How does this NSTimer Pause / Resume work? - objective-c

I'm using the following code I found to pause and unpause an NSTimer. I hate not knowing how code works, so I'm hoping someone can give me a brief explanation of what's happening here. What's the significance of the two NSDate objects used in the pause method? What's the significance of the -1 in the resume method? Thanks in advance!
- (void) pause
{
pauseStart = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow: 0];
previousFireDate = [self fireDate];
[self setFireDate: [NSDate distantFuture]];
}
- (void) resume
{
//
float pauseTime = -1 * [pauseStart timeIntervalSinceNow];
[self setFireDate: [previousFireDate initWithTimeInterval: pauseTime sinceDate: previousFireDate]];
}

Let's assume that your timer would fire today at 11:00.
(For simplicity, I use only HH:MM for dates in the comments.)
At 09:00 the pause action is executed:
// pauseStart = current date/time ("now") = 09:00:
pauseStart = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow: 0];
// previousFireDate = 11:00:
previousFireDate = [self fireDate];
// set new fireDate to something far far away to prevent timer from firing:
[self setFireDate: [NSDate distantFuture]];
At 09:10 the resume action is executed:
// pauseTime = difference between "pause" and "resume" (now) = 10 minutes:
float pauseTime = -1 * [pauseStart timeIntervalSinceNow];
// set new fireDate = previous fireDate + pauseTime = 11:10:
[self setFireDate: [previousFireDate initWithTimeInterval: pauseTime sinceDate: previousFireDate]];
The factor (-1) is required because pauseStart is earlier than "now".
So pause "pauses" the timer by setting the fire date to a distant date in the future (Jan 1st, 4001).
resume restores the fire date to the old fire date plus the time interval that elapsed
between "pause" and "resume".
Remark: As #JeremyP noticed in his comment,
[self setFireDate: [previousFireDate initWithTimeInterval: pauseTime sinceDate: previousFireDate]];
is not correct, because it sends an init message to the already initialized object previousFireDate. Correct (and even shorter) is:
[self setFireDate:[previousFireDate dateByAddingTimeInterval:pauseTime]];

Related

How to display the time whenever value of the current minute changes (with Cocoa)?

Ok this one really has me stumped. The challenge seems simple but has a few restrictions that are really throwing me off.
Gist of the program:
(1) When the minute changes the application should output the current time with the format HH:mm:ss.
(2) When the second changes the application should output a character for every second and a different character for every tenth second (i.e. ".........|.........|"). Here it is important to note that I cannot just count seconds; rather, the program must know the value of the second of the current time and output the corresponding character only if it is divisible by 10.
Restrictions:
(1) The program can have 2 classes -- one for the minute display and one for the second display.
(2) Each class can contain only one void method that takes a timer as a parameter.
(3) The main function will create an object of each class and 2 NSTimers. The first timer must have its interval set at 0.5 and must target the minutes object. The second timer must have its interval set at 0.1 and must target the seconds object.
I would love to just set the first time to fire every minute and the second timer to fire ever second, but I am not allowed to tamper with that. This is as far as I got before I was stumped:
main.m:
MinuteDisplay *minutes = [[MinuteDisplay alloc] init];
__unused NSTimer *minutesTimer =
[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.5
target:minutes
selector:#selector(minuteChange:)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];
[[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] run];
MinuteDisplay.m:
- (void)minuteChange:(NSTimer *)timer
{
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"HH:mm:ss"];
NSDateFormatter *testFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[testFormatter setDateFormat:#"ss"];
NSDate *now = [NSDate date];
NSString *nowString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:now];
NSString *testString = [testFormatter stringFromDate:now];
if ([testString isEqual:#"00"]) {
NSLog(#"%#", nowString];
}
}
Example output:
01:09:00
//.5 second interval
01:09:00
I haven't even bothered with the second half of this challenge yet because I got stumped here. This technically works, but I know I'm doing it wrong, since the output isn't dependent upon the program knowing the value of the minute has changed. Also, because the timer is set to fire every .5 seconds, I get two lines of output every minute instead of just one (which does not satisfy the specs).
Can anyone suggest where to go from here? This one really has my mind boggled.
If you can not modify the timer interval, the other alternative is to use an instance variable in your MinuteDisplay class, for example, displayString. And modify the minuteChange method as follows:
- (void)minuteChange:(NSTimer *)timer
{
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"HH:mm:ss"];
NSDateFormatter *testFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[testFormatter setDateFormat:#"ss"];
NSDate *now = [NSDate date];
NSString *nowString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:now];
NSString *testString = [testFormatter stringFromDate:now];
if ([testString isEqual:#"00"]) {
if(![nowString isEqualToString:dispString]) {
dispString = nowString;
NSLog(#"*************** %#", dispString);
}
}
}
This will make sure that it is logged only once a minute
Working minuteChange method:
- (void)minuteChange:(NSTimer *)timer
{
NSDate *now = [NSDate date];
if (!self.lastTime) {
self.lastTime = [NSDate date];
}
if (now > self.lastTime) {
if ([[self.seconds stringFromDate:now] isEqualToString:#"00"]) {
printf("\n%s", [[self.output stringFromDate:now] UTF8String]);
self.lastTime = now;
}
}
self.output = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[self.output setDateFormat:#"HH:mm:ss"];
self.seconds = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[self.seconds setDateFormat:#"ss"];
}
Working secondChange method:
- (void)secondChange:(NSTimer *)timer
{
long secondsSince1970 = time(NULL);
if (!self.lastSecond) {
self.lastSecond = secondsSince1970;
}
if (secondsSince1970 > self.lastSecond) {
if (secondsSince1970 % 10 == 0) {
printf("|");
self.lastSecond = secondsSince1970;
} else {
printf(".");
self.lastSecond = secondsSince1970;
}
}
}
Changes to minuteChange:
The most important change was the addition of the lastTime ivar to the class. Now it's simple...if lastTime is null, assign it the value of the current date. If current time is greater than last time, test if it's a new minute and then output the time if it is. ONLY update lastTime if a new minute was output (this ensures that the time is only displayed once per minute).
secondChange:
Took a different approach with this one and now I'm wishing I had gone with straight C the first time around. This one is so simple! Check if the current second is greater than the last second. If so, check if it's divisible by 10. If so, print "|". If not, print ".". Super easy and actually more accurate than setting the timer to fire every second. Sheesh.

