Checking for an exit condition during a long job.

checkThreadExitCondition

// From Apple official document
// https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/Multithreading/CreatingThreads/CreatingThreads.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/10000057i-CH15-SW15

- (void)threadMainRoutine
{
    BOOL moreWorkToDo = YES;
    BOOL exitNow = NO;
    NSRunLoop* runLoop = [NSRunLoop currentRunLoop];
 
    // Add the exitNow BOOL to the thread dictionary.
    NSMutableDictionary* threadDict = [[NSThread currentThread] threadDictionary];
    [threadDict setValue:[NSNumber numberWithBool:exitNow] forKey:@"ThreadShouldExitNow"];
 
    // Install an input source.
    [self myInstallCustomInputSource];
 
    while (moreWorkToDo && !exitNow)
    {
        // Do one chunk of a larger body of work here.
        // Change the value of the moreWorkToDo Boolean when done.
 
        // Run the run loop but timeout immediately if the input source isn't waiting to fire.
        [runLoop runUntilDate:[NSDate date]];
 
        // Check to see if an input source handler changed the exitNow value.
        exitNow = [[threadDict valueForKey:@"ThreadShouldExitNow"] boolValue];
    }
}