NSTimer crashes, when I call [Timer isValid] or [Timer invalidate]

Question

I have two NSTimers in my iPhone app. DecreaseTimer works fine, but TimerCountSeconds crashes when I call [timerCountSeconds isValid] or [timerCountSeconds invalidate]. They are used like this:

-(id)initialize { //Gets called, when the app launches and when a UIButton is pressed
 if ([timerCountSeconds isValid]) {
  [timerCountSeconds invalidate];
 } 
}

- (void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event { //Gets called, when you begin touching the screen
 //....
 if ([decreaseTimer isValid]) {
   [decreaseTimer invalidate];
  }
 timerCountSeconds = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.1 target:self selector:@selector(runTimer) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
 //....
}

- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {//Gets called, when you stop touching the screen(not if you press the UIButton for -(id)initialize)
 //...
 decreaseTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.05 target:self selector:@selector(decrease) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
 //...
}
-(void)comept3 { //Gets calles when you rubbed the screen a bit
    if ([timerCountSeconds isValid]) {
    [timerCountSeconds invalidate];
    }
}

What did I do wrong? Can you please help me?

Answer 1

You should set an NSTimer object to nil after you invalidate it, since the invalidate method call also does a release (as per the Apple docs). If you don't, calling a method on it like isValid could cause your crash.

Answer 2

Most likely the timer stored in that variable has already been deallocated. You need to retain it if you want to keep it around for an arbitrarily long time.