I need to receive more than one variable Args in my method. But I don't know how to do so.
For example:
(void)insertInTableOnAttributes:(id)fieldsNames, ... Values:(id)fieldsValues, ...;
sadly it appears a compiler error after the first (...) saying:
Expected ':' after method Prototype".
And in the implementation says:
Expected Method Body" in the same position (just after the first ...)
PD: I'm using Xcode 4.2.1.
You can't do that. How would the generated code possibly know where one argument list ends and the next begins? Try to think of the C equivalent
void insertInTableOnAtributes(id fieldNames, ..., id fieldValues, ...);
The compiler will reject that for the same reason.
You have two reasonable options. The first is to provide a method that takes NSArrays instead.
- (void)insertInTableOnAttributes:(NSArray *)fieldNames values:(NSArray *)fieldValues;
The second is to use one varargs with a name-value pair, similar to +[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:]
- (void)insertInTableOnAttributes:(id)fieldName, ...;
This one would be used like
[obj insertInTableOnAttributes:#"firstName", #"firstValue", #"secondName", #"secondValue", nil];
The C analogy is actually quite accurate. An Obj-C method is basically syntactic sugar on top of a C method, so
- (void)foo:(int)x bar:(NSString *)y;
is backed by a C method that looks like
void foobar(id self, SEL _cmd, int x, NSString *y);
except it doesn't actually have a real name. This C function is called the IMP of the method, and you can retrieve it using obj-c runtime methods.
In your case of having arguments after a varargs, your
- (void)someMethodWithArgs:(id)anArg, ... andMore:(id)somethingElse;
would be backed by an IMP that looks like
void someMethodWithArgsAndMore(id anArg, ..., id somethingElse);
and since you cannot have any arguments after a varargs, this simply won't work.
- (void)insertInTableOnAttributes:(NSArray *)fieldsNames values:(NSArray *)fieldsValues;
// Use
[self insertInTableOnAttributes:[NSArray arrayWithObject:#"name", nil] values:[NSArray arrayWithObject:#"value", nil]];
Related
Is it possible to use #selector and performSelector: (or similar) with methods using variable arguments list?
I'm writing a class that can be assigned a delegate to override the default behavior. In the presence of a delegate select method calls made on an instance of that class will be forward to the same corresponding delegate method, some which use variable argument lists.
So, for instance, I need to be able to create retrieve SEL reference and message the delegate object with a method such as this:
- (void)logEventWithFormat:(NSString *)format, ... {
va_list argList;
id del = self.delegate;
if (del != nil &&
[del conformsToProtocol:#protocol(AProtocolWithOptionalMethods)] &&
[del respondsToSelector:#selector(logEventWithFormat:)])
{
// Perform selector on object 'del' with 'argList'
}
}
I am assuming this is not possible, hence the similar method declaration in the Foundation framework - in NSString:
- (id)initWithFormat:(NSString*)format, ...;
and
- (id)initWithFormat:(NSString *)format arguments:(va_list)argList;
I assume that the protocol I wish to delegate to should suggest the implementation of:
- (void)logEventWithFormat:(NSString *)format arguments:(va_list)argList;
so I the selector #selector(logEventWithFormat:arguments:) can be used an called with:
[del performSelector:#selector(logEventWithFormat:arguments:)
withObject:format
withObject:argList];
I just wondered if I was missing something or going the long way around to achieve what I'm trying to?
You can pass anything you want into the runtime function objc_msgSend.
objc_msgSend(del, #selector(logEventWithFormat:arguments:), format, argList);
It's the most powerful way of sending a manually constructed message.
However, it's not clear that you need to perform the invocation this way. As KennyTM pointed out, in the code you have, you could invoke the method directly.
You can't use -performSelector:withObject:withObject: because va_list simply isn't an "object". You need to use NSInvocation.
Or simply call
[del logEventWithFormat:format arguments:argList];
As far as I know, it can't be done. You can't use -performSelector:withObject:withObject: because as #KennyTM points out, a va_list isn't an object.
However, you also cannot use NSInvocation. The documentation straight up says so:
NSInvocation does not support
invocations of methods with either
variable numbers of arguments or union
arguments.
Since these are the two ways of invoking a method by selector, and neither seems to work, I'm going to go with the "can't be done" answer, unless you invoke the method directly and pass the va_list as an argument.
Perhaps #bbum will show up and enlighten us further. =)
I haven't done it that way before, but the simple solution I've often used is to box/unbox either an NSMutableArray or an NSMutableDictionary for the withObject parameter.
take example:
-(void)setName:(NSString *)name age:(int)age;
How would you call this method (in other words, the method's name is setName but what is the "age" parameter doing in there) and what do the types in parentheses mean? Is it just a way to tell the compiler what types are being returned?
[ myObject setName: #"Adam" age:18 ];
The age parameter is the second parameter in the method signature.
The types in parentheses are the expected types for the argument. e.g. name is expecting only an NSString and age is expecting only an int.
The - means that the method is an instance method, not a class method, which is denoted using a + instead.
The type in parentheses right after the - is the return type.
This is a great site for learning the basics of Objective-C: CocoaDevCentral
To answer, one would need a bit more information, but I'll be guessing this is from some sort of class named aClass, and you have an instance of aClass, named instance.
-(void)setName:(NSString *)name age:(int)age;
means you have a method, named setName:age:, that needs two arguments, one NSString, one int, and it returns a void. As it has a - as it's first character, it is an instance method.
