I want to measure how long (in seconds) it takes users to do certain things in my app. Some examples are logging in, pressing a button on a certain page, etc.
I am using an NSTimer for that. I am starting it in the viewDidLoad of a specific page, and stopping it at the point that I want to measure.
I also want to measure cumulative time for certain things. I would like to start the timer on the log-in screen, and then continue the timer until the user gets to the next view controller and clicks on a certain button.
I'm not sure how to do this. Should create a global variable in my app delegate? Or is there some other better way?
No need for an NSTimer, you just need to record the start times and compare them to the stop times. Try using a little helper class such as:
class MyTimer {
static let shared = MyTimer()
var startTimes = [String : Date]()
func start(withKey key: String) {
startTimes[key] = Date()
}
func measure(key: String) -> TimeInterval? {
if let start = startTimes[key] {
return Date().timeIntervalSince(start)
}
return nil
}
}
To use this, just call start(withKey:) right before you start a long-running task.
MyTimer.shared.start(withKey: "login")
Do something that takes a while and then call measure(key:) when you're done. Because MyTimer is a singleton, it can be called from anywhere in your code.
if let interval = MyTimer.shared.measure("login") {
print("Logging in time: \(interval)")
}
If you're using multiple threads, you may to to add some thread safety to this, but it should work as is in simple scenarios.
Related
I am calling one API, but that data is not changing frequently and I am storing data in core data. I want that API should call only once in 30 min. is there any better approach of calling API only if it exceed 30 min from last API call. I can think of Timer based, but like to know if there is any other better way to do same?
If you are calling the api randomly then holding a variable in memory for the last successful call might be good enough. If you want the API to be called automatically you'll best approach would be to set up a timer.
If you want your app to prohibit to make a new call in 30 min, then this would be a quick example:
(wrote this for a playground)
var lastCheck: Date?
let minimumMinutes = 60.0
func makeNetworkCall() {
if let lastCheckDate = lastCheck, lastCheckDate.timeIntervalSinceNow < (30 * minimumMinutes) {
debugPrint("Not making call, Didn't go 30 min yet")
return
}
lastCheck = Date()
debugPrint("Making network call!")
// ... make call
}
makeNetworkCall() // Should make call
makeNetworkCall() // Should not make call
makeNetworkCall() // Should not make call
I haven't tested the code above, but it should work.
To just limit service calling for a specific time (ex 30 minutes), you can store last service called date and use it to decide to do a call or not. You can store the date in memory or persistent storage depend on you need.
UserDefaults can be an option to store last date for persistance. There is a sample implementation below;
func saveLastServiceCalledDate() {
UserDefaults.standard.set(Date(), forKey: "lastServiceCallDate")
}
func isCalledInLast30Min() -> Bool {
guard let lastDate = UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: "lastServiceCallDate") as? Date else { return false }
let timeElapsed: Int = Int(Date().timeIntervalSince(lastDate))
return timeElapsed < 30 * 60 // 30 minutes
}
func serviceCall() {
// ignore if called in last 30 minutes
if isCalledInLast30Min() { return }
// save current date
saveLastServiceCalledDate()
// do service call
}
My suggestion is to use DispatchSourceTimer because it can be restarted at any time.
Call startTimer() in viewDidLoad and in applicationWillBecomeActive to get the most recent data when the application becomes active
var timer : DispatchSourceTimer!
func startTimer()
{
if timer == nil {
timer = DispatchSource.makeTimerSource(queue: DispatchQueue.global())
timer.schedule(deadline: .now(), repeating: 30.0)
timer.setEventHandler {
self.callAPI()
}
timer.activate()
} else {
timer.schedule(deadline:.now(, repeating: 30.0)
}
}
There is no way but timer
1- Create a Timer with 1 minute schedule
2- Timer function checks current timeStamp against a stored 1 say in defaults
3- If stored value is nil or exceeded 30 minutes gap between the current call the api
4- When you call the api update the stored value with the current 1
The reason behind making it a stored value not global is freguently opening and closing the app won't cause non-new api calls
let current = Date().timeIntervalSince1970
let stored = UserDefaults.standard.double(forKey:"stored")
if stored == 0 || current - stored >= 30.0 {
// call the api && update stored value
}
You haven't mentioned whether this should happen in background or foreground? Because based on that only we need to go for the solution. In case if u are wondering about update the data in the background, you should check apples BGTaskBackground. But the problem with this is, you can't decide the time to trigger. You can only give minimumFetchingInterval, which is not guaranteed but will be decided by the system/is.
Incase if you are looking to update in the foreground, just go with the timer approach you are talking about. Use any background queues to do that job. Queues will help you out in dispatching specific task at specific time with delay method.
I have an iOS app that I wrote with Swift with Firebase Auth/DB for the backend. I would like to measure how long it takes for a user to complete specific actions. I'm actually not interested in the response time, but am interested in the total time it takes to complete something.
In other words, I want to measure how long it takes to login, click on a button, receive a push notification, click "Ok" on that notification, etc. I also want to log how many seconds it took to get from one thing to the next (i.e. login time: 2.5 seconds, time to push a specific button: 4 seconds, etc.).
