Use of MBProgressHUD Globally + make it singleton

Question

In my Project, each of the user interaction events make a network call (Which is TCP, not HTTP). I need Activity Indicator to be global to show from a rando

Answer 1

This answer is what I've been using for 5-6 Apps now because it works perfectly inside blocks too. However I found a problem with it. I can make it shown, but can't make it disappear if a UIAlertView is also present. If you look at the implementation you can see why. Simply change it to this:

static UIWindow *window;

+ (MBProgressHUD *)showGlobalProgressHUDWithTitle:(NSString *)title {

    window = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] lastObject];
    MBProgressHUD *hud = [MBProgressHUD showHUDAddedTo:window animated:YES];
    hud.labelText = title;

    return hud;
}

+ (void)dismissGlobalHUD {

    [MBProgressHUD hideHUDForView:window animated:YES];
}

This will make sure you're removing the HUD from the same windows as it was shown on.

Answer 2

I've used it as below..Hope it helps you..

in appDelegate.m

-(void)showIndicator:(NSString *)withTitleString currentView:(UIView *)currentView
{ 
if (!isIndicatorStarted) {

    // The hud will dispable all input on the view
    self.progressHUD = [[[MBProgressHUD alloc] initWithView:currentView] autorelease]; 
    // Add HUD to screen 
    [currentView addSubview:self.progressHUD]; 
    self.progressHUD.labelText = withTitleString;
    [window setUserInteractionEnabled:FALSE];
    [self.progressHUD show:YES];

    isIndicatorStarted = TRUE;
}   
 } 

-(void)hideIndicator 
{ 

    [self.progressHUD show:NO]; 
    [self.progressHUD removeFromSuperview]; 
    self.progressHUD = nil;
    [window setUserInteractionEnabled:TRUE];
    isIndicatorStarted = FALSE;
}

From Random Views:-

[appDel showIndicator:@"Loading.." currentView:presentView.view];

Answer 3

You could add this to a class of your liking:

+ (MBProgressHUD *)showGlobalProgressHUDWithTitle:(NSString *)title {
    UIWindow *window = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] lastObject];
    MBProgressHUD *hud = [MBProgressHUD showHUDAddedTo:window animated:YES];
    hud.labelText = title;
    return hud;
}

+ (void)dismissGlobalHUD {
    UIWindow *window = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] lastObject];
    [MBProgressHUD hideHUDForView:window animated:YES];
}

This can be than called on any class. You don't need to keep a strong reference to the HUD when using those class convenience methods.

Depending on your specific situation you'll probably also want to handle cases where a new hud is requested before the other one is hidden. You could eater hide the previous hud when a new comes in or come up with some sort of queueing, etc.

Hiding the previous HUD instance before showing a new one is pretty straightforward.

+ (MBProgressHUD *)showGlobalProgressHUDWithTitle:(NSString *)title {
    UIWindow *window = [[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] lastObject];
    [MBProgressHUD hideAllHUDsForView:window animated:YES];
    MBProgressHUD *hud = [MBProgressHUD showHUDAddedTo:window animated:YES];
    hud.labelText = title;
    return hud;
}

Answer 4

Note: Considering the views this Question is getting I decided to post the the way I did choose as a solution. This is NOT an answer to my question. (Hence, the accepted answer remains accepted)

At that time I ended up using SVProgressHUD as it was very simple to integrate and use.

All you need to do is just drag the SVProgressHUD/SVProgressHUD folder into your project. (You may choose to go for cocoapods OR carthage, as well)

---

In Objective-C:

[SVProgressHUD show]; // Show
[SVProgressHUD dismiss]; // Dismiss

---

In Swift:

SVProgressHUD.show() // Show
SVProgressHUD.dismiss() // Dismiss

---

Additionally, Show and hide HUD needs to be executed on main thread. (Specifically you would need this to hide the HUD in some closure in background)

e.g.:

dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    [SVProgressHUD dismiss]; // OR SHOW, whatever the need is.
});

---

There are additional methods for displaying custom messages with HUD, showing success/failure for short duration and auto dismiss.

MBProgressHUD still remains a good choice for developers. It's just that I found SVProgressHUD to suit my needs.

Answer 5

I found @Matej Bukovinski 's answer very helpful, since I just started using Swift and my purpose using his methods was to set a global font for the MBProgressHUD, I have converted the code to swift and am willing to share the code below:

class func showGlobalProgressHUDWithTitle(title: String) -> MBProgressHUD{
    let window:UIWindow = UIApplication.sharedApplication().windows.last as! UIWindow
    let hud = MBProgressHUD.showHUDAddedTo(window, animated: true)
    hud.labelText = title
    hud.labelFont = UIFont(name: FONT_NAME, size: 15.0)
    return hud
}

class func dismissGlobalHUD() -> Void{
    let window:UIWindow = UIApplication.sharedApplication().windows.last as! UIWindow
    MBProgressHUD.hideAllHUDsForView(window, animated: true)
}

The above code is put into a global file where I keep all my global helpers and constants.

Answer 6

I was using the code from @Michael Shang and having all kinds of inconsistent behavior with showing HUDs. Turns out using the last window is unreliable as the iOS keyboard may just hide it. So in the majority of cases you should get the window using the AppDelegate as mentioned by @David Lawson.

Here's how in Swift:

let window = UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate!.window!!
let hud = MBProgressHUD.showHUDAddedTo(window, animated: true)

However, with the above your HUD will show up behind the iOS keyboard (if they overlap). If you need your HUD to overlay the keyboard use the last window method.

In my case, what was happening is I would show the HUD then call resignFirstResponder() immediately hiding the window the HUD was added to. So this is something to be aware of, the only window guaranteed to stick around is the first one.

I ended up creating a method that could optionally add the HUD above the keyboard if needed:

func createHUD(size: CGSize, overKeyboard: Bool = false) -> MBProgressHUD {
    let window = overKeyboard ? UIApplication.sharedApplication().windows.last!
                              : UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate!.window!!
    let hud = MBProgressHUD.showHUDAddedTo(window, animated: true)
    hud.minSize = size
    hud.bezelView.style = .SolidColor
    hud.bezelView.color = UIColor(white: 0, alpha: 0.8)
    return hud
}