How to Check Playback Time of Audioplayer increases by 2 seconds

I m trying to write a loop to check that whenever audio player.currenttime increases by 2 seconds then it should execute update view method
- (void)myTimerMethod{
NSLog(#"myTimerMethod is Called");
myTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1.0
target:self
selector:#selector(checkPlaybackTime:)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];
}
- (void)checkPlaybackTime:(NSTimer *)theTimer
{
float seconds = audioplayer.currenttime;
NSLog(#"Cur: %f",audioPlayer.currentTime );
if (seconds = seconds + 2){
[self update view];
}
- (void)UpdateView{
if (index < [textArray count])
{
self.textView.text = [self.textArray objectAtIndex:index];
self.imageView.image = [self.imagesArray objectAtIndex:index];
index++;
}else{
index = 0;
}
}
what is the correct way to write if audio player.currenttimer increases by 2 seconds then do this.
NSLog for current time always shows 0.00. Why is that. It should increase as the audioplayer is playing.
Thanks for help.
What i understood from your given explanation that you want to increment the time-interval something like this
Timer calls after 0.55
Timer calls after 0.60
Timer calls after 0.65
Timer calls after 0.70
& so on.
If that is what you are looking to do. Then i think you can do this way that by changing repeats:YES to repeats:NO so that the timer doesn't repeat, and then in onTimer, just start a new timer with a longer interval.
You need a variable to hold your interval so that you can make it a bit longer each time through onTimer.
Also, you probably don't need to retain the timer anymore, as it will only fire once, and when it does, you'll get a new timer.
float gap = 0.50;
[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:gap target:self selector:#selector(onTimer) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];
-(void) onTimer {
gap = gap + .05;
[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:gap target:self selector:#selector(onTimer) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];
}
Hope this helps you
First, try using your float "seconds" in your NSLog rather than the current time.
NSLog(#"Cur: %f", seconds);
current time is not a float, it's an NSTimer object so you would have to use %# in your NSLog text so
NSLog(#"Cur: %#",audioPlayer.currentTime );
Should work as well.
Assuming your audioPlayer is set up correctly, if you're looking for when the timer is at 2 seconds, your if statement will be
if(seconds == 2){
[self update view];
}
if you're looking for each time the timer hits an even number, i.e. 2, 4, 6, etc. your if statement will be
if(seconds % 2 == 0){
[self update view];
}
The % in an if statement is the modulo sign: http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/modulus.html
Also, your current if statement is assigning rather than checking the seconds variable. To check it, you need == not =. However, your current if statement will never be true since you're checking a variable by itself + 2. To put this another way, if seconds equals 2, your if statement is asking if 2 == (2+2) or if it it is 4, it's asking if 2 == (4+2). This statement cannot validate as true.
Hope this helps!

