Stop method/object immediately? - ios

This is my first question on stackoverflow. I'm working on an iOS app that uses data from a MySQL server on the web. I created a class called "DataController" that completely manages the synchronization-proccess and uses NSURLConnection with delegate to retrieve information, parse it and store it in CoreData models. It uses several methods in this process, like this:
[self.dataControllerObject syncStudents]
syncStudents is called
--> gets download-list from server
--> stores IDs for all elements that have to be downloaded in NSArray-property
--> calls syncNextStudent
syncNextStudent is called
--> gets first element from NSArray-property
--> builds up NSURLConnection to retrieve data
connectionDidFinishLoading is called
--> data is stored in CoreData
--> ID is removed from NSArray-property
--> calls syncNextStudent
syncNextStudent eventually has no array elements left and finishes the process.
I hope I made clear the functionality. Now here's my problem:
How do I abort the whole process, e.g. when the user does not want to sync now and hits some button?
I tried to create the DataController object and call the syncStudents method an another thread using [self performSelectorInBackground:#selector(startSyncing) withObject:nil], but now my NSURLConnection does not trigger any delegate methods.
What can I do?
Thanks in advance.

You should look at using NSOperations and an NSOperationQueue instead of performSelectorInBackground:. This allows you to have more control over a batch of tasks that need to be performed in the background as well as cancel all operations at once . Here's what I suggest.
Declare an NSOperationQueue as a property
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSOperationQueue *operationQueue;
Then instantiate it in your implementation file:
_operationQueue = [[NSOperationQueue] alloc] init];
Create an NSOperation derived class that will do the processing.
#interface StudentOperation : NSOperation
// Declare a property for your student ID
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSNumber *studentID;
#end
Then iterate through whatever collection you have to create your operations.
for (NSSNumber *studentID in studentIDs) { // Your array of ids
StudentOperation *operation = [[StudentOperation alloc] init];
// Add any parameters your operation needs like student ID
[operation setStudentID:studentID];
// Add it to the queue
[_operationQueue addOperation:operation];
}
When you want to cancel, just tell the operation queue:
[_operationQueue cancelAllOperations];
Keep in mind that this will immediately cancel any operations that are queued that are not currently being processed. If you want to stop any operations currently running, you have to add code to your NSOperation derived class (StudentOperation above) that checks for this. So, say your NSOperation code is running its main() function. You need to periodically check and see if the cancelled flag has been set.
#implementation StudentOperation
- (void)main
{
// Kick off your async NSURLConnection download here.
NSURLRequest *theRequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL...
NSURLConnection *theConnection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:theRequest delegate:self];
// ...
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data
{
// Append the data
[receivedData appendData:data];
// Check and see if we need to cancel
if ([self isCancelled]) {
// Close the connection. Do any other cleanup
}
}
#end

What you can do is create a BOOL Property doSync which is public.
Each time when your calling
syncStudents is called or syncNextStudent is called or connectionDidFinishLoading
check for
if(doSync){
// *syncStudents is called* OR
// *syncNextStudent is called* OR
// *connectionDidFinishLoading*
}
No you can change doSync to FALSE to stop your process.
self.dataControllerObject.doSync = FALSE;

Related

Objective-C blocks: How to set an object to nil which uses block-based callback mechanism?

I have a NetworkManager class which does the task of connecting to a JSON based web service and returning the server response. I am using a completion handler block to return the success or error response from NetworkManager (Internally, NetworkManager uses delegate based NSURLConnection).
NetworkManager *objNetworkManager= [[NetworkManager alloc]init];
[objNetworkManager setCompletionHandler:^(NSDictionary *resp, BOOL isSuccess){
if (isSuccess) {
}else{
}
}];
[objNetworkManager initiateUrlRequestWithInput:jsonRequestInput];
Everything works fine now and my network requests work as expected using this NetworkManager class. My concern is that I am allocating an instance of NetworkManager each time I make an web service call. But, where should I set the objNetworkManager to nil? Because it uses a block callback, I'm not sure how to handle memory efficiently. Please advice!!
Here is my take on this:
ARC automatically takes care of it for you if you are not creating reference cycles or any leaks. For instance, if VC1 instantiates NetworkManager and post everything is done, you go out of VC1 and it gets deallocated then NetworkManager reference will also be deallocated.
If you really want to be proactive to release NetworkManager then you can do it in your both success and error completion blocks. This is how I do it :).
EDIT: Example:
__weak MyViewController *aBlockSelf = self;
// Save User Preferences (/ics/markavailable)
self.requestHandler = [[MyRequestHandler alloc] initWithEndPoint:#"/fetch/request" body:aBodyData container:self.navigationController.view loadingOverlayTitle:#"Loading..." successHandler:^(NSDictionary *iResponse) {
// Do success handling
aBlockSelf.requestHandler = nil;
} andErrorHandler:^(NSString *iMessage, NSString *iKey, NSInteger iErrorCode, BOOL iIsNetworkError) {
// Do success handling
aBlockSelf.requestHandler = nil;
}];
[self.requestHandler executeRequest];
To understand retain cycle, take a look at this thread.
If web service can be invoked at same time, you can use a NSMutableArray in a public data to save managers.
//Public data manager class add a NSMutableArray to save managers.
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSMutableArray *requestingManager;
NetworkManager *objNetworkManager= [[NetworkManager alloc]init];
[objNetworkManager setCompletionHandler:^(NSDictionary *resp, BOOL isSuccess){
//remove when finish
[[PublicData instance].requestingManager removeObject:objNetworkManager];
if (isSuccess) {
}else{
}
}];
[objNetworkManager initiateUrlRequestWithInput:jsonRequestInput];
//add manager when request
[[PublicData instance].requestingManager addObject:objNetworkManager];
After remove objNetworkManager, objNetworkManager will not be retained, and will release, the block in it will be set to nil automatically.

