Timeout a NSThread after a certain amount of time

Question

I have a NSThread that i would like to timeout after a certain amount of time.

[NSThread detachNewThreadSelector:@selector(someFuntion) toTarget:self withObject:nil];

- (void) someFunction {
   //Some calculation that might take a long time.
   //if it takes more then 10 seconds i want it to end and display a error message
}

Any help you can provide on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Zen_silence

Answer 1

Try something like this:

workerThread = [[NSThread alloc] initWithTarget:self selector:@selector(someFunction) object:nil];
[workerThread start];
timeoutTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:10.0 target:workerThread selector:@selector(cancel) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];

Be sure that you (1) check workerThread.isCancelled when the thread finishes to see whether the thread timed out, and (2) call [timoutTimer invalidate] to clean up the timer if the thread did not time out.

Answer 2

Instead of using NSThread, use NSOperation. You could then keep a reference to the operation, and set a NSTimer for 10 seconds. If the timer fires, tell the operation to cancel itself.