NSTimer change interval performance - ios

My app adds a custom SKNode object to a SKScene at a fixed interval (sub second) using an NSTimer. At certain times I want the timer to speed up. Here's what I do (code simplified):
#interface MyScene : SKScene
#end
#implementation MyScene {
MyNode *node;
NSTimer *timer;
int speed;
}
- (id):initWithSize:(CGSize)size {
if (self = [super initWithSize:size]) {
speed = 0.8f;
timer = [NSTimer = scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:speed target:self selector:#selector(addNodeToScene) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}
}
- (id):addNodeToScene {
if (node != nil) {
[node removeFromParent];
node = nil;
}
CGPoint location = //random x y coordinates using arc4random()...
node = [[MyNode alloc] initAtLocation:location];
[self addChild:node];
}
// at some point I call this method (called regularly throughout life of app)
- (id):speedUp {
[timer invalidate];
timer = nil;
speed *= 0.9f;
timer = [NSTimer = scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:speed target:self selector:#selector(addNodeToScene) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}
I've noticed a slight lag every time i call speedUp. I'm very new to Objective-C so not sure how to resolve. Is it more efficient to use dispatch queues over a timer or can I not avoid this issue because the internal is so fast?
I ran time profiling on instruments and this was not highlighted - instead my heaviest method was addNodeToScene.

My guess is that you're calling -speedUp outside of the normal work in -addNodeToScene. If so, the lag is likely coming from the fact that you've already used up a bit of the previous delay, then -speedUp invalidates the old timer and creates a new one, which starts the delay all over again. You'll see a lag any time you're more than 10% beyond the previous timer fire.
I'll try some ASCII art to illustrate. + is a timer fire, * is when you call -speedUp and it resets the timer.
+---------+--------+---------+---------+---------+
+---------+---*--------+--------+--------+--------+

Found the solution in another question: Xcode / Objective-C: Why is NSTimer sometimes slow/choppy?
(use CADisplayLink instead of NSTimer)

Related

Why isn't my NSTimer calling my method upon expiration?

I am using an NSTimer to call a method which is titled Lose. I had a timer which when it ran out, it called Lose, but I lost everything due to a hard drive error. After trying to code it all again, I can't seem to get the method to be called.
Timer = [NSTimer timerWithTimeInterval:timeMax target:self selector:#selector(Lose) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];
Lose is declared in my .h file, like this:
-(void)Lose;
Also, my method looks like this:
-(void)Lose{
Text.hidden = NO;
scoreLabel.hidden = NO;
Target.hidden = YES;
Targetx.hidden = YES;
if (Score > highScoreNumber) {
highScoreAchieved.hidden = NO;
highScoreNumber = Score;
}
}
The variable timeMax is an int declared in my .h file, like last time.
whenever a target is tapped in my game, timeMax becomes .03 seconds shorter. I do it like this:
timeMax = 5 - (Score * 0.03);
I don't remember it looking different before the massive hardware failure, but why isnt it working?
You have to schedule the timer on a run loop or just use this line instead which schedules it for you:
Timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:timeMax
target:self
selector:#selector(Lose)
userInfo:nil
repeats:NO];
It's also a good idea to always back up your code...which reminds me.

