AVSpeechSynthesizer is not letting View Controller Deallocate - ios

I have a view controller and in the .h I have:
{
NSString* textToSpeak;
}
#property (nonatomic, strong) AVSpeechSynthesizer* synthesizer;
In the .m of my view controller, I am using the synthesizer to play and pause a pre made script I created.
For example:
-(void)userProfileData:(UserProfileData *)userProfileData didReceiveDict:(NSDictionary *)dict
{
NSDictionary* resultsDict = [dict valueForKey:#"result"];
textToSpeak = [resultsDict objectForKey:#"text"];
UIBarButtonItem* pauseItem = [self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItems objectAtIndex:0];
[pauseItem setEnabled:YES];
[self startSpeaking];
}
-(void)startSpeaking
{
if (!self.synthesizer) {
self.synthesizer = [[AVSpeechSynthesizer alloc] init];
self.synthesizer.delegate = self;
}
[self speakNextUtterance];
}
-(void)speakNextUtterance
{
AVSpeechUtterance* nextUtterance = [[AVSpeechUtterance alloc] initWithString:textToSpeak];
nextUtterance.rate = 0.25f;
[self.synthesizer speakUtterance:nextUtterance];
}
Before I created this synthesizer, I would navigate back to the parent view controller and dealloc would be called (I have a log statement in it to make sure it is called). However, as soon as I added this synthesizer, the dealloc is no longer being called. I am wondering why this is happening and how I can fix it. Any help would be amazing, thanks!

Solved the problem.. #ChrisLoonam you were a great help in the end. I just needed to stop the synthesizer beforehand and everything was deallocated properly

Related

Access view controller without re-initializing

Essentially I'm working with 3 view controllers.
Main view which starts a download. (Webview based which passes the download).
Modal download controller. (Tab based).
Downloader (HCDownload).
In the main view my download gets passed like so:
//Fire download
[activeDL downloadURL:fileURL userInfo:nil];
[self presentViewController:vc animated:YES completion:nil];
activeDL is initialized in viewDidLoad:
activeDL = [[HCDownloadViewController alloc] init];
If I removed the presentViewController, it still downloads, which is fine. Then i tap my Downloads button, it brings up the controller which defines the tabs like so:
center = [[CenterViewController alloc] init];
activeDL = [[HCDownloadViewController alloc] init];
completedDL = [[DownloadsViewController alloc] init];
activeDL.tabBarItem = [[UITabBarItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Active Downloads"
image:nil //[UIImage imageNamed:#"view1"]
tag:1];
completedDL.tabBarItem = [[UITabBarItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Completed Downloads"
image:nil //[UIImage imageNamed:#"view3"]
tag:2];
[self setViewControllers:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:activeDL, completedDL, nil]];
However, it is not passing the current active download. I don't know if it's a initialization problem, or my tab issue of showing the current download.
From his github, he suggests to get the current number of downloads is to call: dlvc.numberOfDownloads which for me would be
[activeDL numberOfDownloads].
I call this in the the Downloader viewWillAppear but nothing shows.
Does anybody has any suggestions or have worked with this controller?
Any help would be appreciated.
When you call:
activeDL = [[HCDownloadViewController alloc] init];
You are creating a new download controller, which has its own internal downloads array. This library, as written, has no way to pass this information from one HCDownloadViewController object to another.
Tying downloads to VC's like this will cause problems -- I recommend you rewrite this code to split that apart.
To hack around it, try to create just one HCDownloadViewController object and pass it around.
Ok so with the last comment of the other answer, "Make activeDL a member variable instead of a local variable.", got me Googling and with some tinkering and bug fixing along the way I managed to get it all up and running perfect.
I declared it all in my AppDelegate.
AppDelegate.h
#interface SharedDownloader : HCDownloadViewController <HCDownloadViewControllerDelegate>
+ (id)downloadingView;
#end
AppDelegate.m
static HCDownloadViewController *active;
#implementation SharedDownloader
+ (id)downloadingView {
if (active == nil)
active = [[HCDownloadViewController alloc] init];
return active;
}
#end
Calling to the class for downloading in my main view controller:
-(id)init{
activeDL = [SharedDownloader downloadingView];
return self;
}
//Spot where I fire the download
if (navigationAction.navigationType == WKNavigationTypeLinkActivated) {
//More code here
[activeDL downloadURL:fileURL userInfo:nil];
}
Lastly in my tab bar controller:
-(id)init {
activeDL = [SharedDownloader downloadingView];
return self;
}
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
activeDL.tabBarItem = [[UITabBarItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Active Downloads" image:nil] tag:2];
}
I believe that's all of it. In any case, thanks to Lou Franco for pointing me in the right direction.

