iPhone - NSTimer and only calling a function a minimum of n seconds after function last run

Question

just a quick question. I have a function called multiple times with a 5 second period. Is there way to incorporate an NSTimer so that there is a pause between the function calls (ie so there is no way the function can be called before the timer has reached a certain limit)? Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

Alex

Answer 1

If you do not want a certain method to be invoked for a certain time period after it has been invoked, you can do this,

- (void)methodThatDoesStuff {
    static NSDate * lastCalled = nil;
    if ( [[NSDate date] timeIntervalSinceDate:lastCalled] < 5 ) {
        NSLog(@"Call Blocked");
        return;
    }

    NSLog(@"Called");

    [lastCalled release];
    lastCalled = [[NSDate date] retain];
}

This will block all method calls for 5 seconds after the method has been run successfully.