Objective-c convert a parent class to its derived class - objective-c

Question

I have a custom class named MyImage inherit from UIImage. Now I have a UIImage object, is there any ways to convert it into a MyImage object?
Update
Sorry for being unclear.
I cannot use a category because I need to add new properties to my class.
What I want to accomplish is to just let my MyImage object point to the original UIImage object.
Update 2
I tried something like this:
- (MyImage*)initWithUIImage:(UIImage *)image {
if (self = [super init]) {
self = image;
}
return self;
}
Obvious it does not work.
Also, since UIImage does not have a method named 'initWithImage:(UIImage*)', I cannot write something like
myImage = [[MyImage alloc] initWithImage:uiImage];
I also tried
self = [image copy]
But the return value is still a UIImage object, not a MyImage object.
Update 3
In MyImage, I need to add 3 properties: url, width, and height. Since I am writing a instant messaging app, and when receiving a new image message, I only have its url, width, and height. Then I assign those to a MyImage object, and download the image in the background.
Now given an original UIImage A, I want to create a new MyImage object B, which points to the same image as A, but with those new properties unassigned. Then I manually assign url, width, and height to B.
to #rmaddy, could you tell me how to write the method
[[MyImage alloc] initWithImage:(UIImage*)]
?
One way I can come up is first convert the UIImage object to NSData, then use
[MyImage imageWithData:]
Is there a better way?

Answer 1

I do not necessarily recommend this as a solution, but there is indeed a way to do exactly what you are looking for. It is called ISA Swizzling. Think of it like method swizzling but for Classes instead of methods.
Take a look at the Objective-C runtime's object_setClass [link]
I won't go into it (there are better resources out there), but this is essentially how KVO works. Regardless, it would be helpful if you better described the functionality of your UIImage subclass, so that we could help describe why a custom initializer as rmaddy describes is probably the best solution.

Answer 2

Your MyImage class is a subclass of UIImage, so if you're creating a new instance you need to properly initialize the superclass as well. UIImage doesn't provide a method to do that from another UIImage instance, but you can use a CGImage, and you can get one of those from the existing image. So do this:
- (MyImage*)initWithUIImage:(UIImage *)image {
if (self = [super initWithCGImage:image.CGImage]) {
// put any necessary MyImage-specific stuff here
}
return self;
}