NSTimer callback on background thread

Question

I have a NSTimer defined as follows:

timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:30
                                         target:self
                                       selector:@selector(fooBar)
                                       userInfo:nil
                                        repeats:YES];
[[NSRunLoop mainRunLoop] addTimer:timer forMode:NSRunLoopCommonModes];

I want it to call the call back function fooBar in this case using a background thread. But when I check with if ([NSThread mainThread]) i'm always getting it on the main thread. Is there any other way aside from dispatching a thread from the callback function?

Answer 1

You are adding the timer to main thread. Your call back will also be in main thread. To schedule the timer in a background thread, I think you need to use NSOperation subclass and schedule the timer to [NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] from inside the operation's main method.

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface BackgroundTimer : NSOperation
{
    BOOL _done;
}
@end



#import "BackgroundTimer.h"

@implementation BackgroundTimer

-(void) main
{
    if ([self isCancelled])
    {
        return;
    }

    NSTimer *timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:30
                                             target:self
                                           selector:@selector(fooBar)
                                           userInfo:nil
                                            repeats:YES];

    [[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] addTimer:timer forMode:NSRunLoopCommonModes];

    //keep the runloop going as long as needed
    while (!_done && [[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] runMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode
                                              beforeDate:[NSDate distantFuture]]);

}

@end

Answer 2

If you want to run a timer on a background thread, the most efficient way to do that is with a dispatch timer:

@property (nonatomic, strong) dispatch_source_t timer;

and you can then configure this timer to fire every two seconds:

- (void)startTimer {
    dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_queue_create("com.domain.app.timer", 0);
    self.timer = dispatch_source_create(DISPATCH_SOURCE_TYPE_TIMER, 0, 0, queue);
    dispatch_source_set_timer(self.timer, dispatch_walltime(NULL, 0), 2.0 * NSEC_PER_SEC, 0.1 * NSEC_PER_SEC);
    dispatch_source_set_event_handler(self.timer, ^{
        // call whatever you want here
    });
    dispatch_resume(self.timer);
}

- (void)stopTimer {
    dispatch_cancel(self.timer);
    self.timer = nil;
}