I have an Operation subclass and Operation queue with maxConcurrentOperationCount = 1.
This performs my operations in a sequential order that i add them which is good but now i need to wait until all operations have finished before running another process.
i was trying to use notification group but as this is run in a for loop as soon as the operations have been added to the queue the notification group fires.. How do i wait for all operations to leave the queue before running another process?
for (index, _) in self.packArray.enumerated() {
myGroup.enter()
let myArrayOperation = ArrayOperation(collection: self.outerCollectionView, id: self.packArray[index].id, count: index)
myArrayOperation.name = self.packArray[index].id
downloadQueue.addOperation(myArrayOperation)
myGroup.leave()
}
myGroup.notify(queue: .main) {
// do stuff here
}
You can use operation dependencies to initiate some operation upon the completion of a series of other operations:
let queue = OperationQueue()
let completionOperation = BlockOperation {
// all done
}
for object in objects {
let operation = ...
completionOperation.addDependency(operation)
queue.addOperation(operation)
}
OperationQueue.main.addOperation(completionOperation) // or, if you don't need it on main queue, just `queue.addOperation(completionOperation)`
Or, in iOS 13 and later, you can use barriers:
let queue = OperationQueue()
for object in objects {
queue.addOperation(...)
}
queue.addBarrierBlock {
DispatchQueue.main.async {
// all done
}
}
A suitable solution is KVO
First before the loop add the observer (assuming queue is the OperationQueue instance)
queue.addObserver(self, forKeyPath:"operations", options:.new, context:nil)
Then implement
override func observeValue(forKeyPath keyPath: String?, of object: Any?, change: [NSKeyValueChangeKey : Any]?, context: UnsafeMutableRawPointer?) {
if object as? OperationQueue == queue && keyPath == "operations" {
if queue.operations.isEmpty {
// Do something here when your queue has completed
self.queue.removeObserver(self, forKeyPath:"operations")
}
} else {
super.observeValue(forKeyPath: keyPath, of: object, change: change, context: context)
}
}
Edit:
In Swift 4 it's much easier
Declare a property:
var observation : NSKeyValueObservation?
and create the observer
observation = queue.observe(\.operationCount, options: [.new]) { [unowned self] (queue, change) in
if change.newValue! == 0 {
// Do something here when your queue has completed
self.observation = nil
}
}
Since iOS13 and macOS15 operationCount is deprecated. The replacement is to observe progress.completedUnitCount.
Another modern way is to use the KVO publisher of Combine
var cancellable: AnyCancellable?
cancellable = queue.publisher(for: \.progress.completedUnitCount)
.filter{$0 == queue.progress.totalUnitCount}
.sink() { _ in
print("queue finished")
self.cancellable = nil
}
I use the next solution:
private let queue = OperationQueue()
private func addOperations(_ operations: [Operation], completionHandler: #escaping () -> ()) {
DispatchQueue.global().async { [unowned self] in
self.queue.addOperations(operations, waitUntilFinished: true)
DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: completionHandler)
}
}
Set the maximum number of concurrent operations to 1
operationQueue.maxConcurrentOperationCount = 1
then each operation will be executed in order (as if each was dependent on the previous one) and your completion operation will execute at the end.
Code at the end of the queue
refer to this link
NSOperation and NSOperationQueue are great and useful Foundation framework tools for asynchronous tasks. One thing puzzled me though: How can I run code after all my queue operations finish? The simple answer is: use dependencies between operations in the queue (unique feature of NSOperation). It's just 5 lines of code solution.
NSOperation dependency trick
with Swift it is just easy to implement as this:
extension Array where Element: NSOperation {
/// Execute block after all operations from the array.
func onFinish(block: () -> Void) {
let doneOperation = NSBlockOperation(block: block)
self.forEach { [unowned doneOperation] in doneOperation.addDependency($0) }
NSOperationQueue().addOperation(doneOperation)
}}
My solution is similar to that of https://stackoverflow.com/a/42496559/452115, but I don't add the completionOperation in the main OperationQueue but into the queue itself. This works for me:
var a = [Int](repeating: 0, count: 10)
let queue = OperationQueue()
let completionOperation = BlockOperation {
print(a)
}
queue.maxConcurrentOperationCount = 2
for i in 0...9 {
let operation = BlockOperation {
a[i] = 1
}
completionOperation.addDependency(operation)
queue.addOperation(operation)
}
queue.addOperation(completionOperation)
print("Done 🎉")
I have DispatchWorkItem that fetch some info and I have a button that displays the info. The worker looks like this:
worker = DispatchWorkItem {
let info = getInfo()
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.setInfo(info)
}
}
on viewDidLoad I add the worker to the global queue
DispatchQueue.global().asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.35, execute: worker!)
