SKAction not running when button is held - swift

Question

I am working/practicing with SpriteKit and making a directional pad for controls. It works to move the character, except for the SKAction. I have the actions in the Actions.sks file that based off what button is pressed determines the action that is called. When I press the button the character moves fine, but when I hold it the character glides and the walking animation is stuck on the first frame until I release. What I am trying to do is have the character move if the button is pressed, and continue moving(with walking animation) when the button is held. I am trying to make it look like the gameboy era games.
class GameScene: SKScene {
var player = SKSpriteNode()
var playerSpeed: CGFloat = 0
var previousTimeInterval:TimeInterval = 0
let buttonNorth = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "Directional_Button")
let buttonSouth = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "Directional_Button")
let buttonEast = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "Directional_Button2")
let buttonWest = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "Directional_Button2")
var moveAtEndOfRelease:Bool = true
var isPressing = false
var currentState = MoveStates.n
override func didMove(to view: SKView) {
self.anchorPoint = CGPoint(x: 0.5, y: 0.5)
// Make sure you can get teh player from the scene file
if let somePlayer = self.childNode(withName: "player") as? SKSpriteNode {
player = somePlayer
// Set physics
player.physicsBody?.isDynamic = false
} else {
print("No player")
}
let widthHalf:CGFloat = self.view!.bounds.width / 2
let heightHalf:CGFloat = self.view!.bounds.height / 2
self.addChild(buttonNorth)
buttonNorth.position = CGPoint(x: -widthHalf + 80, y: -heightHalf + 100)
self.addChild(buttonSouth)
buttonSouth.position = CGPoint(x: -widthHalf + 80, y: -heightHalf + 40)
buttonSouth.yScale = -1
self.addChild(buttonWest)
buttonWest.position = CGPoint( x: -widthHalf + 30, y: -heightHalf + 70)
self.addChild(buttonEast)
buttonEast.position = CGPoint( x: -widthHalf + 130, y: -heightHalf + 70)
buttonNorth.xScale = 0.4
buttonNorth.yScale = 0.4
buttonSouth.xScale = 0.4
buttonSouth.yScale = 0.4
buttonSouth.zRotation = CGFloat(Double.pi)
buttonEast.xScale = 0.4
buttonEast.yScale = 0.4
buttonEast.zRotation = CGFloat(Double.pi)
buttonWest.xScale = 0.4
buttonWest.yScale = 0.4
}
override func update(_ currentTime: TimeInterval) {
//player.position = CGPoint(x: player.position.x + playerSpeedx, y: player.position.y + playerSpeedy)
if (isPressing) {
moveOnRelease()
}
}
func move(facing: Facing, x: CGFloat, y: CGFloat) {
let walkAnimation = SKAction(named: "walk\(facing)")!
let moveAction = SKAction.moveBy(x: x, y: y, duration: 1)
let group = SKAction.group([walkAnimation, moveAction])
// Run the actions
player.run(group)
}
func moveSide(facing: Facing, x: CGFloat) {
let walkAnimation = SKAction(named: "walk\(facing)")!
let moveAction = SKAction.moveBy(x: x, y: 0, duration: 1)
let group = SKAction.group([walkAnimation, moveAction])
// Run the actions
player.run(group)
}
func moveUpDown(facing: Facing, y: CGFloat) {
let walkAnimation = SKAction(named: "walk\(facing)")!
let moveAction = SKAction.moveBy(x: 0, y: y, duration: 1)
let group = SKAction.group([walkAnimation, moveAction])
// Run the actions
player.run(group)
}
func moveOnRelease() {
switch (currentState) {
case .n:
moveUpDown(facing: .Back, y: 1)
case .s:
moveUpDown(facing: .Front, y: -1)
case .e:
moveSide(facing: .Right, x: 1)
case .w:
moveSide(facing: .Left, x: -1)
}
}
override func touchesBegan(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
for touch in (touches ) {
let location = touch.location(in: self)
if (buttonNorth.frame.contains(location)) {
currentState = MoveStates.n
buttonNorth.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button_Lit")
isPressing = true
} else if (buttonSouth.frame.contains(location)) {
currentState = MoveStates.s
buttonSouth.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button_Lit")
isPressing = true
} else if (buttonEast.frame.contains(location)) {
currentState = MoveStates.e
buttonEast.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button2_Lit")
isPressing = true
} else if (buttonWest.frame.contains(location)) {
currentState = MoveStates.w
buttonWest.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button2_Lit")
isPressing = true
}
}
}
override func touchesEnded(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
if (moveAtEndOfRelease == true) {
buttonNorth.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button")
buttonSouth.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button")
buttonEast.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button2")
buttonWest.texture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "Directional_Button2")
//moveOnRelease()
isPressing = false
}
}
}

Answer 1

The reason it is stuck on the first frame is because the action is being called on every update i believe. You could check to see if the animation is already running, if so do not run it again.
To do this, for each run action give it a name.
So player.run(group) could be
player.run(group, withKey: "moveside"). Then, you can check to see if the action is already running or not like this if (player.action(forKey: "moveside") == nil). Finally, add in code to remove all other actions (like current movement or animations).
Putting it altogether:
if (player.action(forKey: "moveside") == nil) {
player.removeAllActions()
player.run(group, withKey: "moveside")
}