In iOS 7 and later one would generally employ keyframe animation to achieve this effect.
For example, a two second animation sequence that is composed of four separate animations that take up 25% of the entire animation each would look like:
[UIView animateKeyframesWithDuration:2.0 delay:0.0 options:UIViewKeyframeAnimationOptionRepeat animations:^{
[UIView addKeyframeWithRelativeStartTime:0.00 relativeDuration:0.25 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.frame = ...;
}];
[UIView addKeyframeWithRelativeStartTime:0.25 relativeDuration:0.25 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.frame = ...;
}];
[UIView addKeyframeWithRelativeStartTime:0.50 relativeDuration:0.25 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.frame = ...;
}];
[UIView addKeyframeWithRelativeStartTime:0.75 relativeDuration:0.25 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.frame = ...;
}];
} completion:nil];
In earlier iOS versions, you could queue up a series of animations a couple of ways, but I'd encourage you to avoid using a semaphore on the main thread.
One approach would be to wrap the animation in a concurrent NSOperation subclass, which doesn't complete until the animation does. You can then add your animations to your own custom serial queue:
NSOperationQueue *animationQueue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
animationQueue.maxConcurrentOperationCount = 1;
[animationQueue addOperation:[[AnimationOperation alloc] initWithDuration:1.0 delay:0.0 options:0 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.center = point1;
}]];
[animationQueue addOperation:[[AnimationOperation alloc] initWithDuration:1.0 delay:0.0 options:0 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.center = point2;
}]];
[animationQueue addOperation:[[AnimationOperation alloc] initWithDuration:1.0 delay:0.0 options:0 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.center = point3;
}]];
[animationQueue addOperation:[[AnimationOperation alloc] initWithDuration:1.0 delay:0.0 options:0 animations:^{
viewToAnimate.center = point4;
}]];
The AnimationOperation subclass might look like:
// AnimationOperation.h
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
@interface AnimationOperation : NSOperation
- (instancetype)initWithDuration:(NSTimeInterval)duration delay:(NSTimeInterval)delay options:(UIViewAnimationOptions)options animations:(void (^)(void))animations;
@end
and
// AnimationOperation.m
#import "AnimationOperation.h"
@interface AnimationOperation ()
@property (nonatomic, readwrite, getter = isFinished) BOOL finished;
@property (nonatomic, readwrite, getter = isExecuting) BOOL executing;
@property (nonatomic, copy) void (^animations)(void);
@property (nonatomic) UIViewAnimationOptions options;
@property (nonatomic) NSTimeInterval duration;
@property (nonatomic) NSTimeInterval delay;
@end
@implementation AnimationOperation
@synthesize finished = _finished;
@synthesize executing = _executing;
- (instancetype)initWithDuration:(NSTimeInterval)duration delay:(NSTimeInterval)delay options:(UIViewAnimationOptions)options animations:(void (^)(void))animations {
self = [super init];
if (self) {
_animations = animations;
_options = options;
_delay = delay;
_duration = duration;
}
return self;
}
- (void)start {
if ([self isCancelled]) {
self.finished = YES;
return;
}
self.executing = YES;
[self main];
}
- (void)main {
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[UIView animateWithDuration:self.duration delay:self.delay options:self.options animations:self.animations completion:^(BOOL finished) {
[self completeOperation];
}];
});
}
#pragma mark - NSOperation methods
- (void)completeOperation {
if (self.isExecuting) self.executing = NO;
if (!self.isFinished) self.finished = YES;
}
- (BOOL)isAsynchronous {
return YES;
}
- (BOOL)isExecuting {
@synchronized(self) { return _executing; }
}
- (BOOL)isFinished {
@synchronized(self) { return _finished; }
}
- (void)setExecuting:(BOOL)executing {
if (_executing != executing) {
[self willChangeValueForKey:@"isExecuting"];
@synchronized(self) { _executing = executing; }
[self didChangeValueForKey:@"isExecuting"];
}
}
- (void)setFinished:(BOOL)finished {
if (_finished != finished) {
[self willChangeValueForKey:@"isFinished"];
@synchronized(self) { _finished = finished; }
[self didChangeValueForKey:@"isFinished"];
}
}
@end
In my demonstration, above, I used a serial queue. But you could also use a concurrent queue, but use NSOperation dependencies to manage the relationship between the various animation operations. Lots of options here.
If you want to cancel the animations, you could then do something like the following:
CALayer *layer = [viewToAnimate.layer presentationLayer];
CGRect frame = layer.frame; // identify where it is now
[animationQueue cancelAllOperations]; // cancel the operations
[viewToAnimate.layer removeAllAnimations]; // cancel the animations
viewToAnimate.frame = frame; // set the final position to where it currently is
You could also incorporate this into a custom cancel method in the operation, too, if you want.
