Asynchronous image loading in UITableViewCell memory issue - ios

In my iPhone application I have a tableview with custom imageview and loading images from remote location using AsyncImageView class. It works nicely, but one issue is, if I scroll the table, cells will be dequeued and it again trying to get the images from server. So, the method for loading image from AsyncImageView class is calling again and again hence increases the memory allocation, and eventually the app crashes.
Here is my code:
- (UITableViewCell *) getCellContentView:(NSString *)cellIdentifier {
CGRect CellFrame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 300, 40);
CGRect userImageFrame = CGRectMake(5, 7, 36, 36);
UIImageView *userImage;
UITableViewCell *cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:cellIdentifier] autorelease];
[cell setFrame:CellFrame];
userImage = [[UIImageView alloc]init];
userImage.frame = userImageFrame;
userImage.tag = 3;
[cell.contentView addSubview:userImage];
[userImage release];
return cell;
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if(cell == nil)
cell = [self getCellContentView:CellIdentifier];
else
[[AsyncImageLoader sharedLoader] cancelLoadingImagesForTarget:cell.imageView];
UIImageView *userImage = (UIImageView *)[cell viewWithTag:3];
cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryDisclosureIndicator;
cell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleGray;
NSString *url = [[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:#"%#%#", CommonImageURL,[AllUsersProfileImageArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row]];
NSURL *imageUrl = [NSURL URLWithString:[url stringByAppendingFormat:#"?%i", rand()]];
[url release];
userImage.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"defaultPerson.png"];
userImage.imageURL = imageUrl;
return cell;
}
Is there any possible way to fix the issue? Please help.

The best solution will be caching the image that is already downloaded and displaying it from there.
You need to write code for that, or there are some libraries which provide such feature:
HJCache
SDWebImage

The popular AFNetworking library also includes a UIImageView category to load images from the web which is often overlooked. I found it to be quite efficient with respect to memory usage and easy to use.
http://afnetworking.github.com/AFNetworking/Categories/UIImageView+AFNetworking.html

I came across same trouble of memory leaks loading multiple images from server. My application needed fresh images response every time (functionality factor)
I was using NSURLConnection using asynch requests. I tried with
NSURLCache *sharedCache = [[NSURLCache alloc] initWithMemoryCapacity:0 diskCapacity:0 diskPath:0];
[NSURLCache setSharedURLCache:sharedCache]; // in DidFinishLoading & didFailWithError
receivedData=nil; // at didReceiveResponse
receivedData=[[NSMutableData alloc] init];
but nothing really helped , until I removed my cell
[cell removeFromSuperview]; in cellForRowAtIndexPath and initialized it again FOR every new NSURL request (additional if condition on cellForRowAtIndexPath but REALLY that payed off).
Probably the UIImageViews were never removed and new images n data were added constantly as fetched by responses. Removing old UITableViewCell for a new NSURLRequest worked in my case. Hope this helps someone like me lost in cleaning NSURLCache and still memory beefing up.

I posted a custom solution here
Download image asynchronously .
I think it works ok and requires very little code.