How do I wait for a method to finish before calling it again?

I am building a simple messaging app using Parse's framework. I have a method called displayMessages. This is called each time the phone receives a push.
However, as this message is doing work in the Parse database I don't want to call it again if it's already running. I want to wait until it is finished and then call it.
I am using the following code:
-(void)receivedPush
{
[self displayMessages];
}
and:
-(void)displayMessages
{
//code here
}
If received push is called I want it to wait until displayMessages is finished before calling it. Could someone please point me in the right direction with this?
UPDATE
I tried using the NSOperationQueue method and realised that although this does work for waiting for displayMessages it doesn't result in the required behavior.
In displayMessages I have: [PFObject deleteAllInBackground:toDelete]; it's actually this I need to wait for completion before calling displayMessages again.
Create a NSOperationQueue and set the maxConcurrentOperationCount to 1. Implement your data access method as an operation (possibly block-type operation) and submit it to the queue. (I like this better than gcd since you can do cancellation or test the number of items already in the queue.)
Note that if the method actually displays things, you'll need to dispatch back to the main queue for UI work.
You could use a NSOperationQueue with maxConcurrentOperationCount set to 1.
Declare the NSOperationQueue as an iVar of your class, initialize it in the init method and set
[_opQueue setMaxConcurrentOperationCount:1];
and then when you receive the push:
- (void)receivedPush {
NSInvocationOperation *op = [[NSInvocationOperation alloc] initWithTarget:self selector:#selector(displayMessages) object:nil];
[_opQueue addOperation:op];
}
Shortest and simples would be creating BOOL isExecuting and checking if you can call method based on that (changing values before execution but after check and after execution)
How about this for a fairly lightweight solution:
#property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL needsToDisplayMessages;
#property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL displayingMessages;
Then
-(void)receivedPush
{
if (!self.displayingMessages) {
[self displayMessages];
} else {
self.needsToDisplayMessages = YES;
}
}
-(void)displayMessages
{
self.needsToDisplayMessages = NO;
self.displayingMessages = YES;
//long-running code here
self.displayingMessages = NO;
if (self.needsToDisplayMessages) {
[self displayMessages]
}
(ignoring concurrency issues ... for which you could use GCD in displayMessages or NSOperationQueue as per a couple of the other answers)
With your new updated requirement, you can use deleteAllInBackground:block:. According to document:
"Deletes a collection of objects all at once asynchronously and executes the block when done."
Why not schedule each message handling using:
-(void)receivedPush
{
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
/* Show the update on the display */
NSLog(#"Handling new messages");
NSArray *newMessages=<populate with new messages>;
[handler displayMessages:newMessages];
});
}
This will queue up your handling of each set as they come in. Only one displayMessages will run at a time.

