iOS image startAnimating isn't animating (most of the time) - ios

Question

I have an animation that is not animating for some reason.
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
self.navigationController.navigationBar.hidden = YES;
self.nameLabel.text = [self.name uppercaseString];
self.gradient1.alpha = .9;
self.gradient1.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"heart.png"];
self.gradient1.animationImages = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:
[UIImage imageNamed:#"gradiant1.png"],
[UIImage imageNamed:#"gradiant2.png"],
...
[UIImage imageNamed:#"gradiant26.png"], nil];
self.gradient1.animationDuration = .5;
self.gradient1.animationRepeatCount = 1;
[self updateStats:nil];
}
-(void)updateStats:(NSTimer*)timer{
Utilities *utility = [[Utilities alloc] init];
[utility getDataWithSSID:self.ssID completion:^(bool *finished, NSArray *objects) {
if (finished){
...
[self.gradient1 startAnimating];
}
self.twoSecTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:2.0 target:self
selector:#selector(updateStats:)
userInfo:nil
repeats:NO];
}];
}
Sometimes it animates once or twice and then stops even though the timer continues to hit over and over. Other times it just doesn't animate at all. However, I have a couple placeholder buttons that I put on the storyboard that aren't tied to anything and whenever I press one of the buttons it animates the next time the timer hits (Actually whenever I hit the screen even though I don't have any sort of gesture recognizers..). Also, when I add in all the other garbage I want to do in this ViewController it animates every other time it's being called. So I think it's something deeper than me forgetting so set some property.

Answer 1

It might be a better idea to move the animation trigger to a moment when that view is actually visible - hence to viewDidAppear:.
Also your way of creating a recursive timer scheduling makes me shiver. I guess it works fine for you but I would definitely suggest to use the repeats flag set to YES instead.
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
self.navigationController.navigationBar.hidden = YES;
self.nameLabel.text = [self.name uppercaseString];
self.gradient1.alpha = .9;
self.gradient1.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"heart.png"];
self.gradient1.animationImages = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:
[UIImage imageNamed:#"gradiant1.png"],
[UIImage imageNamed:#"gradiant2.png"],
...
[UIImage imageNamed:#"gradiant26.png"], nil];
self.gradient1.animationDuration = .5;
self.gradient1.animationRepeatCount = 1;
}
- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
//animate right away...
[self updateStats:nil];
//trigger new animations every two seconds
self.twoSecTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:2.0 target:self
selector:#selector(updateStats:)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];
}
- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewWillDisappear:animated];
[self stopUpdatingStats];
}
-(void)stopUpdatingStats
{
[self.twoSecTimer invalidate];
}
-(void)updateStats:(NSTimer*)timer
{
NSLog(#"updating");
[self.gradient1 startAnimating];
}