UIRefreshControl on viewDidLoad

I'm using the following code to create a UIRefreshControl:

- (void) viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    UIRefreshControl *refreshControl = [[UIRefreshControl alloc] init];
    [refreshControl addTarget:self action:@selector(doLoad) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
    self.refreshControl = refreshControl;
}

- (void) doLoad
{
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(0, 0), ^{
            // Instead of sleeping, I do a webrequest here.
            [NSThread sleepForTimeInterval: 5];

            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
                [tableView reloadData];
                [self.refreshControl endRefreshing];
            });
    });
}

It works great. If I navigate to my view, drag the table, the code runs and the data displays.

However, what I would like to do is have the view in the 'loading' state as soon as it appears (that way the user knows something is going on). I have tried adding the following:

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
    [self.refreshControl beginRefreshing];
}

But it does not seem to work. When I navigate to the view, it looks like a regular view (refresh control is not visible), plus when I try to pull the refresh control, it never finished loading.

Obviously I'm going about this the wrong way. Any suggestions on how I should handle this?

Try this:

- (void) viewWillAppear: (BOOL) animated
{
    [super viewWillAppear: animated];

    self.tableView.contentOffset = CGPointMake(0, -self.refreshControl.frame.size.height);
    [self.refreshControl beginRefreshing];    

    // kick off your async refresh!
    [self doLoad];
}

Remember to call endRefreshing at some point!

EDIT to add full working sample:

This sample view controller, built and run in iOS6.1 as the root viewcontroller starts with the UIRefreshControl already visible and animating when the app launches.

TSTableViewController.h

@interface TSTableViewController : UITableViewController
@end

TSTableViewController.m

#import "TSTableViewController.h"

@implementation TSTableViewController
{
    NSMutableArray*    _dataItems;
}

- (void) viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    self.refreshControl = [UIRefreshControl new];

    [self.refreshControl addTarget: self
                            action: @selector( onRefresh: )
                  forControlEvents: UIControlEventValueChanged];
}

- (void) viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super viewWillAppear: animated];

    self.tableView.contentOffset = CGPointMake(0, -self.refreshControl.frame.size.height);

    [self.refreshControl beginRefreshing];
    [self onRefresh: nil];
}

- (void) onRefresh: (id) sender
{
    double delayInSeconds = 2.0;
    dispatch_time_t popTime = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(delayInSeconds * NSEC_PER_SEC));
    dispatch_after(popTime, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void){

        _dataItems = [NSMutableArray new];

        for ( int i = 0 ; i < arc4random() % 100 ; i++ )
        {
            CFUUIDRef uuid = CFUUIDCreate( NULL );

            [_dataItems addObject: CFBridgingRelease(CFUUIDCreateString( NULL, uuid)) ];

            CFRelease( uuid );
        }

        [self.refreshControl endRefreshing];

        [self.tableView reloadData];
    });
}

#pragma mark - Table view data source

- (NSInteger) numberOfSectionsInTableView: (UITableView *) tableView
{
    return 1;
}

- (NSInteger) tableView:(UITableView *) tableView numberOfRowsInSection: (NSInteger) section
{
    return _dataItems.count;
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    UITableViewCell *cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle: UITableViewCellStyleDefault
                                                   reuseIdentifier: nil];

    cell.textLabel.text = [_dataItems objectAtIndex: indexPath.row];

    return cell;
}

@end