How to return a value to a function while in background process subfunction in swift - swift

Question

I first tried this solution to return a bool in the spot I want to return it. However, due to the parse.com function saveInBackgroundWithBlock() being a void return function, I got the error "Unexpected non-void return value in void function".
func saveObjectToParse(gameLocal: Game) -> Bool {
let game = PFObject(className:"Game")
game["sport"] = gameLocal.sport.rawValue
var saved = false
game.saveInBackgroundWithBlock {
(success: Bool, error: NSError?) -> Void in
if (success) {
print("Object has been saved.")
saved = true
return saved
} else {
print("parse error")
return saved
}
}
}
So, I tried moving the return statements out of the subfunction like this:
func saveObjectToParse(gameLocal: Game) -> Bool {
let game = PFObject(className:"Game")
game["sport"] = gameLocal.sport.rawValue
var saved = false
game.saveInBackgroundWithBlock {
(success: Bool, error: NSError?) -> Void in
if (success) {
print("Object has been saved.")
saved = true
} else {
print("parse error")
}
}
return saved
}
However, this returns saved before the saveInBackgroundWithBlock() block executes because it is a background process. Therefore, saved will never be true, even when it is intended to be. I have tried adding a boolean flag called done and tried waiting with a while(!done) loop, but this freezes the program on the loop and the background process never executes. How can I fix these problems?

Answer 1

I agree with restructuring not needing a bool returned, but if you really, really need this set up, you could save your object synchronously (so your code will wait) like so,
do {
try game.save()
} catch {
print(error)
}

Answer 2

Returning a value from a function but from another function doesn't make architectural sense. Nor is it possible.
You either will need to change your implementation and make both methods independent or think of using a semaphore.
http://www.g8production.com/post/76942348764/wait-for-blocks-execution-using-a-dispatch

Answer 3

What you are trying to do (create a helper function to wrap the Parse save function) makes perfect sense and can be easily accomplished.
You do not need to use semaphores and you certainly don't want to perform the operation synchronously. Instead, use a completion hander to let you know when the save has completed. For more information on completion handlers see this link
func saveObjectToParse(gameLocal: Game, completion: (gameSaved: Bool) -> Void) {
let game = PFObject(className:"Game")
game["sport"] = gameLocal.sport.rawValue
game.saveInBackgroundWithBlock {
(success: Bool, error: NSError?) -> Void in
// Set the completion handler to be result of the Parse save operation
completion(gameSaved: success)
}
}
You may then call this function like so
saveObjectToParse(someGameObject) { (gameSaved: Bool) in
if gameSaved {
print("The game has been saved.")
} else {
print("Error while saving the game")
}
}
Using this technique, you could similarly propagate the entire callback of saveInBackgroundWithBlock through your function so you could inspect errors when they occur.
Edit: It looks like you may also be using your own custom class to represent the Game object. I would recommend looking into subclassing PFObject so you can easily and directly model your Parse classes. More details in the documentation