Modal view with Web view makes an app crash in iOS7

I have been developing in Objective-C for two months, so I am quite new to this language and iOS environment. I am updating to iOS7 an app that is working fine for iOS6.
I am getting the next error when a modal view with a web view inside is presented, only in iOS7 and this is working in iOS6. There is a URL request inside but I cannot find what is causing the error.
'-[__NSMallocBlock__ absoluteURL]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x16e8b020'
This is the viewWillAppear method on the modal view controller:
- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewWillAppear:animated];
if (!self.webView.request) {
//THE NEXT LINE THROWS THE ERROR
NSURLRequest *req = [[NSURLRequest alloc] initWithURL:self.initialURL];
[self.webView loadRequest:req];
}
}
Maybe I am doing something silly but really now I do not know where to look at.
If anyone has experienced something like that before, I will appreciate some help. Thanks in advance.
EDIT:
#interface MyViewController ()
#property (copy, nonatomic) NSURL *initialURL;
#end
#implementation MyViewController
- (id)initWithURL:(NSURL *)initialURL
{
self = [super init];
if (self) {
_initialURL = initialURL;
_webView = [[UIWebView alloc] init];
_webView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
_webView.opaque = NO;
_webView.delegate = self;
[self.view addSubview:_webView];
self.modalPresentationStyle = UIModalPresentationFormSheet;
self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
}
return self;
}
Method call:
self.modalWebViewController = [[[MyViewController alloc] initWithURL:url] autorelease];
I assume that iOS calls absoluteURL on the self.initialURL object passed to the initWithURL: method. However, the object receiving this message is an NSMallocBlock, so there seems to be something wrong. I assume that your self.initialURL object should be of type NSURL. If so, this would indicate a memory management problem causing the pointer of self.initalURL to point to somewhere else in memory (not to the object you want it to point to).
You could try to run your app with NSZombiesEnabled which prevents any objects from being actually deallocated and instead warns you if a deleted object is still accessed.
You can activate NSZombies in the scheme to run your app (click on the name of your app in Xcode's toolbar on the upper right and choose "Edit Scheme..." from the pop-up menu). In the run-configuration in the "Diagnostics" tab there is a checkbox for activating Zombie objects.

An issue with AVSpeechSynthesizer, Any workarounds?

