iOS/iPhone Reachability - How to only check when internet is lost/not reachable using Reachability.m/.h

Question

Currently i am using the class by apple reachability.m/.h and it works, except it notifies me for any change, where as i would like to only notify the user if the network is not

Answer 1

I just started playing around with Reachability and hopefully what I discovered is of use to you.

With regards to multiple 'Not Reachable' while reconnecting, could it be linked to this? Here the poster brought up the definition of 'reachable' for a remote host. I'm guessing while reconnecting the package is not able to go through successfully?

Another possibility is in Reachability Readme.txt

IMPORTANT: Reachability must use DNS to resolve the host name before it can determine the Reachability of that host, and this may take time on certain network connections. Because of this, the API will return NotReachable until name resolution has completed. This delay may be visible in the interface on some networks.

Maybe give it the IP directly and see if it helps?

Answer 2

With Reachability 2.2, you can add

[hostReach connectionRequired];

before

[internetReachable startNotifier];

to solve this problem.

runmad answered this problem here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/2157858/623260

Answer 3

I would implement the whole Reachability class, tie it into your code as necessary and remove or comment out parts of Reachability. Just remove, one by one, the things you do not want to be notified of. Obviously, you need a good understanding of obj-c, the Reachability class, notifications, etc., but it can be done.

Answer 4

We can check rechability using this code

add class Reachability.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <SystemConfiguration/SystemConfiguration.h>

typedef enum {
NotReachable = 0,
ReachableViaWiFi,
ReachableViaWWAN
} NetworkStatus;
#define kReachabilityChangedNotification @"kNetworkReachabilityChangedNotification"

@interface Reachability: NSObject
{
BOOL localWiFiRef;
SCNetworkReachabilityRef reachabilityRef;
}

//reachabilityWithHostName- Use to check the reachability of a particular host name. 
+ (Reachability*) reachabilityWithHostName: (NSString*) hostName;

//reachabilityWithAddress- Use to check the reachability of a particular IP address. 
+ (Reachability*) reachabilityWithAddress: (const struct sockaddr_in*) hostAddress;

//reachabilityForInternetConnection- checks whether the default route is available.  
//  Should be used by applications that do not connect to a particular host
+ (Reachability*) reachabilityForInternetConnection;

//reachabilityForLocalWiFi- checks whether a local wifi connection is available.
+ (Reachability*) reachabilityForLocalWiFi;

//Start listening for reachability notifications on the current run loop
- (BOOL) startNotifier;
- (void) stopNotifier;

- (NetworkStatus) currentReachabilityStatus;
//WWAN may be available, but not active until a connection has been established.
//WiFi may require a connection for VPN on Demand.
- (BOOL) connectionRequired;
 @end

Reachability.m

#import <sys/socket.h>
            #import <netinet/in.h>
            #import <netinet6/in6.h>
            #import <arpa/inet.h>
            #import <ifaddrs.h>
            #import <netdb.h>

            #import <CoreFoundation/CoreFoundation.h>

            #import "Reachability.h"

            #define kShouldPrintReachabilityFlags 1

            static void PrintReachabilityFlags(SCNetworkReachabilityFlags    flags, const char* comment)
            {
            #if kShouldPrintReachabilityFlags

                NSLog(@"Reachability Flag Status: %c%c %c%c%c%c%c%c%c %s\n",
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsIsWWAN)               ? 'W' : '-',
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsReachable)            ? 'R' : '-',

                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsTransientConnection)  ? 't' : '-',
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionRequired)   ? 'c' : '-',
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionOnTraffic)  ? 'C' : '-',
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsInterventionRequired) ? 'i' : '-',
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionOnDemand)   ? 'D' : '-',
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsIsLocalAddress)       ? 'l' : '-',
                        (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsIsDirect)             ? 'd' : '-',
                        comment
                        );
            #endif
            }


            @implementation Reachability
            static void ReachabilityCallback(SCNetworkReachabilityRef target, SCNetworkReachabilityFlags flags, void* info)
            {
                #pragma unused (target, flags)
                NSCAssert(info != NULL, @"info was NULL in ReachabilityCallback");
                NSCAssert([(NSObject*) info isKindOfClass: [Reachability class]], @"info was wrong class in ReachabilityCallback");