When the user clicks on the button I need the execution to be blocked until the worker has finished execution.
#IBAction func readInfo(_ sender: UIButton) {
// WAIT UNTIL THE WORKER HAS FINISHED EXECUTION
...
I managed to do so by having the worker looking like this:
worker = DispatchWorkItem {
let info = getInfo()
self.setInfo(info)
}
and by checking if the info was set every 200 ms after the user clicks on the button:
#IBAction func readInfo(_ sender: UIButton) {
while(info == nil){
usleep(2000)
}
...
However I want all the variables to be accessible only by the main thread.
To be honest, I don't clearly understand what you wanted, but it's inappropriate to use such a thing as usleep(2000).
So, there is a possible solution, but it's general and you probably need to modify it for your needs.
let group = DispatchGroup()
var info: Info?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
DispatchQueue.global().asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.35) { [weak self] in
self?.getInfo()
}
}
func getInfo() {
group.enter()
asyncFunc()
group.notify(queue: .main) { [weak self] in
self?.setInfo(self?.info)
}
}
func asyncFunc() {
..... { [weak self] info in
self?.info = info
self?.group.leave()
}
}
If you want to disable user interaction while something is loading, it's better to show progressive loader, but not just freeze the application. In case with the loader, users will understand, that the app isn't frozen.
There is an example of using DispatchWorkItem with DispatchGroup:
let dispatchWorkItem = DispatchWorkItem{
print("work item start")
sleep(1)
print("work item end")
}
let dg = DispatchGroup()
//submiy work items to the group
let dispatchQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "custom dq")
dispatchQueue.async(group: dg) {
print("block start")
sleep(2)
print("block end")
}
DispatchQueue.global().async(group: dg, execute: dispatchWorkItem)
//print message when all blocks in the group finish
dg.notify(queue: DispatchQueue.global()) {
print("dispatch group over")
}
Code from here
I am trying to call 3 functions in order but each function needs to have been completed before the next should run. Each function has a completion handler that calls another function upon completion. After reading lots online about dispatch queues I though this may be the best way to approach it, that's if I am understanding it correctly of course. When I run my code Each function is called in order but not when the previous has been completed. In the first function I am downloading an image from firebase but the second function gets called before the image has downloaded. I've taken out specifics in my code but this is what I have so far.
typealias COMPLETION = () -> ()
let functionOne_completion = {
print("functionOne COMPLETED")
}
let functionTwo_completion = {
print("functionTwo COMPLETED")
}
let functionThree_completion = {
print("functionThree COMPLETED")
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let queue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.myApp.myQueue")
queue.sync {
functionOne(completion: functionOne_completion)
functionTwo(completion: functionTwo_completion)
functionThree(completion: functionThree_completion)
}
func functionOne(completion: #escaping COMPLETION) {
print("functionOne STARTED")
completion()
}
func functionTwo(completion: #escaping COMPLETION) {
print("functionTwo STARTED")
completion()
}
func functionThree(completion: #escaping COMPLETION) {
print("functionThree STARTED")
completion()
}
You could use DispatchGroup
DispatchQueue.global().async {
let dispatchGroup = DispatchGroup()
dispatchGroup.enter()
functionOne { dispatchGroup.leave() }
dispatchGroup.wait() //Add reasonable timeout
dispatchGroup.enter()
functionTwo { dispatchGroup.leave() }
dispatchGroup.wait()
dispatchGroup.enter()
functionThree { dispatchGroup.leave() }
dispatchGroup.wait()
dispatchGroup.notify(queue: .main) {
//All tasks are completed
}
}
You need to call the second function on the completion of the first.