Issue while using 2 NSTimers

I am working on an iOS app which provides/makes calls from app. We can make two calls one after another. First time we are making 1st call. Once call get established, the NSTimer should be fired and it would show the duration of the call.
For this I am doing following for timer
self.switchTimer1 = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1.0
target:self
selector:#selector(setTimerLabel1:)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];
[self.switchTimer1 fire];
after establishing this first call, user can make second call.
Once second call gets established, it would fire second timer.
if (hasSecondCall)
{
self.switchTimer2 = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1.0
target:self
selector:#selector(setTimerLabel2:)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];
timeSec=0;
timeMin=0;
[self.switchTimer2 fire];
}
It's working fine while making first time of both calls.
Suppose if I ended 2nd call and again I made call, that time 2nd timer before establishing the call the timer automatically calling and once call established, the timer incrementing value very fast like double values showing. Like, 2,4, 6, etc.
For secondtimer after firing method following
- (void)setTimerLabel2:(NSTimer *)timer {
timeSec=timeSec+1;
NSLog(#"timeSec+1 %d",timeSec+1);
if (timeSec == 60)
{
timeSec = 0;
timeMin=timeMin+1;
}
NSString* timeNow = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%02d:%02d", timeMin, timeSec];
[_switchCallLCD setStatus:timeNow labelNumber:2];
}
While disconnecting call we calling following
- (void)endingCallWithId:(UInt32)call_id {
if (hasSecondCall&& call_id==_current_call) {
if (self.switchTimer2) {
//NSLog(#"self.predictNumber %#",self.predictNumber);
self.predictNumber=self.predictNumber2;
[_lcd setText:self.predictNumber];
[self.switchTimer2 invalidate];
self.switchTimer2 = nil;
[self.switchTimer2 release];
[_switchCallLCD setStatus:NSLocalizedString(#"call ended",nil) labelNumber:2];
timeSec = 0;
timeMin = 0;
}
I have searched so many forums regarding this issue, but I couldn't figure out solution. I heard, if we use multiple timers there is some issue like this.
You likely still have the previous instance of the timer(s) running. When you make a second set of calls you then have 2 instances of switchTimer1 running and 2 instances of switchTimer2 running.
As soon as you end a call, you need to invalidate the timer:
[self.switchTimer1 invalidate];
and then set it to nil for good measure:
self.switchTimer1 = nil;

Display random pictures with timer delay

I am making an application that randomly selects a picture from a preset group of pictures and displays it to a image view. This should happen every second or so until it has gone through 20 cycles.
Hear is my header and implementation code:
#interface spinController : UIViewController
{
IBOutlet UIImageView *imageHolder;
NSTimer *MovementTimer;
}
-(IBAction)Button:(id)sender;
-(void)displayPic;
#end
#implementation spinController
-(IBAction)Button:(id)sender
{
int count = 0;
while (count <20)
{
[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1 target:self selector:#selector(displayPic) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];
count++;
}
}
-(void)displayPic
{
int r = arc4random() % 2;
if(r==0)
{
imageHolder.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"puppy1.jpg"];
}
else
{
imageHolder.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"puppy2.jpg"];
}
}
-(void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}
#end
I have made this application in a much more advanced form in WPF and ran into similar issues where the pictures do no cycle through properly. If I hit spin it randomizes but does not go through the 20 cycles... just one. This is my first application in objective-c and realize the efficiency of the method I choose will determine how good my application will run in a more complex form. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The problem is that you're calling the timer repeatedly within the while loop; and since that particular while loop will complete within a millisecond or so, you're creating 20 timers one after another in immediate succession. Because of this, only the final image will show up in the imageHolder view. Edit: Even if the loop were to take more than a millisecond per iteration, I believe the NSTimer wouldn't actually fire until the method exits anyway.
In order to show the images one after another as you're trying to do, (1) use the NSTimer without the while loop, (2) keep track of the iterations using a count class instance variable so as not to lose the value of the variable upon the completion of the various methods, and (3) pass along the NSTimer to the displayPic method so you can invalidate the timer from there upon the 20th iteration. For example:
// Declare the "count" instance variable.
int count;
-(void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}
-(IBAction)Button:(id)sender {
// The count starts at 0, so initialize "count" to 0.
count = 0;
// Use an NSTimer to call displayPic: repeatedly every 1 second ("repeats" is set to "YES")
[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1 target:self selector:#selector(displayPic:) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}
// Pass along the NSTimer to the displayPic method so that it can be invalidated within this method upon the 20th iteration
-(void)displayPic:(NSTimer *)timer {
// Get the random number
int r = arc4random() % 2;
// If the number is 0, display puppy1.jpg, else display puppy2.jpg.
if(r == 0) {
imageHolder.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"puppy1.jpg"];
}
else {
imageHolder.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"puppy2.jpg"];
}
// Increment "count" to reflect the number of times the NSTimer has called this method since the button press
count ++;
// If the count == 20, stop the timer.
if (count == 20)
[timer invalidate];
}
#end
Change repeats to YES. This causes the timer to run again and again. Then instead of a while loop check the count in the method itself.

