Code not working once deployed - objective-c

I've got the following code in a thread in my application:
while (true) {
if (ready) {
progressIndicatorController.value++;
return;
}
}
The ready variable is changed from a delegate method. This code works great when I open the application by clicking the "Run" button in Xcode's toolbar. However, if I open this application's .app (which I create by clicking Product > Archive and then following the steps) this code somehow doesn't work anymore.
progressIndicatorController.value is never incremented and this if-statement never evaluates to true. What could cause this problem?

This is probably caused by optimization from the compiler.
When you build with Archive, XCode enabled optimization in the compiler that could throw this kind of code away. I think setting the ready variable to volatile could fix your problem, altough if I were you I'd just try to rewrite it so it doesn't trigger this problem.
You can test with optimization turned on by choosing Edit Schemes in the scheme dropdown. Then set Build Configuration to Release in the Run MyApp.app. Don't forget to set it back to Debug when you're done though, as the debugger gets somewhat confused when optimization are on (i.e. you can't see the value of most variables, some breakpoints may behave erratically, etc...)

Related

#NotNull, #Nonnull etc. all don't work in IntelliJ IDEA

I have tried annotating a field with
org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.NonNull
org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull
javax.annotation.Nonnull
And in all cases, assigning a null to it generates no complaints from IntelliJ 2016.2.
public class GreetingController {
#NotNull Integer x = 3;
public void foo() { x = null; }
}
That all compiles fine according to IntelliJ.
This page from IntelliJ specifically states that "IntelliJ IDEA highlights the problems “on-the-fly”, so you can see the inspection results right in the editor." I have even copied the example code (public class TestNullable) into my editor and it produces no errors.
This other page from IntelliJ states you can change the annotations it responds to. So I chose javax.annotation.Nonnull and made sure that was the one I was using in my code, still no luck.
To be clear, what I'm hoping for, and what I understand should be provided, is that the editor window / compiler alerts me to the problem (I am not looking for a runtime check, NullPointerException already works fine at runtime.)
In case it didn't work in real time, I tried "Rebuild Project".
I'm sure this must work, what am I doing wrong?
I have uploaded an example of this not working here: ZIP download.
As I can see from your screenshots and the sample project, IntelliJ IDEA does show you the warnings. Note that these warnings are shown by the code inspections which are running on the fly and will be displayed in the editor or in the Analyze | Inspect Code results. These warnings will not be displayed by the compiler.
Note that you can configure the warnings highlighting if needed (for example add the underwave effect):
You can also change the severity of the inspection (like to Error):
You may also want to vote for this feature request:
IDEA-78625 Provide inspection severity level that will work like validation and abort compilation
As a bonus, pay attention to the javax.annotation.Nullable annotation, it may be not what you think it's for, see this comment and the documentation. For some years IntelliJ IDEA has incorrectly suggested to use this annotation, while the correct one for such cases would be javax.annotation.CheckForNull:
This annotation is useful mostly for overriding a Nonnull annotation.
Static analysis tools should generally treat the annotated items as
though they had no annotation, unless they are configured to minimize
false negatives. Use CheckForNull to indicate that the element value
should always be checked for a null value.
"Settings" > "Inspections" > "Probable Bugs" > "Constant conditions & exceptions"
Tick the first option: "Suggest #NotNull annotation for methods that possibly return null and report nullable values passed to non-annotated parameters.
Click "Configure Annotations". By default, Intellij will use their own annotations from org.jetbrains.annotation. I was using the more general (my own opinion) annotations from javax.annotation.
I set Nullable to: javax.annotation.Nullable
I set NotNUll to : javax.annotation.NotNull
In order to set these new options, you must click them, then click the tiny checkmark button to the right to set it. Selecting the javax.annotation annotations then hitting "OK" will NOT lock in the new settings, you must use the checkbox button.
After successfully specifying javax.annotation.Nullable and javax.annotation.NotNull, the code correctly highlighted null problems.
The best that this can do is offer up warnings. It will not stop compilation from happening, since the annotations do not prohibit or preclude code compilation from taking place.
Be sure that you have the appropriate inspections enabled in your IDE, and be sure that you remain aware of what parameters you're passing into your method. The IDE can at best warn you, but it can't really stop you.
Alternatively, introduce a unit test to fail if that method receives a null parameter, and rely on that to ensure that you're not breaking code or expectations.

Cannot inspect Self in method while debugging

I have a method on one of my ViewController's that is called by one of its view's and delivered some value. It then sends out a message to a manager object with some information about the VC's state.
- (void)elementXChangedWithValue:(float)value {
ParameterManager * pMan = [ParameterManager sharedInstance];
[pMan updateParameter:self.elementX.parameter value:value];
}
In debugging, it was important for me to inspect what the .SomeElement.parameter state was so I could know what was getting lost in translation by the time I get to my ParameterManager.
Unfortunately, although Self is definitely non-nil and accessible the debugger shows scant information about the class making quick and practical glancing of the value difficult. (i will sometimes invoke "po" command in the debugger command line, however).
Not sure if it helps but this project is running heavy with the Objective-C/Swift interoperability although the ViewController is a fully Objective-C class.
Here is an image of what I am getting in the debugger. The drop-down arrow shows nothing but empty.
The debugger isn't perfect and sometimes you just cant see what is in certain areas, such as self. What does always work is NSLog's placed in code though, so if all else fails, add one of those in at the right place to print out the object you wish to know about.
The debugger may show more info after you make it execute these commands:
expr #import UIKit;
expr #import Foundation;
This loads the whole UIKit and Foundation symbols in the debugger at runtime, you only need to execute it once per debug session.
You can automate this with a user-defined breakpoint that'll be triggered every time your application starts in the debugger.
Source : http://furbo.org/2015/05/11/an-import-ant-change-in-xcode/

Why doesn't Xcode suggest #synchronized?

