Suggestion for schedule: « cocos2d for iPhone

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Suggestion for schedule:

(21 posts) (14 voices)

Started 2 years ago by crmagicxxx
Latest reply from whatupdave

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crmagicxxx
Member

Right now I know only 3 ways to schedule something that will run only once after a given time interval:

1. schedule some selector with interval, and then unschedule it in called selector
2. make an action with time delays and CallFunc
3. use the performSelector: method

For something I need now 1st method is not an option, and 2nd one is ok but too "ugly" for me. So can somebody make a patch because I don't know hot to do it, so there is one more method for schedule, like:

-(void) schedule: (SEL) selector interval:(ccTime)interval repeat:(BOOL) yesNo;

What I need and I can't use option 1, is to trigger several schedules with different time intervals and all of them should be executed. So if I unschedule scheduler in the called selector, my other schedulers wont run anymore. Of course I can count number of calls in the called selector and then unschedule it, but actually I need to trigger it random number of times, so I can't count it without some external counter.

Right now I am using performSelector: method and it works but I suppose I shouldn't mix those timers with cocos2d timers.

I hope there is some nice person who will make that patch :)

Posted 2 years ago #
Jamil
Member

I'm kinda wondering why this wasn't done already

Posted 2 years ago #
Mesozoic
Member

I agree being able to easily schedule something to run once after a certain time would be useful you should add an enhancement request for this

Posted 2 years ago #
adunsmoor
Member
Have you tried to use NSTimer?

http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSTimer_Class/Reference/NSTimer.html

Something like:
```
[NStimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1 target:self selector:@selector(doSomething) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];
```
Hope that helps.
Posted 2 years ago #
natanavra
Member

@adunsmoor it is said that we shouldn't use an NSTimer while using Cocos schedule because that's a forbidden art (jk)... but it's not recommended.

BTW, performSelector: withObject: afterDelay: is NSTimer based, so it's not recommended either.

I don't have a patch or anything (I don't want to mess around with the scheduler) but I don't see what's wrong with unscheduling (yeah, it's ugly) but it works fine and no patches required.

~ Natanavra.

Posted 2 years ago #
adunsmoor
Member

@natanavra, Thanks. I had forgotten about that (it's in the best practices guide on the wiki).

Sounds like an interesting challenge for a rainy day... :-)

Posted 2 years ago #
crmagicxxx
Member

Ok, looks like nobody actually read my post. I said I could use performSelector (which is similar to NSTimer) and also explained why I can't use schedule/unschedule method...

Thanks anyway for your support :)

Posted 2 years ago #
sunsu
Member

Unscheduling would work if you had a method (selector) for each schedule. Also, this is exactly what Callfunc/callfuncnd is for, so I don't see why it's "ugly". It would only require 1 method to call the callfuncnd action and one to process it based on the data you pass it.

Posted 2 years ago #

crmagicxxx
Member

@sunsu

Ok what's uglier? (having in mind that I want to call something random number of times with intervals 0,1,2,3,... seconds)

This:

for (i=0; i <= RANDOM_NO; i++)
    [self schedule:@selector(doItOnce) interval:1*i repeat:NO];

Or this:

for (i=0; i <= RANDOM_NO; i++) {
    id action1 = [DelayTime actionWithDuration:1*i];
    id action2 = [CallFunc actionWithTarget:self selector:@selector(doItOnce)];
    id action3 = [Sequence actions:action1, action2, nil];
    [self runAction:action3];
}

Or you had something different in mind?

Posted 2 years ago #

slipster216
Moderator

The problem with CallFunc is that it makes for verbose code, and some other function could call stopAllActions on the object that it's running on. I agree a simple method on scheduler would be a nice addition..

Posted 2 years ago #
ob1
Member
It should work to add something like
```
for (Timer *t in scheduledMethods)
{
 [t fire: dt];

 if (!t.repeat)
 {
   [self unscheduleTimer:t];
 }
}
```
at the end of the tick method of scheduler (+ all the implementation of methods and the repeat property of course).