Related

UITableView - cell images changing while scrolling

Hi my problem is that when I scroll TableView the image will appear in a wrong cell, after a few seconds the correct image appears.
here is my code
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
// Configure the cell...
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] ;
}
[cell setOpaque:NO];
[cell setBackgroundColor: [UIColor clearColor]];
PlaceData *data = [tableData objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
UILabel *nameLabel = (UILabel *)[cell viewWithTag:100];
UILabel *sciNameLabel = (UILabel *)[cell viewWithTag:200];
UIImageView *thumbnailImageView = (UIImageView *)[cell viewWithTag:300];
nameLabel.text = data.name;
sciNameLabel.text = data.scientific_name;
// get a dispatch queue
dispatch_queue_t concurrentQueue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0);
// this will start the image loading in bg
dispatch_async(concurrentQueue, ^{
NSURL *urlToPicture = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", data.thumbnail]];
NSData *imgData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:urlToPicture options:0 error:nil];
// This will set the image when loading is finished
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
UIImage *tmpImage = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:imgData];
thumbnailImageView.image = tmpImage;
//dispatch_release(concurrentQueue);
});
});
return cell;
}
please help me
You can try adding following code to your cellForRowAtIndexPath -
1) Assign an index value to your custom cell. For instance,
cell.tag = indexPath.row
2) On main thread, before assigning the image, check if the image belongs the corresponding cell by matching it with the tag.
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
if(cell.tag == indexPath.row) {
UIImage *tmpImage = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:imgData];
thumbnailImageView.image = tmpImage;
}});
});
You are reusing old cells, which is a good thing. However, you are not initializing the image in the cell's image view, which is not such a good thing. What you're describing happens because an old cell, with an image that was already loaded for that cell, is used for the new cell. You are then loading that cell's image in the background (which, again, is good) but it takes a few moments for that image to fully load. In the meantime, the image that was already loaded on the old cell, is displayed (and that's the reason you're seeing a wrong image in that cell, for a few moments).
The solution? add either
thumbnailImageView.image = nil
or
thumbnailImageView.image = someDefaultImageWhileYourRealOneLoads
right before dispatch_queue_t concurrentQueue ....
That way, you won't see the old (irrelevant) image while the real one loads.
I hope this helps. Good luck.
As becauase your ImageView is being loaded in an async dispatch call which is NOT on the main thread and is being called in some other thread so there is a delay in fetching the data from the URL and then converting it to an UIImage. THis process takes a bit of time as you know but you are scrolling the tableview in a faster rate. And as you know cellForRowAtIndexPath reuses any cell that is out of the window so the cell that is being reused might NOT fetched the imagedata that it WAS TO RETRIEVE previously when it was in the Window. Thus it loads the wrong data and then again when async is fired for that specific cell the cell loads that image but there comes the delay.
To overcome this feature as Chronch pointed it out u can leave the imageview as nil OR you can use AFNetworking's own UIImageView catagory which has a superb class to load imageview images quite elegantly
I'll leave u a link to it AFNetworking
I would do all my data binding at - tableView:willDisplayCell:forRowAtIndexPath: only because at cellForRowAtIndexPath your cell hasn't been drawn yet.
Another solution you can use is AFNetworking like someone else mentioned before me.
Swift 3.0
DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {() -> Void in
if cell.tag == indexPath.row {
var tmpImage = UIImage(data: imgData)
thumbnailImageView.image = tmpImage
}
})
cell.thumbnailimages.image=nil
cell.thumbnailimages.setImageWith(imageurl!)
I think these two lines solve your problem.

Scrolling breaks in uitableview

I am having a problem viewing my tableview when i get the data of my cells from a server. If i do not use photos there is no breaks in the scrolling, but i want to use the images also. Can anyone knows how can i resolve this? I am getting the data from a plist in my server.
Here is the code of the image that makes the scrolling breaks (i am using custom style cell)
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier forIndexPath:indexPath];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
}
NSURL *URL = [[NSURL alloc] initWithString:[[self.content objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] valueForKey:#"imageName"]];
NSData *URLData = [[NSData alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:URL];
UIImage *img = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:URLData];
UIImageView *imgView = (UIImageView *)[cell viewWithTag:100];
imgView.image = img;
....
If you mean that the scrolling stops and starts, this might be because if the images are loaded from a server (which might take a noticeable amount of time to do), executing on the main thread causes freezing.
If this is the case, the fix is to fetch the images in another thread. Fortunately iOS has a fairly easy to use multithreading system called Grand Central Dispatch.
Here's some example code:
dispatch_queue_t q = dispatch_queue_create("FetchImage", NULL);
dispatch_async(q, ^{
/* Fetch the image from the server... */
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
/* This is the main thread again, where we set the tableView's image to
be what we just fetched. */
});
});

UITableView Custom cells, built of UIViews, can be concurrent?

