Display random pictures with timer delay - ios

Question

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.

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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.