Loading an "overlay" when running long tasks in iOS

Question

What is example for loading overlay in Swift IOS application when do a long tasks. Example for loading data from remote server. I googled but not found any answer.

Updated:

Thanks for @Sebastian Dressler this is simple way. I updated my code and it run cool

public class LoadingOverlay{

var overlayView = UIView()
var activityIndicator = UIActivityIndicatorView()

class var shared: LoadingOverlay {
    struct Static {
        static let instance: LoadingOverlay = LoadingOverlay()
    }
    return Static.instance
}

    public func showOverlay(view: UIView) {

        overlayView.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 80, 80)
        overlayView.center = view.center
        overlayView.backgroundColor = UIColor(hex: 0x444444, alpha: 0.7)
        overlayView.clipsToBounds = true
        overlayView.layer.cornerRadius = 10

        activityIndicator.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 40, 40)
        activityIndicator.activityIndicatorViewStyle = .WhiteLarge
        activityIndicator.center = CGPointMake(overlayView.bounds.width / 2, overlayView.bounds.height / 2)

        overlayView.addSubview(activityIndicator)
        view.addSubview(overlayView)

        activityIndicator.startAnimating()
    }

    public func hideOverlayView() {
        activityIndicator.stopAnimating()
        overlayView.removeFromSuperview()
    }
}

let using:

LoadingOverlay.shared.showOverlay(self.view)
//To to long tasks
LoadingOverlay.shared.hideOverlayView()

Answer 1

The above answers add a loading view but it doesn't block click events on the screen also it does not provides overlay for rest of screen. You can achieve it as follows:

let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "Please wait...", preferredStyle: .Alert)

alert.view.tintColor = UIColor.blackColor()
let loadingIndicator: UIActivityIndicatorView = UIActivityIndicatorView(frame: CGRectMake(10, 5, 50, 50)) as UIActivityIndicatorView
loadingIndicator.hidesWhenStopped = true
loadingIndicator.activityIndicatorViewStyle = UIActivityIndicatorViewStyle.Gray
loadingIndicator.startAnimating();

alert.view.addSubview(loadingIndicator)
presentViewController(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)

Swift 3.0

let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "Please wait...", preferredStyle: .alert)

let loadingIndicator = UIActivityIndicatorView(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 5, width: 50, height: 50))
loadingIndicator.hidesWhenStopped = true
loadingIndicator.activityIndicatorViewStyle = UIActivityIndicatorViewStyle.gray
loadingIndicator.startAnimating();

alert.view.addSubview(loadingIndicator)
present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)

Swift 4.0 and newer

let alert = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "Please wait...", preferredStyle: .alert)

let loadingIndicator = UIActivityIndicatorView(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 5, width: 50, height: 50))
loadingIndicator.hidesWhenStopped = true
loadingIndicator.style = UIActivityIndicatorView.Style.gray
loadingIndicator.startAnimating();

alert.view.addSubview(loadingIndicator)
present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)

and you can hide it as follows:

dismiss(animated: false, completion: nil)

It will be shown as follows: