CALayer not displaying - objective-c

Question

So this is my first ever attempt at using a CALayer. Build is successful and no reported bugs, so I assume I must be doing something obviously wrong. But the layer does not display at all.
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
// Get Reliant Magenta in amazingly verbose manner
CGColorSpaceRef rgbaColorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
CGFloat reliantMagentaValues[4] = {(208/255),(27/255),(124/255),0.3f};
CGColorRef reliantMagenta = CGColorCreate(rgbaColorSpace, reliantMagentaValues);
CALayer *reliantCanvasLayer = [CALayer layer];
reliantCanvasLayer.backgroundColor = reliantMagenta;
reliantCanvasLayer.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 640, 960);
[super viewDidLoad];
[[[self view] layer] addSublayer:reliantCanvasLayer];
CGColorRelease(reliantMagenta);
}
Instead of a full page of magenta, I get back an empty view of grey. How am I messing up something this simple?
UPDATE
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Get Reliant Magenta in amazingly verbose manner
CGColorSpaceRef rgbaColorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
CGFloat reliantMagentaValues[4] = {(208/255),(27/255),(124/255),0.3f};
CGColorRef reliantMagenta = CGColorCreate(rgbaColorSpace, reliantMagentaValues);
[[self view] layer].backgroundColor = reliantMagenta;
CGColorRelease(reliantMagenta);
}
same problem, but view is now black and not displaying elements added in the storyboard

Answer 1

One problem (possibly the only problem) is that you're creating your color with all zero components. When you say 208/255, the compiler performs the division using integers and drops the remainder, so 208/255 is 0. You need to divide in floating point: 208.0f / 255.0f.
It's also much easier to use a UIColor instead of setting up the CGColorSpace and the CGColor yourself. Try this:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
UIColor *reliantMagenta = [UIColor colorWithRed:208.0f / 255.0f
green:27.0f / 255.0f blue:124.0f / 255.0f alpha:0.3f];
CALayer *magentaLayer = [CALayer layer];
magentaLayer.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 640, 960);
magentaLayer.backgroundColor = reliantMagenta.CGColor;
[self.view.layer addSublayer:magentaLayer];
}

Answer 2

You're adding a layer as a sublayer of itself. [self layer] returns the view's existing layer. If you want to create a separate layer, you have to do it manually. There's probably something in the view system that keeps circular references from iterating out of control.
As a point of reference, you should make it a habit of calling [super viewDidLoad] before you do anything else. And an easier way of creating a CGColor is to create a UIColor and get its CGColor property.