NSURLConnection does not call complete across multiple Views

Earlier today I asked the following question: iOS block being stoped when view pushed
The operation I mentioned (OP1) is actually a "http get" to my server, using NSURLConnection.
After even more investigation I discovered that the block doesn't actually "die". What really happens is that the request is actually SENT (the server side logs it), even after the view is pushed (verified via [NSThread sleep:10]). The server responds but then NOTHING happens on the app side if the view2 has been pushed! almost as if the connection had lost its delegate! Another possibility im looking at is "the fact that NSURLConnection is on the rsMainLoop related?"
Can anyone help?
Pls don't forget that:
0. Everything works fine as long as the view2 is not pushed until operation completion.
1. The request is sent async
2. I set the delegate and it works as long as the view dont change
3. view1 starts the operation using the "singleton object reference" property "OP1Completed"
4. view2 checks the completion of OP1 via propertie on the "singleton object reference"
5. view2 gets the "result" by going to the "singleton.OP1Result" property
Edit 1:
Ok lets have some code. First here is the relevant code of my singleton (named "Interaction"):
-(void)loadAllContextsForUser:(NSString *)username{
userNameAux = username;
_loadingContextsCompleted = NO;
if (contextsLoaderQueue == NULL) {
contextsLoaderQueue = dispatch_queue_create("contextsLoaderQueue", NULL);
}
dispatch_async(contextsLoaderQueue, ^{
NSLog(#"Loading all contexts block started");
[self requestConnectivity];
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[Util Get:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/userContext?username=%#", Util.azureBaseUrl, [username stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]]
successBlock:^(NSData *data, id jsonData){
NSLog(#"Loading all contexts block succeeded");
if([userNameAux isEqualToString:username]){
_allContextsForCurrentUser = [[NSSet alloc]initWithArray: jsonData];
}
} errorBlock:^(NSError *error){
NSLog(#"%#",error);
} completeBlock:^{
NSLog(#"load all contexts for user async block completed.");
_loadingContextsCompleted = YES;
[self releaseConnectivity];
}];
});
while (!_loadingContextsCompleted) {
NSLog(#"loading all contexts block waiting.");
[NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:.5];
}
});
NSLog(#"Load All Contexts Dispatched. It should start at any moment if it not already.");
}
And here is the class Util, which actually handles the request/response
-(id)initGet:(NSString *)resourceURL successBlock:(successBlock_t)successBlock errorBlock:(errorBlock_t)errorBlock completeBlock:(completeBlock_t)completeBlock;{
if(self=[super init]){
_data=[[NSMutableData alloc]init];
}
_successBlock = [successBlock copy];
_completeBlock = [completeBlock copy];
_errorBlock = [errorBlock copy];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:resourceURL];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:YES];
//[_conn scheduleInRunLoop:[NSRunLoop mainRunLoop] forMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode];
//[_conn start];
NSLog(#"Request Started.");
return self;
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
{
[_data setLength:0];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data
{
[_data appendData:data];
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{
id jsonObjects = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:_data options:NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error:nil];
id key = [[jsonObjects allKeys] objectAtIndex:0];
id jsonResult = [jsonObjects objectForKey:key];
_successBlock(_data, jsonResult);
_completeBlock();
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
{
_errorBlock(error);
_completeBlock();
}
And finally here is the relevant part VC1 (pushing in VC2)
- (IBAction)loginClicked {
NSLog(#"login clicked. Preparing to exibit next view");
UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:#"MainStoryboard_iPhone" bundle:nil];
AuthenticationViewController *viewController = (AuthenticationViewController *)[storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"ContextSelectionView"];
NSLog(#"Preparation completed. pushing view now");
[self presentViewController:viewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
You might be surprised, but there are a couple of solutions - some of which are very common and can be implemented very easily ;) Even though, this answer is ridiculous elaborate, the actual solution to your problem will not exceed a few lines of code. :)
You ran into a typical "async problem" - well, it's less than a problem, rather a typical programming task nowadays.
What you have is an asynchronous task, OP1. This will be started from within ViewController 1 (VC1), and at some indeterminate time later, it will eventually produce either a result or an error.
The eventual result of OP1 should be handled later in VC2.
There are a few approaches how a client can obtain the eventual result, for example: via KVO, delegate method, completion block, callback function, future or promise and per notification.
These approaches above have one property in common: the call-site gets notified by the asynchronous result provider (and not vice versa).
Polling for the result until it is available, is a bad approach. Likewse, hanging in a semaphore and blocking the current thread until the result is "signaled" is equally suboptimal.
You are probably familiar with completion blocks. A typical asynchronous method which notifies the call-site when the result is available looks like this:
typedef void (^completion_block_t)(id result);
- (void) doSomethingAsyncWithCompletion:(completion_block_t)completionHandler;
Note: the call-site provides the completion handler, while the async tasks calls the block when it is finished, and passes its result (or error) to the result parameter of the block. Unless otherwise stated, the execution context - that is the thread or dispatch queue or NSOperationQueue - of where the block will be executed is not known.
But when thinking about your problem, a simple async function and a completion handler doesn't yield a viable solution. You cannot pass that "method" easily from VC1 to VC2 and then later "attach" somehow a completion block in VC2.
Luckily, any asynchronous task can be encapsulated into an NSOperation. An NSOperation has a completion block as a property which can be set by the call-site or elsewhere. And an NSOperation object can be easily passed from VC1 to VC2. VC2 simply adds a completion block to the operation, and eventually gets notified when its finished and the result is available.
However, while this would be a viable solution for your problem - there are in fact a few issues with this approach - which I don't want to elaborate, but instead propose an even better one: "Promises".
A "Promise" represents the eventual result of an asynchronous task. That is, a promise will exist even though the result of the asynchronous task is not yet evaluated. A Promise is an ordinary object which you can send messages. Thus, Promises can be passed around much like NSOperations. A Promise is the return value of an asynchronous method/function:
-(Promise*) doSomethingAsync;
Don't mismatch a Promise with the asynchronous function/method/task/operation - the promise is just a representation of the eventual result of the task.
A Promise MUST be eventually resolved by the asynchronous task - that is, the task MUST send the promise a "fulfill" message along with the result value, or it MUST send the promise the "reject" message along with an error. The promise keeps a reference of that result value passed from the task.
A Promise can be resolved only once!
In order to obtain the eventual result a client can "register" a success handler and an error handler . The success handler will be called when the task fulfills the promise (that is, it was successful), and the error handler will be called when the task rejected the promise passing along the reason as an error object.
Assuming a particular implementation of a promise, resolving a promise may look like this:
- (Promise*) task {
Promise* promise = [Promise new];
dispatch_async(private_queue, ^{
...
if (success) {
[promise fulfillWithValue:result];
}
else {
NSError* error = ...;
[promise rejectWithReason:error];
}
});
return promise;
}
A client "registers" handlers for obtaining the eventual result as follows:
Promise* promise = [self fetchUsers];
promise.then( <success handler block>, <error handler block> );
The success handler and error handler block are declared as follows:
typedef id (^success_handler_block)(id result);
typedef id (^error_handler_block)(NSError* error);
In order to just "register" a success handler (for the case, the async tasks "returns" successfully) one would write:
promise.then(^id(id users) {
NSLog(#"Users:", users);
return nil;
}, nil);
If the task succeeds, the handler will be called - which prints the users to the console.
When the task fails, the success handler will not be called.
In order to just "register" an error handler (for the case, the async tasks fails) one would write:
promise.then(nil, ^id(NSError* error) {
NSLog(#"ERROR:", error);
return nil;
}, nil);
If the task succeeds, the error handler will not be called. Only if the task fails (or any children tasks), this error handler will be invoked.
When the result of the async task is eventually available, the code within the handlers will be executed "in some unspecified execution context". That means, it may execute on any thread. (Note: there are ways to specify the execution context, say the main thread).
