How to pass parameters using #selector - objective-c

I need to pass parameters with #selector and here is the method that i need to call using selector:
-(void)clickedInfo:(NSString *)itemIndex{
// some work with itemIndex
}
I know that what i can do is to use an intermediate method as described here.
This approach doesn't work in my case because im adding the target to the uibutton in the cellForItemAtIndexPath method for the collectionView.
The parameter that i need to pass to the clickedInfo method is indexPath.row
and i can not obtain this parameter in an intermediate method.
Thanx in advance

So you want to store some information that can be accessed by the action of a button. Some options are:
Use the tag property of the control. (can only store an integer)
Subclass UIButton and use that class for the button. The class can have a field that stores the information.
Use associated objects (associative references) to attach an object to the button. This is the most general solution.

You can use the performSelector:withObject: selector to pass an object.
Example:
[self performSelector:#selector(clickedInfo:) withObject:myIndex];
- (void) clickedInfo:(NSString *)itemIndex{
// some work with itemIndex
}
Edit: Should be just #selector(clickedInfo:) rather than what I had before.
Edit: Using #newacct 's suggestion, I'd recommend doing something similar to the following:
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath)indexPath
{
button.tag = indexPath.row;
[button performSelector:#selector(clickedInfo:)];
// or
[button addTarget:self action:#selector(clickedInfo:) forControlEvents:UITouchUpInside];
}
- (void) clickedInfo:(id)sender
{
int row = sender.tag;
// Do stuff with the button and data
}

this is addressed lots of places, but it is easier to answer than to point you there:
[someObject performSelector:#selector(clickedInfo:) withObject:someOtherObject];
where someObject is the receiver and someOtherObject is the parameter passed to clickedInfo

Related

Can I use a normal function, not a method selector, as an event handler in Objective C?

I'm really bad at objective C, and I need to write this one button click handler. Currently I have this:
NSButton *button = ...
[button setAction:buttonPressed];
// This also doesn't work
[button setAction:#selector(buttonPressed)];
void buttonPressed() { NSLog(#"Button pressed!"); }
As I understand, setAction() requires a selector which is kind of like a method pointer. I don't have any classes here, so no methods. Is there a way to use a simple function for the button click event?
Thanks
No, you cannot just pass some (reference to a) plain C function to something that expects an Objective-C method selector. Of course, you can wrap your method up in some class and call your native method from there.
A simplified explanation is that the method will be called "on some object"; that's just how the framework works here.

How does (id)sender work in cocos2d?

The following code works good for me:
In the init method of a menu layer:
CCMenuItemFont *item1 = [CCMenuItemFont itemWithString:#"Level 1" target: self selector: #selector(startLevel:)];
item1.userData = (__bridge void*) ([NSNumber numberWithInt:1]);
...//create menu and add in the item1
-(void)startLevel: (CCMenuItem *)sender
{
NSNumber *number = sender.userData;
...
}
My questions are:
I didn't pass item1 when call the method startLevel: how does it know that the sender is item1?
is it written into selector? or is it written in cocoa?
CCMenuItem passes itself as parameter to this selector. Details are in CCMenuItem source code.
Regarding omitting passing itself as a parameter, do you mean like...
- (void) pushedStart : (id) sender
{
//start game
}
but you can't do
[self pushedStart];
because it needs a parameter? If so, what you can do this:
id junkID;
[self pushedStart: junkID];
JunkID will initialize to whatever the hell it is an unassigned ID assigns to, so you pass it as a reference and just don't use it for anything, which is good if you want to have a "start game" button but have the game automatically start inside of a timer or whatever else you're doing with your buttons
As a side note, and getting more into the guts of cocoa, the way it KNOWS (and what YOU must not forget) is that colon. When you call a function you put the variable after a colon [self eat: food];
When you put together the menu item you set it up with target:self, which makes the button use itself (not the layer "self" you use when you call [self eatABanana]) as a target. The button push of
menuButton = target:self selector:#selector(pushButton:)
is represented like
[self pushButton:menuButton]
If you forgot that colon, it's the same as calling a function and not passing the variable, which doesn't give a very helpful error message insofar as it doesn't help you locate where the problem is occurring. I've spent hours upon hours chasing down memory crashes resulting from writing #selector(startGame) instead of #selector(startGame:) in those damn menu buttons. I always feel stupid when I finally figure it out.

