ABPersonSetImageData is extremely slow

Question

I am writing an app that interfaces with the iPhone address book.

Here is the relevant section of my code (from UIImagePickerControllerDelegate)

-(void)imagePickerController:(UIImagePickerController *)picker 
       didFinishPickingImage:(UIImage *)image 
                 editingInfo:(NSDictionary *)editingInfo
{
    ABPersonSetImageData(record, (__bridge CFDataRef)UIImagePNGRepresentation(image), &error);
}

My app lets you take a picture with the camera (using UIImagePictureController), and then stores it as the contact for someone in your address book.

I'm finding that the operation above hangs for 5-10 seconds. 1) Is there a better approach? 2) Why is this so slow?

Yes, its probably 25% faster, but still takes more than 5 seconds. I've got to think there's a faster way to do this though...? — Matt H., Jun 24 '12 at 03:50

mopsled · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-24T08:32:24.133

1

Saving as a JPEG:

UIImageJPEGRepresentation (UIImage *image, CGFloat compressionQuality);

will be faster than UIImagePNGRepresentation, especially if compressionQuality is set to a low value. However, this is still a CPU intensive process, so there's no way to avoid the wait.

The best you can do is show a message that work is being done, so the interface doesn't feel unresponsive. Use something like SVProgressHUD to do that.

edited Jun 24 '12 at 08:32

answered Jun 24 '12 at 08:15

mopsled

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Thanks! It makes me wonder how it gets done so fast in the native Contacts app. I'm guessing a background thread? – Matt H. Jun 25 '12 at 20:22

ABPersonSetImageData is extremely slow

1 Answers1