Something like:
func first(_ completion : #escaping()->()){
print("first")
completion()
}
func second(_ completion : #escaping()->()){
print("second")
}
func third(){
print("third")
}
override func viewDidLoad(){
....
first{
self.second{
self.third()
}
}
}
So when your image download gets finished, inside the completion block where you get the callback of download completion, you should call your second method/block passed as argument which in turn will call your second method.
I've got some issue with CoreData concurrency.
I can't do context.perform while a destination thread is blocked with DispatchGroup.
Here is a simple example which shows the issue:
func upload(objects: [NSManagedObject]) {
let group = DispatchGroup()
for object in objects {
group.enter()
upload(object) {
group.leave()
}
}
group.wait() // current thread is blocked here
someAdditionalWorkToDoInSameThread()
}
func upload(object: NSManagedObject, completion: ()->()) {
let context = object.managedObjectContext
performAlamofireRequest(object) {
context.perform {
// can't reach here because the thread is blocked
update(object)
completion()
}
}
}
Please, help me to reimplement this properly. Thanks.
Using notify on dispatch group instead of wait, should resolve your issues.
Calling wait() blocks current thread for completion of previously submitted work.
notify(queue:execute:) will notify the queue that you passed as argument that the group task has been completed.
func upload(objects: [NSManagedObject], completion: ()->()) {
let group = DispatchGroup()
for object in objects {
group.enter()
upload(object) {
group.leave()
}
}
group.notify(queue: DispatchQueue.main) {
completion()
}
}
How to use threading in swift?
dispatchOnMainThread:^{
NSLog(#"Block Executed On %s", dispatch_queue_get_label(dispatch_get_current_queue()));
}];
Swift 3.0+
A lot has been modernized in Swift 3.0. Running something on a background queue looks like this:
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async {
print("This is run on a background queue")
DispatchQueue.main.async {
print("This is run on the main queue, after the previous code in outer block")
}
}
Swift 1.2 through 2.3
let qualityOfServiceClass = QOS_CLASS_USER_INITIATED
let backgroundQueue = dispatch_get_global_queue(qualityOfServiceClass, 0)
dispatch_async(backgroundQueue, {
print("This is run on a background queue")
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), { () -> Void in
print("This is run on the main queue, after the previous code in outer block")
})
})
Pre Swift 1.2 – Known issue
As of Swift 1.1 Apple didn't support the above syntax without some modifications. Passing QOS_CLASS_USER_INITIATED didn't actually work, instead use Int(QOS_CLASS_USER_INITIATED.value).
For more information see Apples documentation
Dan Beaulieu's answer in swift5 (also working since swift 3.0.1).
Swift 5.0.1
extension DispatchQueue {
static func background(delay: Double = 0.0, background: (()->Void)? = nil, completion: (() -> Void)? = nil) {
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .background).async {
background?()
if let completion = completion {
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + delay, execute: {
completion()
})
}
}
}
}
Usage
DispatchQueue.background(delay: 3.0, background: {
// do something in background
}, completion: {
// when background job finishes, wait 3 seconds and do something in main thread
})
DispatchQueue.background(background: {
// do something in background
}, completion:{
// when background job finished, do something in main thread
})
DispatchQueue.background(delay: 3.0, completion:{
// do something in main thread after 3 seconds
})
The best practice is to define a reusable function that can be accessed multiple times.
REUSABLE FUNCTION:
e.g. somewhere like AppDelegate.swift as a Global Function.
func backgroundThread(_ delay: Double = 0.0, background: (() -> Void)? = nil, completion: (() -> Void)? = nil) {
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(Int(QOS_CLASS_USER_INITIATED.value), 0)) {
background?()
let popTime = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, Int64(delay * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC)))
dispatch_after(popTime, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
completion?()
}
}
}
Note: in Swift 2.0, replace QOS_CLASS_USER_INITIATED.value above with QOS_CLASS_USER_INITIATED.rawValue instead
USAGE:
A. To run a process in the background with a delay of 3 seconds:
backgroundThread(3.0, background: {
// Your background function here
})
B. To run a process in the background then run a completion in the foreground:
backgroundThread(background: {
// Your function here to run in the background
},
completion: {
// A function to run in the foreground when the background thread is complete
})
C. To delay by 3 seconds - note use of completion parameter without background parameter:
backgroundThread(3.0, completion: {
// Your delayed function here to be run in the foreground
})
In Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10.1
We have three types of Queues :
1. Main Queue:
Main queue is a serial queue which is created by the system and associated with the application main thread.