Call a method every time a parameter is set on Objective-C (Cocoa)

I currently have a class with 15 properties (and growing), and I'm finding myself having to call an update method every time one of those properties change.
Currently, I'm overriding every setter with a code like this:
-(void)setParameterName:(NSUInteger)newValue {
if (_param == newValue)
return;
_param = newValue;
[self redraw];
}
The method [self redraw]; being the key here.
Is there a better way to do it? Should I be using keyValue observers (the method observeValue:forKeyPath:ofObject:change:context:)?
Notes:
All properties (so far) are assign (mostly enum, NSUInteger, CGFloat and BOOL);
All those properties are set using bindings (method bind:toObject:withKeyPath:options:). Except when loading from the filesystem (which is not important, as I already call the drawing methods on every object after the loading is done);
The value changes are only for the current object. I do not need to be told when changes occur on other objects;
I have other properties that I don't need to watch the changes on it (because it will have no effect on my output and drawing the output is kinda time-consuming).
Thanks!
Since these properties are updated using bindings, which invoke -setValue:forKey:, you can override that method instead of writing custom setters:
+ (NSArray *) keysAffectingDrawing {
static NSArray *singleton;
if (!singleton)
singleton = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
#"property1",
#"property2",
#"property3",
nil];
return singleton;
}
- (void) setValue:(id) value forKey:(NSString *) key {
[super setValue:value forKey:key];
if ([[CustomClass keysAffectingDrawing] containsObject:key]) [self redraw];
}
(I was first inclined recommend key-value observing but agree it's not the best solution here. I think the reason is in part that there's only one object, and in part because the design doesn't follow MVC. Usually in MVC an object that draws itself isn't the one with all the properties.)
(Added: Ahh, I see. The model is responsible for rendering the properties to a bitmap, and that's what -redraw does. That's fine MVC. To make it clearer, I recommend changing the name of the method from -redraw to something like -updateImage or -renderImage, since it doesn't actually do any drawing.)
You could use the Key-Value Observing to avoid repeating in all properties setter the method call, however i think that calling the method directly in the setter is not the wrong way to do it, and could even be faster ...

How to addTarget with more properties?

one simple question cause I couldn't find quickly any special answer for my issue.
I have such a method:
- (void)changeValueForEasy:(UISlider *)slider offset:(int)offset {}
And I'm trying to call it with event, but I don't know how to add an additional object like "offset" to this:
[blueSlider addTarget:self action:#selector(changeValueForEasy:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
Maybe something like this
[blueSlider addTarget:self action:#selector(sliderDragged:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
then
- (void)sliderDragged:(UISlider *)slider;
{
[self changeValueForEasy:slider offset:slider.value];
}
The method name suggests that it sets the slider's value, the fact that you want to call this method suggests that you do some extra processing when the value is changed. I would recommend abstracting the additional processing out into another method or the slider's value will be being set twice.

How to pass in a a parameter on a button click in Objective C?

