App running slow after loading viewcontroller, then unload about 15-20 times - ios

Using:
Xcode 4.6
Storyboards
ARC
Model segue to SecondViewController
I have an app that has the main ViewController that loads a new veiwController when the device is rotated to the right. When the app starts everything works great. If I rotate the device, then back which unloads the secondview controller, about 15-20 times the app is very slugish. I have narrowed down that it only happenes when the seconed view controller is loaded and only when i rotate the device a nunmber of times. I also have narrowed down that is is a memory issue. I installed an app that keeps track of the memory used and available. My memory goes from 400mb to 900mb used when i rotate the device a number of times. I am trying to give as much info as I can. Each view has 8 NSTimers that fire every second.
Is there a way to programmatic unload a view, to make sure is is being unloaded?
I have included this code to ensure the loading and unloading:
`- (void)setView:(UIView *)aView
{
NSLog(#">>> Entering %s <<<", PRETTY_FUNCTION);
if (!aView) // view is being set to nil
{
NSLog(#"Should be unloading now");
}
[super setView:aView];
NSLog(#"<<< Leaving %s >>>", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__);
}
log result:
2013-04-22 16:42:03.588 xxxxxxxx[xxxxxxx] >>> Entering -[GraphViewController setView:] <<<
2013-04-22 16:42:03.589 xxxxxxxx[xxxxxxx] <<< Leaving -[GraphViewController setView:] >>>
`
I am not sure what I need to be looking at to correct this.
Any "points" in the right direction will be very appreciated .
Thanks

You haven't given much information about how you "unload" SecondViewController. Are you doing a modal segue to it as well? If so, that's your problem -- every time you do a segue, you instantiate a new view controller, and if these are modal segues, the presented controller has a strong pointer to the presenting controller, so none of these controllers will ever get deallocated as you go back and forth.
As a rule, you should never go backwards in a storyboard using anything but an unwind segue. So, the solution to your problem is to use an unwind segue to go from SecondViewController back to MainViewController -- this will actually go back to the same instance of MainViewController that you came from, and SecondViewController will be deallocated. If you don't know how to make an unwind segue, I will edit my answer to show you how.
After Edit:
To make an unwind segues, you do two things. In the controller that you're going back to, you add a method -- the two important things are that it be an IBAction, and that it has a single argument that's typed to UIStoryboardSegue*. It doesn't matter what you call it, and it doesn't even need to have any code inside it, though I usually put in a log statement just to be sure it's called. Then, in IB in the controller you're unwinding from, you control drag from your UI element like a button or table view cell (or from the controller itself if you want to fire it from code), down to the green Exit icon at the bottom of the scene -- it's important to note that you are dragging from a UI element to the exit icon in the same controller, not between controllers. When you let go of the drag over the exit icon, you will see any methods you created with the signature I mentioned above. Choose the one you want, and that's it. You can implement prepareForSegue in the source controller just like any other segue if you want to pass any information back to the destination controller.

Related

UIViewController getting deallocated after dismissing a previously presented modal viewController

From an initial ViewController I've modally presented a second ViewController using a ShowDetail segue in the storyboard and a performSegueWithIdentifier: method call. The problem is when I dismiss this modal ViewController with the method dismissViewControllerAnimated: the initial ViewController is reinstantiated calling the viewDidLoad again.
I've tried using a Push segue instead of the Show Detail and the initial ViewController keeps allocated in the background as it should.
What might be going on? The initial ViewController never even calls the memory warning method.
Have you tried unwindSegues?
***** Long explanation ahead, skip to solution if you want the quick way *****
First of all, if it is a ShowDetail, it is not a modal view. Do try to see which is your case.
Modal segues can carry information backwards, but are a bit more complicated than push ones.
If you are modally presenting it, you should use Present Modally instead of a ShowDetail.
A modal presentation will always take the top view position in the stack, and Show Detail does as well, depending in how your views are set. For instance, if you have a detail view in stack, IT will be replaced rather than the stack top view.
Try choosing up to a specific segue, I particularly recommend modal assuming you need more than simple pushes (Or the Show would have closed the problem, being the equivalent to the previous deprecated push. If you only need something simple, Show is the way)
Now we've cleared this, what probably is happening is that the view is being removes since Show Detail replaces views instead of pushing them, and it has to perform init again.
***** Solution: *****
The solution then should be not to lose the view when replacing, and reinitializing it, what dismissViewControllerAnimated: does. If you use unwind segues, though, the view should be replaced BUT retained by ARC.
The following link has the best explanation all over the net about how to use it:
What are Unwind segues for and how do you use them?

