DEPRECATED Eki # Swift 3+ offer a new elegant api for dispatch that makes EKI useless

Eki lets you manage easily concurrency in your apps. This framework makes Grand Central Dispatch easy and fun to use.

Requirements

• iOS 8.0+ / Mac OS X 10.10+
• Xcode 6.3

Queue

Internally GCD manages a pool of threads which process dispatch queues and invoke blocks submitted to them.

Main and Global queues

• Main
• UserInteractive
• UserInitiated
• Default
• Utility
• Background

The queues are ordered in descending priority order.

You access them like so:

Queue.Background

Dispatch

You dispatch a block on queue asynchronously by using async or synchronously by using sync:

// Asynchronously
Queue.Utility.async {
	...
}
// Or asynchronously using the operator shortcut
Queue.Utility <<< {
	...
}

// Synchronously
Queue.Utility.sync { // Eki will prevent deadlock if you submit a sync on the current queue
	...
}

You can send multiple blocks to a queue:

Queue.Utility.async {
	// Block 1
}.async {
	// Block 2
}
// Or by submitting an array of blocks:
let blocks = [{
	// Block 1
}, {
	// Block 2
}]
Queue.Utility.async(blocks)

Custom Queue

Create your own queue (serial or concurrent):

let queue = Queue(name:"QueueName", kind:.Concurrent)
queue.async{
	...
}

Dispatch barrier

Dispatch a block asynchronously with barrier:

let queue:Queue = Queue(name:"QueueName", type:.Concurrent)
...
queue.barrierAsync { // Or operator |<|
	// This block will be executed on the queue only after all previous submitted blocks have been executed
}.barrierAsync {
	// This block will be executed only after the previous barrier block have completed
}

Schedule

Queue.Background.after(2) {
    // Do some stuff on Background after 2 seconds
}

Iterate on a Queue

Queue.Background.iterate(4) { i in
    // Do some stuff on Background 4 times
}

Current Queue

Queue.current // Get current queue
Queue.Background.isCurrent // Check if background is current queue

Take notice that will work only on Custom Queues created with the designed initializer Queue(name:String, kind:Queue.Custom.Kind), the Main queue and Global queues.

Task

A task represents a block to be dispatched on a queue.

let t = Task(queue:.Utility) {
	...
}
// Or
let t = Queue.Utility + {
	...
}

t.async() // Dispatch asynchronously

group.async(t) // Dispatch on a group

let tasks:[Task] = ...
g.async(tasks) // Tasks dispatched on a group.

A task can be chained with a block or an another Task

t.chain {
	// Executed after t on same queue
}.chain(Task(queue:.Main) {
	// Executed after previous block on the main queue
})
t.async()

// Or chain directly after async and use the operator shortcut
t.async() <> {  
	// Executed after t on same queue
} <> Queue.Main + {
	// Executed after previous block on the main queue
}

Group

A group allows to associate multiple blocks to be dispatched asynchronously.

let g = Group(queue:.Utility) // By default the group queue is Background

g.async {
	// Block dispatched on the group's queue.
} <<< {
	// Block dispatched on the group's queue using the operator.
} <<< Task(queue:.Main) {
	// Block dispatched on the Main queue (see Task).
}

let blocks:[()-> Void] = ...
g.async(blocks) // Blocks dispatched on the group's queue.

There is two ways to track group's blocks execution:

g.notify {
	// Block executed on the group queue when blocks previously dispatched on the group have been executed.
}
g.notify(Queue.Main + {
	// Block executed on the Main queue when blocks previously dispatched on the group have been executed.
})

g.wait() // Wait on the current process the group's blocks execution.

Once

Execute a block once and only once.

let once = OnceDispatcher() // Store it somewhere
...
once {
	// Executed only one time
}

Timer

A timer allows to schedule a block on a specified queue with an interval or a date.

let timer = Timer.scheduleWithInterval(2, onQueue: .Background) {
   // Do some stuff on Background after 2 seconds
}
// Equivalent to:
let timer = Timer(queue: .Background, interval: 2)
timer.handler {
  // Do some stuff on Background after 2 seconds
}
timer.start() // Timers are paused at Initialization

A timer can be paused or stopped.

timer.pause()
timer.start()
timer.stop()

A timer can be repeated, use a date...

let date: NSDate = ...
let timer = Timer(queue: .Background, date: date)
timer.repeatInterval = 4
timer.tolerance =  1 // Add some tolerance
timer.handler {
  // Do some stuff on Background on specified date and after every 4 seconds approximately
}
timer.start()

Semaphore

There is three kinds of semaphore:

Initialize a semaphore:

let sem = Semaphore(.Binary)
let customSem = Semaphore(resource:5)

You can decrement/increment semaphore's resource by using wait/signal methods:

sem.wait()
  // Do some stuff when a resource is available
sem.signal()

// Or
sem--
  ...
sem++

Or by using the perform convenient method with a closure:

sem.perform {
	// Do some stuff when a resource is available
}

// Or
sem <<< {
	...
}

Mutex

A mutex is essentially the same thing as a binary semaphore except that only the block that locked the resource is supposed to unlock it.

let m = Mutex()
...
m.sync {
	// Do some stuff when a mutext is available
}

// Or
m <<< {
  ...
}

LockedObject

LockedObject is convenient class to lock access to an object with an internal mutext.

let myobj = MyObject()
let l = LockedObject(myobj)
...
l.access { obj in
	// Only one process at a time will access the locked object
}

// Or
l <<< { obj in
  ...
}

Use with cocoapods

Add pod 'Eki' to your Podfile and run pod install.