Call an action at specific intervals in iOS

I am trying to invoke a function that contains ccactioninterval in Cocos3d. I want to call that function at specific time intervals.When I tried NSTimer , i found that it works sometimes and sometimes not.
NSTimer makeTarget=[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:2.0 target:self selector:#selector(createTargets) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
Here createTargets is the function that contains action events. when i run the function straightit works fine for single time. Problem comes when i try to schedule it. I ve tried different methods already explained for related questions . But nothing worked for me. . . .
Here is the code
-(void) addTargets {
NSTimer *makeTarget = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:2.0
target:self selector:#selector(createTargets) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}
-(void)createTargets {
CC3MeshNode *target = (CC3MeshNode*)[self getNodeNamed: #"obj1"];
int minVal=-5;
int maxVal=5;
float avgVal;
avgVal = maxVal- minVal;
float Value = ((float)arc4random()/ARC4RANDOM_MAX)*avgVal+minVal ;
[target setLocation:cc3v(Value, 5.0, 0.0)];
CCActionInterval *moveTarget = [CC3MoveBy actionWithDuration:7.0 moveBy:cc3v(0.0, -10.0, 0.0)];
CCActionInterval *removeTarget = [CCCallFuncN actionWithTarget:self selector:#selector(removeTarget:)];
[target runAction:[CCSequence actionOne:moveTarget two:removeTarget]];
}
-(void)removeTarget:(CC3MeshNode*)targ {
[self removeChild:targ];
targ=nil;
}
Without much code its hard to tell what you issues is, but here are some things to try apologies if any of this is obvious.
Are you holding onto a reference to the timer?
This might be useful for debugging. If you have a property called makeTargetTimer, then you could do this:
NSTimer * makeTargetTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:2.0 target:self selector:#selector(createTargets) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
self.makeTargetTimer = makeTargetTimer // Save to a property for later use (or just use an iVar)
The only way to stop a re-occurring timer is to invalidate it. Therefore you could check to see if its been invalidated.
BOOL isInvalidated = [self.makeTargetTimer isValid];
Also you might want to do this in your dealloc method anyway:
- (void) dealloc {
[_makeTargetTimer invalidate]; // Stops the timer from firing (Assumes ARC)
}
Are you scrolling when the even should be received?
If you want the timer to be fired while scrolling then you need to use NSRunLoopCommonModes. There is a excellent expiation in this question.
[[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] addTimer:makeTargetTimer forMode:NSRunLoopCommonModes];
What is your implementation of createTargets like?
Have you put NSLog statements on the body of this method. Are you certain its not being called?

xcode calling an int redefining value of an int when called in another function

I'm having trouble with incrementing an int from one function by calling it in another function.
At the moment the bit I'm working on looks like this:
in the .h file I declare the int and timer as this:
int count;
NSTimer *sequenceOn;
in the .m file the segment of my function looks like this:
-(void) sequence {
count = 1;
while (count < (target)) {
sequenceOn = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.5 target:self selector:#selector(imagePlayer) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];
}
}
-(void)imagePlayer {
--CODE HERE FOR PLAYING ANIMATION--
count = count + 1;
}
All my other code is working fine and it should play through a series of images using the count value to decide which one to play. At the moment though it only plays the first animation and wont increment to the next one.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
The timers will be fired from the run loop, which your code is blocking while running the loop. You probably want to have a timer regularly call your method:
-(void)stopTimer {
[sequenceOn invalidate];
sequenceOn = nil;
}
-(void)sequence {
[self stopTimer];
count = 1;
// start a repeating timer:
sequenceOn = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.5 target:self
selector:#selector(imagePlayer) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}
-(void)imagePlayer {
//--CODE HERE FOR PLAYING ANIMATION--
count = count + 1;
if (count >= target) {
[self stopTimer];
}
}
I don't see anything in your while loop that increments count or decrements target, so either it's an infinite loop or it never executes, depending on the value of target.
You have the last argument of scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:target:selector:userInfo:repeats: set to NO, is that what you want, it will only fire once. If not you will have to give us more code to show how imagePlayer is being called repeatedly.

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