What's causing this memory leak?

The Problem
I'm currently building an iPad game using SpriteKit. The gameplay is driven by sound provided by EZAudio. After running the Instrumentation tools to profile my app, I noticed that whenever the GameViewController is shown memory allocation jumps up. When I repeatedly show the screen (5+ times) it crashes the app. My project uses ARC.
Navigation
The navigation consists of 4 ViewControllers:
MenuViewController: This shows the menu
CharacterSelectionViewController: It lets you a pick a character to use
GameViewController: This lets you play a game with the player chosen
ScoreViewController: It shows you the score you achieved in the game
1 - MenuViewController
From here you can navigate to CharacterSelectionViewController via a Show (e.g. Push) segue.
2 - CharacterSelectionViewController
You can navigate to GameViewController via a Show (e.g. Push) segue. There is also a back button that goes back to MenuViewController with the following code:
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
3 - GameViewController
It first shows a 5 second countdown (using NSTimer)
The game starts with the character chosen in CharacterSelectionViewController
The game can be paused, allowing you to quit and go back to MenuViewController via a manual Show Detail (e.g. Replace) segue.
When the game ends, a manual Show (e.g. Push) segue is called that navigates to the ScoreViewController.
It's view hierarchy consists of three sets of view - one for the countdown, one for the pause menu and one for the game. These are subsequently shown/hidden. See the view hierarchy below:
4 - ScoreViewController
This allows you to quit or restart the game. When quit it pressed it performs a Show Detail (e.g. Replace) segue to MenuViewController. If restart is pressed it performs an unwind to CharacterSelectionViewController.
Responses
Please provide answers regarding:
How this kind of leak could occur
Any observations you have from the allocation and leaks screenshots
Allocation
Below, you can see the increasing allocations as I cycle through the apps screens to repeatedly show the GameViewController. I used Mark Generation to be able to show the increase in memory allocations.
Leaks
Here you can see the memory leak that occurred. This is ordered by size.
Ignore the leaks for the moment; fix the generational accretion first.
Is that generation snapshot representative of what is left after a typical snapshot? Typically, you'd want to show view controller, take snapshot, hide then show view controller, take snapshot, etc... as many times as you can without crashing (or 10 times if it doesn't crash).
Then look at generation 3 or 4 as that'll be the most stable representation of per-generation accretion.
If it is representative, it looks like you are leaking everything that the view controller would normally allocate. Ultimately, you are looking for the "root" of your object graph that is keeping everything around. Fix the reason why the root is sticking around and the rest'll likely go away.
I wrote a weblog post about this. It is a bit outdated, but the analysis workflow remains the same.
http://www.friday.com/bbum/2010/10/17/when-is-a-leak-not-a-leak-using-heapshot-analysis-to-find-undesirable-memory-growth/
How are you unwinding from your various view controllers? I note that you mention that when the game ends you're pushing another VC onto the stack, but I presume this VC chain will at some point unwind back to your initial menu? (In essence, I wonder if you're just looping around, hence adding new VCs to the stack everytime you play a game.)
To create an un-wind segue, simply create an empty method in the destination VC (i.e.: your main menu) as such:
- (IBAction)unwindToMainMenu:(UIStoryboardSegue*)sender
{
// Intentional NOP
}
(N.B.: Make sure it's also listed in the header.)
You can then call this as you would any other segue in your storyboard by dragging from the source object in question to the exit option at the top of the VC that contains the source object in the storyboard. This will present you with a list of segues to choose from. (You can verify that the segue is setup correctly by selecting the source object in the storyboard - the Connections inspector should list the unwind segue within the Triggered Segues section.)

