Competition with two methods and run completion method once - ios

Question

I have three methods, two of them run at the same time. And the third method should be started only when the first and second method together complete their work. Either the first or second method, competitors, can finish their work first.
- (void)method1 {
//DO Long Work
isMethod1Complete = YES;
[self method3];
}
- (void)method2 {
//DO Long Work
isMethod2Complete = YES;
[self method3];
}
- (void)method3 {
if (isMethod1Complete && isMethod2Complete) {
//DO Work once
}
}
Method 3 should always be called once. But the problem is that there is a situation that method1 and method2 have finished working at the same time, and method3 is called twice. Tell me how to solve this problem in objective c for iOS?
Update:A concrete example, I have two services that call delegates when they finish their work.
- (void)method1Handler {
isMethod1Complete = YES;
[self method3];
}
- (void)method2Handler {
isMethod1Complete = YES;
[self method3];
}
How can this be solved without blocks?
For blocks, Rob's example is the best.

Answer 1

You say:
I have three methods, two of them run at the same time.
That means that they must be asynchronous or running on background queues (otherwise there's no way for them to run at the same time).
So, the idea is that you should give them both completion handlers (which will be called when they're done):
- (void)method1WithCompletion:(void(^ _Nonnull)(void))completion {
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(QOS_CLASS_DEFAULT, 0), ^{
//DO Long Work asynchronously
completion();
});
}
- (void)method2WithCompletion:(void(^ _Nonnull)(void))completion {
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(QOS_CLASS_DEFAULT, 0), ^{
//DO Long Work asynchronously
completion();
});
}
- (void)method3 {
// final task
}
In the above example, I added explicit dispatch_async calls to a background queue to ensure that the two long tasks run asynchronously. But if the code is already doing something asynchronous (e.g. a network request), then you will likely not need these dispatch_async calls, but just put the completion() call inside the completion handler provided by whatever API you are already using. But without more information about what method1 and method2 are doing, I cannot be more specific.
But, setting that aside, once your method1 and method2 have their own completion handlers, you can use dispatch_group_notify to identify what should be done when all of the dispatch_group_enter calls are balanced by their corresponding dispatch_group_leave calls:
dispatch_group_t group = dispatch_group_create();
dispatch_group_enter(group);
[self method1WithCompletion:^{
dispatch_group_leave(group);
}];
dispatch_group_enter(group);
[self method2WithCompletion:^{
dispatch_group_leave(group);
}];
dispatch_group_notify(group, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[self method3];
});
In subsequent comments, you mentioned that you are not using a completion block-based API, but rather a delegate-protocol-based API. You have a few options, for example:
You can use the same above closure pattern, but just save the completion handlers as block properties, e.g.:
For example, define block properties:
#property (nonatomic, copy, nullable) void (^completionOne)(void);
#property (nonatomic, copy, nullable) void (^completionTwo)(void);
Then, your method1 and method2 would save these blocks:
- (void)method1WithCompletion:(void(^ _Nonnull)(void))completion {
self.completionOne = completion;
// start your time consuming asynchronous process
}
// and your completion delegate method can then call the saved closure
// and then remove it
- (void)method1DidComplete {
self.completionOne();
self.completionOne = nil;
}
- (void)method2WithCompletion:(void(^ _Nonnull)(void))completion {
self.completionTwo = completion;
// start second asynchronous process
}
// same as above
- (void)method2DidComplete {
self.completionTwo();
self.completionTwo = nil;
}
The delegate-protocol completion API would then just call the saved block properties (and probably reset them to nil to free the memory associated with those blocks).
Then you can use the dispatch group notify process as shown in my original answer, above.
Alternatively, rather than using blocks, you can just use dispatch group by itself. For example, define dispatch group property:
#property (nonatomic, strong, nullable) dispatch_group_t group;
Then, you create your group and start your two tasks:
self.group = dispatch_group_create();
[self method1];
[self method2];
dispatch_group_notify(self.group, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[self method3];
});
And, the two methods then dispatch_group_enter when you start the tasks and dispatch_group_leave in their respective completion handler delegate methods:
- (void)method1 {
dispatch_group_enter(self.group);
// start first asynchronous process
}
// in your delegate completion method, you "leave" the group
- (void)method1DidComplete {
dispatch_group_leave(self.group);
}
- (void)method2 {
dispatch_group_enter(self.group);
// start second asynchronous process
}
- (void)method2DidComplete {
dispatch_group_leave(self.group);
}
- (void)method3 {
// you might as well remove the group now that you're done with it
self.group = nil;
// final task
NSLog(#"doing three");
}
Personally, I would generally lean towards the first option (that way, the dispatch group stuff is contained in a single method), but either approach works.

Answer 2

Why not dispatching the "call" to method3 in a serial queue?
dispatch_queue_t notSimQ;
notSimQ = dispatch_queue_create("notSimQ", NULL);
- (void)method1 {
//DO Long Work
isMethod1Complete = YES;
dispatch_async( notSimQ, // or sync
^{
[self method3];
});
}
- (void)method2 { … } // similiasr
- (void)method3 { … } // unchanged
The calls to method3 are never in competition.

Answer 3

- (void)method1 {
//DO Long Work
isMethod2Complete = YES;
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void){
[self method3];
}
}
- (void)method2 { … }
- (void)method3 { … }

Answer 4

- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
[self method1];
[self method2];
}
- (void)method1 {
//DO Long Work
isMethod1Complete = YES;
}
- (void)method2 {
//DO Long Work
isMethod2Complete = YES;
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void){
[self method3];
}
}
- (void)method3 {
if (isMethod1Complete && isMethod2Complete) {
//DO Work once
}
}