A promise can register more than one handler pair. You can add as many handlers as you want, and where and when you want. Now, you should understand the connection with your actual problem:
You can start an asynchronous task in VC1, and get a promise. Then pass this promise to VC2. In VC2 you can add your handler, which will get invoked when the result is eventually available.
Don't worry when the result is actually already available when passing the promise to VC2, that is, when the promise has been resolved already. You can still add handlers and they get fired properly (immediately).
You can also "chain" multiple tasks - that is, invoke task2 once when task1 is finished. A "chain" or "continuation" of four async tasks looks as follows:
Promise* task4Promise =
[self task1]
.then(^id(id result1){
return [task2WithInput:result1];
}, nil)
.then(^id(id result2){
return [task3WithInput:result2];
}, nil)
.then(^id(id result3){
return [task4WithInput:result3];
}, nil);
task4Promise represents the eventual result of task4WithInput:.
One can also execute tasks in parallel, like taskB and taskC which will get started in parallel when taskA has been finished successfully:
Promise* root = [self taskA];
root.then(^id(id result){
return [self taskB];
}, nil);
root.then(^id(id result){
return [self taskC];
}, nil);
With this scheme, one can define an acyclic graph of tasks, where each is dependent on the successful execution of its successor ("parent"). "Errors" will be passed through to the root, and handled by the last error handler (if any).
There are a few implementations for Objective-C. I've written one myself: "RXPromise" (available on GitHub). One of the strongest feature is "Cancellation" - which is NOT a standard feature of promises, but implemented in RXPromise. With this, you can selectively cancel a tree of asynchronous tasks.
There is a lot more about promises. You may search the web, especially in the JavaScript community.
I'm not sure I understand the work flow that goes on in the first controller -- specifically, what the user does to initiate the download, and what else he does before the next controller gets presented (and when that controller gets instantiated). When I've made apps in the past that required doing downloads from multiple classes, I've created a download class that creates the NSURLConnection, and implements all the call backs. It has one delegate protocol method to send back the data (either raw data or error object) to its delegate.
I made a simple test case simulating what I think your work flow is, using two buttons. One instantiates a Downloader class instance, creates the next controller, sets it as the delegate of the downloader, and starts the download. The second button does the push to that second controller. This works, no matter when the push happens, but I don't know if it's relevant to your situation (I test using the Network Link Conditioner to simulate a slow connection).
The first Controller:
#import "ViewController.h"
#import "ReceivingViewController.h"
#import "Downloader.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#property (strong,nonatomic) ReceivingViewController *receiver;
#end
#implementation ViewController
-(IBAction)buttonClicked:(id)sender {
Downloader *loader = [Downloader new];
self.receiver = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"Receiver"];
loader.delegate = self.receiver;
[loader startLoad];
}
-(IBAction)goToReceiver:(id)sender {
[self.navigationController pushViewController:self.receiver animated:YES];
}
The Download class .h:
#protocol DownloadCompleted <NSObject>
-(void)downloadedFinished:(id) dataOrError;
#end
#interface Downloader : NSObject
#property (strong,nonatomic) NSMutableData *receivedData;
#property (weak,nonatomic) id <DownloadCompleted> delegate;
-(void)startLoad;
Downloader .m:
-(void)startLoad {
NSLog(#"start");
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com"] cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalAndRemoteCacheData timeoutInterval:10];
NSURLConnection *connection = [NSURLConnection connectionWithRequest:request delegate:self];
if (connection) self.receivedData = [NSMutableData new];
}
-(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
self.receivedData.length = 0;
}
-(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
[self.receivedData appendData:data];
}
-(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
[self.delegate downloadedFinished:error];
}
-(void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
[self.delegate downloadedFinished:self.receivedData];
}
-(void)dealloc {
NSLog(#"In Downloader dealloc. loader is: %#",self);
}
The second controller:
#interface ReceivingViewController ()
#property (strong,nonatomic) NSData *theData;
#end
#implementation ReceivingViewController
-(void)downloadedFinished:(id)dataOrError {
self.theData = (NSData *)dataOrError;
NSLog(#"%#",self.theData);
}
-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
NSLog(#"%#",self.theData);
}
So, here is what I think will work for sure:
Pass the flag to the new controller. If the flag is unfinished, then start over loading in the new VC and make sure none of the data shows up until it is done loading.
I do think it is weird that the thread stops though, with the new VC being pushed, because when I dispatch asynchronous calls with AFNetworking, it does continue to load even after a new VC is pushed. Perhaps if you are using a different framework, you should use AFNetworking.
So, if your thread actually does continue after the new VC is pushed on (as I suspect it does - you just think it doesn't keep going because it crashes the code), then try the following:
a) pass flag, if operation finished, proceed normally
b) if not, don't load anything and invoke some kind of delegate method between the two that checks if the flag is set, and returns the data if so.
If you have questions on how to set up a delegate, just ask and I can fill in some details on that.
As already mentioned in a comment in you first question: you have probably two issues:
A design problem
A code issue, causing the block. (but without code this is difficult to figure out).
Lets propose a practical approach:
Say, our singleton is some "Loader" class which performs HTTP requests. Instead of polling a property which determines the state of the network request, you should return some object which you can ask for the state, or even better where VC2 can register a completion block which gets called when the request is finished.
An NSOperation could be "used" to represent the eventual result of the asynchronous network request. But this is a bit unwieldy - suppose we have a subclass RequestOperation:
RequestOperation* requestOp = [[Loader sharedLoader] fetchWithURL:url];
Now, "requestOp" represents your network request, including the eventual result.
You can obtain this operation in VC1.
You may not want to ask the shared loader about a particular operation, because it may stateless -- that is, it does not itself track the request operations. Consider, you want to use class Loader several times for starting network requests - possible in parallel. Then, which request do you mean when you ask one property of Loader which tells you something about the state of a request? (it won't work).
So, again back to a working approach and to VC1:
Suppose, in VC1 you obtained the RequestOperation object which is a subclass of NSOperation. Suppose, RequestOperation has a property responseBody - which is a NSData object representing the eventual response data of the request operation.
In order to obtain the eventual response body of the request, you cannot just ask the property: the connection could possibly still running - the you would get nil or garbage, or you might block the thread. The behavior is dependent on the implementation of RequestOperation.
The solution is as follows:
In VC2:
We assume, VC1 has "passed" the requestOp to VC2 (for example in prepareForSegue:sender:).
In order to retrieve the response body in an asynchronous correct manner, you need some extra steps:
Create a NSBlockOperation which executes a block which handles the response body, for example:
NSBlockOperation* handlerOp = [NSBlockOperation blockOperationWithBlock:^{
NSData* body = requestOp.responseBody;
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
self.model = body;
[self.tableView reloadData];
});
}];
Then, make the handlerOp dependent on the requestOp - that is, start executing handlerOp when requestOp finished:
[handlerOP addDependency:requestOp];
Add the handlerOp to a queue, in order to execute:
[[NSOperation mainQueue] addOperation:handlerOp];
This still requires you to think "asynchronously" - there is no way around this. The best is, to get used to the practical patterns and idioms.
An alternative approach is using RXPromise (from a third party library):
In VC1:
requestPromise = [Loader fetchWithURL:url];
Now, in VC2:
We assume, VC1 has "passed" the requestPromise to VC2 (for example in prepareForSegue:sender:).
For example in viewDidLoad:
requestPromise.thenOn(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^id(id responseBody){
// executes on main thread!
self.model = responseBody;
[self.tableView reloadData];
return nil;
}, nil);
Bonus:
If required, you can cancel the network request at any time through sending cancel to the promise:
- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewWillDisappear:animated];
[self.requestPromise cancel];
self.requestPromise = nil;
}
I've figured it out. In my second view (where i w8 for the operation complete) I cannot w8 using ThreadSleep! I have to use [[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] runMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode beforeDate:[NSDate distantFuture]];