However, that might affect performance but I am not sure if it would be much.

Edit:

Maybe a cleaner way would be to have a new array "singleShotScheduledMethods" and cleaning the array after firing the methods.

Edit again: both my methods don't work unfortunately if the Timer has an interval.

Maybe it could work by adding this in Timer -fire:
```
if (elapsed ...)
{
  impmethod(...);
  if (!repeat)
  {
     [[Scheduler sharedScheduler] unscheduleTimer:self];
  }

}
```
But it doesn't look very clean to me.
Posted 2 years ago #
fchan
Member

is there any way to put in arguments within the selectors. I have it as this:
[self schedule: @selector(loadSprite:@"spot.png") interval: 0.1];

But this breaks.

Posted 2 years ago #
Codemattic
Moderator

@fchan sadly, no. Cocos would need a method defined like -schedule:data:interval:

Posted 2 years ago #
fchan
Member

i trying to figure a way to spawn my sprites using the scheduler. Like for example, for every 3 seconds, a new sprite will spawn. using the scheduler crashes for me and from what i understand, there isn't a way to put in a start time

Posted 2 years ago #
Obiwahn
Member

Is there a schedule once function in the meantime?

This is something i miss quite often and I agree that Delay & CallFunc feels "dirty".

Posted 2 years ago #
PhilM
Member

Theres always option 1 crmagicxxx mentions. Personally I prefer that to the delay and callfunc method.

Posted 2 years ago #
Obiwahn
Member

Hm ... i still would prefer crmagicxxx idea.

Why not include this method?

-(void) schedule: (SEL) selector interval:(ccTime)interval repeat:(BOOL) yesNo;

Posted 2 years ago #
Codemattic
Moderator

you can always open an issue:

http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/issues/list

riq follows that list pretty closely.

Posted 2 years ago #

whatupdave
Member

Not sure if this made it into cocos2d. You can add this method as a category:

@interface CCScheduler (ScheduleSelector)
- (void)scheduleSelector:(SEL)selector forTarget:(id)target delay:(ccTime)delay;
@end

@implementation CCScheduler (ScheduleSelector)
- (void)scheduleSelector:(SEL)selector forTarget:(id)target delay:(ccTime)delay {
	[[CCActionManager sharedManager] addAction:[CCSequence actions:
					[CCDelayTime actionWithDuration:delay],
					[CCCallFunc actionWithTarget:target selector:selector],nil]
				target:target paused:NO];
}
@end

Posted 1 year ago #

largemouth
Member
Interesting addition that would be great for some things, but I also like having the control in the scene rather than a static scheduler as described above...I can add more control to change the update time dynamically for launching sprites more frequently as the pace picks up, like placing chips on the belt for eFactory shown in this post.

Here's an example of a timer set in the scheduler called each tick with [self updateBelt:dt]:
```
- (void) updateBelt:(ccTime)dt
{
	timeSinceLastLaunch += dt;   //timeSinceLastLaunch is a global variable

	if (timeSinceLastLaunch > gDeploymentInterval)  //while gDeploymentInterval can be a constant or variable
	{
		[self launchSprite];
		timeSinceLastLaunch = 0;
	}
}
```
During game play, I can speed up the action by decrementing the comparison variable, which above is gDeploymentInterval.

Hope this helps.

Largemouth
Posted 1 year ago #
whatupdave
Member
You could accomplish the same thing with a "one-shot" schedule method also:
```
- (void)init { [self scheduleNextSprite]; }

- (void)scheduleNextSprite {
    [self scheduleSelector:@selector(scheduleNextSprite) forTarget:self delay:gDeploymentInterval];
    [self launchSprite];
}
```
Might not be the most performant way of doing it but it's fairly simple. Oh nice, looks like it's on it's way: http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/issues/detail?id=630
Posted 1 year ago #

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