I am building my cellViews like this:
- (UITableViewCell *)cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString* cellIdentifier=#"cell";
UITableViewCell* cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:cellIdentifier];
if(cell == nil)
{
cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:cellIdentifier] autorelease];
}
UIImageView cellView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:rectCellFrame];
NSError* error=nil;
NSData* imageData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:imageArray[indexPath.row] options:NSDataReadingUncached error:&error];
UIImage* theImage= [UIImage ImageWithData:imageData];
[cellView setImage:theImage];
[cell addSubView:cellView];
.
.
.
.
[cell addSubView:moreViews];
}
Since the loading time (even when the images are cached) is very slow, I need to make this concurrent. But I would like to still be using my code with UIViews/UIImageViews.
Is there a way for me to show a placeholder and when relevant, ie cellView is finished building from all subviews, update the image instead of the placeholder?
Sure. You can set up all the heavy slow code in a asynchronous task. It's often down when images need to be downloaded. I'm sure it's covered in at least 1 of the WWDC videos on Table Views, but I've no clue which one or how old it would be by now.
- (UITableViewCell *)cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
// place holder image for the moment
[cellView setImage:placeHolderImage];
// run code to get the real image in asynchronous task
dispatch_async(self.contextQueue, ^{
UIImage *realImage = [thingy imageFromTimeConsumingTask];
// update cell on main thread (you need to do all UI stuff on main thread)
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[cellView setImage:realImage];
});
});
}

GCD jumbles the data on scrolling tableview

I'm using grand central dispatcher to load images from server but when i scroll the table the data, i.e. images, jumbles - means 1st image comes to some other place and like wise other images do.
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"ItemImageCellIdentifier";
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil) {
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] ;
cell.selectionStyle=UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
}
NSDictionary *item=[responseDictionary objectAtIndex:[indexPath row]];
dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0ul);
NSString *actionForUser=[item objectForKey:#"action"];
objc_setAssociatedObject(cell,
kIndexPathAssociationKey,
indexPath,
OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN);
dispatch_async(queue, ^{
if([actionForUser isEqualToString:like])
{
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[item objectForKey:#"user_image"]];
NSData *data1 = [[NSData alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:url];
UIImage *image1 = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:data1];
//userProfileimage
UIButton *userImageButton = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10,5, 40,40)];
userImageButton.contentVerticalAlignment = UIControlContentVerticalAlignmentCenter;
userImageButton.contentHorizontalAlignment = UIControlContentHorizontalAlignmentCenter;
[userImageButton setBackgroundImage:image1 forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[userImageButton addTarget:self
action:#selector(userImageButtonclick:)
forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
[cell.contentView addSubview:userImageButton];
}
});
return cell;
}
This is because by the time your async method has finished, cell has been recycled and used for a different index path, so you're updating the wrong cell.
At the point of update, get the cell reference by using the tableview's (not the data source method) cellForRowAtIndexPath: method. This will return the correct cell, or nil if the cell isn't on the screen any more. You can update this cell safely.
You should probably be adding the image data to your model as well so you aren't downloading it repeatedly.
As an example, instead of this line:
[cell.contentView addSubview:userImageButton];
You should have something like this:
UITableViewCell *cellToUpdate = [tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
[cellToUpdate.contentView addSubview:userImageButton];
There are further problems with your code; you are not caching the images, you will be adding this subview every time this cell comes on screen, and if the cell is reused for a case where it doesn't need the button, the button will still be present. I have only addressed the "GCD jumbling" as described in your question.

Images getting mixed up when scrolling in a UITableView

Hi found the answer here: Images getting mixed up in a UITableView - XML parsing
I'm parsing an XML file with links to images which I'm putting into a UITable. For some reason the pictures are getting completely mixed up when I scroll down in the table. Here's the code I'm using for my UITable:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
static NSString *CellIdentifier = #"Cell";
Tweet *currentTweet = [[xmlParser tweets] objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
if (cell == nil)
{
cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleSubtitle reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
CGRect imageFrame = CGRectMake(2, 8, 40, 40);
customImage = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:imageFrame];
[cell.contentView addSubview:customImage];
}
NSString *picURL = [currentTweet pic];
if (![picURL hasPrefix:#"http:"]) {
picURL = [#"http:" stringByAppendingString:picURL];
}
customImage.image = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL: [NSURL URLWithString:picURL]]];
return cell;
}
Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Any help is seriously appreciated. Thx!
Its because you are dequeueing reusable cells. It is recycling a cell that had a previously used image in it.
I noticed that you are setting the image in the same if block that you are initializing the cell. If I were you I'd move [cell.contentView addSubview:customImage]; to right before your return statement. This way when it recycles a dequeued cell, it won't have an image in it.
Are the images being downloaded from the web?
If so then the delay in downloading the images will be causing this. You'll need to do it in a multi threaded way.
Take a look at this example...
Question about Apple's LazyTableImages sample - Doesn't behave exactly like the app store
There are also many tutorials online about lazy loading with images and UITableViews.

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