ViewDidLoad wont fire after pushed to new viewcontroller

So I am trying to get from one viewcontroller to another using the push segue (selected in the storyboard). When I arrive at the second viewcontroller, the viewDidLoad is not firing! Is that a bug or am I doing everything wrong?
It really hard to give suggestion to this kind of question,
Double check below things once.
Is Storyboard View-controller has the Class as the SecondViewController.h
Is the 'View' connected to the outlet as the Seccndviewcontrooler's View.
Performing segue are you sure pushing the SecondViewcontroller only.
Clean build the proj once.
just run the app - Place a NSLog Statment in right after the [super viewDidLoad] and see is that printing logs in console.
try keeping a breakpoint or NSLog at viewWillAppear/viewdidAppear.
What do you mean by pushed to new view? ViewControllers can be pushed not View. ViewDidLoad will be fired only when a ViewController is loaded into the memory. It can also be fired if the VC was unloaded by iOS runtime and is being loaded again.
But thumb rule is that it will fire only when the VC is being loaded not afterwards. Please elaborate your question further if I am interpreting you incorrectly.

correcting navigation between VCs in existing app

I have a fairly simple app thats a game for small children. There is a main screen and 5 separate levels. 3 of the 5 levels are made up of more than one VC where actions take place in the first VC in that row then code calls a modal segue to the next one in the line and so on till it reaches the end of the row and a modal segue is called linking back to the main screen. The levels that have only one VC just perform actions then segue back to the main VC.
Every segue in the app in modal.
Also every page (VC) has a home button that will segue to the main page if pressed
I set this all up in the StoryBoard and visually everything works as Id expect but when adding sound I realized that there seems to be a major problem.
If I now understand correctly (and maybe I dont) modal segues dont actually replace the current VC with the newly requested one but rather slide the newly requested one over top the original and make it the visible display.
Currently I go from main to level 1. Level 1 does some stuff and plays some sounds that repeat via a timer. If I segue back to main visually everything is fine except the sounds being played by the timers in level 1 VC continue to play and xCdoe give me the following error quite a few times
2013-01-21 22:16:07.901 TTBetaDev[678:c07] Warning: Attempt to present <MainMenuViewController: 0x7e02f40> on <BonusViewController: 0x7ecbfa0> whose view is not in the window hierarchy!
Below is a screenshot of my storyboard in case I havent explained the layout well enough.
How should this be set up to allow the navigation I would like? A what steps will I need to take to apply that to the what I already have built in the storyboards? Or will I have to re-do all my storyborad work?
I tried apples VC documentation but I couldnt understand what relates to what Im trying to do.
COuld someone please help explain this to me
You have segues going forwards AND backwards. You shouldn't do this.
e.g. Look and Main and VC 2.
You have a segue going from Main to VC 2. This means that Main will present VC 2 as a modal view controller.
When Main does this though it is still on the stack underneath VC2.
Then you have a segue from VC2 to Main. This means that VC2 will create a new Main and present it modally too. If you continue using the app you will have multiple instances of main and all the other VCs and memory consumption will rocket.
What you need to do is delete ALL the segues that go backwards. (i.e. like the one from VC2 to Main)
Then when you want to get back to main from VC2 you have to dismiss VC2.
i.e.
in Main...
//present VC2
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"VC2Segue" sender:nil];
//dismiss VC2
[self dismissViewController:vc2ViewControllerInstance];
or in VC2...
//dismiss VC2 from itself
[self dismissViewController:self];
The main thing though is that you can't use segues to go backwards.
TL:DR
Nothing should segue INTO Main. Any segues that go into the left hand side of main should be deleted and dealt with properly.

