I have some remote images I'm loading into an NSMutableArray but the array isn't populated by the time I need it - objective-c

Question

Well after troubles with swipe gesture and my own image gallery slider I decided to go with a premade one.
I'm using iCarousel and it works fine. I've tested using an array that is populated with non remote images.
Inside init with coder I done this:
- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder
{
self = [super initWithCoder:aDecoder];
if (self) {
_additionalGarmentImagesArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
UIImage *image1 = [UIImage imageNamed:#"asos.png"];
UIImage *image2 = [UIImage imageNamed:#"neck.png"];
UIImage *image3 = [UIImage imageNamed:#"diamind.png"];
[_additionalGarmentImagesArray addObject:image1];
[_additionalGarmentImagesArray addObject:image2];
[_additionalGarmentImagesArray addObject:image3];
}
return self;
}
This works fine. However it's not useful to me as my images are remote images. So I've taken the code I used with my own image gallery but the images don't get downloaded on time.
In my viewDidLoad:
PFQuery *query = [PFQuery queryWithClassName:#"Garments"];
[query whereKey:#"title" equalTo:[self garmentTitle]];
[query getFirstObjectInBackgroundWithBlock:^(PFObject *object, NSError *error) {
if (!error) {
PFFile *additionalImage1 = [object objectForKey:#"image2"];
PFFile *additionalImage2 = [object objectForKey:#"image3"];
PFFile *additionalImage3 = [object objectForKey:#"image4"];
PFFile *additionalImage4 = [object objectForKey:#"image5"];
PFFile *additionalImage5 = [object objectForKey:#"image6"];
// Add main image to array first, the one passed over from previous controller
[_additionalGarmentImagesArray addObject:[self garmentImage]];
if (additionalImage1) {
PFImageView *pfImageView1 = [[PFImageView alloc] init];
[pfImageView1 setFile:additionalImage1];
[pfImageView1 loadInBackground:^(UIImage *image, NSError *error) {
if (!error) {
[_additionalGarmentImagesArray addObject:image];
}
}];
}
if (additionalImage2) {
PFImageView *pfImageView2 = [[PFImageView alloc] init];
[pfImageView2 setFile:additionalImage2];
[pfImageView2 loadInBackground:^(UIImage *image, NSError *error) {
if (!error) {
[_additionalGarmentImagesArray addObject:image];
}
}];
}
if (additionalImage3) {
PFImageView *pfImageView3 = [[PFImageView alloc] init];
[pfImageView3 setFile:additionalImage3];
[pfImageView3 loadInBackground:^(UIImage *image, NSError *error) {
if (!error) {
[_additionalGarmentImagesArray addObject:image];
}
}];
}
} else {
NSLog(#"empty array");
}
}];
This is where the array of images is needed:
- (NSInteger)numberOfItemsInCarousel:(iCarousel *)carousel
{
return [_additionalGarmentImagesArray count];
}
- (UIView *)carousel:(iCarousel *)carousel viewForItemAtIndex:(NSInteger)index reusingView:(UIView *)view
{
PFImageView *imageView = [[PFImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 300.0f, 380)];
view = imageView;
//set image
((PFImageView *)view).image = _additionalGarmentImagesArray[index];
return view;
}
The viewDidAppear method shows array is populated:
-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
NSLog(#"Images Count: %i", [_additionalGarmentImagesArray count]);
}
Please help me solve this issue with solutions. My images are stored remotely and I need a way to have them ready by the time the controller is loaded so they can be used by iCarousel or maybe have iCarousel wait then refresh itself when the array is populated.
Maybe even some how do something in the previous controller which is a UICollectionView. I could tap the cell then get the images I need from the cells object and populate an array then. The only allow the push/segue to happen once the images are in the array. However I don't like that. It means a user would have to wait after they tap to go to the detail view controller where the iCarousel is.
Would appreciate some solutions if possible. It's been a few hours and I've made little progress.
Thanks for your time

Answer 1

Solution was to reloadData at a time where I did have the array. So the best place to do this was inside the viewDidAppear method.
- (UIView *)carousel:(iCarousel *)carousel viewForItemAtIndex:(NSInteger)index reusingView:(UIView *)view
{
PFImageView *imageView = [[PFImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 300.0f, 400)];
view = imageView;
//create new view if no view is available for recycling
if (view == nil)
{
//set image
((PFImageView *)view).image = _additionalGarmentImagesArray[index];
} else {
//set image
((PFImageView *)view).image = _additionalGarmentImagesArray[index];
}
return view;
}
Reload Data:
-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
NSLog(#"Images Count: %i", [_additionalGarmentImagesArray count]);
[[self carousel] reloadData];
}