// Concurrent_NSOperation (TM)
// Copyright (C) 2011-2012 by David Hoerl
// 
// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
// of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
// in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
// to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
// copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
// furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
// 
// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
// all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
// 
// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
// IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
// FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
// AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
// LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
// OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
// THE SOFTWARE.
//

v1.2:
- add a concurrent queue to insure access to the "operations" set is thread safe
- note that this code is being used in several apps in the app store.


This project allows you to explore the full usage of Concurrent NSOperations. Refer to Apple's "Concurrency Programming Guide", the NSOperation Class Reference, and the NSOperationQueue class reference for general background details.

The above docs tell you that concurrent operations exist, but also tell you they have little value for most developers. Well that might have been true at one time, but on iOS this style meshes perfectly with asunchronous NSURLConnections.

The code contained in this project lets you run a concurrent operation, message it, have it perform a NSURLConnection image fetch, and cancel it. Although the app only ever runs one operation, it uses a mutable set to hold the operation. The usage of the set makes cancellation race conditions easier to handle. Those who wish to use concurrent operations can get a head start by using the code sections where this set is used.

USAGE
					
The "Cancel Before Running" on/off button lets you optionally force the condition of cancellation occurring while the operation is in the OperationQueue but hs not yet started.

"Run" instantiates an operation and adds it to both the mutable set and the operation queue.

"Fail In Setup" optionally sets a flag so the setup method of the operation mimics a real setup failure.

"Message" send the operation a selector (which does nothing itself) on every press. On the fifth press the operation sets itself as finished and thus completes.

"Cancel" sends the queue a "cancelAllOperations" message, which is what you would do in your code if you needed to force everything to stop (in iOS - think user hits back button).

"Run Connection" starts the NSURLConnection, which completes when either a failure occurrs or an image is downloaded from Apple's site.


HAVE FUN!

Suggestions or corrections to dhoerl at mac dot com