My function isn't being executed when I switch apps:
public class ItemObserver: NSObject {
#objc public func recievedNotification(notification: NSNotification) {
print(notification.name)
print("s")
}
}
let observer = ItemObserver()
NSWorkspace.shared().notificationCenter.addObserver(observer, selector: #selector(ItemObserver.recievedNotification(notification:)), name: .NSWorkspaceDidActivateApplication, object: nil)
NSNotificationCenter doesn't retain the observer: it uses a zeroing weak reference, where possible. If you log its init and deinit, you'll see that it's being released right away.
Keep a strong reference to the observer.
So it turns out that NSNotifications don't run concurrently. I had a while loop further down.
Related
I am building an iOS app using the new language Swift. Now it is an HTML5 app, that displays HTML content using the UIWebView. The app has local notifications, and what i want to do is trigger a specific javascript method in the UIWebView when the app enters foreground by clicking (touching) the local notification.
I have had a look at this question, but it does not seem to solve my problem. I have also come across this question which tells me about using UIApplicationState, which is good as that would help me know the the app enters foreground from a notification. But when the app resumes and how do i invoke a method in the viewController of the view that gets displayed when the app resumes?
What i would like to do is get an instance of my ViewController and set a property in it to true. Something as follows
class FirstViewController: UIViewController,UIWebViewDelegate {
var execute:Bool = false;
#IBOutlet var tasksView: UIWebView!
}
And in my AppDelegate i have the method
func applicationWillEnterForeground(application: UIApplication!) {
let viewController = self.window!.rootViewController;
let mainStoryboard: UIStoryboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
var setViewController = mainStoryboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("FirstView") as FirstViewController
setViewController.execute = true;
}
so what i would like to do is when the app enters foreground again, i want to look at the execute variable and run the method as follows,
if execute{
tasksView.stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString("document.getElementById('sample').click()");
}
Where should i put the code for the logic to trigger the javascript from the webview? would it be on viewDidLoad method, or one of the webView delegate methods? i have tried to put that code in the viewDidLoad method but the value of the boolean execute is set to its initial value and not the value set in the delegate when the app enters foreground.
If I want a view controller to be notified when the app is brought back to the foreground, I might just register for the UIApplication.willEnterForegroundNotification notification (bypassing the app delegate method entirely):
class ViewController: UIViewController {
private var observer: NSObjectProtocol?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
observer = NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: UIApplication.willEnterForegroundNotification, object: nil, queue: .main) { [unowned self] notification in
// do whatever you want when the app is brought back to the foreground
}
}
deinit {
if let observer = observer {
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(observer)
}
}
}
Note, in the completion closure, I include [unowned self] to avoid strong reference cycle that prevents the view controller from being deallocated if you happen to reference self inside the block (which you presumably will need to do if you're going to be updating a class variable or do practically anything interesting).
Also note that I remove the observer even though a casual reading of the removeObserver documentation might lead one to conclude is unnecessary:
If your app targets iOS 9.0 and later or macOS 10.11 and later, you don't need to unregister an observer in its dealloc method.
But, when using this block-based rendition, you really do need to remove the notification center observer. As the documentation for addObserver(forName:object:queue:using:) says:
To unregister observations, you pass the object returned by this method to removeObserver(_:). You must invoke removeObserver(_:) or removeObserver(_:name:object:) before any object specified by addObserver(forName:object:queue:using:) is deallocated.
I like to use the Publisher initializer of NotificationCenter. Using that you can subscribe to any NSNotification using Combine.
import UIKit
import Combine
class MyFunkyViewController: UIViewController {
/// The cancel bag containing all the subscriptions.
private var cancelBag: Set<AnyCancellable> = []
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
addSubscribers()
}
/// Adds all the subscribers.
private func addSubscribers() {
NotificationCenter
.Publisher(center: .default,
name: UIApplication.willEnterForegroundNotification)
.sink { [weak self] _ in
self?.doSomething()
}
.store(in: &cancelBag)
}
/// Called when entering foreground.
private func doSomething() {
print("Hello foreground!")
}
}
Add Below Code in ViewController
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let notificationCenter = NotificationCenter.default
notificationCenter.addObserver(self, selector:#selector(appMovedToForeground), name: UIApplication.willEnterForegroundNotification, object: nil)
}
#objc func appMovedToForeground() {
print("App moved to foreground!")
}
In Swift 3, it replaces and generates the following.
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
foregroundNotification = NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName:
NSNotification.Name.UIApplicationWillEnterForeground, object: nil, queue: OperationQueue.main) {
[unowned self] notification in
// do whatever you want when the app is brought back to the foreground
}
I have a few notifications that were created using block / trailing closure syntax which look like this:
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: .NSManagedObjectContextObjectsDidChange, object: moc, queue: nil) { note in
// implementation
}
Which I was later removing by name, like this:
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self, name: NSNotification.Name.NSManagedObjectContextObjectsDidChange, object: moc)
My Question
Is this adequate? Or do I absolutely need to save the NSObjectProtocol to it's own property and remove that property with the following syntax?
NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(didChangeNotification)
You absolutely need to store the return value in a property and remove that later on.
From https://developer.apple.com/reference/foundation/nsnotificationcenter/1411723-addobserverforname:
Return Value
An opaque object to act as the observer.
When you call any one of the removeObserver methods, the first parameter is the observer to remove. When you set up a block to respond to a notification, self is not the observer, NSNotificationCenter creates its own observer object behind the scenes and returns it to you.