                //We're on the main RunLoop, so an NSAutoreleasePool is not necessary, but is added defensively
                // in case someon uses the Reachablity object in a different thread.
                NSAutoreleasePool* myPool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];

                Reachability* noteObject = (Reachability*) info;
                // Post a notification to notify the client that the network reachability changed.
                [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName: kReachabilityChangedNotification object: noteObject];

                [myPool release];
            }

            - (BOOL) startNotifier
            {
                BOOL retVal = NO;
                SCNetworkReachabilityContext    context = {0, self, NULL, NULL, NULL};
                if(SCNetworkReachabilitySetCallback(reachabilityRef, ReachabilityCallback, &context))
                {
                    if(SCNetworkReachabilityScheduleWithRunLoop(reachabilityRef, CFRunLoopGetCurrent(), kCFRunLoopDefaultMode))
                    {
                        retVal = YES;
                    }
                }
                return retVal;
            }

            - (void) stopNotifier
            {
                if(reachabilityRef!= NULL)
                {
                    SCNetworkReachabilityUnscheduleFromRunLoop(reachabilityRef, CFRunLoopGetCurrent(), kCFRunLoopDefaultMode);
                }
            }

            - (void) dealloc
            {
                [self stopNotifier];
                if(reachabilityRef!= NULL)
                {
                    CFRelease(reachabilityRef);
                }
                [super dealloc];
            }

            + (Reachability*) reachabilityWithHostName: (NSString*) hostName;
            {
                Reachability* retVal = NULL;
                SCNetworkReachabilityRef reachability = SCNetworkReachabilityCreateWithName(NULL, [hostName UTF8String]);
                if(reachability!= NULL)
                {
                    retVal= [[[self alloc] init] autorelease];
                    if(retVal!= NULL)
                    {
                        retVal->reachabilityRef = reachability;
                        retVal->localWiFiRef = NO;
                    }
                }
                return retVal;
            }

            + (Reachability*) reachabilityWithAddress: (const struct sockaddr_in*) hostAddress;
            {
                SCNetworkReachabilityRef reachability = SCNetworkReachabilityCreateWithAddress(kCFAllocatorDefault, (const struct sockaddr*)hostAddress);
                Reachability* retVal = NULL;
                if(reachability!= NULL)
                {
                    retVal= [[[self alloc] init] autorelease];
                    if(retVal!= NULL)
                    {
                        retVal->reachabilityRef = reachability;
                        retVal->localWiFiRef = NO;
                    }
                }
                return retVal;
            }

            + (Reachability*) reachabilityForInternetConnection;
            {
                struct sockaddr_in zeroAddress;
                bzero(&zeroAddress, sizeof(zeroAddress));
                zeroAddress.sin_len = sizeof(zeroAddress);
                zeroAddress.sin_family = AF_INET;
                return [self reachabilityWithAddress: &zeroAddress];
            }

            + (Reachability*) reachabilityForLocalWiFi;
            {
                struct sockaddr_in localWifiAddress;
                bzero(&localWifiAddress, sizeof(localWifiAddress));
                localWifiAddress.sin_len = sizeof(localWifiAddress);
                localWifiAddress.sin_family = AF_INET;
                // IN_LINKLOCALNETNUM is defined in <netinet/in.h> as 169.254.0.0
                localWifiAddress.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(IN_LINKLOCALNETNUM);
                Reachability* retVal = [self reachabilityWithAddress: &localWifiAddress];
                if(retVal!= NULL)
                {
                    retVal->localWiFiRef = YES;
                }
                return retVal;
            }

            #pragma mark Network Flag Handling

            - (NetworkStatus) localWiFiStatusForFlags: (SCNetworkReachabilityFlags) flags
            {
                PrintReachabilityFlags(flags, "localWiFiStatusForFlags");

