Can I pass a function name as an argument ? - iphone

Question

I want to make this class dynamically perform functions on itself by passing different names to it. Is that possible ? Or rather: How is it possible ?
-(id)initWithMethod:(NSString*)method{
if ((self = [super init])){
[self method];
}
return self;
}
-(void) lowHealth {
CCSprite *blackScreen = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:#"blackscreen.png"];
blackScreen.anchorPoint = ccp(0,0);
[self addChild:blackScreen];
id fadeIn = [CCFadeIn actionWithDuration:1];
id fadeOut = [CCFadeOut actionWithDuration:1];
id fadeInAndOut = [CCRepeatForever actionWithAction:[CCSequence actions:fadeIn, fadeOut, nil]];
[blackScreen runAction:fadeInAndOut];
}

Answer 1

You should use performSelector and get the selector from your NSString using NSSelectorFromString:
[self performSelector:NSSelectorFromString(method)];
instead of [self method];

Answer 2

The standard way is using Selectors as mentioned in Matteo's answer.
You can also look at Objective-C Blocks. They are becoming very common in the CocoaTouch APIs and you can do some very slick things with them. The resulting architecture of your class is often easier to understand IMO.
For example this method from UIView
+ (void)animateWithDuration:(NSTimeInterval)duration
animations:(void (^)(void))animations
completion:(void (^)(BOOL finished))completion
Takes two block, one that is runs the code for the actual animation, and one to for the code after the animation is complete. You could call this with block variables or by writing code inline:
...animations:^{
// animation code
}
completion:^(BOOL finished) {
// completion code
}
The receiving method (in this case animateWithDuration:...) would simply call these blocks at some point like so:
animations();