NSTimer timerWithTimeInterval: not working

Midhun MP picture Midhun MP · Jun 15, 2012 · Viewed 27.9k times · Source

I've created a test application with timer before implementing it in my project. It was the first time I'm using timer. But the issue is when I implemented timer using [NSTimer timerWithTimeInterval: target: selector: userInfo: repeats: ]; , it is not working. Here is my code, Interface:

@interface uialertViewController : UIViewController
{

    NSTimer *timer;
}

-(void)displayAlert;
-(void)hideandview;
@end

Implementation:

@implementation uialertViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad {

    [self displayAlert];
    [super viewDidLoad];
}


-(void)displayAlert{

    timer = [NSTimer timerWithTimeInterval:1 target:self selector:@selector(hideandview) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];

    alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"testing" message:@"hi hi hi" delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"continue" otherButtonTitles:nil];
    [alert show];




    [alert release];
    alert = nil;

}

-(void)hideandview{

    NSLog(@"triggered");

    [alert dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:0 animated:YES];

    [alert release];

    [self displayAlert];
}

@end

Then I Changed [NSTimer timerWithTimeInterval: target: selector: userInfo: repeats: ]; with [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval: target: selector:userInfo: repeats: ]; , It is working. What was the issue with timerWithTimeInterval: ? Am I mising anything in my first implementation ? Thanks in advance.

Answer

Joseph Humfrey picture Joseph Humfrey · Jul 1, 2012

scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:invocation:repeats: and scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:target:selector:userInfo:repeats: create timers that get automatically added to an NSRunLoop, meaning that you don't have to add them yourself. Having them added to an NSRunLoop is what causes them to fire.

With timerWithTimeInterval:invocation:repeats: and timerWithTimeInterval:target:selector:userInfo:repeats:, you have to add the timer to a run loop manually, with code like this:

[[NSRunLoop mainRunLoop] addTimer:repeatingTimer forMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode];

Other answers on here suggest that you need to call fire yourself. You don't - it will be called as soon as the timer has been put on a run loop.