How can I debounce a method call?

Question

I\'m trying to use a UISearchView to query google places. In doing so, on text change calls for my UISearchBar, I\'m making a request to google pla

Answer 1

The following is working for me:

Add the below to some file within your project (I maintain a 'SwiftExtensions.swift' file for things like this):

// Encapsulate a callback in a way that we can use it with NSTimer.
class Callback {
    let handler:()->()
    init(_ handler:()->()) {
        self.handler = handler
    }
    @objc func go() {
        handler()
    }
}

// Return a function which debounces a callback, 
// to be called at most once within `delay` seconds.
// If called again within that time, cancels the original call and reschedules.
func debounce(delay:NSTimeInterval, action:()->()) -> ()->() {
    let callback = Callback(action)
    var timer: NSTimer?
    return {
        // if calling again, invalidate the last timer
        if let timer = timer {
            timer.invalidate()
        }
        timer = NSTimer(timeInterval: delay, target: callback, selector: "go", userInfo: nil, repeats: false)
        NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop().addTimer(timer!, forMode: NSDefaultRunLoopMode)
    }
}

Then set it up in your classes:

class SomeClass {
    ...
    // set up the debounced save method
    private var lazy debouncedSave: () -> () = debounce(1, self.save)
    private func save() {
        // ... actual save code here ...
    }
    ...
    func doSomething() {
        ...
        debouncedSave()
    }
}

You can now call someClass.doSomething() repeatedly and it will only save once per second.