I am using AVSpeechSynthesizer to play text. I have an array of utterances to play.
NSMutableArray *utterances = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for (NSString *text in textArray) {
AVSpeechUtterance *welcome = [[AVSpeechUtterance alloc] initWithString:text];
welcome.rate = 0.25;
welcome.voice = voice;
welcome.pitchMultiplier = 1.2;
welcome.postUtteranceDelay = 0.25;
[utterances addObject:welcome];
}
lastUtterance = [utterances lastObject];
for (AVSpeechUtterance *utterance in utterances) {
[speech speakUtterance:utterance];
}
I have a cancel button to stop speaking. When I click the cancel button when the first utterance is spoken, the speech stops and it clears all the utterances in the queue. If I press the cancel button after the first utterance is spoken (i.e. second utterance), then stopping the speech does not flush the utterances queue. The code that I am using for this is:
[speech stopSpeakingAtBoundary:AVSpeechBoundaryImmediate];
Can someone confirm if this is a bug in the API or am I using the API incorrectly? If it is a bug, is there any workaround to resolve this issue?
I found a workaround :
- (void)stopSpeech
{
if([_speechSynthesizer isSpeaking]) {
[_speechSynthesizer stopSpeakingAtBoundary:AVSpeechBoundaryImmediate];
AVSpeechUtterance *utterance = [AVSpeechUtterance speechUtteranceWithString:#""];
[_speechSynthesizer speakUtterance:utterance];
[_speechSynthesizer stopSpeakingAtBoundary:AVSpeechBoundaryImmediate];
}
}
Call stopSpeakingAtBoundary:, enqueue an empty utterance and call stopSpeakingAtBoundary: again to stop and clean the queue.
All answers here failed, and what I came up with is stopping the synthesizer and then re-instantiate it:
- (void)stopSpeech
{
if([_speechSynthesizer isSpeaking]) {
[_speechSynthesizer stopSpeakingAtBoundary:AVSpeechBoundaryImmediate];
_speechSynthesizer = [AVSpeechSynthesizer new];
_speechSynthesizer.delegate = self;
}
}
quite likely to be a bug, in that the delegate method synthesizer didCancelSpeechUtterance isn't called after the first utterance;
A workaround would be to chain the utterances rather than have them in an array and queue them up at once.
Use the delegate method synthesizer didFinishSpeechUtterance to increment an array pointer and speak the the next text from that array. Then when trying to stop the speech, set a BOOL that is checked in this delegate method before attempting to speak the next text.
For example:
1) implement the protocol in the view controller that is doing the speech synthesis
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import AVFoundation;
#interface ViewController : UIViewController <AVSpeechSynthesizerDelegate>
#end
2) instantiate the AVSpeechSynthesizer and set its delegate to self
speechSynthesizer = [AVSpeechSynthesizer new];
speechSynthesizer.delegate = self;
3) use an utterance counter, set to zero at start of speaking
4) use an array of texts to speak
textArray = #[#"Mary had a little lamb, its fleece",
#"was white as snow",
#"and everywhere that Mary went",
#"that sheep was sure to go"];
5) add delegate method didFinishSpeechUtterance to speak the next utterance from the array
of texts and increment the utterance counter
- (void)speechSynthesizer:(AVSpeechSynthesizer *)synthesizer didFinishSpeechUtterance:(AVSpeechUtterance *)utterance{
if(utteranceCounter < utterances.count){
AVSpeechUtterance *utterance = utterances[utteranceCounter];
[synthesizer speakUtterance:utterance];
utteranceCounter++;
}
}
5) to stop speaking, set the utterance counter to the count of the texts array and attempt to get the synthesizer to stop
utteranceCounter = utterances.count;
BOOL speechStopped = [speechSynthesizer stopSpeakingAtBoundary:AVSpeechBoundaryImmediate];
if(!speechStopped){
[speechSynthesizer stopSpeakingAtBoundary:AVSpeechBoundaryWord];
}
6) when speaking again, reset the utterance counter to zero
I did something similar to what SPA mentioned. Speaking one item at a time from a loop.
Here is the idea..
NSMutableArray *arr; //array of NSStrings, declared as property
AVSpeechUtterance *currentUtterence; //declared as property
AVSpeechSynthesizer *synthesizer; //property
- (void) viewDidLoad:(BOOL)anim
{
[super viewDidLoad:anim];
synthesizer = [[AVSpeechSynthesizer alloc]init];
//EDIT -- Added the line below
synthesizer.delegate = self;
arr = [self populateArrayWithString]; //generates strings to speak
}
//assuming one thread will call this
- (void) speakNext
{
if (arr.count > 0)
{
NSString *str = [arr objectAtIndex:0];
[arr removeObjectAtIndex:0];
currentUtterence = [[AVSpeechUtterance alloc] initWithString:str];
//EDIT -- Commentted out the line below
//currentUtterence.delegate = self;
[synthesizer speakUtterance:utteranc];
}
}
- (void)speechSynthesizer:(AVSpeechSynthesizer *)avsSynthesizer didFinishSpeechUtterance:(AVSpeechUtterance *)utterance
{
if ([synthesizer isEqual:avsSynthesizer] && [utterance isEqual:currentUtterence])
[self speakNext];
}
- (IBOutlet) userTappedCancelledButton:(id)sender
{
//EDIT <- replaced the object the method gets called on.
[synthesizer stopSpeakingAtBoundary:AVSpeechBoundaryImmediate];
[arr removeAllObjects];
}
didCancelSpeechUtterance does not work with the same AVSpeechSynthesizer object even though the utterances are chained in the didFinishSpeechUtterance method.
-(void)speakInternal
{
speech = [[AVSpeechSynthesizer alloc] init];
speech.delegate = self;
[speech speakUtterance:[utterances objectAtIndex:position++]];
}
In speakInternal, I am creating AVSpeechSynthesizer object multiple times to ensure that didCancelSpeechUtterance works. Kind of a workaround.

