UIButton Touch and Hold

Question

I haven\'t found a very easy way to do this. The ways I\'ve seen require all these timers and stuff. Is there any easy way I can hold a UIButton and cause it to repeat the

Answer 1

Unfortunately, it still looks like you have to code this functionality for yourself. simplest way (You still need a timer though):

A function that performs the action you want to repeat:

-(void) actionToRepeat:(NSTimer *)timer
{
    NSLog(@"Action triggered");
}

in your .h file declare and set a property for a timer:

@interface ClassFoo
{
    NSTimer* holdTimer;
}

Then in the .m make two IBActions:

-(IBAction) startAction: (id)sender
{
    holdTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.4 target:self selector:@selector(actionToRepeat:) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
    [holdTimer retain];
}

-(IBAction) stopAction: (id)sender
{
    [holdTimer invalidate];
    [holdTimer release];
    holdTimer = nil;
}

Then Just link to the Touch Down event in IB from the button to startAction and the Touch Up Inside to the 'Stop Action'. It isn't a one liner but it allows you to customise the rate the action repeats as well as allowing you to trigger it from another outlet/action.

You might consider subclassing UIButton and adding this functionality if you are going to be using this functionality often - then it is only (slightly) painful to implement the first time.