Purpose

MZTimerLabel is a UILabel subclass, which is a handy way to use UILabel as a countdown timer or stopwatch just like that in Apple Clock App with just 2 lines of code. MZTimerLabel also provides delegate method for you to define the action when the timer finished.

Author: MineS Chan and awesome contributors.

Remark: This is my first iOS plugin project on github, please accept my apologize if any bad coding.

Requirements

• ARC
• iOS 5.0+

Installations

Manual

1. Download or clone MZTimerLabel, add MZTimerLabel.h and MZTimerLabel.m source files into your project.
2. #import "MZTimerLabel.h" whereever you need it.

Easy Example

To use MZTimerLabel as a stopwatch and counter, you need only 2 lines.

    MZTimerLabel *stopwatch = [[MZTimerLabel alloc] initWithLabel:aUILabel];
    [stopwatch start];

Easy? If you are looking for a timer, things is just similar.

    MZTimerLabel *timer = [[MZTimerLabel alloc] initWithLabel:aUILabel andTimerType:MZTimerLabelTypeTimer];
    [timer setCountDownTime:60];
    [timer start];

Now the timer will start counting from 60 to 0 ;)

Custom Appearance

As MZTimerLabel is a UILabel subclass, you can directly allocate it as a normal UILabel and customize timeLabel property just like usual.

    MZTimerLabel *redStopwatch = [[MZTimerLabel alloc] init];
    redStopwatch.frame = CGRectMake(100,50,100,20);
    redStopwatch.timeLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:20.0f];
    redStopwatch.timeLabel.textColor = [UIColor redColor];
    [self.view addSubview:redStopwatch];
    [redStopwatch start];

MZTimerLabel uses 00:00:00 (HH:mm:ss) as time format, if you prefer using another format such as including milliseconds.Your can set your time format like below.

timerExample4.timeFormat = @"HH:mm:ss SS";

Control the timer

You can start,pause,reset your timer with your custom control, set your control up and call these methods:

-(void)start;
-(void)pause;
-(void)reset;

Getter and Setters

You may control the time value and behaviours at the begining or during runtime with these properties and methods

@property (assign) BOOL shouldCountBeyondHHLimit;   //see example #12
@property (assign) BOOL resetTimerAfterFinish;      //see example #7

-(void)setCountDownTime:(NSTimeInterval)time;
-(void)setStopWatchTime:(NSTimeInterval)time;
-(void)setCountDownToDate:(NSDate*)date;
-(void)addTimeCountedByTime:(NSTimeInterval)timeToAdd; //see example #10, #11

And if you want to have information of the timer, here is how.

@property (assign,readonly) BOOL counting;  //see example #4-7

- (NSTimeInterval)getTimeCounted;    //see example #3
- (NSTimeInterval)getTimeRemaining;  //see example #3
- (NSTimeInterval)getCountDownTime;  

Timer Finish Handling

Usually when you need a timer, you need to deal with it after it finished. Following are 2 examples showing how to do it using delegate and block methods.

Delegate

First, set the delegate of the timer label.

timer.delegate = self;

And then implement MZTimerLabelDelegate protocol in your dedicated class

@interface ViewController : UIViewController<MZTimerLabelDelegate>

Finally, implement the delegate method timerLabel:finshedCountDownTimerWithTimeWithTime:

 -(void)timerLabel:(MZTimerLabel*)timerLabel finshedCountDownTimerWithTime:(NSTimeInterval)countTime{
    //time is up, what should I do master?
 }

Blocks

Block is a very convenient way to handle the callbacks, MZTimerLabel makes your life even easier.

    MZTimerLabel *timer = [[MZTimerLabel alloc] initWithLabel:aUILabel andTimerType:MZTimerLabelTypeTimer];
    [timer3 setCountDownTime:60]; 
    [timer startWithEndingBlock:^(NSTimeInterval countTime) {
        //oh my gosh, it's awesome!!
    }];

Or set it seperately

    [timer3 setCountDownTime:60]; 
    timer.endedBlock = ^(NSTimeInterval countTime) {
        //oh my gosh, it's awesome!!
    };
    [timer start];

More Examples

Please check the demo project I provided, with well explained example code inside.

License

This code is distributed under the terms and conditions of the MIT license.

What's coming up next?

1. Submit to CocaPods
2. Better performance.
3. Your suggestions!:D