Segues and viewDidLoad/viewDidUnload method

I am making simple storyboard application which has 2 UIViewControllers and I am switching between them by using modal segue. Each UIViewController has one UIButton which is used to perform segue to another UIViewController. In viewDidLoad method I animate appearance of that UIButton on each UIViewController. I am using Cross Dissolve Modal segue.
When I press UIButton on 1st UIViewController I navigate to second UIViewController and animation is executed and 2nd UIViewController is shown. After I press UIButton on 2nd UIView Controller, first UIViewController is shown and it's animation is executed. Everything looks fine and viewDidLoad methods are called for each UIViewController when ever I navigate to it. And that's great.
I tried now to change Modal segue type from Cross Dissolve to other two by default offered in XCode Interface Builder. I changed to Cover Vertical, and everything worked just fine, without changes. But when I tried Flip Horizontal Modal segue, I saw a problem.
When performing Flip Horizontal Modal segue, my UIButton on both UIViewControllers is shown, but animation isn't executed. I tried debugging and I am sure that animation commands are being executed, but animation isn't shown.
So that's my first question: Does anyone know is there any difference between these types of Modal segues which may cause my animation not showing up?
Other questions are related to basic theory of segues and memory management. When I perform segue and navigate to some UIViewController, viewDidLoad method is called every time. So, does that mean I created new object instance each time viewDidLoad method was executed?
I also notice that viewDidUnload method is never called. So, if answer to previous question is affirmative (each viewDidLoad execution creates new object instance), does that mean that my UIViewController object instances are never being unloaded and deleted? Or ARC is doing garbage collection behind the scenes?
If someone could explain how things works with storyboard segues and memory management/object lifecycle and why viewDidUnload method is never being called, I'd be very grateful.
[edit #1: Trying to unload UIViewController after performing modal segue]
[update #1: This shouldn't be done, viewDidUnload will be called automatically]
I am making segue in IBAction attached to UIButton click. I have written this peace of code to perform modal segue.
#try
{
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:segueToPerform sender:self];
}
#catch (NSException *exception)
{
NSLog(#"Exception: %#", exception);
}
#finally
{
[self viewDidUnload];
}
I have manually called viewDidUnload in #finally block and I have checked weather viewDidUnload is called in runtime and yes - it is called.
Does this mean I managed to unload my UIViewController object I created when navigating to it with modal segue from another UIViewController and remove it from memory?
Is this method regular as a replacement for:
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
because this above line returns me to UIViewController from which I navigated to current UIViewController, but that doesn't fit my needs, because I need to perform new segues from current UIViewController to other UIViewControllers (beside returning back to UIViewController from which I navigated to current one)?
[edit #2: Finish]
At the end I changed implementation model and loaded new UIViews under single UIViewController after I created separate XIB files for those UIViews. I have marked answer from #dasblinkenlight as the right one since it contains lots of useful informations and discussion on that answer gives good answers to some doubts about using modal segues.
I do not know the answer to the first part of your question, but once you learn the answer to the second part, I am sure that you would go with a different solution anyway.
viewDidLoad method is called every time. So, does that mean I created new object instance each time viewDidLoad method was executed?
Absolutely. "Modal" segue causes the new view to obscure the old one completely until the new view is closed. If you go back and forth many times, your code will accumulate a whole "stack" of views underneath the current one.
I also notice that viewDidUnload method is never called. So, if answer to previous question is affirmative (each viewDidLoad execution creates new object instance), does that mean that my UIViewController object instances are never being unloaded and deleted?
This is correct, all the view controllers that you create are still there, ready for you to close the views on top of it.
Or ARC is doing garbage collection behind the scenes?
ARC is not a garbage collector, it is a reference counting mechanism with a little automation from the compiler. The objects are still there.
You should change your code to call
[self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
in the second controller, rather than using a modal segue that brings you back to the first one.
I hit a similar issue where I had a complex VC navigation web, and the resulting use of segues (no UINavigationController) was sucking up too much memory.
You may want to take a look at this question/answer to see my final solution.
The conversation here between uerceg and dasblinkenlight helped me in finding this solution.
Segues and clearing historical ViewControllers from memory

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