2. Global Queue :
Global queue is a concurrent queue which we can request with respect to the priority of the tasks.
3. Custom queues : can be created by the user. Custom concurrent queues always mapped into one of the global queues by specifying a Quality of Service property (QoS).
DispatchQueue.main//Main thread
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated)// High Priority
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInteractive)//High Priority (Little Higher than userInitiated)
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .background)//Lowest Priority
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .default)//Normal Priority (after High but before Low)
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .utility)//Low Priority
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .unspecified)//Absence of Quality
These all Queues can be executed in two ways
1. Synchronous execution
2. Asynchronous execution
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .background).async {
// do your job here
DispatchQueue.main.async {
// update ui here
}
}
//Perform some task and update UI immediately.
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async {
// Perform task
DispatchQueue.main.async {
// Update UI
self.tableView.reloadData()
}
}
//To call or execute function after some time
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 5.0) {
//Here call your function
}
//If you want to do changes in UI use this
DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
//Update UI
self.tableView.reloadData()
})
From AppCoda : https://www.appcoda.com/grand-central-dispatch/
//This will print synchronously means, it will print 1-9 & 100-109
func simpleQueues() {
let queue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.appcoda.myqueue")
queue.sync {
for i in 0..<10 {
print("🔴", i)
}
}
for i in 100..<110 {
print("Ⓜ️", i)
}
}
//This will print asynchronously
func simpleQueues() {
let queue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.appcoda.myqueue")
queue.async {
for i in 0..<10 {
print("🔴", i)
}
}
for i in 100..<110 {
print("Ⓜ️", i)
}
}
Swift 3 version
Swift 3 utilizes new DispatchQueue class to manage queues and threads. To run something on the background thread you would use:
let backgroundQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.app.queue", qos: .background)
backgroundQueue.async {
print("Run on background thread")
}
Or if you want something in two lines of code:
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .background).async {
print("Run on background thread")
DispatchQueue.main.async {
print("We finished that.")
// only back on the main thread, may you access UI:
label.text = "Done."
}
}
You can also get some in-depth info about GDC in Swift 3 in this tutorial.
From Jameson Quave's tutorial
Swift 2
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), {
//All stuff here
})
Swift 4.x
Put this in some file:
func background(work: #escaping () -> ()) {
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async {
work()
}
}
func main(work: #escaping () -> ()) {
DispatchQueue.main.async {
work()
}
}
and then call it where you need:
background {
//background job
main {
//update UI (or what you need to do in main thread)
}
}
Swift 5
To make it easy, create a file "DispatchQueue+Extensions.swift" with this content :
import Foundation
typealias Dispatch = DispatchQueue
extension Dispatch {
static func background(_ task: #escaping () -> ()) {
Dispatch.global(qos: .background).async {
task()
}
}
static func main(_ task: #escaping () -> ()) {
Dispatch.main.async {
task()
}
}
}
Usage :
Dispatch.background {
// do stuff
Dispatch.main {
// update UI
}
}
You have to separate out the changes that you want to run in the background from the updates you want to run on the UI:
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0)) {
// do your task
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
// update some UI
}
}
Since the OP question has already been answered above I just want to add some speed considerations:
I don't recommend running tasks with the .background thread priority especially on the iPhone X where the task seems to be allocated on the low power cores.
Here is some real data from a computationally intensive function that reads from an XML file (with buffering) and performs data interpolation:
Device name / .background / .utility / .default / .userInitiated / .userInteractive
iPhone X: 18.7s / 6.3s / 1.8s / 1.8s / 1.8s
iPhone 7: 4.6s / 3.1s / 3.0s / 2.8s / 2.6s
iPhone 5s: 7.3s / 6.1s / 4.0s / 4.0s / 3.8s
Note that the data set is not the same for all devices. It's the biggest on the iPhone X and the smallest on the iPhone 5s.
Good answers though, anyway I want to share my Object Oriented solution Up to date for swift 5.
please check it out: AsyncTask
Conceptually inspired by android's AsyncTask, I've wrote my own class in Swift
AsyncTask enables proper and easy use of the UI thread. This class allows to perform background operations and publish results on the UI thread.
