Connecting a button to .searchable modifier

I have an app with SampleData of country names displayed in a list with the searchable modifier. I also have button on the bottom right of the screen. This is all within the NavigationStack:

NavigationStack {
    VStack {
        List {
            ForEach(countries, id: \.self) { country in
                HStack { 
                    // Go through my SampleData
                }
            }
        }
        .searchable(text: $searchViewModel.searchText)
        .navigationTitle("Home")
        .overlay {
            VStack {
                Spacer()
                HStack {
                    Spacer()
                    MyButton {}
                }
            }
        }

Is there a way to "connect" MyButton to that SampleData so that when I click the button, it opens the search bar?

I've tried the property wrapper @FocusedState isSearchFocused of boolean type, and then just setting it to true when the button is pressed, but it still doesn't do anything:

// 
// Within MyButton struct
// 
var body : some View {
    Button(action: action) { 
        // button ui
    }
    .gesture(DragGesture(minimumDistance: 0)
        .onChanged { _ in
            if !isPressed {
                isPressed = true
                hapticFeedback()
                isSearchFocused = true  // this does nothing...
            }
        }
        .onEnded { _ in
            isPressed = false
            action()
            hapticFeedback()
        }
    )
}

If this is not possible, I'm assuming you need to design a custom search bar and work on it from there. It's just that the default system .searchable looks cool to me :)

You can pass an additional isPresented: parameter to searchable, to programmatically control whether the search bar is active:

@State var searchText = ""
@State var searchActive = false
var body: some View {
    NavigationStack {
        List {
            Text("Foo")
            Text("Bar")
            Text("Baz")
        }
        .searchable(text: $searchText, isPresented: $searchActive)
        .overlay(alignment: .bottomTrailing) {
            Button {
                searchActive = true
            } label: {
                Image(systemName: "magnifyingglass")
            }
            .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent)
            .padding()
        }
    }
}