iOS block being stoped when view pushed [duplicate]

Earlier today I asked the following question: iOS block being stoped when view pushed
The operation I mentioned (OP1) is actually a "http get" to my server, using NSURLConnection.
After even more investigation I discovered that the block doesn't actually "die". What really happens is that the request is actually SENT (the server side logs it), even after the view is pushed (verified via [NSThread sleep:10]). The server responds but then NOTHING happens on the app side if the view2 has been pushed! almost as if the connection had lost its delegate! Another possibility im looking at is "the fact that NSURLConnection is on the rsMainLoop related?"
Can anyone help?
Pls don't forget that:
0. Everything works fine as long as the view2 is not pushed until operation completion.
1. The request is sent async
2. I set the delegate and it works as long as the view dont change
3. view1 starts the operation using the "singleton object reference" property "OP1Completed"
4. view2 checks the completion of OP1 via propertie on the "singleton object reference"
5. view2 gets the "result" by going to the "singleton.OP1Result" property
Edit 1:
Ok lets have some code. First here is the relevant code of my singleton (named "Interaction"):
-(void)loadAllContextsForUser:(NSString *)username{
userNameAux = username;
_loadingContextsCompleted = NO;
if (contextsLoaderQueue == NULL) {
contextsLoaderQueue = dispatch_queue_create("contextsLoaderQueue", NULL);
}
dispatch_async(contextsLoaderQueue, ^{
NSLog(#"Loading all contexts block started");
[self requestConnectivity];
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[Util Get:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/userContext?username=%#", Util.azureBaseUrl, [username stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]]
successBlock:^(NSData *data, id jsonData){
NSLog(#"Loading all contexts block succeeded");
if([userNameAux isEqualToString:username]){
_allContextsForCurrentUser = [[NSSet alloc]initWithArray: jsonData];
}
} errorBlock:^(NSError *error){
NSLog(#"%#",error);
} completeBlock:^{
NSLog(#"load all contexts for user async block completed.");
_loadingContextsCompleted = YES;
[self releaseConnectivity];
}];
});
while (!_loadingContextsCompleted) {
NSLog(#"loading all contexts block waiting.");
[NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:.5];
}
});
NSLog(#"Load All Contexts Dispatched. It should start at any moment if it not already.");
}
And here is the class Util, which actually handles the request/response
-(id)initGet:(NSString *)resourceURL successBlock:(successBlock_t)successBlock errorBlock:(errorBlock_t)errorBlock completeBlock:(completeBlock_t)completeBlock;{
if(self=[super init]){
_data=[[NSMutableData alloc]init];
}
_successBlock = [successBlock copy];
_completeBlock = [completeBlock copy];
_errorBlock = [errorBlock copy];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:resourceURL];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self startImmediately:YES];
//[_conn scheduleInRunLoop:[NSRunLoop mainRunLoop] forMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode];
//[_conn start];
NSLog(#"Request Started.");
return self;
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
{
[_data setLength:0];
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data
{
[_data appendData:data];
}
- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{
id jsonObjects = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:_data options:NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error:nil];
id key = [[jsonObjects allKeys] objectAtIndex:0];
id jsonResult = [jsonObjects objectForKey:key];
_successBlock(_data, jsonResult);
_completeBlock();
}
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
{
_errorBlock(error);
_completeBlock();
}
And finally here is the relevant part VC1 (pushing in VC2)
- (IBAction)loginClicked {
NSLog(#"login clicked. Preparing to exibit next view");
UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:#"MainStoryboard_iPhone" bundle:nil];
AuthenticationViewController *viewController = (AuthenticationViewController *)[storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"ContextSelectionView"];
NSLog(#"Preparation completed. pushing view now");
[self presentViewController:viewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
You might be surprised, but there are a couple of solutions - some of which are very common and can be implemented very easily ;) Even though, this answer is ridiculous elaborate, the actual solution to your problem will not exceed a few lines of code. :)
You ran into a typical "async problem" - well, it's less than a problem, rather a typical programming task nowadays.
What you have is an asynchronous task, OP1. This will be started from within ViewController 1 (VC1), and at some indeterminate time later, it will eventually produce either a result or an error.
The eventual result of OP1 should be handled later in VC2.
There are a few approaches how a client can obtain the eventual result, for example: via KVO, delegate method, completion block, callback function, future or promise and per notification.
These approaches above have one property in common: the call-site gets notified by the asynchronous result provider (and not vice versa).
Polling for the result until it is available, is a bad approach. Likewse, hanging in a semaphore and blocking the current thread until the result is "signaled" is equally suboptimal.
You are probably familiar with completion blocks. A typical asynchronous method which notifies the call-site when the result is available looks like this:
typedef void (^completion_block_t)(id result);
- (void) doSomethingAsyncWithCompletion:(completion_block_t)completionHandler;
Note: the call-site provides the completion handler, while the async tasks calls the block when it is finished, and passes its result (or error) to the result parameter of the block. Unless otherwise stated, the execution context - that is the thread or dispatch queue or NSOperationQueue - of where the block will be executed is not known.
But when thinking about your problem, a simple async function and a completion handler doesn't yield a viable solution. You cannot pass that "method" easily from VC1 to VC2 and then later "attach" somehow a completion block in VC2.
