remove clip on context in quartz 2d

Question

I have drawn a path to my context with an arc, set that as a clip, and drawn an image into that clip.

CGContextBeginPath(context);
CGContextMoveToPoint(context, lineStartPoint.x, lineStartPoint.y);
CGContextAddArc(context, lineStartPoint.x, lineStartPoint.y, 105, toAngle*M_PI,fromAngle*M_PI , 1);
CGContextMoveToPoint(context, toLinePoint.x, toLinePoint.y);
CGContextClip(context);
[[UIImage imageNamed:@"gradientfill.png"] drawInRect:[self bounds]];

This works perfectly, as shown in this image

My problem is that in the bottom of that gradient I have drawn a circle that I want to exist outside of the clip, it should look like this

How do I get my context to stop clipping so that I can have that circle outside of the clip?

My code for drawing the circle is

CGMutablePathRef path = CGPathCreateMutable();
CGRect toHandleRect = CGRectMake(toLinePoint.x-5, toLinePoint.y-5, 10, 10);    
CGPathAddEllipseInRect(path, NULL, toHandleRect);
CGContextAddPath(context, path);
CGPathRelease(path);

I want the user to be able to drag the little circle to anywhere in that view.

Answer 1

You can issue a CGContextSaveGState + CGContextRestoreGState pair as in the following example:

// Saves the context including the current clipping region.
CGContextSaveGState(context);

// Build you clip region and do some drawing
CGContextBeginPath(context);
CGContextMoveToPoint(context, lineStartPoint.x, lineStartPoint.y);
CGContextAddArc(context, lineStartPoint.x, lineStartPoint.y, 105, toAngle*M_PI,fromAngle*M_PI , 1);
CGContextMoveToPoint(context, toLinePoint.x, toLinePoint.y);
CGContextClip(context);

[[UIImage imageNamed:@"gradientfill.png"] drawInRect:[self bounds]];

CGMutablePathRef path = CGPathCreateMutable();
CGRect toHandleRect = CGRectMake(toLinePoint.x-5, toLinePoint.y-5, 10, 10);    
CGPathAddEllipseInRect(path, NULL, toHandleRect);
CGContextAddPath(context, path);
CGPathRelease(path);

// Restore the original state
CGContextRestoreGState(context);