Here are few usage examples
Example 1 -
AsyncTask(backgroundTask: {(p:String)->Void in//set BGParam to String and BGResult to Void
print(p);//print the value in background thread
}).execute("Hello async");//execute with value 'Hello async'
Example 2 -
let task2=AsyncTask(beforeTask: {
print("pre execution");//print 'pre execution' before backgroundTask
},backgroundTask:{(p:Int)->String in//set BGParam to Int & BGResult to String
if p>0{//check if execution value is bigger than zero
return "positive"//pass String "poitive" to afterTask
}
return "negative";//otherwise pass String "negative"
}, afterTask: {(p:String) in
print(p);//print background task result
});
task2.execute(1);//execute with value 1
It has 2 generic types:
BGParam - the type of the parameter sent to the task upon execution.
BGResult - the type of the result of the background computation.
When you create an AsyncTask you can those types to whatever you need to pass in and out of the background task, but if you don't need those types, you can mark it as unused with just setting it to: Void or with shorter syntax: ()
When an asynchronous task is executed, it goes through 3 steps:
beforeTask:()->Void invoked on the UI thread just before the task is executed.
backgroundTask: (param:BGParam)->BGResult invoked on the background thread immediately after
afterTask:(param:BGResult)->Void invoked on the UI thread with result from the background task
Multi purpose function for thread
public enum QueueType {
case Main
case Background
case LowPriority
case HighPriority
var queue: DispatchQueue {
switch self {
case .Main:
return DispatchQueue.main
case .Background:
return DispatchQueue(label: "com.app.queue",
qos: .background,
target: nil)
case .LowPriority:
return DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated)
case .HighPriority:
return DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated)
}
}
}
func performOn(_ queueType: QueueType, closure: #escaping () -> Void) {
queueType.queue.async(execute: closure)
}
Use it like :
performOn(.Background) {
//Code
}
I really like Dan Beaulieu's answer, but it doesn't work with Swift 2.2 and I think we can avoid those nasty forced unwraps!
func backgroundThread(delay: Double = 0.0, background: (() -> Void)? = nil, completion: (() -> Void)? = nil) {
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(QOS_CLASS_USER_INITIATED, 0)) {
background?()
if let completion = completion{
let popTime = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, Int64(delay * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC)))
dispatch_after(popTime, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
completion()
}
}
}
}
Grand Central Dispatch is used to handle multitasking in our iOS apps.
You can use this code
// Using time interval
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: DispatchTime.now()+1) {
print("Hello World")
}
// Background thread
queue.sync {
for i in 0..<10 {
print("Hello", i)
}
}
// Main thread
for i in 20..<30 {
print("Hello", i)
}
More information use this link : https://www.programminghub.us/2018/07/integrate-dispatcher-in-swift.html
Is there a drawback (when needing to launch a foreground screen afterward) to the code below?
import Foundation
import UIKit
class TestTimeDelay {
static var connected:Bool = false
static var counter:Int = 0
static func showAfterDelayControl(uiViewController:UIViewController) {
NSLog("TestTimeDelay", "showAfterDelayControl")
}
static func tryReconnect() -> Bool {
counter += 1
NSLog("TestTimeDelay", "Counter:\(counter)")
return counter > 4
}
static func waitOnConnectWithDelay(milliseconds:Int, uiViewController: UIViewController) {
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .background).async {
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: DispatchTime.now() + DispatchTimeInterval.milliseconds(milliseconds), execute: {
waitOnConnect(uiViewController: uiViewController)
})
}
}
static func waitOnConnect(uiViewController:UIViewController) {
connected = tryReconnect()
if connected {
showAfterDelayControl(uiViewController: uiViewController)
}
else {
waitOnConnectWithDelay(milliseconds: 200, uiViewController:uiViewController)
}
}
}
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(QOS_CLASS_BACKGROUND, 0), {
// Conversion into base64 string
self.uploadImageString = uploadPhotoDataJPEG.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(NSDataBase64EncodingOptions.EncodingEndLineWithCarriageReturn)
})
in Swift 4.2 this works.
import Foundation
class myThread: Thread
{
override func main() {
while(true) {
print("Running in the Thread");
Thread.sleep(forTimeInterval: 4);
}
}
}
let t = myThread();
t.start();
while(true) {
print("Main Loop");
sleep(5);
}