Reusing animation array blocks across views? - ios

Question

I've create a set of cool animation using labels on my first view.
I don't want to rewrite this code as I may improve this animation in the future.
However, I want to use this exact animation with different labels on another view / view controller. They will have the same name.
How would I do this, could someone suggest / provide an example ?
This is the animation array block code I based my code on...
http://xibxor.com/2013/03/27/uiview-animation-without-nested-hell/
NSMutableArray* animationBlocks = [NSMutableArray new];
typedef void(^animationBlock)(BOOL);
// getNextAnimation
// removes the first block in the queue and returns it
animationBlock (^getNextAnimation)() = ^{
animationBlock block = animationBlocks.count ? (animationBlock)[animationBlocks objectAtIndex:0] : nil;
if (block){
[animationBlocks removeObjectAtIndex:0];
return block;
}else{
return ^(BOOL finished){};
}
};
//add a block to our queue
[animationBlocks addObject:^(BOOL finished){;
[UIView animateWithDuration:1.0 animations:^{
//...animation code...
} completion: getNextAnimation()];
}];
//add a block to our queue
[animationBlocks addObject:^(BOOL finished){;
[UIView animateWithDuration:1.0 animations:^{
//...animation code...
} completion: getNextAnimation()];
}];
//add a block to our queue
[animationBlocks addObject:^(BOOL finished){;
[UIView animateWithDuration:1.0 animations:^{
//...animation code...
} completion: getNextAnimation()];
}];
//add a block to our queue
[animationBlocks addObject:^(BOOL finished){;
NSLog(#"Multi-step Animation Complete!");
}];
// execute the first block in the queue
getNextAnimation()(YES);
Here's an example of my code
//add a block to our queue
[animationBlocks addObject:^(BOOL finished){;
[UIView animateWithDuration:1.0 animations:^{
//...animation code...
lblLeft.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.3,1.3);
lblMiddle.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.3,1.3);
lblRight.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.3,1.3);
} completion: getNextAnimation()];
}];
//add a block to our queue
[animationBlocks addObject:^(BOOL finished){;
[UIView animateWithDuration:1.0 animations:^{
//...animation code...
lblLeft.transform = CGAffineTransformIdentity;
lblMiddle.transform = CGAffineTransformIdentity;
lblRight.transform = CGAffineTransformIdentity;
} completion: getNextAnimation()];
}];
I have these three labels on different views within different view controllers.

Answer 1

Have you tried wrapping these in an object with class methods so that would keep your animation methods inside the object but pass the view to the wrapper methods? For example:
This method lives in class FooAnimationUtilities:
+ (void)animateViewWithScale:(UIView *)myView {
[animationBlocks addObject:^(BOOL finished){;
[myView animateWithDuration:1.0 animations:^{
//...animation code...
lblLeft.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.3,1.3);
lblMiddle.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.3,1.3);
lblRight.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.3,1.3);
} completion: getNextAnimation()];
}];
}
Then from your other classes, that want to use this class...
In the .m above your implementation in your various view classes:
#import "FooAnimationUtilities.h"
And inside the view class methods (say animateMe) that need animation:
-(void)animateMe {
[FooAnimationUtilities animateViewWithScale:self];
}
So, in terms of passing in the labels, you could look at amending the class method to take (UILabel*)lblLeft or you could be a bit cleaner about it and pass over an array or a dict containing the label objects. You can even pass over the scale. So the class method name would be something like:
+ (void)animateView:(UIView *)myView andLabels:(NSArray *)labels withScale:(float)scale

Answer 2

You can use Categories. Categories are used to extend functions of existing classes. Here's the documentation on Categories: Link
If your code doesn't rely on a UIController being your "self", you can put that code in an NSObject and create an instance of it, or have a static instance of it when you need the animation. So you can just called [ObjectA animateMyAnimation];