通过 NSTimer 传递一个 Char 数组

Question

I am trying to send a char array through the selector method in NSTimer. My targetMethod will take the first 36 values of the array and perform its function every interval, incrementing by 36 every time until it reaches the end of the char array. However, it appears as though NSTimer only allows you send NSObjects with userInfo when using the following format:

[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:2.0
    target:self
    selector:@selector(targetMethod:)
    userInfo:nil
    repeats:NO]

I haven't found a way to use NSDictionary to do it either, and I would prefer to not have to perform a costly conversion to an NSArray.

The char array that I am sending contains anywhere from 36-9500 values. Is it possible to use a char array with NSTimer? If not, is there a way I could use a global pointer to refer to an array which could then be accessed by the pointer within the targetMethod?

Answer 1

If you don't want to make a conversion to NSObjects as you believe it's too costly for your application, you can always just make the char array globally/publicly available.

Just create a property or instance variable for it and access it that way from within the selector.

Otherwise you'll have to convert to an NSString or NSData and pass it that way. I can't think of a way to cleanly override the passing of data other than that.

Answer 2

The userInfo object of an NSTimer does not need to be an NSDictionary , so you could in fact pass your NSArray as the userInfo . However, I believe the first parameter of the target method will have the NSTimer instance itself passed, which may not be what you want. You might have better luck with dispatch_async , where you can pass a block to be executed in 2 seconds and call the method directly with your NSArray .