Is NSXMLParser's parse method asynchronous

Question

Is NSXMLParser\'s parse method asynchronous?

in other words if i have an NSXMLParse object and I call [someParseObject parse] from the main thread, will it

Answer 1

Yes it blocks. Here is how i have used NSInvocationQueue to not block the UI thread when parsing... just call beginParsing with the url path as a string and it will take care of the rest:

-(void) beginParsing:(NSString*) path{
    if(path ==nil)
        return;

    NSOperationQueue *queue = [[NSOperationQueue new] autorelease];

    NSInvocationOperation *operation= [[[NSInvocationOperation alloc]
                                             initWithTarget: self
                                                   selector: @selector(createRequestToGetData:)
                                                     object: path]
                                       autorelease];

    [queue addOperation:operation];
}

-(void)createRequestToGetData:(NSString*)path
{
    NSURL* Url = [NSURL URLWithString:path];

    NSXMLParser* parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:Url];

    [parser setDelegate:self];

    NSLog(@"path is %@",path);
    [parser parse];

    [path release];
    [parser release];
}