UILongPressGestureRecognizer gets called twice when pressing down

Question

I am detecting if the user has pressed down for 2 seconds:

UILongPressGestureRecognizer *longPress = [[UILongPressGestureRecognizer alloc]
                                             initWithTarget:self 
                                             action:@selector(handleLongPress:)];
        longPress.minimumPressDuration = 2.0;
        [self addGestureRecognizer:longPress];
        [longPress release];

This is how I handle the long press:

-(void)handleLongPress:(UILongPressGestureRecognizer*)recognizer{
    NSLog(@"double oo");
}

The text "double oo" gets printed twice when I press down for longer than 2 seconds. Why is this? How can I fix?

Answer 1

UILongPressGestureRecognizer is a continuous event recognizer. You have to look at the state to see if this is the start, middle or end of the event and act accordingly. i.e. you can throw away all events after the start, or only look at movement as you need. From the Class Reference:

Long-press gestures are continuous. The gesture begins (UIGestureRecognizerStateBegan) when the number of allowable fingers (numberOfTouchesRequired) have been pressed for the specified period (minimumPressDuration) and the touches do not move beyond the allowable range of movement (allowableMovement). The gesture recognizer transitions to the Change state whenever a finger moves, and it ends (UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded) when any of the fingers are lifted.

Now You Can Track The State Like This

-  (void)handleLongPress:(UILongPressGestureRecognizer*)sender { 
    if (sender.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded) {
      NSLog(@"UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded");
    //Do Whatever You want on End of Gesture
     }
    else if (sender.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateBegan){
       NSLog(@"UIGestureRecognizerStateBegan.");
   //Do Whatever You want on Began of Gesture
     }
  }