UIButton sender.titleLabel?.text?.toInt() gives not updated value when pressed too fast

Question

In my application I'm pressing the button and it changes the backgroundcolor and the like number with an iOS default button animation. The default behaviour of the button is like number can only be in the interval [x, x+1] or [x-1, x] where x is the initial value. But if the button is rapidly pressed the like number just increases rapidly or decreases rapidly.

func likeButtonAction(sender:UIButton!) {
    var oldValue = sender.titleLabel?.text?.toInt()
    println("oldvalue \(oldValue)")
        if sender.selected {
            //upvote
            sender.setTitle(String(oldValue! + 1), forState: UIControlState.Normal|UIControlState.Selected)
            println("inc \(oldValue! + 1)")

        } else {
            //downvote
            sender.setTitle(String(oldValue! - 1), forState: UIControlState.Normal|UIControlState.Selected)
            println("dec \(oldValue! - 1)")
        }
}

EDIT1: When rapidly pressed output is:

oldvalue Optional(3)
inc 4
oldvalue Optional(4)
dec 3
oldvalue Optional(3)
inc 4
oldvalue Optional(4)
dec 3
oldvalue Optional(4)
inc 5
oldvalue Optional(5)
dec 4
oldvalue Optional(5)
inc 6
oldvalue Optional(6)
dec 5
oldvalue Optional(6)
inc 7
oldvalue Optional(7)
dec 6
oldvalue Optional(7)
inc 8
oldvalue Optional(8)
dec 7
oldvalue Optional(8)
inc 9
oldvalue Optional(9)
dec 8
oldvalue Optional(8)
inc 9

EDIT2: SOLUTION: this works normally but I have no idea why. Explanation would be appreciated

func likeButtonAction(sender:UIButton!) 
        if sender.selected {
            //upvote
            sender.setTitle(String((sender.titleLabel?.text?.toInt())! + 1), forState: UIControlState.Normal|UIControlState.Selected)
        } else {
            //downvote
            sender.setTitle(String((sender.titleLabel?.text?.toInt())! - 1), forState: UIControlState.Normal|UIControlState.Selected)
        }
}

Answer 1

This will not work since

 if sender.backgroundImageForState(UIControlState.Normal) == UIImage(named: "like.png")

is always false..

UIImage(named: "like.png")

will create new UIImage instance.

You can assign "tag" to any view (In this case a UIButton) to handle such cases.

Answer 2

My suggestion would be to set the button state for .Normal and .Selected as "like.png" and "liked.png" respectively. Then your code can be as simple as:

func likeButtonAction(sender:UIButton!) {
        if sender.selected {
            //upvote
            sender.setTitle(String(oldValue! + 1), forState: UIControlState.Normal)
            sender.setTitleColor(MyStyle.ThemeSecondColor, forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        } else {
            //downvote
            sender.setTitle(String(oldValue! - 1), forState: UIControlState.Normal)
            sender.setTitleColor(MyStyle.ThemeColor, forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        }
        //Quickly flip the button state to the opposite of what it was
        sender.selected = !sender.selected
}

EDIT:

Hmm, you could implement a variable to hold the "count" and set that first, then set the value of the button with that, rather than pulling the value in and out of the button title:

var likeCount:Int = [SET THIS FROM YOUR STORAGE] || 0
func likeButtonAction(sender:UIButton!) {
    if sender.selected {
        //upvote
        likeCount++
        println("inc \(likeCount!)")

    } else {
        //downvote, but do not allow negative values
        if likeCount == 0{
            likeCount = 0
        } else {
            likeCount--
        }
        println("dec \(likeCount!)")
    }
    sender.setTitle(String(likeCount!), forState: UIControlState.Normal)
    sender.selected = !sender.selected
}

This will keep the tracking of the value separate and keep the UI from potentially holding up the process.