Luckily, any asynchronous task can be encapsulated into an NSOperation. An NSOperation has a completion block as a property which can be set by the call-site or elsewhere. And an NSOperation object can be easily passed from VC1 to VC2. VC2 simply adds a completion block to the operation, and eventually gets notified when its finished and the result is available.
However, while this would be a viable solution for your problem - there are in fact a few issues with this approach - which I don't want to elaborate, but instead propose an even better one: "Promises".
A "Promise" represents the eventual result of an asynchronous task. That is, a promise will exist even though the result of the asynchronous task is not yet evaluated. A Promise is an ordinary object which you can send messages. Thus, Promises can be passed around much like NSOperations. A Promise is the return value of an asynchronous method/function:
-(Promise*) doSomethingAsync;
Don't mismatch a Promise with the asynchronous function/method/task/operation - the promise is just a representation of the eventual result of the task.
A Promise MUST be eventually resolved by the asynchronous task - that is, the task MUST send the promise a "fulfill" message along with the result value, or it MUST send the promise the "reject" message along with an error. The promise keeps a reference of that result value passed from the task.
A Promise can be resolved only once!
In order to obtain the eventual result a client can "register" a success handler and an error handler . The success handler will be called when the task fulfills the promise (that is, it was successful), and the error handler will be called when the task rejected the promise passing along the reason as an error object.
Assuming a particular implementation of a promise, resolving a promise may look like this:
- (Promise*) task {
Promise* promise = [Promise new];
dispatch_async(private_queue, ^{
...
if (success) {
[promise fulfillWithValue:result];
}
else {
NSError* error = ...;
[promise rejectWithReason:error];
}
});
return promise;
}
A client "registers" handlers for obtaining the eventual result as follows:
Promise* promise = [self fetchUsers];
promise.then( <success handler block>, <error handler block> );
The success handler and error handler block are declared as follows:
typedef id (^success_handler_block)(id result);
typedef id (^error_handler_block)(NSError* error);
In order to just "register" a success handler (for the case, the async tasks "returns" successfully) one would write:
promise.then(^id(id users) {
NSLog(#"Users:", users);
return nil;
}, nil);
If the task succeeds, the handler will be called - which prints the users to the console.
When the task fails, the success handler will not be called.
In order to just "register" an error handler (for the case, the async tasks fails) one would write:
promise.then(nil, ^id(NSError* error) {
NSLog(#"ERROR:", error);
return nil;
}, nil);
If the task succeeds, the error handler will not be called. Only if the task fails (or any children tasks), this error handler will be invoked.
When the result of the async task is eventually available, the code within the handlers will be executed "in some unspecified execution context". That means, it may execute on any thread. (Note: there are ways to specify the execution context, say the main thread).
A promise can register more than one handler pair. You can add as many handlers as you want, and where and when you want. Now, you should understand the connection with your actual problem:
You can start an asynchronous task in VC1, and get a promise. Then pass this promise to VC2. In VC2 you can add your handler, which will get invoked when the result is eventually available.
Don't worry when the result is actually already available when passing the promise to VC2, that is, when the promise has been resolved already. You can still add handlers and they get fired properly (immediately).
You can also "chain" multiple tasks - that is, invoke task2 once when task1 is finished. A "chain" or "continuation" of four async tasks looks as follows:
Promise* task4Promise =
[self task1]
.then(^id(id result1){
return [task2WithInput:result1];
}, nil)
.then(^id(id result2){
return [task3WithInput:result2];
}, nil)
.then(^id(id result3){
return [task4WithInput:result3];
}, nil);
task4Promise represents the eventual result of task4WithInput:.
One can also execute tasks in parallel, like taskB and taskC which will get started in parallel when taskA has been finished successfully:
Promise* root = [self taskA];
root.then(^id(id result){
return [self taskB];
}, nil);
root.then(^id(id result){
return [self taskC];
}, nil);
With this scheme, one can define an acyclic graph of tasks, where each is dependent on the successful execution of its successor ("parent"). "Errors" will be passed through to the root, and handled by the last error handler (if any).
There are a few implementations for Objective-C. I've written one myself: "RXPromise" (available on GitHub). One of the strongest feature is "Cancellation" - which is NOT a standard feature of promises, but implemented in RXPromise. With this, you can selectively cancel a tree of asynchronous tasks.
There is a lot more about promises. You may search the web, especially in the JavaScript community.
I'm not sure I understand the work flow that goes on in the first controller -- specifically, what the user does to initiate the download, and what else he does before the next controller gets presented (and when that controller gets instantiated). When I've made apps in the past that required doing downloads from multiple classes, I've created a download class that creates the NSURLConnection, and implements all the call backs. It has one delegate protocol method to send back the data (either raw data or error object) to its delegate.
I made a simple test case simulating what I think your work flow is, using two buttons. One instantiates a Downloader class instance, creates the next controller, sets it as the delegate of the downloader, and starts the download. The second button does the push to that second controller. This works, no matter when the push happens, but I don't know if it's relevant to your situation (I test using the Network Link Conditioner to simulate a slow connection).
The first Controller:
#import "ViewController.h"
#import "ReceivingViewController.h"
#import "Downloader.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#property (strong,nonatomic) ReceivingViewController *receiver;
#end
#implementation ViewController
-(IBAction)buttonClicked:(id)sender {
Downloader *loader = [Downloader new];