I am trying out Firebase Analytics, and it almost works, but not quite. I can log specific events, such as login, button presses, etc., but it just logs the that the event occurs, not how long it took.
Ideally, I would record all of this data on the specific users I give to try my app, so I could look at all the data, find averages and other useful information.
consider using a a Timer, maybe something like this.
import UIKit
class Whatever: UIViewController {
var timer = Timer()
var currentTime = 0.00
func timeCounter() {
currentTime += 0.01
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
timer = Timer.scheduledTimer(timeInterval: 0.01, target: self, selector: #selector(Whatever.timeCounter), userInfo: nil, repeats: true)
}
#IBAction func buttonPressed(_ sender: Any) {
timer.invalidate()
//whatever button does
}
}
This way when the application begins the timer will begin, when the final button is pushed the timer will stop. You will have the value of how long it took stored as currentTime.
Hope this helps!
Recently I've been writing a game that requires the Pitch of the device in order to move the character. However, to make it so the user doesn't have to play the game with the device fixed in one starting point every time, every time the user presses play I want the app to acquire the initial tilt. This does not work however, I've added a test button that is suppose to run the code:
func recordTilt() {
InitialTilt = MovementManager.deviceMotion?.attitude
print(InitialTilt)
}
The problem with this is that whenever the button is pressed, InitialTilt will return nil. However, if InitialTilt is run in a the Loop it will return a value every time.
Movement Manager Loop:
func setup() {
MovementManager = CMMotionManager()
MovementManager.deviceMotionUpdateInterval = 0.1
MovementManager.startDeviceMotionUpdates()
InintialTilt = Movementmanager.deviceMotion?.attitude
}
func movementManaging() {
//...
InintialTilt = Movementmanager.deviceMotion?.attitude // returns every
time
//...
}
func update() {
movementManaging()
}
Can someone please help explain to me why the (InintialTilt = Movementmanager.deviceMotion?.attitude) only returns a value while it is in a loop.
(Note: The movementManaging is basically a loop that controls the player's movements, if one were to expand the ...'s all they would get are a bunch of if methods that keep the player on screen. + InintialTilt = Movementmanager.deviceMotion?.attitude)
I am using a Particle Core to get the temperature from my room. The temperature is accessed through the cloud, which is being constantly updated in a variable. This is how I access the variable and display it:
func updateTemp(){
let seconds = 3.0
let delay = seconds * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC) // nanoseconds per seconds
let dispatchTime = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, Int64(delay))
dispatch_after(dispatchTime, dispatch_get_main_queue(), {
self.myPhoton?.getVariable("tempF", completion: { (result:AnyObject!, error:NSError!) -> Void in
if let _ = error {
print("Failed reading temperature from device")
}
else {
if let larry = result as? Int {
self.temp.text="\(larry)˚"
self.truth++ //Once a value has been found, update the count.
}
}
})
})
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
sparkStart()
}
override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
updateTemp()
NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(100.0, target: self, selector: "updateTemp", userInfo: nil, repeats: true) //Gaurantees that the app is updated every 100 seconds. That way we have a fresh temperature often.
//Stop the spinning once a value has been found
if truth == 1{
activity.stopAnimating()
activity.removeFromSuperview()
}
}
Since this is my Particle Core detecting the temperature from environment, the temperature variable is constantly changing. However, when I use NSTimer, the code does not get updated in the time specified. Instead, it begins by updating based on the specified time, but then the time starts decreases exponentially and the variable is updated every 0.001 seconds or so. Any thoughts?
Im assuming what we see is not the full code. In your viewDidLayoutSubviews function, you call updateTemp twice. Once explicitly and once via timer callback.
Your updateTemp function schedules the network call in the main run loop, that's where the timer is also running. The dispatch_after function queues the execution of the readout updates one after the other. I am now assuming, that something in your display code causes repeated triggers of viewDidLayoutSubviews, each of which schedules two new updates etc. Even if the assumption is false (there are a couple of other possibilities due to network code being slow and the timer also running in the main run loop), I am guessing if you drop the explicit call to updateTemp you'll lose the "exponential" and should be fine.
In general, as the web call is largely asynchronous, you could just use the timer and call your sensor directly or if you feel GCD has an important performance advantage switch to dispatch_async and apply for the next available queue with each call via calling dispatch_get_global_queue
Newbie to IOS programming - learning through Swift. I'm writing a simple "slot machine / dice game".
I'm trying to show the user a flashing sequence of rolls before the "actual" roll appears.
func doFancyDiceRoll() {
for x in 1...100 {
Die1.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
Die2.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
Die3.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
}
}
Die1, etc., are defined as generic UIImage views.
In any case, I'm not seeing the 100x iterations, just the images at the end of the loop. I'm assuming that either it redraws "too fast" or that IOS is trying to be smart, and only draws the last images so as to conserve resources.
I'll wildly guess that I need to either implement some kind of delay here, or, IOS needs to be told to explicitly draw out my images, and not try to outthink my intent.
