This is a guard that tracks down UIKit access on threads other than main. This snippet is taken from the commercial iOS PDF framework http://pspdfkit.com, but relicensed under MIT. Works because a lot of calls internally call setNeedsDisplay or setNeedsLayout. Won't catch everything, but it's very lightweight and usually does the job.You might n…

PSPDFUIKitMainThreadGuard.m

// Taken from the commercial iOS PDF framework http://pspdfkit.com.
// Copyright (c) 2014 Peter Steinberger, PSPDFKit GmbH. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under MIT (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
//
// You should only use this in debug builds. It doesn't use private API, but I wouldn't ship it.

// PLEASE DUPE rdar://27192338 (https://openradar.appspot.com/27192338) if you would like to see this in UIKit.

#import <objc/runtime.h>
#import <objc/message.h>

// Compile-time selector checks.
#if DEBUG
#define PROPERTY(propName) NSStringFromSelector(@selector(propName))
#else
#define PROPERTY(propName) @#propName
#endif

// http://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/friday-qa-2010-01-29-method-replacement-for-fun-and-profit.html
BOOL PSPDFReplaceMethodWithBlock(Class c, SEL origSEL, SEL newSEL, id block) {
    NSCParameterAssert(c);
    NSCParameterAssert(origSEL);
    NSCParameterAssert(newSEL);
    NSCParameterAssert(block);
    
    if ([c instancesRespondToSelector:newSEL]) return YES; // Selector already implemented, skip silently.

    Method origMethod = class_getInstanceMethod(c, origSEL);

    // Add the new method.
    IMP impl = imp_implementationWithBlock(block);
    if (!class_addMethod(c, newSEL, impl, method_getTypeEncoding(origMethod))) {
        PSPDFLogError(@"Failed to add method: %@ on %@", NSStringFromSelector(newSEL), c);
        return NO;
    }else {
        Method newMethod = class_getInstanceMethod(c, newSEL);

        // If original doesn't implement the method we want to swizzle, create it.
        if (class_addMethod(c, origSEL, method_getImplementation(newMethod), method_getTypeEncoding(origMethod))) {
            class_replaceMethod(c, newSEL, method_getImplementation(origMethod), method_getTypeEncoding(newMethod));
        }else {
            method_exchangeImplementations(origMethod, newMethod);
        }
    }
    return YES;
}

SEL _PSPDFPrefixedSelector(SEL selector) {
    return NSSelectorFromString([NSString stringWithFormat:@"pspdf_%@", NSStringFromSelector(selector)]);
}

#define PSPDFAssert(expression, ...) \
do { if(!(expression)) { \
NSLog(@"%@", [NSString stringWithFormat: @"Assertion failure: %s in %s on line %s:%d. %@", #expression, __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __FILE__, __LINE__, [NSString stringWithFormat:@"" __VA_ARGS__]]); \
abort(); }} while(0)

void PSPDFAssertIfNotMainThread(void) {
    PSPDFAssert(NSThread.isMainThread, @"\nERROR: All calls to UIKit need to happen on the main thread. You have a bug in your code. Use dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{ ... }); if you're unsure what thread you're in.\n\nBreak on PSPDFAssertIfNotMainThread to find out where.\n\nStacktrace: %@", NSThread.callStackSymbols);
}

__attribute__((constructor)) static void PSPDFUIKitMainThreadGuard(void) {
    @autoreleasepool {
        for (NSString *selStr in @[PROPERTY(setNeedsLayout), PROPERTY(setNeedsDisplay), PROPERTY(setNeedsDisplayInRect:)]) {
            SEL selector = NSSelectorFromString(selStr);
            SEL newSelector = NSSelectorFromString([NSString stringWithFormat:@"pspdf_%@", selStr]);
            if ([selStr hasSuffix:@":"]) {
                PSPDFReplaceMethodWithBlock(UIView.class, selector, newSelector, ^(__unsafe_unretained UIView *_self, CGRect r) {
                    // Check for window, since *some* UIKit methods are indeed thread safe.
                    // https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#releasenotes/General/WhatsNewIniPhoneOS/Articles/iPhoneOS4.html
                    /*
                     Drawing to a graphics context in UIKit is now thread-safe. Specifically:

                     The routines used to access and manipulate the graphics context can now correctly handle contexts residing on different threads.

                     String and image drawing is now thread-safe.