self.receiver = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"Receiver"];
loader.delegate = self.receiver;
[loader startLoad];
}
-(IBAction)goToReceiver:(id)sender {
[self.navigationController pushViewController:self.receiver animated:YES];
}
The Download class .h:
#protocol DownloadCompleted <NSObject>
-(void)downloadedFinished:(id) dataOrError;
#end
#interface Downloader : NSObject
#property (strong,nonatomic) NSMutableData *receivedData;
#property (weak,nonatomic) id <DownloadCompleted> delegate;
-(void)startLoad;
Downloader .m:
-(void)startLoad {
NSLog(#"start");
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com"] cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalAndRemoteCacheData timeoutInterval:10];
NSURLConnection *connection = [NSURLConnection connectionWithRequest:request delegate:self];
if (connection) self.receivedData = [NSMutableData new];
}
-(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
self.receivedData.length = 0;
}
-(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
[self.receivedData appendData:data];
}
-(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
[self.delegate downloadedFinished:error];
}
-(void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
[self.delegate downloadedFinished:self.receivedData];
}
-(void)dealloc {
NSLog(#"In Downloader dealloc. loader is: %#",self);
}
The second controller:
#interface ReceivingViewController ()
#property (strong,nonatomic) NSData *theData;
#end
#implementation ReceivingViewController
-(void)downloadedFinished:(id)dataOrError {
self.theData = (NSData *)dataOrError;
NSLog(#"%#",self.theData);
}
-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
NSLog(#"%#",self.theData);
}
So, here is what I think will work for sure:
Pass the flag to the new controller. If the flag is unfinished, then start over loading in the new VC and make sure none of the data shows up until it is done loading.
I do think it is weird that the thread stops though, with the new VC being pushed, because when I dispatch asynchronous calls with AFNetworking, it does continue to load even after a new VC is pushed. Perhaps if you are using a different framework, you should use AFNetworking.
So, if your thread actually does continue after the new VC is pushed on (as I suspect it does - you just think it doesn't keep going because it crashes the code), then try the following:
a) pass flag, if operation finished, proceed normally
b) if not, don't load anything and invoke some kind of delegate method between the two that checks if the flag is set, and returns the data if so.
If you have questions on how to set up a delegate, just ask and I can fill in some details on that.
As already mentioned in a comment in you first question: you have probably two issues:
A design problem
A code issue, causing the block. (but without code this is difficult to figure out).
Lets propose a practical approach:
Say, our singleton is some "Loader" class which performs HTTP requests. Instead of polling a property which determines the state of the network request, you should return some object which you can ask for the state, or even better where VC2 can register a completion block which gets called when the request is finished.
An NSOperation could be "used" to represent the eventual result of the asynchronous network request. But this is a bit unwieldy - suppose we have a subclass RequestOperation:
RequestOperation* requestOp = [[Loader sharedLoader] fetchWithURL:url];
Now, "requestOp" represents your network request, including the eventual result.
You can obtain this operation in VC1.
You may not want to ask the shared loader about a particular operation, because it may stateless -- that is, it does not itself track the request operations. Consider, you want to use class Loader several times for starting network requests - possible in parallel. Then, which request do you mean when you ask one property of Loader which tells you something about the state of a request? (it won't work).
So, again back to a working approach and to VC1:
Suppose, in VC1 you obtained the RequestOperation object which is a subclass of NSOperation. Suppose, RequestOperation has a property responseBody - which is a NSData object representing the eventual response data of the request operation.
In order to obtain the eventual response body of the request, you cannot just ask the property: the connection could possibly still running - the you would get nil or garbage, or you might block the thread. The behavior is dependent on the implementation of RequestOperation.
The solution is as follows:
In VC2:
We assume, VC1 has "passed" the requestOp to VC2 (for example in prepareForSegue:sender:).
In order to retrieve the response body in an asynchronous correct manner, you need some extra steps:
Create a NSBlockOperation which executes a block which handles the response body, for example:
NSBlockOperation* handlerOp = [NSBlockOperation blockOperationWithBlock:^{
NSData* body = requestOp.responseBody;
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
self.model = body;
[self.tableView reloadData];
});
}];
Then, make the handlerOp dependent on the requestOp - that is, start executing handlerOp when requestOp finished:
[handlerOP addDependency:requestOp];
Add the handlerOp to a queue, in order to execute:
[[NSOperation mainQueue] addOperation:handlerOp];
This still requires you to think "asynchronously" - there is no way around this. The best is, to get used to the practical patterns and idioms.
An alternative approach is using RXPromise (from a third party library):
In VC1:
requestPromise = [Loader fetchWithURL:url];
Now, in VC2:
We assume, VC1 has "passed" the requestPromise to VC2 (for example in prepareForSegue:sender:).
For example in viewDidLoad:
requestPromise.thenOn(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^id(id responseBody){
// executes on main thread!
self.model = responseBody;
[self.tableView reloadData];
return nil;
}, nil);
Bonus:
If required, you can cancel the network request at any time through sending cancel to the promise:
- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewWillDisappear:animated];
[self.requestPromise cancel];
self.requestPromise = nil;
}
I've figured it out. In my second view (where i w8 for the operation complete) I cannot w8 using ThreadSleep! I have to use [[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] runMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode beforeDate:[NSDate distantFuture]];

