Correct way to release NSTimer ?

Question

Hi all,

What is the correct way to release a NSTimer in my dealloc method ? It was created with the following code ?

-(void)mainTimerLoop {

mainTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1/10 target:self selector:@selector(gameLoop) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];

}

Thanks,

Martin

Answer 1

You don't need to release it because it will be autoreleased. Anything created by a convenience method (i.e. you don't call alloc yourself) is the responsibility of the called function to memory manage, which usually means that it will call autorelease on the object it creates before it returns it.

I would assign the timer to a property with the retain keyword though to make sure it doesn't get deallocated on you. Generally autoreleased objects are deallocated in the event loop if they don't have any retains.

Answer 2

you have a really good answer about NSTimer here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1449035/how-do-i-use-nstimer there they talk about stoping a repeating NSTimer doing

[myTimer invalidate];
myTimer = nil;

so in your case you probably want to stop the timer in your dealloc method that way

Answer 3

A valid NSTimer is retained by the run loop, which, if it is repeating, will be forever or until you invalidate it. You shouldn't release it, since, in your example code, you did not explicitly retain it. If you invalidate it, it will no longer be retained by the run loop, and will be autoreleased.

This might be OK for a repeating timer, but is dangerous for a one-shot timer, since it might end being released before you ever access it to see if it's valid and/or try to invalidate it (which would lead to a bad-access app crash). Therefore if you plan on, in any way, looking at a timer variable after it's creation (including to check it, invalidate it and/or release it), it might be a good practice to explicitly retain it somewhere in your app, and then release it and set it to nil after it's invalid and you are done with it.

You can release it and set it to nil in one statement if you declare it as a retain property. Then you can write:

self.timer = nil;

Answer 4

The way you're doing it, you won't ever hit dealloc. A timer retains its target. In this case, that means the timer has retained you. It will not release you until it is invalidated. Since you created the timer, you must also invalidate it at some point prior to dealloc, because the timer's retain will prevent your object's being dealloced.

You have two options:

• find another place to invalidate the timer (view goes offscreen, application is terminating, what have you)
• set something else as the timer's target.

As an example of the latter:

@interface GameLoopTimerTarget : NSObject {
    id owner;  /* not retained! */
}
- (id)initWithOwner:(id)owner;
- (void)timerDidFire:(NSTimer *)t;
@end

@implementation GameLoopTimerTarget
- (id)initWithOwner:(id)owner_ {
    self = [super init];
    if (!self) return nil;

    owner = owner_;
    return self;
}

- (void)timerDidFire:(NSTimer *)t {
#pragma unused (t)
    [owner performSelector:@selector(gameLoop)];
}
@end

/* In your main object… */
/* assume synthesized:
@property (retain, NS_NONATOMIC_IPHONE_ONLY) GameLoopTimer *mainTimerTarget; */
- (void)mainTimerLoop {
    self.mainTimerTarget = [[[GameLoopTimerTarget alloc] initWithOwner:self] autorelease];
    mainTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1.0/10.0 target:self.mainTimerTarget selector:@selector(timerDidFire:) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}

- (void)dealloc {
    /* other stuff */
    [timer invalidate], timer = nil;
    [mainTimerTarget release], mainTimerTarget = nil;
    /* more stuff */
    [super dealloc];
}

Notice how the time interval is 1.0/10.0 - this could also be written 0.1, but it cannot be written 1/10, as that division will truncate to 0.0.

Also notice how this breaks the retain cycle:

• Both you and your timer retain the timer target.
• You hit dealloc at the normal time.
• You then invalidate the timer and release the timer target.
• The timer target is then deallocated.