How to implement touch and hold for sprite kit? - ios

Question

I recently started working with sprite-kit. I know touchesBegan works for just one tap but is there something i can use that will recognize a touch being held down?

Answer 1

If you want to implement something like shooting then you need to start shooting in touchesBegan method and stop shooting in touchesEnded method:
- (void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
[self startShooting];
}
- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
[self stopShooting];
}
For other purposes you can add UILongPressGestureRecognizer to the SKScene

Answer 2

Alternatively you can use a boolean with the update method:
bool isTouching = false;
- (void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
isTouching = true;
}
- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
isTouching = false;
}
-(void)update:(CFTimeInterval)currentTime {
if(isTouching){
//shooting!
}
}
You can easily combine method's of yours inside the isTouching block if you prefer, and use touchesBegan to lets say aim the bullets at the same time.
You don't need to worry about timers as the update method will keep executing the code block as long as isTouching == true

Answer 3

var isTouching = false
override func touchesBegan(touches: Set<UITouch>, withEvent event: UIEvent?) {
handleTouches(touches)
isTouching = true;
}
override func touchesEnded(touches: Set<UITouch>, withEvent event: UIEvent?) {
handleTouches(touches)
isTouching = false;
}
override func update(currentTime: NSTimeInterval) {
if isTouching{
//Shoot CODE!
}
}