How to use performSelector:withObject:afterDelay: with primitive types in Cocoa?

The NSObject method performSelector:withObject:afterDelay: allows me to invoke a method on the object with an object argument after a certain time. It cannot be used for methods with a non-object argument (e.g. ints, floats, structs, non-object pointers, etc.).

What is the simplest way to achieve the same thing with a method with a non-object argument? I know that for regular performSelector:withObject:, the solution is to use NSInvocation (which by the way is really complicated). But I don't know how to handle the "delay" part.

Thanks,

Solution 1:

Here is what I used to call something I couldn't change using NSInvocation:

SEL theSelector = NSSelectorFromString(@"setOrientation:animated:");
NSInvocation *anInvocation = [NSInvocation
            invocationWithMethodSignature:
            [MPMoviePlayerController instanceMethodSignatureForSelector:theSelector]];

[anInvocation setSelector:theSelector];
[anInvocation setTarget:theMovie];
UIInterfaceOrientation val = UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait;
BOOL anim = NO;
[anInvocation setArgument:&val atIndex:2];
[anInvocation setArgument:&anim atIndex:3];

[anInvocation performSelector:@selector(invoke) withObject:nil afterDelay:1];

Solution 2:

Just wrap the float, boolean, int or similar in an NSNumber.

For structs, I don't know of a handy solution, but you could make a separate ObjC class that owns such a struct.

Solution 3:

DO NOT USE THIS ANSWER. I HAVE ONLY LEFT IT FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES. SEE THE COMMENTS BELOW.

There is a simple trick if it is a BOOL parameter.

Pass nil for NO and self for YES. nil is cast to the BOOL value of NO. self is cast to the BOOL value of YES.

This approach breaks down if it is anything other than a BOOL parameter.

Assuming self is a UIView.

//nil will be cast to NO when the selector is performed
[self performSelector:@selector(setHidden:) withObject:nil afterDelay:5.0];

//self will be cast to YES when the selector is performed
[self performSelector:@selector(setHidden:) withObject:self afterDelay:10.0];

Solution 4:

Perhaps NSValue, just make sure your pointers are still valid after the delay (ie. no objects allocated on stack).

Solution 5:

I know this is an old question but if you are building iOS SDK 4+ then you can use blocks to do this with very little effort and make it more readable:

double delayInSeconds = 2.0;
int primitiveValue = 500;
dispatch_time_t popTime = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(delayInSeconds * NSEC_PER_SEC));
dispatch_after(popTime, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void){
    [self doSomethingWithPrimitive:primitiveValue];     
});