Create singleton using GCD's dispatch_once in Objective-C

Question

If you can target iOS 4.0 or above

Using GCD, is it the best way to create singleton in Objective-C (thread safe)?

+ (instancetype)sharedInstance
{
          


        

Answer 1

This is a perfectly acceptable and thread-safe way to create an instance of your class. It may not technically be a "singleton" (in that there can only ever be 1 of these objects), but as long as you only use the [Foo sharedFoo] method to access the object, this is good enough.

Answer 2

Dave is correct, that is perfectly fine. You may want to check out Apple's docs on creating a singleton for tips on implementing some of the other methods to ensure that only one can ever be created if classes choose NOT to use the sharedFoo method.

Answer 3

MySingleton.h

@interface MySingleton : NSObject

+(instancetype)sharedInstance;

+(instancetype)alloc __attribute__((unavailable("alloc not available, call sharedInstance instead")));
-(instancetype)init __attribute__((unavailable("init not available, call sharedInstance instead")));
+(instancetype)new __attribute__((unavailable("new not available, call sharedInstance instead")));
-(instancetype)copy __attribute__((unavailable("copy not available, call sharedInstance instead")));

@end

MySingleton.m

@implementation MySingleton

+(instancetype)sharedInstance {
    static dispatch_once_t pred;
    static id shared = nil;
    dispatch_once(&pred, ^{
        shared = [[super alloc] initUniqueInstance];
    });
    return shared;
}

-(instancetype)initUniqueInstance {
    return [super init];
}

@end

Answer 4

@interface className : NSObject{
+(className*)SingleTonShare;
}

@implementation className

+(className*)SingleTonShare{

static className* sharedObj = nil;
static dispatch_once_t once = 0;
dispatch_once(&once, ^{

if (sharedObj == nil){
    sharedObj = [[className alloc] init];
}
  });
     return sharedObj;
}

Answer 5

You can avoid that the class be allocated with overwriting the alloc method.

@implementation MyClass

static BOOL useinside = NO;
static id _sharedObject = nil;


+(id) alloc {
    if (!useinside) {
        @throw [NSException exceptionWithName:@"Singleton Vialotaion" reason:@"You are violating the singleton class usage. Please call +sharedInstance method" userInfo:nil];
    }
    else {
        return [super alloc];
    }
}

+(id)sharedInstance
{
    static dispatch_once_t p = 0;
    dispatch_once(&p, ^{
        useinside = YES;
        _sharedObject = [[MyClass alloc] init];
        useinside = NO;
    });   
    // returns the same object each time
    return _sharedObject;
}

Answer 6

To create thread safe singleton you can do like this:

@interface SomeManager : NSObject
+ (id)sharedManager;
@end

/* thread safe */
@implementation SomeManager

static id sharedManager = nil;

+ (void)initialize {
    if (self == [SomeManager class]) {
        sharedManager = [[self alloc] init];
    }
}

+ (id)sharedManager {
    return sharedManager;
}
@end

and this blog explain singleton very well singletons in objc/cocoa