                BOOL retVal = NotReachable;
                if((flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsReachable) && (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsIsDirect))
                {
                    retVal = ReachableViaWiFi;  
                }
                return retVal;
            }

            - (NetworkStatus) networkStatusForFlags: (SCNetworkReachabilityFlags) flags
            {
                PrintReachabilityFlags(flags, "networkStatusForFlags");
                if ((flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsReachable) == 0)
                {
                    // if target host is not reachable
                    return NotReachable;
                }

                BOOL retVal = NotReachable;

                if ((flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionRequired) == 0)
                {
                    // if target host is reachable and no connection is required
                    //  then we'll assume (for now) that your on Wi-Fi
                    retVal = ReachableViaWiFi;
                }


                if ((((flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionOnDemand ) != 0) ||
                    (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionOnTraffic) != 0))
                {
                        // ... and the connection is on-demand (or on-traffic) if the
                        //     calling application is using the CFSocketStream or higher APIs

                        if ((flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsInterventionRequired) == 0)
                        {
                            // ... and no [user] intervention is needed
                            retVal = ReachableViaWiFi;
                        }
                    }

                if ((flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsIsWWAN) == kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsIsWWAN)
                {
                    // ... but WWAN connections are OK if the calling application
                    //     is using the CFNetwork (CFSocketStream?) APIs.
                    retVal = ReachableViaWWAN;
                }
                return retVal;
            }

            - (BOOL) connectionRequired;
            {
                NSAssert(reachabilityRef != NULL, @"connectionRequired called with NULL reachabilityRef");
                SCNetworkReachabilityFlags flags;
                if (SCNetworkReachabilityGetFlags(reachabilityRef, &flags))
                {
                    return (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionRequired);
                }
                return NO;
            }

            - (NetworkStatus) currentReachabilityStatus
            {
                NSAssert(reachabilityRef != NULL, @"currentNetworkStatus called with NULL reachabilityRef");
                NetworkStatus retVal = NotReachable;
                SCNetworkReachabilityFlags flags;
                if (SCNetworkReachabilityGetFlags(reachabilityRef, &flags))
                {
                    if(localWiFiRef)
                    {
                        retVal = [self localWiFiStatusForFlags: flags];
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        retVal = [self networkStatusForFlags: flags];
                    }
                }
                return retVal;
            }
            @end

and use via direct calling method in appdel class using

  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(checkNetworkStatus:) name:kReachabilityChangedNotification object:nil];



 -(void) checkNetworkStatus:(NSNotification *)notice
{

 Reachability* internetReachable;
  BOOL isInternetActive;
// called after network status changes
NetworkStatus internetStatus = [internetReachable currentReachabilityStatus];
switch (internetStatus)
{
    case NotReachable:
    {
        NSLog(@"The internet is down.");
        isInternetActive = NO;

        break;
    }
    case ReachableViaWiFi:
    {
        NSLog(@"The internet is working via WIFI.");
        isInternetActive = YES;

        break;
    }
    case ReachableViaWWAN:
    {
        NSLog(@"The internet is working via WWAN.");
        isInternetActive = YES;

        break;
    }
 }

 NetworkStatus hostStatus = [hostReachable currentReachabilityStatus];
switch (hostStatus)
{
    case NotReachable:
    {
        NSLog(@"A gateway to the host server is down.");
        //            self.hostActive = NO;

        break;
    }
    case ReachableViaWiFi:
    {
        NSLog(@"A gateway to the host server is working via WIFI.");
        //            self.hostActive = YES;

        break;
    }
    case ReachableViaWWAN:
    {
        NSLog(@"A gateway to the host server is working via WWAN.");
        //            self.hostActive = YES;

        break;
    }
 }
}

Answer 5

Reachability will send a notification when the status has changed, but what you do with that notification is entirely up to you. If you don't want to tell the user that the network is back, you don't have to.

The "name" parameter in the NSNotificationCenter method indicates what notification you are subscribing to. When an object posts a notification, it does so with a particular name.

Answer 6

If you replace the www.hostname.com with just an IP address, it will only alert once instead of multiple times.