NSTimer time increment

I'm a beginner in obj-C for iOS platform and am trying to build a few simple project to build my foundation.
I have a button which increase the NSTimer time for the label, but when I use NSLog to log the time, it uses the value before time increment was implemented. I need to be able to log a updated time (after increment), as I require that value and am implementing more function into the IBAction after I solve this portion.
E.g at 15min I press, the NSLog will read it as "00:15:00.0" rather than "00:35:00.0".
- (IBAction)onSkipPressed:(id)sender {
startDate = [startDate dateByAddingTimeInterval:-1200];
NSLog(#"%#",self.timeLabel.text);
}
Any one know the reason for this issue? And how should I solve it such that NSLog will read it as "00:35:00.0" if I invoke this IBAction at 15min.
EDIT - The start button will start the timer and timeLabel will get the string. Sorry for missing out such a important detail. I don't think there are any other code in the project which is related to this functionality already. Thank you for pointing it out to me.
- (void)updateTimer
{
NSDate *currentDate = [NSDate date];
NSTimeInterval timeInterval = [currentDate timeIntervalSinceDate:startDate];
NSDate *timerDate = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSince1970:timeInterval];
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"HH:mm:ss.S"];
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneForSecondsFromGMT:0.0]];
NSString *timeString=[dateFormatter stringFromDate:timerDate];
timeLabel.text = timeString;
}
my IBAction to fire the timer
- (IBAction)onStartPressed:(id)sender {
startDate = [NSDate date];
gameTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1.0/10.0
target:self
selector:#selector(updateTimer)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];
//hide start button and show timeLabel
startButton.hidden=true;
timeLabel.hidden=false;
}
I went back to do a few revision with tutorials involving NSTimer. And turns out all I was missing was 1 line [self updateTimer]
- (IBAction)onSkipPressed:(id)sender {
startDate = [startDate dateByAddingTimeInterval:-1200];
[self updateTimer];
NSLog(#"%#",self.timeLabel.text);
}
This solve my issue and the timeLabel.text is updated for me to log the information.
Um, why are you passing in negative 1200?
// this subtracts 1200 seconds from your date, no?
startDate = [startDate dateByAddingTimeInterval:-1200];
Shouldn't you do:
// add 30 minutes (60 seconds a minute x 30 minutes) to your time interval
startDate = [startDate dateByAddingTimeInterval:(60 * 30)];
...
NSLog(#"%#",self.timeLabel.text);
Or am I misunderstanding something?

objective c loop blocking user input while video recording with AvFoundation?

Hello every time i try to record the date with CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent(); my app ignores the rest of the buttons, it's as if it takes over all memory and blocks all user input. I was wondering what i am doing wrong? I thought of making a function showtime() but i dont know how to pass values between functions from toggleRecording to showtime so that my method would work if this would even solve the problem. Below is my code:
- (IBAction)toggleRecording:(id)sender
{
// Start recording if there isn't a recording running. Stop recording if there is.
[[self recordButton] setEnabled:NO];
if (![[[self captureManager] recorder] isRecording]){
[[self captureManager] startRecording];
/* figure out a day to record for every half a second
while([[[self captureManager]recorder] isRecording]){
CFTimeInterval startTime = CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent();
NSLog(#" time is %i", startTime);
}
*/
}
else
[[self captureManager] stopRecording];
}
-(void)showtime:(id)sender{
while([[[self captureManager]recorder] isRecording]){
CFTimeInterval startTime = CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent();
NSLog(#" time is %f", startTime);
}
}
An application has to run the event loop to receive the events. While your own code is doing something else (here it's doing a "while" loop), events are queued and not delivered until your code returns.
Schematically, an application is doing something like:
while(1) {
event = _UIReceiveNextQueuedEvent();
_UIProcessEvent(event); // <- this calls -showTime:
}
If you want to record time while not blocking the loop, you will have to schedule an NSTimer every 0.5s and invalidate it as soon as recording is turned off.
Something like:
- (void)showTime:(id)sender
{
if ([[[self captureManager]recorder] isRecording]) {
[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.5f target:self selector:#selector(timerFired:) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}
}
- (void)timerFired:(NSTimer *)timer
{
if ([[[self captureManager]recorder] isRecording]) {
CFTimeInterval startTime = CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent();
NSLog(#" time is %f", startTime);
} else {
[timer invalidate];
}
}

Frames per second timecode display with NSTimer

I am working on an iPhone/iPad app that needs to display a running timecode clock. I have gotten it to display the correct hours, minutes, and seconds with no problem using this code:
- (void) viewDidLoad {
// Start the Timer method for here to start it when the view loads.
runTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval: .01 target: self selector: #selector(updateDisplay) userInfo: nil repeats: YES];
}
- (void)updateDisplay {
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
NSDate *date = [NSDate date];
// Display each hour, minute, second and frame.
[formatter setDateFormat:#"hh"];
[timecodeHourLabel setText:[formatter stringFromDate:date]];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"mm"];
[timecodeMinuteLabel setText:[formatter stringFromDate:date]];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"ss"];
[timecodeSecondLabel setText:[formatter stringFromDate:date]];
}
The issue is when I need to display frames per second. I know that calculating 1/24 * 1000 gives me how many milliseconds are in one frame. I just don't know how to make the NSDate and NSTimer functions work with this code and allow it to update a UILabel as quickly as needed for running timecode.
Any suggestions?
If your timer is running with the period of 0.01 sec, then it's frequency is 100 frames/sec (well, it's better to say it has 100 function calls per second). But if you need to display the precise time period (cause sometimes the timer may be delayed), then you need to store the previous call date and then use
NSDate* new_date = [NSDate date];
double freq = 1.0 / [new_date timeIntervalSinceDate: old_date];
[old_date release];
old_date = [new_date retain];
Here's a Processing/Java equivalent that's fairly straightforward to repurpose.
String timecodeString(int fps) {
float ms = millis();
return String.format("%02d:%02d:%02d+%02d", floor(ms/1000/60/60), // H
floor((ms/1000/60)%60), // M (edit: added %60)
floor(ms/1000%60), // S
floor(ms/1000*fps%fps)); // F
}