NSTimers dilemma

Question

Below is some of the code for a free app I'm creating for my pupils at school. It is very simple and counts the number of times they tap the screen within ten seconds. I have one timer countDownTimer which counts down from 3 to 0 and then sets off my next timer 'myTimer' which then does the main countdown from 10 - 0. Everything works great in my app except the touches began starts when the first timer has been set off and I only want it to work when the second has been set off (for the 10 seconds).

Can anyone see where I've gone wrong?

#import "newgameViewController.h"
#import <AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h>
#import "ViewController.h"

@implementation newgameViewController
@synthesize tapStatus, score, time, countDown;

-(IBAction)start {

[myTimer invalidate];
score.text= @"";
time.text= @"10";
tapStatus.text= @"";
[countDownTimer invalidate];
countDownTimer = nil;
countDown.text= @"3";

countDownTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:1 target:self   
selector:@selector(showActivityCountDown) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];

CFBundleRef mainBundle = CFBundleGetMainBundle();
CFURLRef soundFileURLRef;
soundFileURLRef =CFBundleCopyResourceURL(mainBundle, 
                                         (CFStringRef) @"beep", CFSTR ("wav"), NULL);

UInt32 soundID;
AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID(soundFileURLRef, &soundID);
AudioServicesPlaySystemSound(soundID);


}


-(IBAction)stop{

[myTimer invalidate];
myTimer = nil;
[countDownTimer invalidate];
countDownTimer = nil;
countDown.text= @"3";
}


-(IBAction)reset {

[myTimer invalidate];
myTimer = nil;
score.text= @"";
time.text= @"10";
tapStatus.text= @"";

[countDownTimer invalidate];
countDownTimer = nil;
countDown.text= @"3";


}


-(void)showActivityCountDown {

int currentTimeCount = [countDown.text intValue];
int newTimeCount = currentTimeCount - 1;

countDown.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", newTimeCount];

if(currentTimeCount == 3)
{
    CFBundleRef mainBundle = CFBundleGetMainBundle();
    CFURLRef soundFileURLRef;
    soundFileURLRef =CFBundleCopyResourceURL(mainBundle, 
                                             (CFStringRef) @"beep", CFSTR ("wav"), NULL);

    UInt32 soundID;
    AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID(soundFileURLRef, &soundID);
    AudioServicesPlaySystemSound(soundID);

}

else if(currentTimeCount == 2)
{
    CFBundleRef mainBundle = CFBundleGetMainBundle();
    CFURLRef soundFileURLRef;
    soundFileURLRef =CFBundleCopyResourceURL(mainBundle, 
                                             (CFStringRef) @"beep", CFSTR ("wav"), NULL);

    UInt32 soundID;
    AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID(soundFileURLRef, &soundID);
    AudioServicesPlaySystemSound(soundID);

}


 else if(currentTimeCount == 1)
{
    CFBundleRef mainBundle = CFBundleGetMainBundle();
    CFURLRef soundFileURLRef;
    soundFileURLRef =CFBundleCopyResourceURL(mainBundle, 
                                             (CFStringRef) @"beep", CFSTR ("wav"), NULL);

    UInt32 soundID;
    AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID(soundFileURLRef, &soundID);
    AudioServicesPlaySystemSound(soundID);
    [countDownTimer invalidate];
    countDownTimer = nil;
    countDown.text= @"Go!";

myTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.1 target:self   
selector:@selector(showActivity) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];

}
}


-(void)showActivity {

float currentTime = [time.text floatValue];
float newTime = currentTime - 0.1;

time.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%.1f", newTime];

if(currentTime == 0.0)
{
    [myTimer invalidate];
    myTimer = nil;
    time.text= @"STOP!"; 
    score.text = tapStatus.text;
}
}

- (void) touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {

if (myTimer != nil) {
    NSUInteger tapCount = [[touches anyObject] tapCount];

    tapStatus.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d taps", tapCount];


}
}

Answer 1

It seems like using tapCount is not going to be accurate for what you want--it returns

the number of times the user tapped their fingers on a certain point

and it's meant to detect a gesture like a double- or triple-tap. It starts at the point the gesture recognition system decides it's a new gesture.

Instead of that, why don't you keep your own counter in a property:

@property(assign)NSUInteger tapCount;

Then in your touchesBegan:withEvent:, increment that counter:

-(void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
    if (myTimer != nil) {
        self.tapCount = self.tapCount + 1;
        tapStatus.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d taps", self.tapCount];
    }
}