error with NSSring - objective-c

Question

I'm very new to objective-c and I'm getting a basic error and unsure on how to fix it.
for(ZBarSymbol *sym in syms) {
resultText.text = sym.data; //sym.data = 0012044012482
[self phpPost:(int)sym.data];
break;
}
}
- (void)phpPost: (int)barcode {
NSString *theValue = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", barcode]; //problem line
labelScan.text = theValue;
//labelScan.text = #"Barcode scanned";
}
when i use #"%#" the text of the label is correct (0012044012482), but when i use #"%d" it isn't (random number every time i restart the app). I would like to use #"%#" (or something that works) but for some reason xCode is giving me an error. and I'm unsure on how to fix the error.
The error is:
Format specifies type 'id' but the argument has type 'int'
In the end I plan on having that code (sym.data) written to a MySQL database using the POST method.

Answer 1

You can't just convert it to an int by casting if it's an object (which it must be if the %# format specifier isn't causing a crash).
Assuming from the fact that you're assinging it directly to a label's text that it's an NSString, you should either change the parameter type of phpPost:
- (void)phpPost: (NSString *)barcode {
labelScan.text = barcode;
}
or extract the intValue before passing sym.data:
[self phpPost:[sym.data intValue]];
and then use the proper %d format specifier in phpPost:.

Answer 2

Your barcode isn't an int, it is an NSString. Instead of doing (int)sym.data, pass in [sym.data intValue]. That should correctly convert it to an integer.
The reason you get a random number is because you can't just cast a string object to a primitive data type :)

Answer 3

I don't know what type sym.data is, but it is likely a pointer to an object, and not the value itself. You cast that pointer to int, so when you are using %d you are effectively printing the memory location of the object. That is why it changes each time you run the program (Objective-C let's you do this without any warnings - something to watch out for).
To fix this, either extract the integer value you need from the sym.data object using it's properties; or pass the object as a pointer. For instance, you could try calling your method like this:
[self phpPost:sym.data];
And then change your method to be:
- (void)phpPost: (id)barcode {
NSString *theValue = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", barcode];
labelScan.text = theValue;
}

Answer 4

Ok, I did some thinking while I was at work today, and I figured out that an INT isn't going to work for me. if I make that object to an int, I would loss some data that is vital to what I'm doing. eg. object=001234 int=1234. I need the zeros. So, in the end, I'm keeping it an object (string) and just passing it into the function.
Here is my code after I got it working correctly.
for(ZBarSymbol *sym in syms) {
resultText.text = sym.data;
[self phpPost:sym.data];
break;
}
}
- (void)phpPost: (NSString *)barcode {
labelScan.text = barcode;
//labelScan.text = #"Barcode scanned"; //My custon label
}
Thanks, everyone for your responses. Your answer will not go unused. I'm sure I'll be needing this information here soon.
O, if you see that I did this wrong, or not the correct way, please make a comment and tell me .