For the delay, I've seen something about NSTimer, but nothing I saw seems to simply say something like "pause for .05" second, and the whole construct was unclear as they were ObjC examples/conversions.
(Note: I've simplified things here --- normally, I would store the value of RollOne() so I can use it later. I also would like to make an array (or collection?) like Die[1].image, but that is another question.)
========== Edit =======
OK, so I'm following up with more of my original code, merged in with that of #doctordoder so we can discuss a bit better. Hopefully that is kosher. (If this appended question is too long, please advise me on the best way to post a lengthy follow-up directly.)
import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController {
//( stripping out stuff unneeded for discussion )
// refers to same label below - works but kosher??
#IBOutlet var btnRoll_x: UIView
#IBAction func btnRoll(sender: AnyObject) {
triggerRoll()
}
var timer : NSTimer? = nil
var rolls : Int = 0
func triggerRoll() {
//hiding is bad UI, but until i know how to "disable & dim"
btnRoll_x.hidden = true
timer = NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(0.10, target: self, selector: "doFancyDiceRoll", userInfo: nil, repeats: true);
}
func doFancyDiceRoll() {
Die1.image = PipsImg[randomInt(6)]
Die2.image = PipsImg[randomInt(6)]
Die3.image = PipsImg[randomInt(6)]
if (++rolls > 10)
{
timer?.invalidate()
timer = nil
rolls = 0 // DCB added this presumed missing line
btnRoll_x.hidden = false //again, need to do this better
}
}
}
Hopefully, my implementation of the code is what would have been intended. I made some minor adjustments for (hopeful) clarity.
Good news is I have working code. I have just enough understanding to get in place, but I'm fuzzy on some details.
Here is what I (think I) know...
We declare an NSTImer object, and a roll counter at the main level of the class. I note that in my original version, I had the roll counter scoped within the rolling function itself. Took me a while to understand why it could not live in the DiceRoll loop itself, but now I do. I'm going to express it poorly, but since the timer is going to call DiceRoll multiple instances, it needs to live outside the function.
The button btnRoll gets touched, and invokes triggerRoll().
To prevent the user from touching the button while we are in progress, which put us into a state where the roll counter never got to zero, I hide the button. (I'll figure how to properly put in in disabled state later.)
The timer is set. It fires every .1 second (within limits), and is set to repeat. (until .invalidate ). And it "calls" the function doFancyDiceRoll via the selector: attribute.
So, the big change as previously noted is that doFancy..Roll() no longer loops. It excites a single instance up updating the images. It checks the counter, and if we reach the limit, we kill the timer, which stops the timer (invalidate). (And I unhide the button, making it available again.)
So, a few things I am concerned/wondering about: I get the value of timers for other things that need to happen periodically (take health away every second, check a GPS position every 10 seconds, etc.). It's seems a odd construct to force a screen refresh.
Frankly, I would have expected to see see something like this:
func doFancyDiceRoll() {
for x in 1...100 {
Die1.image = PipsImg[RollOne()] // and 2 and 3 of course.....
VIewController.forceRedraw <<=== something like this, or maybe
ViewController.wait(.05) <<== this?? I dunno ;-)
}
}
instead we end up with about 20 extra lines or so. I'd be interested in knowing if there other approaches that could work keeping the loop intact.
Anyway, assuming this is the one true way to go, I guess my followup to this is how do I pass parameters, since this is not a "real" function call. Trying
selector: "doFancyDiceRoll(40)"
was not objected to by the IDE, but failed in execution.
I had exactly same problem back in days, entire loop is finished before the view is refreshed as #doctordoder mentioned. Solved with using NSTimer
var rollCount = 0
let arrayOfImages = ["image01", "image02", "image03"]
var timer = NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(0.1, target: self, selector: Selector("doFancyDiceRoll"), userInfo: nil, repeats: true)
func doFancyDiceRoll() {
if rollCount == 100 {
timer.invalidate
rollCount = 0
{
else {
//get images from array arrayOfImages[rollCount]
rollCount++
}
}
there could be typos, since I have no Xcode right now.
I have basically the same answer as above :(, but I thought I'd post it anyway.
var timer : NSTimer? = nil
var rolls : Int = 0
func doFancyDiceRoll() {
timer = NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(0.10, target: self, selector: "roll", userInfo: nil, repeats: true);
}
func roll() {
println("rolling")
Die1.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
Die2.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
Die3.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
if (++rolls > 100)
{
timer?.invalidate()
timer = nil
}
}
Rather than NSTimer and invalidating, you can use dispatch_after to do the work for you.
func rollDice(howManyTimes: Int) {
die1.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
die2.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
die3.image = PipsImg[RollOne()]
if howManyTimes > 0 {
let delayTime = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, Int64(Double(NSEC_PER_SEC) / 10.0))
dispatch_after(delayTime, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
self.rollDice(howManyTimes - 1)
}
}
}
This will run the code for the number of times specified, delaying each time by 0.1 seconds. It works like this: First it sets the images on each die, then, if there are more iterations, it does a dispatch_after to call itself with rollDice(howManyTimes - 1)
With this, you don't need to maintain a NSTimer and it is pretty self contained.