dispatch_after - GCD in Swift?

Question

I\'ve gone through the iBook from Apple, and couldn\'t find any definition of it:

Can someone explain the structure of dispatch_after?

d         


        

Answer 1

Another way is to extend Double like this:

extension Double {
   var dispatchTime: dispatch_time_t {
       get {
           return dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW,Int64(self * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC)))
       }
   }
}

Then you can use it like this:

dispatch_after(Double(2.0).dispatchTime, dispatch_get_main_queue(), { () -> Void in
            self.dismissViewControllerAnimated(true, completion: nil)
    })

I like matt's delay function but just out of preference I'd rather limit passing closures around.

Answer 2

In Swift 3.0

Dispatch queues

  DispatchQueue(label: "test").async {
        //long running Background Task
        for obj in 0...1000 {
            print("async \(obj)")
        }

        // UI update in main queue
        DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: { 
            print("UI update on main queue")
        })

    }

    DispatchQueue(label: "m").sync {
        //long running Background Task
        for obj in 0...1000 {
            print("sync \(obj)")
        }

        // UI update in main queue
        DispatchQueue.main.sync(execute: {
            print("UI update on main queue")
        })
    }

Dispatch after 5 seconds

    DispatchQueue.main.after(when: DispatchTime.now() + 5) {
        print("Dispatch after 5 sec")
    }

Answer 3

matt's syntax is very nice and if you need to invalidate the block, you may want to use this :

typealias dispatch_cancelable_closure = (cancel : Bool) -> Void

func delay(time:NSTimeInterval, closure:()->Void) ->  dispatch_cancelable_closure? {

    func dispatch_later(clsr:()->Void) {
        dispatch_after(
            dispatch_time(
                DISPATCH_TIME_NOW,
                Int64(time * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC))
            ),
            dispatch_get_main_queue(), clsr)
    }

    var closure:dispatch_block_t? = closure
    var cancelableClosure:dispatch_cancelable_closure?

    let delayedClosure:dispatch_cancelable_closure = { cancel in
        if closure != nil {
            if (cancel == false) {
                dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), closure!);
            }
        }
        closure = nil
        cancelableClosure = nil
    }

    cancelableClosure = delayedClosure

    dispatch_later {
        if let delayedClosure = cancelableClosure {
            delayedClosure(cancel: false)
        }
    }

    return cancelableClosure;
}

func cancel_delay(closure:dispatch_cancelable_closure?) {

    if closure != nil {
        closure!(cancel: true)
    }
}

Use as follow

let retVal = delay(2.0) {
    println("Later")
}
delay(1.0) {
    cancel_delay(retVal)
}

credits

Link above seems to be down. Original Objc code from Github

Answer 4

Although not the original question by the OP, certain NSTimer related questions have been marked as duplicates of this question, so it is worth including an NSTimer answer here.

NSTimer vs dispatch_after

• NSTimer is more high level while dispatch_after is more low level.
• NSTimer is easier to cancel. Canceling dispatch_after requires writing more code.

Delaying a task with NSTimer

Create an NSTimer instance.

var timer = NSTimer()

Start the timer with the delay that you need.

// invalidate the timer if there is any chance that it could have been called before
timer.invalidate()
// delay of 2 seconds
timer = NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(2.0, target: self, selector: #selector(delayedAction), userInfo: nil, repeats: false) 

Add a function to be called after the delay (using whatever name you used for the selector parameter above).

func delayedAction() {
    print("Delayed action has now started."
}

Notes

• If you need to cancel the action before it happens, simply call timer.invalidate().
• For a repeated action use repeats: true.

• If you have a one time event with no need to cancel then there is no need to create the timer instance variable. The following will suffice:

  NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(2.0, target: self, selector: #selector(delayedAction), userInfo: nil, repeats: false) 
  

• See my fuller answer here.

Answer 5

Simplest solution in Swift 3.0 & Swift 4.0 & Swift 5.0

func delayWithSeconds(_ seconds: Double, completion: @escaping () -> ()) {
    DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + seconds) { 
        completion()
    }
}

Usage

delayWithSeconds(1) {
   //Do something
}

Answer 6

Now more than syntactic sugar for asynchronous dispatches in Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) in Swift.

add Podfile

pod 'AsyncSwift'

Then,you can use it like this.

let seconds = 3.0
Async.main(after: seconds) {
print("Is called after 3 seconds")
}.background(after: 6.0) {
print("At least 3.0 seconds after previous block, and 6.0 after Async code is called")
}