How to use performSelector:withObject:afterDelay: on a method with multiple arguments

Question

Let's say I have a method with this signature:

 -(void)plotPoly:(Polygon *)poly WithColor:(UIColor *)color AndFill:(BOOL)filled;

How do I get that UIColor and BOOL in there as well as the Polygon?

Should I wrap them in a NSArray and pull them out inside the called method? That would mean I have to change the method sig, right?

Is there a more elegant way to do it?

Answer 1

I believe NSArray is a reasonable solution, and yes that would mean changing the method signature to taking an NSArray* as its sole argument.

Answer 2

Joe Hewitt's Three20 library has some advanced versions of performSelector that you might find useful (I only post a snippet):

- (id)performSelector:(SEL)selector withObject:(id)p1 withObject:(id)p2 withObject:(id)p3 {
  NSMethodSignature *sig = [self methodSignatureForSelector:selector];
  if (sig) {
    NSInvocation* invo = [NSInvocation invocationWithMethodSignature:sig];
    [invo setTarget:self];
    [invo setSelector:selector];
    [invo setArgument:&p1 atIndex:2];
    [invo setArgument:&p2 atIndex:3];
    [invo setArgument:&p3 atIndex:4];
    [invo invoke];
    if (sig.methodReturnLength) {
      id anObject;
      [invo getReturnValue:&anObject];
      return anObject;
    } else {
      return nil;
    }
  } else {
    return nil;
  }
}

Just add them to a Category of NSObject.

Answer 3

Still not exactly what I would call elegant, but less yuck than having to change the whole API is NSInvocation:

Polygon *poly;
UIColor *color;
BOOL filled;
// Assume the above variables exist
NSInvocation *inv = [NSInvocation invocationWithMessageSignature:[target messageSignatureForSelector:message]];
[inv setArgument:&poly atIndex:2];
[inv setArgument:&color atIndex:3];
[inv setArgument:&filled atIndex:4];
[inv performSelector:@selector(invokeWithTarget:) withObject:target afterDelay:1];

The other best option is just to create a wrapper method that calls the original method you want with appropriate arguments (perhaps given as a dictionary or array), which matches the signature needed to perform after a delay.

Answer 4

I answered a fairly similar question a few weeks ago. Answer below edited for this question.

In general, I avoid NSInvocation for this kind of work. It tends to be a maintenance headache and, in particular, creates difficulty in refactoring in the future.

First, given this method:

 -(void)plotPoly:(Polygon *)poly WithColor:(UIColor *)color AndFill:(BOOL)filled;

It would generally be declared as:

 -(void)plotPoly:(Polygon *)aPoly color:(UIColor *)aColor filled:(BOOL)filledFlag;

This follows the naming conventions a bit more closely.

Now, what I would do is actually capture the arguments into a simple class that provides an -invoke method.

Something with an interface like this:

PolyPlotter.h:

@interface  PolyPlotter : NSObject
{
    Polygon *poly;
    UIColor *color;
    BOOL filled;
}

+ plotterWithPoly: (Polygon *) aPoly color: (UIColor *) aColor filled: (BOOL) filledFlag; 

- (void) plot;
@end

PolyPlotter.m:

@interface PolyPlotter()
@property Polygon *poly;
@property UIColor *color;
@property BOOL filled;
@end

@implementation PolyPlotter
@synthesize poly, color, filled;

+ plotterWithPoly: (Polygon *) aPoly color: (UIColor *) aColor filled: (BOOL) filledFlag; 
{
    PolyPlotter *polygonPlotter = [PolyPlotter new];
    polygonPlotter.poly = aPoly;
    polygonPlotter.color = aColor;
    polygonPlotter.filled = filledFlag;
    return [polygonPlotter autorelease];
}

- (void) plot;
{
    // ... do your plotting here ...
}
@end

Usage is straightforward. Just create an instance of PolygonPlotter and tell it to perform the selector plot after delay or on main thread or whatever.

Given the question, I suspect that you might need a bit more context at the time of drawing? If so, you could pass that information as an argument to -plot by, say, declaring the method as:

- (void) plot: (UIView *) aViewToPlotIn;

Or something like that.

Like I said, slightly more code, but much more flexible and refactorable than the NSInvocation pattern. For example, you could quite easily make the PolygonPlotter something that could be archived.