diagram is intentionally limited to the dominant path into UIKit.

Ownership and state

classDiagram
    EditorSetting *-- String : keyPath
    EditorSetting *-- String : label
    EditorSetting *-- Float : min
    EditorSetting *-- Float : max

Ownership evidence

Particles/EditorViewController.swift:19 — stored dependency or nearest verified ownership anchor

    private struct EditorSetting: Hashable {
        let keyPath: String
        // ...
    }

Composition arrows indicate a source-visible construction expression or locally owned value state; aggregation means the owner stores or receives a dependency without proving exclusive lifetime ownership.

Concurrency, scheduling, and thread safety

Evidence limit: actor isolation, async/await, or Task creation does not by itself prove background-thread execution; Sendable conformance alone does not prove thread-safe mutation.

@MainActor/MainActor.run, DispatchQueue.main, and RunLoop.main are reported as distinct isolation, queue, and event-loop mechanisms. A plain Task is kept separate from Task.detached; neither is labeled as a background thread.

Reference code

ParticlesThumbnails/ThumbnailProvider.swift:41 — representative execution boundary

            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                let particleViewController = ParticleViewController()
                // ...
            }

State propagation, frameworks, and dependencies

Evidence limit: an import proves a source-level compilation dependency at the cited line; it does not prove runtime use, architectural adoption, or whether a Swift package is a direct application dependency.

receive(on:) describes downstream delivery scheduling, while subscribe(on:) describes upstream subscription/request/cancel scheduling. An import Combine alone establishes neither behavior nor a Store, reducer, Redux, or other application architecture.

Class and protocol design

Particles/AppDelegate.swift:12 — representative type boundary

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    // ...
    var window: UIWindow?
    // ...
}

No local protocol conformance is claimed as protocol-oriented design; external framework conformances are listed only as dependencies.

Access control

Reference code

Particles/DocumentViewController.swift:13 — representative boundary

class DocumentViewController: UIViewController {
    // ...
    private(set) var document: Document?
    // ...
}

Swift declarations without a modifier are internal; explicit private, fileprivate, private(set), public, or open entries above are interpreted by language semantics. Objective-C/C samples instead rely on header and implementation boundaries, which are not equivalent to Swift lexical privacy.

Logic ownership and placement

Design patterns

Naming conventions

• Types: Controller: DocumentBrowserViewController, DocumentViewController, EditorViewController, ParticleViewController, PreviewViewController; Delegate: AppDelegate; Document: Document; Provider: ThumbnailProvider; Transformer: FloatToColorTransformer.
• Protocols: no local protocol declaration in the scanned source.
• Methods: value, reversedValue, prepareForReuse, transformedValue, reverseTransformedValue, viewDidLoad, makeDataSource, scheduleAutosave.
• Files: Particles/EditorViewController.swift, Particles/AppDelegate.swift, Particles/Document.swift, Particles/DocumentBrowserViewController.swift, Particles/DocumentViewController.swift, Particles/ParticleViewController.swift.

Architecture takeaways

• AppDelegate is the main source-visible entry or composition anchor for this sample.
• Framework work reaches UIKit, SceneKit, MobileCoreServices, QuickLook through a deliberately small high-level chain; the detailed API graph remains inside the cited implementation files.
• Stored-property evidence identifies lifecycle collaboration; it does not by itself prove exclusive object ownership.
• Access-control conclusions separate verified language visibility from the likely design rationale.
• The source does not justify labeling the design protocol-oriented.

Source map

• Official Apple documentation