Passing NSString from one class to another. (ECSlidingViewController?)

Firstly, I've already tried to search for solutions online but none works for me and I'm thinking since I'm using ECSlidingViewController to navigate around the app, I can't utilise the prepareForSegue method thus, my problem may need a different approach.
I have a class called viewInits which holds properties in the .h file that I want allow other classes to set and get it's values. In this case, the property is an NSString *navBarTitle.
In ClassA, I have a tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: method, where I
Create an ViewInits class object - *viewInits.
I then set the setNavBarTitle: to the value of [self.MenuRowsArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row].
In the next line, I did an NSLog to check and yes, viewInits.navBarTitle now holds the value I desire.
In ClassB's viewDidloadMethod, similarly, I created a ViewInits object - *viewInits and did an NSLog check for viewInits.navBarTitle. But it returns (null). What seems to be the problem here?
Here is the code for how I'm trying to pass the NSString. What am I doing wrong?
viewInit .h
#interface ViewInits : NSObject
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *navBarTitle;
#end
ClassA.m tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: method:
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
NSString *identifier = [self.MenuRowsArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
UIViewController *newTopViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:identifier];
// *---------- Assign identifier to NSString viewInits ----------*
ViewInits *viewInits = [[ViewInits alloc] init];
[viewInits setNavBarTitle:identifier];
NSLog(#"%#", viewInits.navBarTitle);
// *---------- Assign identifier to NSString viewInits ----------*
[self.slidingViewController anchorTopViewOffScreenTo:ECRight animations:nil onComplete:^
{
CGRect frame = self.slidingViewController.topViewController.view.frame;
self.slidingViewController.topViewController = newTopViewController;
self.slidingViewController.topViewController.view.frame = frame;
[self.slidingViewController resetTopView];
}];
}
ClassB.m
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
// *========== ECSlidingViewController ==========*
self.view.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.75f;
self.view.layer.shadowRadius = 10.0f;
self.view.layer.shadowColor = [UIColor blackColor].CGColor;
if (![self.slidingViewController.underLeftViewController isKindOfClass:[MenuViewController class]])
{
self.slidingViewController.underLeftViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"Menu"];
}
[self.view addGestureRecognizer:self.slidingViewController.panGesture];
// *========== ECSlidingViewController ==========*
ViewInits *viewInits = [[ViewInits alloc] init]; // Create ViewInit class object
self.navBar.topItem.title = viewInits.navBarTitle;
NSLog(#"%#", viewInits.navBarTitle); // <<--- This always ends up null. What's wrong?
}
Your help are much appreciated. Thank you.
If you want to use ViewInit as a common store of settings it should be a singleton so that all other instances in the app can get it. Currently you're creating a new instance each time you want to use it, so the new instance doesn't have any of your previous settings.
Aside, I know what the sliding view controller is, I ask about it because you may be using it incorrectly. If you have a view controller which is the current top view controller and it changes the top view controller (class A might be doing this, not sure) then the reference self.slidingViewController will stop working part way through your code.

