Re: Question about NSRunLoop -runUntilDate:

[Richard Frith-Macdonald]

On 1 Aug 2005, at 11:04, Chris Vetter wrote:

> On Mon, 01 Aug 2005 08:53:23 Richard Frith-Macdonald wrote:
>
> > > Maybe this has an obvious answer but if so I can't see it... :-(
> > The documentation for -runUntilDate: says
> > Runs the loop in NSDefaultRunLoopMode by repeated calls to
> > -runMode:beforeDate: while there are still input sources.  Exits  
> > when no
> > more input sources remain, or date is reached, whichever occurs  
> > first.
>
> Yes, I know, but...
>
>
> > So I guess you could send the notification when the method returns.
>
> While the runloop 'runs' for X minutes, it contains a timer that  
> fires every
> Y seconds calling a selector. There is no method 'blocking' the  
> application,
> rather the runloop works in the background.

Do you mean that the runloop is working in another thread?

> I was hoping that once the runloop stops, it would invalidate  
> (which could
> be checked) but that doesn't seem to be the case.

No ... runloops never become 'invalid' ... though -limitDateForMode:  
will check to see if there are inputs remaining.

> Would it be possible to create an observer that checks - 
> limitDateForMode: ?
> As far as I understand its documentation, if there is no timer  
> scheduled
> (anymore) the method should return no date (nil?) -- which would  
> mean that
> the limitDate (used in -runUntilDate:) has been reached.

No ... runloops are meant to be thread-local, and it's not safe to  
monitor a runloop running in one thread from an other thread.

If you want a notification when there are no more inputs for a  
runloop, you can just use -runUntilDate:

eg.

[[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] runUntilDate: endDate];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:  
@"NoInputsLeft" object:  [NSRunLoop currentRunLoop]];
// continue processing in this thread.