Objective-c – Timer: how to remain timer active in Background

cocoa-touchiphoneobjective ctimerxcode

In my iPhone Timer Application,

In which a timer should run in background.

So,
I have set the notification in appdelegate it works perfectly…
With that I am calling the methods from view controller which makes timer alive.

Take a look some code…

App delegate

- (void)applicationDidEnterBackground:(UIApplication *)application
{
    /*
     Use this method to release shared resources, save user data, invalidate timers, and store enough application state information to restore your application to its current state in case it is terminated later. 
     If your application supports background execution, this method is called instead of applicationWillTerminate: when the user quits.
     */

    NSLog(@"Time Remaining %d",(self.viewController.totalSeconds-self.viewController.totalCount));
    [self.viewController selectandnotify:(self.viewController.totalSeconds-self.viewController.totalCount)];
    [self.viewController stopTimer];
    [self.viewController startTimerAction];

}

Here I am calling the method startTimerAction method which is in my view controller…take a look at this…

-(void)startTimerAction
{
 timer_main = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:(1.0) target:self    selector:@selector(ShowActicity) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}

Which is NSTimer

Here every time

–ShowActivity method will call after each second…Which is below in my view controller…

-(void)ShowActicity
{

    NSLog(@"Total Counts %d",totalCount);
    if (totalCount == totalSeconds) {
        if ([timer_main isValid]) {
            [timer_main invalidate];
            isTimeOver = YES;
            [self generateLog];
        }
    } else {
        totalCount++;

        seconds =seconds + 1;
        if(seconds > 59)
        {
            minutes = minutes + 1;
            seconds= 0;
        }

}

How to call each time This method from view controller…..

How can I call each time showActivity method from appdelegate…
- Should I use delegate for that
- Should I create showActivity and timer in my Appdelegate..
Actually I want this application to run when view switches in app…..

I think If I make delegate is a good option?

Any other way….please have some suggestions

Best Answer

Generally use this code for background running .In the Background timer doesn't work

- (void)applicationDidEnterBackground:(UIApplication *)application
{
    UIApplication*    app = [UIApplication sharedApplication];

    bgTask = [app beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler:^{
        [app endBackgroundTask:bgTask];
        bgTask = UIBackgroundTaskInvalid;
    }];

    // Start the long-running task and return immediately.
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{

        // Do the work associated with the task.
        [self startTimerAction];
        [app endBackgroundTask:bgTask];
        bgTask = UIBackgroundTaskInvalid;
    });
}

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#DOCUMENTATION/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/ManagingYourApplicationsFlow/ManagingYourApplicationsFlow.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007072-CH4-SW3

Compare method

Either you implement a compare-method for your object:

- (NSComparisonResult)compare:(Person *)otherObject {
    return [self.birthDate compare:otherObject.birthDate];
}

NSArray *sortedArray = [drinkDetails sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(compare:)];

NSSortDescriptor (better)

or usually even better:

NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor;
sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"birthDate"
                                           ascending:YES];
NSArray *sortedArray = [drinkDetails sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:@[sortDescriptor]];

You can easily sort by multiple keys by adding more than one to the array. Using custom comparator-methods is possible as well. Have a look at the documentation.

Blocks (shiny!)

There's also the possibility of sorting with a block since Mac OS X 10.6 and iOS 4:

NSArray *sortedArray;
sortedArray = [drinkDetails sortedArrayUsingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(Person *a, Person *b) {
    return [a.birthDate compare:b.birthDate];
}];

Performance

The -compare: and block-based methods will be quite a bit faster, in general, than using NSSortDescriptor as the latter relies on KVC. The primary advantage of the NSSortDescriptor method is that it provides a way to define your sort order using data, rather than code, which makes it easy to e.g. set things up so users can sort an NSTableView by clicking on the header row.

Ios – How to check for an active Internet connection on iOS or macOS

Important: This check should always be performed asynchronously. The majority of answers below are synchronous so be careful otherwise you'll freeze up your app.

Swift

Install via CocoaPods or Carthage: https://github.com/ashleymills/Reachability.swift

Test reachability via closures

let reachability = Reachability()!

reachability.whenReachable = { reachability in
    if reachability.connection == .wifi {
        print("Reachable via WiFi")
    } else {
        print("Reachable via Cellular")
    }
}

reachability.whenUnreachable = { _ in
    print("Not reachable")
}

do {
    try reachability.startNotifier()
} catch {
    print("Unable to start notifier")
}

Objective-C

Add SystemConfiguration framework to the project but don't worry about including it anywhere
Add Tony Million's version of Reachability.h and Reachability.m to the project (found here: https://github.com/tonymillion/Reachability)

Update the interface section

#import "Reachability.h"

// Add this to the interface in the .m file of your view controller
@interface MyViewController ()
{
    Reachability *internetReachableFoo;
}
@end

Then implement this method in the .m file of your view controller which you can call

// Checks if we have an internet connection or not
- (void)testInternetConnection
{
    internetReachableFoo = [Reachability reachabilityWithHostname:@"www.google.com"];

    // Internet is reachable
    internetReachableFoo.reachableBlock = ^(Reachability*reach)
    {
        // Update the UI on the main thread
        dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
            NSLog(@"Yayyy, we have the interwebs!");
        });
    };

    // Internet is not reachable
    internetReachableFoo.unreachableBlock = ^(Reachability*reach)
    {
        // Update the UI on the main thread
        dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
            NSLog(@"Someone broke the internet :(");
        });
    };

    [internetReachableFoo startNotifier];
}

Important Note: The Reachability class is one of the most used classes in projects so you might run into naming conflicts with other projects. If this happens, you'll have to rename one of the pairs of Reachability.h and Reachability.m files to something else to resolve the issue.

Note: The domain you use doesn't matter. It's just testing for a gateway to any domain.