Reset an NSTimer's firing time to be from now instead of the last fire

Question

I have a NSTimer that fires with an interval of 3 seconds to decrease a value. When I do an action that increases that value, I want to restart the timer to count 3 seconds from that point.

For example, if I increase the value and timer will fires in 1 second, I want to change that and make the timer fire in 3 seconds instead. Can I invalidate the timer and create it again? Or can I do it with setFireDate:, using the current date and adding an interval of 3 seconds?

Answer 1

Yes, you can invalidate it. And create it again.

You can also use:

- (void) myTimedTask {
    // other stuff this task needs to do

    // change the variable varyingDelay to be 1s or 3s or...  This can be an instance variable or global that is changed by other parts of your app
    // weStillWantTimer is also a similar variable that your app uses to stop this recurring task

if (weStillWantTimer)
       [self performSelector:@selector(myTimedTask:) withObject:gameColor afterDelay:varyingDelay];

 }

You call myTimedTask to start the recurring task. Once it is started, you can change the delay with varyingDelay or stop it with weStillWantTimer.