iOS: Stopping a Thread / Method in the Middle of Process

I have a UITextfield and a UIButton. The user can enter, for example, search word such as "dog" or "cat" and it will trigger a method in another class that runs on a custom dispatch GCD queue to fetch the images (around 100 or so).
Everything works fine, except if the user in the midst of fetching, decides to change and enter another search word such as "cat" and then press the fetch button, I would like to be able to stop that thread / method while it is fetching the images from the previous search term.
I have thought about NSThread (something I never used before) or blocks (to get notified once the method has finished running), but the problem with blocks is, I will get notified once the method had finished doing its thing, but what I need here is to tell it to stop fetching (because the user has decided on another search and entered another search term).
Can someone please cite me with some samples, as to how we can be able to stop a loop / method while it is running on a custom GCD thread before it is finished? Thanks in advance.
I'm using NSOperationand NSOperationQueue to cluster markers on a map in the background and to cancel the operation if necessary.
The function to cluster the markers is implemented in a subclass of NSOperation:
ClusterMarker.h:
#class ClusterMarker;
#protocol ClusterMarkerDelegate <NSObject>
- (void)clusterMarkerDidFinish:(ClusterMarker *)clusterMarker;
#end
#interface ClusterMarker : NSOperation
-(id)initWithMarkers:(NSSet *)markerSet delegate:(id<ClusterMarkerDelegate>)delegate;
// the "return value"
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSSet *markerSet;
// use the delegate pattern to inform someone that the operation has finished
#property (nonatomic, weak) id<ClusterMarkerDelegate> delegate;
#end
and ClusterMarker.m:
#implementation ClusterMarker
-(id)initWithMarkers:(NSSet *)markerSet delegate:(id<ClusterMarkerDelegate>)delegate
{
if (self = [super init]) {
self.markerSet = markerSet;
self.delegate = delegate;
}
return self;
}
- (void)main {
#autoreleasepool {
if (self.isCancelled) {
return;
}
// perform some Überalgorithmus that fills self.markerSet (the "return value")
// inform the delegate that you have finished
[(NSObject *)self.delegate performSelectorOnMainThread:#selector(clusterMarkerDidFinish:) withObject:self waitUntilDone:NO];
}
}
#end
You could use your controller to manage the queue,
self.operationQueue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
self.operationQueue.name = #"Überalgorithmus.TheKillerApp.makemyday.com";
// make sure to have only one algorithm running
self.operationQueue.maxConcurrentOperationCount = 1;
to enqueue operations, kill previous operations and the like,
ClusterMarker *clusterMarkerOperation = [[ClusterMarker alloc] initWithMarkers:self.xmlMarkerSet delegate:self];
// this sets isCancelled in ClusterMarker to true. you might want to check that variable frequently in the algorithm
[self.operationQueue cancelAllOperations];
[self.operationQueue addOperation:clusterMarkerOperation];
and to respond to the callbacks when the operation has finished:
- (void)clusterMarkerDidFinish:(ClusterMarker *)clusterMarker
{
self.clusterMarkerSet = clusterMarker.markerSet;
GMSProjection *projection = [self.mapView projection];
for (MapMarker *m in self.clusterMarkerSet) {
m.coordinate = [projection coordinateForPoint:m.point];
}
// DebugLog(#"now clear map and refreshData: self.clusterMarkerSet.count=%d", self.clusterMarkerSet.count);
[self.mapView clear];
[self refreshDataInGMSMapView:self.mapView];
}
If I remember correctly I used this tutorial on raywenderlich.com as a starter.
I would recommend using NSOperation as it has cancel method which will cancel the current running operation.

Resources