Note: as of iOS 9, you are no longer required to call removeObserver from dealloc/deinit, as that will happen automatically when the observer goes away. So, if you're only targeting iOS 9, this may all just work, but if you're not retaining the returned observer at all, the notification could be removed before you expect it to be. Better safe than sorry.
To add to #Dave's answer, it looks like documentation isn't always 100% accurate. According to this article by Ole Begemann there is a contradiction in the doc and self-removing magic was not happening as of iOS 11.2 in his test app.
So that the answer is still "Yes, one needs to remove that observer manually" (and yes, self is not the observer, the result of addObserver() method is the observer).
Here an example with code, for how a correct implementation looks like:
Declare the variable that gets returned when you add the observer in your class A (the receiver of the notification or observer):
private var fetchTripsNotification: NSObjectProtocol?
In your init method add yourself as an observer:
init() {
fetchTripsNotification = NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: .needsToFetchTrips, object: nil, queue: nil) { [weak self] _ in
guard let `self` = self else {
return
}
self.fetchTrips()
}
}
In the deinit method of your class, make sure to remove the observer:
deinit { NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(fetchTripsNotification as Any) }
In your class B (the poster of the notification) trigger the notification like usually:
NotificationCenter.default.post(name: .needsToFetchTrips, object: nil)
I have a view controller with a button. When the button is pressed it adds an observer, like so:
func buttonPress(sender:UIButton){
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserverForName("buttonPressEvent", object:nil, queue:nil, usingBlock:{(notif) -> Void in
// code
})
}
When I dismiss this view controller, and then return to it and press the button the //code is executed twice. If I go away and come back again the //code is executed three times, and so on.
What I want to do is to remove the Observer before I add it again, so this code doesn't execute twice. Ive gone through the documentation here and Ive added this line of code just above where I add the Observer:
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().removeObserver(self, name:"buttonPressEvent", object:nil)
But this isnt working.
Can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong?
When you use the 'blocks' based approach to observing notifications then self isn't in fact the observer. The function returns an object which acts as the observer:
func addObserverForName(_ name: String?,
object obj: AnyObject?,
queue queue: NSOperationQueue?,
usingBlock block: (NSNotification!) -> Void) -> NSObjectProtocol
You need to keep a reference to this returned object and pass it in as the observer when you call removeObserver
It's explained well in the Apple Doc here
Implemented it like this, seems to be working fine.
override func viewDidLoad()
{
super.viewDidLoad()
AddScreenShotNotification()
}
func AddScreenShotNotification() {
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(
self,
selector: #selector(MyViewController.ScreenShotTaken),
name: UIApplicationUserDidTakeScreenshotNotification,
object: nil)
}
func ScreenShotTaken()
{
// do something
}
override func viewWillDisappear(animated: Bool) {
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().removeObserver(self)
}
How can I call a function that is within an SKScene class when my app is terminated by the user?
I need to modify a value and save it to NSUserDefauts when the app is terminated.
You can register to receive a notification when your app is about to terminate. To do this, add an observer to the default notification center by
Swift 5:
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(saveData), name: UIApplication.willTerminateNotification, object: nil)
Swift 3/4:
// Add this to didMoveToView in your SKScene subclass
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(saveData), name: NSNotification.Name.UIApplicationWillTerminate, object: nil)
Add the following method to your SKScene subclass. The method will be called before the app terminates. It must be "exposed" to Objective-C by adding #objc so the notifier can use #selector().
#objc func saveData(notification:NSNotification) {
// Save your data here
print("Saving data...")
}
In Swift 3 and 4 you have something like that:
in your viewDidLoad
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(toDoSomething), name: NSNotification.Name.UIApplicationWillTerminate, object: nil)
and than you have that method to be called
func suspending () {
print("toDoSomething...")
}
There are a few methods in UIAppDelegate that will help you. Take a look at applicationWillTerminate(_:) and applicationWillResignActive(_:). From there you see what state your app is in and do perform the appropriate actions.
I'm trying to use the NSNotificationCenter with Swift and I'm running into a problem. I'm trying the following:
class MyClass {
init() {
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self, selector: "stopTimer", name: UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification, object: [])
}
func stopTimer() {
println("Entered background!")
}
}
When hitting the home button, the observer is never calling the selector, therefore my message is never being printed out.
Notice that I send an empty object at the end, the method signature for addObserver is expecting an implicitly unwrapped object and setting it to nil results in an EXC_BAD_ACCESS error when the app enters background.
Any ideas?
EDIT
I forgot to mention that this code is being executed from a framework included in my project.
Executing the code gives me a bad access abort signal.
You should be able to pass nil for an optional argument. Can you elaborate more on what happens if you do? This is working for me:
func init() {
super.init()
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self, selector: "stopTimer", name: UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification, object: nil)
}
func stopTimer() {
println("Entered background!")
}
deinit {
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().removeObserver(self)
}
Alright, I figured this out. 2 problems:
There was no strong reference to the instance of my class in my app
My class wasn't extending NSObject
Now, I can set object: nil and everything works fine.
Thanks for all your help! :)
Perhaps you should try implementing applicationDidEnterBackground(application: UIApplication) instead?
To further troubleshoot, you may also want to add a log statement to your app delegate's deinit to see if the delegate gets deallocated after entering the background.