I only rarely use #synchronized, but as far as I can remember (meaning around Xcode 3.2 or something), it never suggested #synchronized when using the auto-completion, and still never does.
I do get suggestions when typing '#', like #autorelease, #encode, #selector and so forth.
Is there any known reason for this ? I wasn't able to find any related topic. It's been bugging me, because it gives me the feeling that this is not a valid method to handle concurrency in iOS.
#synchronized does not appear when using auto-completion because Apple has not mapped that keyword to any code sense implementation.
Per Apple's suggestion, I have filed a bug report.
However, I can offer an auto-complete solution.
You may create an #synchronized snippet that can be auto-completed or drag and dropped into your code.
Copy/paste the code below into one of your Xcode documents.
Select the new code and drag it to your snippets library.
Double-click the new snippet and click edit.
Enter #synchronized for the completion shortcut.
For more info: http://nshipster.com/xcode-snippets/
#synchronized(anObj) {
// Everything between the braces is protected by the #synchronized directive.
}

EXC_BAD_ACCESS on animationForKey:

I'm trying to use a recent feature of the Scintilla component, which provides OSX-like text-highlighting effect (the yellow animated bouncing box), and I'm stuck with an error that pops up intermittently :
EXC_BAD_ACCESS
pointing to this particular line :
if (layerFindIndicator!=nil)
if ([layerFindIndicator animationForKey:#"animateFound"])
[layerFindIndicator removeAnimationForKey:#"animateFound"];
(the ifs are mine; just in case I caught the object layerFindIndicator being nil, or deallocated or whatever... Unfortunately, it doesn't help...)
layerFindIndicator is seemingly a subclass of CAGradientLayer. (You may see the full code for layerFindIndicator, here).
Since, I'm an absolute newbie to Quartz Core, could please give me any hint as to HOW this could be debugged?
Since, I'm an absolute newbie to Quartz Core, could please give me any hint as to HOW this could be debugged?
This doesn't have anything to do with QuartzCore specifically (at least, I hope not)—it's general this-object-has-been-killed-before-its-time-how-do-I-find-the-killer stuff.
In Xcode:
Edit your current scheme.
For the Profile action, set it to use the Debug build configuration.
Dismiss that and then hit the Profile command.
Xcode will build for that action and then launch Instruments.
Instruments will prompt you to choose a template; you want the Zombies template. Once you've chosen it, Instruments will create a trace document and run your application. Switch to your application (if it isn't already frontmost), then do whatever causes the crash.
If the crash really is a dead-object crash, Zombies will reveal it. You'll get a flag in Instruments's timeline saying something like “message sent to zombie object 0xd3c2b1a0”, and your program will probably exit shortly thereafter.
In that flag is a tiny little button that looks like this: ➲ except it'll be gray. Click on it.
That takes you to the history of that object (actually of that address, including any previous objects or other allocations that have started at that address). Show your Extended Detail Pane (the one that appears on the right showing a stack trace), then scroll down to the end and then move backward (upward) step by step through time, looking at releases and autoreleases, looking for the one that isn't balancing out the object's allocation or a retain.
The solution will probably involve one or more of:
Changing a property to be strong or weak rather than assign/unsafe_unretained
Adding a property where you previously did not strongly own an object
Rearchitecting some things, if it's not clear which of the above you need to do or if either one of them seems like a filthy hack
Switching to ARC to get weak properties and __weak instance variables (both of which get set to nil automatically when the referenced object dies) and to get local variables being implicitly initialized to nil
But it'll depend on what you find in Instruments. And, of course, there's the chance that your problem—the bad access—isn't a dead object at all and all of the above will not help you.
Try this:
if (layerFindIndicator!=nil){
if ([layerFindIndicator animationForKey:#"animateFound"]){
[layerFindIndicator removeAnimationForKey:#"animateFound"];
}
}
Also check to see if it is released else were.
EDIT:
Another thing I found was you didn't have an white space in the if. Your code should now look like this:
if (layerFindIndicator != nil){
if ([layerFindIndicator animationForKey:#"animateFound"]){
[layerFindIndicator removeAnimationForKey:#"animateFound"];
}
}

iOS 5 TableView crashes

Something got changed at the new SDK and my code suddenly isn't working.
I created a new empty project and created only a UITableView in it.
I used the same code as i've been used to, except the compiler said that i do not need to use autorelease anymore, so i removed it.
Oh, and I replaced retain with strong as i was recommended.
When I run the app it shows the TableView like it should look, but the minute i touch anywhere on screen, like scrolling for example, it crashes with EXC_BAD_ACCESS error.
What do I miss??
You should post some more informations on where your program crashed! But I don't think the mentioned compiler warnings are the reason. You should have tried to run your project with the compiler by turning of ARC (automatic reference count) and see what happens. If you can go back, do that first.
Also maybe there went something wrong with the changes you made because of ARC . If you have not done the changes with the Xcode refactoring tool I recommend you doing so.
Therefor select in the Xcode Menu:
Edit > Refactor > Convert to Objectiv-C ARC...
It will go through your code and apply the changes. Apple recommends though that your project should work without crashes and warnings before using it.