                     Using color and font objects in multiple threads is now safe to do.
                     */
                    if (_self.window) PSPDFAssertIfNotMainThread();
                    ((void ( *)(id, SEL, CGRect))objc_msgSend)(_self, newSelector, r);
                });
            }else {
                PSPDFReplaceMethodWithBlock(UIView.class, selector, newSelector, ^(__unsafe_unretained UIView *_self) {
                    if (_self.window) {
                        if (!NSThread.isMainThread) {
#pragma clang diagnostic push
#pragma clang diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
                            dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_current_queue();
#pragma clang diagnostic pop
                            // iOS 8 layouts the MFMailComposeController in a background thread on an UIKit queue.
                            // https://github.com/PSPDFKit/PSPDFKit/issues/1423
                            if (!queue || !strstr(dispatch_queue_get_label(queue), "UIKit")) {
                                PSPDFAssertIfNotMainThread();
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    ((void ( *)(id, SEL))objc_msgSend)(_self, newSelector);
                });
            }
        }
    }
}

I made a swift version

Still not clear to me how to actually use this. The file is in my project and it appears in the Compile Build Phase. Do I need to import the file in the AppDelegate or somewhere and is there a call I need to make? I ask because it's not catching any problems but the new version of Xcode 7.1 seems to think there are issues. It's giving me a stack trace saying that I'm modifying the autolayout engine from a background thread.

This application is modifying the autolayout engine from a background thread, which can lead to engine corruption and weird crashes. This will cause an exception in a future release.

How much can one love a single gist? <3

Minor improvements: Moved "#define PSPDFAssert(expression, ...) ...", commented "PSPDFLogError ..." out and added "#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>". If interested, you can pull from here: https://gist.github.com/drct/bb4b1f93f8790cca9c9f (since no pull requests are possible with gists.

Is there an OSX version of this?

How to use it:
@ponchorage just add the .m file (the one @drct enhanced) to your project, then after it is added to your project go to Build Phases -> Compile Sources and find the PSPDFUIKitMainThreadGuard.m double click it add the non-arc compiling flag. -fno-objc-arc
That is it.

Doesn't work for me. No exception is caught.

@jerry-sl You can use swizzle on UIView in Swift, here is an example https://github.com/onmyway133/MainThreadGuard
You can use DEBUG custom flag http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24003291/ifdef-replacement-in-swift-language or use assert

How to use PSPDFUIKitMainThreadGuard.m . I am getting error

Undefined symbols for architecture armv7:
"_PSPDFAssert", referenced from:
_PSPDFReplaceMethodWithBlock in PSPDFUIKitMainThreadGuard.o
(maybe you meant: _PSPDFAssertIfNotMainThread)
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture armv7
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

@sahabe1 same as me, but look this

drct commented on 12 Nov 2015
Minor improvements: Moved "#define PSPDFAssert(expression, ...) ...", commented "PSPDFLogError ..." out and added "#import ". If interested, you can pull from here: https://gist.github.com/drct/bb4b1f93f8790cca9c9f (since no pull requests are possible with gists.

Please dupe https://openradar.appspot.com/27192338 if you want to see this in UIKit.

I set the image of UIImageView in another thread ,it can't detect the illegal operation.
Is there another way to detect it ?

it just worked for me, thank you!

@nrbrook you are literally god

FYI the Swift port by @onmyway133 will probably be broken soon. Any other thoughts on how to get this done? This is a great saver when sometimes forgetting to go back to the UI Thread.

Stacktrace: (
0 MYXJ 0x000000010238faec PSPDFAssertIfNotMainThread + 84
1 MYXJ 0x000000010238fc10 __PSPDFUIKitMainThreadGuard_block_invoke_2 + 36
2 UIKitCore 0x00000001e470ccc4 + 336
3 UIKitCore 0x00000001e4738548 + 1644
4 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00000001b5f1b604 + 68
5 QuartzCore 0x00000001bb3b1f94 + 188
6 QuartzCore 0x00000001bb3b2274 + 328
7 QuartzCore 0x00000001bb316000 + 332
8 QuartzCore 0x00000001bb345518 + 624
9 QuartzCore 0x00000001bb346358 + 96
10 CoreFoundation 0x00000001b6cb3fe0 + 36
11 CoreFoundation 0x00000001b6caeab8 + 408
12 CoreFoundation 0x00000001b6caf03c + 1248
13 CoreFoundation 0x00000001b6cae844 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452
14 WebCore 0x00000001bfcc70e0 + 572
15 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00000001b6929a04 + 132
16 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00000001b6929960 _pthread_start + 52
17 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00000001b6931df4 thread_start + 4
)

Triggers on WebThread