How to load images in UIImage array from an online directory and store them in the App

Question

I want to load multiple images when my app starts from a website (ie all images in http://hello.com/images/ which are named 1.png, 2.png, 3.png..) , so that the images can be used anywhere in the program without needing to reload them every time I want to access them.

Can I simply create a class that holds a static NSArray and fill it at the beginning, to then create an instance of this class whenever I need the images or is there a better way to do it?

Right now, I am loading the images with the following code:

UIImage *image =[[UIImage alloc] initWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://hello.com/images/%@.png,item]]]];

I want to make the app as efficient as possible, so I am concerned about the creation of multiple objects making it very demanding.

Thanks

Answer 1

You can try downloading the images asynchronously in a separate thread when the application starts and use it later.

Here is the SO question and answer where the poster uses a custom class to download the images in the background asynchronously.

Try this for efficient download of images and UI also will not be blocked.