So I am trying pass in parameters to my "buttonClicked" function so that I can dynamically control what happens when you click the button. Every way that I try to do it on my own just breaks my code. I have searched many different sites and answers on stackOverflow, but I can't seem to find an answer. I am fairly new to objective C, especially with functions, So I could really use some help figuring out how to do this. Thanks in advance
Here is my code thus far and what I am trying to do:
UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
NSLog(#"Hi 1!");
[button addTarget:self action:#selector(buttonClicked:buttonType:buttonID:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
button.frame = CGRectMake(buttonViewXvalue, buttonViewYvalue, buttonViewWidth, buttonViewLength);
[self.view addSubview:button];
Then the Declaration in the Header File:
- (IBAction)buttonClicked:(id)sender theButtonType: (int)buttonType: theButtonID: (int) buttonID;
and the implementation:
- (IBAction)buttonClicked:(id)sender theButtonType: (int)buttonType: theButtonID: (int) buttonID
{
//Here I would use the buttonType and buttonID to create a new view.
NSLog(#"Hi!");
}
You can't use multi-parameter methods with addTarget:action:forControlEvents:. Instead you might set the button's tag, then look up information later based on the tag.
The action you add to UIButton (or any UIControl for that matter) must have a signature like (void)actionName or (void)actionName:(id)sender; as defined by target-action design pattern.
That gives you two simple solutions. One is that each of your buttons calls different (void)actionName-like method, which then calls a more complex method on self and passes the required parameters. Other way is to give each of your buttons a tag property and have them call (void)actionName:(id)sender-like method (they can all call the same one) and then you call the right method with right parameters depending on this tag:
- (void)actionName:(UIButton)sender;
{
if (sender.tag == 1) {
[self firstMethodWithString:someString andNumber:someNumber];
} else if (sender.tag == 2) {
[self secondMethodWithArray:someArray dictionary:someDictionary andColor:someColor];
} // and so on
}
Notice how I changed sender from id to UIButton here. This enables you to call tag without casting and not get a compiler warning, because compiler know you only expect UIButton instances to call this method.
If you really wanted to you could create a separate callback for each button, like:
// In your Whatever.h file
- (IBOutlet)actionButton1:(UIButton *)sender;
- (IBOutlet)actionButton2:(UIButton *)sender;
// In your Whatever.m file
- (IBOutlet)actionButton1:(UIButton *)sender
{
// do button 1 specific stuff
}
- (IBOutlet)actionButton2:(UIButton *)sender
{
// do button 2 specific stuff
}
// etc you get the idea
Then from Interface Builder look at your Whatever.xib file. You can link the "Sent Event" (drag from right side column) of "Touch Up Inside" to any of those actions above which will pop up in "File's Owner" (left column, when you release drag). You can do a different one for each button.
I should mention that generally if these are variants of the same functionality it makes more sense to use the tag property of UIButton.
I have solved this problem with an array of objects: all the parameters are stored in one object, then the object is inserted in the array, finally, the index of the object in the array is passed in the TAG property of the button. This technique works for one or many buttons. I did it for an app that had a list of contacts, where you were able to accept or reject them with buttons, and this buttons were calling the same action method, thanks to the TAG it was possible to know what parameters send to database. Steps:
1- Create a new class : New File, Objective-C class, name it, subclass of NSOBJECT, save it.
2- In the header of this new class declare one property for each parameter.
3- Now go to the IMPLEMENTATION file of the class of the viewcontroller where your button belongs to.
4- Import your new class :
#import "new_class.h"
5- Declare the array in the INTERFACE section :
#interface my_viewcontroller ()
{ NSMutableArray * my_array; }
6- In the VIEWDIDLOAD method create the array as empty :
my_array = [ [ NSMutableArray alloc ] initWithObjects : nil ];
7- In the method where you get the data for the parameters, declare an object of the new class, instantiate it and fill the properties :
new_class * nc;
nc = [ [ new_class alloc ] init ];
nc.param1 = #"abc";
nc.param2 = 123;
nc.param3 = true;
8- Now insert it in the array :
[ my_array addObject : nc ];
9- Store the value 0 in the TAG of the button. You will use this value as index to access the parameters in the my_array[ 0 ] position.
If there are more buttons, for example, from a web service that returns JSON data, just loop through the data creating more instances of the new class and inserting them in the array. Later, for example, in a tableview with dynamic cells and a template cell with buttons, in the method CELLFORROWATINDEXPATH, you will be able to store the INDEXPATH value in the TAG of every button, so these buttons will access their own parameters.