Add additional behavior to method without subclassing - ios

Question

I need to add additional behavior to methods I need to extend, i.e. implement method that looks like
- (void)extendMethod:(SEL)selector forClass:(Class)class withCompletionBlock:(void (^)(void))completionBlock;
So every time Class instance call a method with SEL selector in addition should be invoked my completion block.
I've tried method swizzling, but ran into some problems: I want original method implementation to be called.
What I need is very similar with subclassing, but this should be implemented without subclassing.
UPDATE:
For example I have subclass of UIViewController named MyViewController. MyViewController have - (void)viewDidLoad method. Somewhere in application I call method
[methodExtender extendMethod:#selector(viewDidLoad)
forClass:[MyViewController class]
withCompletionBlock:^{
NSLog(#"view did load called");
}];
So after viewDidLoad method of every instance of MyViewController my completion block invoked.

Answer 1

I'm not sure how you want to use selector, but you can try extend any class(even ones that you don't have implementation file) by using mechanism in Objective-C know as "Categories".
From Xcode click on File->New->File (command+n)
From Cocoa Touch choose Objective-C category
Type name of your category and choose class on which you want to make category (I choosed UIButton)
Then next and Create.
Xcode will create two files for example: UIButton+extendMethod.h
Declare your method in header file and implement it in *.m file.
Using
If you want to use in let's say your View Controller in *.h file import
#import "UIButton+extendMethod.h"
and then you can call your method like this:
UIButton *button = [[UIButton alloc] init];
[button extendMethod:#selector(yourMethod:)];

Answer 2

Swizzling does allow you to call the original implementation, though it is just a bit confusing. Because the implementations are swapped after swizzling, you call the original implementation using the selector of the swizzled method:
- (void)mySwizzledImplementation {
// do stuff
// now call original implementation (using swizzled selector!)
[self mySwizzledImplementation];
// do more stuff
}
See also http://cocoadev.com/wiki/MethodSwizzling

Answer 3

There is no way (anymore)to simulate inheritance without subclassing. There use to be Posing, method swizzling is all that is left (not as elegant as posing though). Here is one way to do method swizzling correctly while being able to call the original implementation.
int swizzle_instance_methods(Class class, SEL selector, IMP replacement, IMP *store) {
#synchronized(class) {
Method method = class_getInstanceMethod(class, selector);
IMP original_imp = NULL;
if (method != NULL) {
const char *type = method_getTypeEncoding(method);
IMP original_imp = class_replaceMethod(class, selector, replacement, type);
if (original_imp == NULL)
original_imp = method_getImplementation(method);
if (original_imp != NULL && store != NULL) {
*store = original_imp;
}
}
return (original_imp != NULL);
}
}
+ (void) load
{
static IMP originalMethodImpl = NULL;
IMP customMethodImpl = imp_implementationWithBlock(^(id self_) {
NSString *descr = ((NSString(*)(id,SEL))originalMethodImpl)(self_, #selector(description);
return [NSString stringWithFormat:#"<--- %# --->",descr];
});
swizzle_instance_methods([self class], #selector(description), customMethodImpl, &originalMethodImpl);
}
I might add that this is nice for debugging and I think that it can be greate for building excellent frameworks. Alas, Apple seems to think differently and using method swizzling can result in your app being excluded from the App store. If you are not aiming for the app store then all the power to you.

Answer 4

It is be possible with ObjC categories. For ex, you can extend hasPrefix method of NSString as follows,
-(BOOL)hasPrefixx:(NSString *)aString
{
NSLog(#"Checking has prefix");
return [self hasPrefix:aString];
}
If you import the category, you should be able to call this method. But his means you got change the method in your call.
By the way, Method swizzling should work. Bit of explanation here.