Asynchronously loading sound resources in viewDidLoad crashes

All,
I am attempting to load a set of sounds asynchronously when I load a UIViewController. At about the same time, I am (occasionally) also placing a UIView on the top of my ViewController's hierarchy to present a help overlay. When I do this, the app crashes with a bad exec. If the view is not added, the app does not crash. My ViewController looks something like this:
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
__soundHelper = [[SoundHelper alloc] initWithSounds];
// Other stuff
}
- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
// ****** Set up the Help Screen
self.coachMarkView = [[FHSCoachMarkView alloc] initWithImageName:#"help_GradingVC"
coveringView:self.view
withOpacity:0.9
dismissOnTap:YES
withDelegate:self];
[self.coachMarkView showCoachMarkView];
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
}
The main asynchronous loading method of SoundHelper (called from 'initWithSounds') looks like this:
// Helper method that loads sounds as needed
- (void)loadSounds {
// Run this loading code in a separate thread
NSOperationQueue *operationQueue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
NSBlockOperation *loadSoundsOp = [NSBlockOperation blockOperationWithBlock:^{
// Find all sound files (*.caf) in resource bundles
__soundCache = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]initWithCapacity:0];
NSString * sndFileName;
NSArray *soundFiles = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathsForResourcesOfType:STR_SOUND_EXT inDirectory:nil];
// Loop through all of the sounds found
for (NSString * soundFileNamePath in soundFiles) {
// Add the sound file to the dictionary
sndFileName = [[soundFileNamePath lastPathComponent] lowercaseString];
[__soundCache setObject:[self soundPath:soundFileNamePath] forKey:sndFileName];
}
// From: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7334647/nsoperationqueue-and-uitableview-release-is-crashing-my-app
[self performSelectorOnMainThread:#selector(description) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:NO];
}];
[operationQueue addOperation:loadSoundsOp];
}
The crash seems to occur when the block exits. The init of FHSCoachMarkView looks like this:
- (FHSCoachMarkView *)initWithImageName:(NSString *) imageName
coveringView:(UIView *) view
withOpacity:(CGFloat) opacity
dismissOnTap:(BOOL) dismissOnTap
withDelegate:(id<FHSCoachMarkViewDelegate>) delegateID
{
// Reset Viewed Coach Marks if User Setting is set to show them
[self resetSettings];
__coveringView = view;
self = [super initWithFrame:__coveringView.frame];
if (self) {
// Record the string for later reference
__coachMarkName = [NSString stringWithString:imageName];
self.delegate = delegateID;
UIImage * image = [[UIImage alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:imageName ofType:#"png"]];
// ****** Configure the View Hierarchy
UIImageView *imgView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:image];
[self addSubview:imgView];
[__coveringView.superview insertSubview:self aboveSubview:__coveringView];
// ****** Configure the View Hierarchy with the proper opacity
__coachMarkViewOpacity = opacity;
self.hidden = YES;
self.opaque = NO;
self.alpha = __coachMarkViewOpacity;
imgView.hidden = NO;
imgView.opaque = NO;
imgView.alpha = __coachMarkViewOpacity;
// ****** Configure whether the coachMark can be dismissed when it's body is tapped
__dismissOnTap = dismissOnTap;
// If it is dismissable, set up a gesture recognizer
if (__dismissOnTap) {
UITapGestureRecognizer * tapGesture = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self
action:#selector(coachMarkWasTapped:)];
[self addGestureRecognizer:tapGesture];
}
}
return self;
}
I have tried invoking the asynchronous block using both NSBlockOperation and dispatch_async and both have had the same results. Additionally, I've removed the aysnch call altogether and loaded the sounds on the main thread. That works fine. I also tried the solution suggested by #Jason in: NSOperationQueue and UITableView release is crashing my app but the same thing happened there too.
Is this actually an issue with the view being added in FHSCoachMarkView, or is it possibly related to the fact that both access mainBundle? I'm a bit new to asynch coding in iOS, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Scott
I figured this out: I had set up a listener on the SoundHelper object (NSUserDefaultsDidChangeNotification) that listened for when NSUserDefaults were changed, and loaded the sounds if the user defaults indicated so. The FHSCoachMarkView was also making changes to NSUserDefaults. In the SoundHelper, I was not properly checking which defaults were being changed, so the asynch sound loading method was being called each time a change was made. So multiple threads were attempting to modify the __soundCache instance variable. it didn't seem to like that.
Question: Is this the correct way to answer your own question? Or should I have just added a comment to the question it self?
Thanks.

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