What is the proper way to declare a global variable in Objective-C - objective-c

Question

So, I was wondering what the proper way to declare a global variable is in an iOS Project.
I don't want it set as a property, because the variable should not be accessible from outside the class.
I am going to provide a few ways I have seen, let me know which is the proper way, and if there is another way that is better.
This way I add the global variable inside curly braces after the #interface declaration in the implementation file .m. Then I can initialize the variable in the viewDidLoad
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface ViewController () {
int globalVariableTest;
}
#end
#implementation ViewController
Another way I add the global variable inside curly braces after the #implementation declaration in the implementation file .m. Again intializing in the viewDidLoad
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#end
#implementation ViewController {
int globalVariableTest;
}
Another way is adding the variable after the #implementation without the curly braces, also this allows me to set the intial value without the viewDidLoad
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#end
#implementation ViewController
int globalVariableTest = 1;
Another way is to add the variable after the #interface inside the header file .h
#interface ViewController : UIViewController
{
int globalVariableTest;
}
So if there is a better way please let me know, all help will be appreciated!

Answer 1

Declaring variables inside curly braces is actually declaring an instance variable or "ivar" for short. That is, a variable that's local to instances of your class.
This used to only be possible after #interface declarations, which is why you sometimes see it there. This changed around Xcode 4 so that you can now do it after #implementation also. As far as I'm aware, this is just stylistic preference. ivars are never accessible outside a class (in theory. Technically, everything is accessible to everything in C), so defining them in the .h won't make them public. It does expose an implementation detail, though, which is why most code I see now that uses them puts them in the #implementation.
But I don't see them much in code anymore. Because when you define a #property what is actually happening under the covers is an ivar, a getter method, and a setter method are all actually being synthesized for you. The getter and setter methods just get the value of the ivar and set the value of the ivar, respectively.
So if what you want is something that has the same scope as a property, but doesn't come with the -myVar and -setMyVar: methods, then this is the right way to go.
But you probably shouldn't want that. There are a whole bunch of reasons that it's nice to only access ivars through accessor methods. It lets you override functionality, translate values, and all the other sorts of fun things abstraction affords you.
If what you want is a #property that isn't accessible outside the class, just declare it in a class extension:
//In MyClass.m
#interface MyClass()
#property NSNumber *myProperty;
#end
#implementation MyClass
//All your implementation stuff here.
#end
Because it's not in the .h file, it won't be "visible" to other classes (In theory. See above about everything being visible in C).
If on the other hand, what you really truly want is something that is really truly global (hint: you shouldn't. Global variables are generally a smell of bad design), you need to define it at the top of your file outside any #interface or #implementation blocks.
Another related tidbit: To define a "global" variable with a scope limited to a given file, look into C's static keyword. It's interesting.

Answer 2

You can use a singleton class to create/share (read / write) all variables across different classes (view controller).
.h
#interface SharedVariables : NSObject {
NSDictionary *dicti_StackSites;
NSDictionary *dicti_UserMe;
}
#property(nonatomic, strong) NSDictionary *dicti_StackSites;
#property(nonatomic, strong) NSDictionary *dicti_UserMe;
+(id)sharedVariablesManager;
#end
SharedVariables.m
#import "SharedVariables.h"
#implementation SharedVariables
#synthesize dicti_StackSites;
#synthesize dicti_UserMe;
+(id)sharedVariablesManager {
static SharedVariables *sharedVariablesClass = nil;
#synchronized(self) {
if (sharedVariablesClass == nil) {
sharedVariablesClass = [[self alloc] init];
}
}
return sharedVariablesClass;
}
-(id)init {
if (self = [super init]) {
dicti_StackSites = [[NSDictionary alloc] init];
dicti_UserMe = [[NSDictionary alloc] init];
}
return self;
}
-(void)dealloc {
}
#end
Usage from any other class
#import "SharedVariables.h"
SharedVariables *sharedManager = [SharedVariables sharedVariablesManager];
//to get sharedManager.dicti_StackSites
//to set sharedManager.dicti_StackSites = ...