[instance setName:#"James Hargrove" age:21];
Would call setName:age: on the instance.
(The instance should be created using, say,
aClass *instance = [[aClass alloc] init];
which would create an instance of aClass named instance, and initialize it.
This is the standard Objective-C method syntax. This could be read as:
A method with no return value (void) that
sets the name of the object (an NSString * parameter)
and the age (and integer
parameter).
Dissecting the method:
"-" The hyphen states that this is an instance method.
(void) The return type is void - or
no return type expected
setName:(NSString *) The first
parameter to be passed is the "name"
and is an NSString *.
age:(int)age The second parameter
to be passed is the "age" and is
an int.
In reality, the method syntax is actually quite self-documenting once understood (and quite foreign if you're used to more tradition C/C++ or Java syntax).
The actual example of the call of this method would be:
[someObject setName:#"Rich" age:101];
The method name is actually this:
setName:age:
You call it like this:
[someObject setName:#"Alice" age:20];
setName:age: is also the unique signature of that method, and with that signature you can call that method on any object you wish. For example:
NSArray* objects = ...
SEL mySelector = #selector(setName:age:);
for (id object in objects)
{
if ([object respondsToSelector:mySelector])
{
[object setName:#"Alice" age:20];
}
}
what do the types in parentheses mean? Is it just a way to tell the compiler what types are being returned?
Yes, those are "C casts". If everything was an object you wouldn't need those, but because you can pass and return plain old C types to and from your methods, the compiler needs to know the types of your parameters and return values.
You'd call this method like so:
[classInstance setName:#"name" age:123];
The first instance of "age:" indicates that the method receives another parameter, called "age" when used in the implementation of the method.
The types in parentheses indicate the types of data that are expected for each parameter, with the exception of the first one, "void", which means that this method returns nothing.
So, you would call this method as follows.
Say it is a method of an object named foo (of class Foo). Then you would call:
[foo setName:someName age:someAge].
If it were a static method, it would be preceded by a + instead of a minus as follows:
+(void)setName:(NSString *)name age:(int)age;
Then you would call
[Foo setName:someName age:someAge] //use the classname instead of the object name
The types are indeed there for type-checking by the compiler. You'll get warnings if you pass the wrong sort of data, and you will get warnings if your header doesn't match your implementation.
You can actually write Obj-C functions in a couple of different styles though, omitting some of this stuff. You can even write straight up C-style.
I have read several of the post about Objective-C method syntax but I guess I don't understand multiple names for a method.
I'm trying to create a method called getBusStops with NSString and NSTimeInterval parameters and a return type of NSMutableArray. This is how I have constructed the method but it obviously gets errors at runtime:
- (NSMutableArray *)getBusStops:(NSString *)busStop
(NSTimeInterval *)timeInterval;
I saw another example with a method:
-(NSInteger)pickerView:(UIPickerView *)pickerView
numberOfRowsInComponent:(NSInteger)component
I don't understand why this method has a method name for each parameter. Should I do the same with something like:
- (NSMutableArray *)getBusStops:(NSString *)busStop
forTime:(NSTimeInterval *)timeInterval
You need to delimit each parameter name with a ":" at the very least. Technically the name is optional, but it is recommended for readability. So you could write:
- (NSMutableArray*)getBusStops:(NSString*)busStop :(NSTimeInterval*)timeInterval;
or what you suggested:
- (NSMutableArray*)getBusStops:(NSString*)busStop forTime:(NSTimeInterval*)timeInterval;
Objective-C doesn't have named parameters, so everything on the left side of a colon is part of the method name. For example,
getBusStops: forTime:
is the name of the method. The name is broken up so it can be more descriptive. You could simply name your method
getBusStops: :
but that doesn't tell you much about the second parameter.
Yes; the Objective-C method syntax is like this for a couple of reasons; one of these is so that it is clear what the parameters you are specifying are. For example, if you are adding an object to an NSMutableArray at a certain index, you would do it using the method:
- (void)insertObject:(id)anObject atIndex:(NSUInteger)index;
This method is called insertObject:atIndex: and it is clear that an object is being inserted at a specified index.
In practice, adding a string "Hello, World!" at index 5 of an NSMutableArray called array would be called as follows:
NSString *obj = #"Hello, World!";
int index = 5;
[array insertObject:obj atIndex:index];
This also reduces ambiguity between the order of the method parameters, ensuring that you pass the object parameter first, then the index parameter. This becomes more useful when using functions that take a large number of arguments, and reduces error in passing the arguments.
Furthermore, the method naming convention is such because Objective-C doesn't support overloading; however, if you want to write a method that does the same job, but takes different data-types, this can be accomplished; take, for instance, the NSNumber class; this has several object creation methods, including:
+ (id)numberWithBool:(BOOL)value;
+ (id)numberWithFloat:(float)value;
+ (id)numberWithDouble:(double)value;
In a language such as C++, you would simply overload the number method to allow different data types to be passed as the argument; however, in Objective-C, this syntax allows several different variants of the same function to be implemented, by changing the name of the method for each variant of the function.
The text before each parameter is part of the method name. From your example, the name of the method is actually
-getBusStops:forTime:
Each : represents an argument. In a method call, the method name is split at the :s and arguments appear after the :s. e.g.
[getBusStops: arg1 forTime: arg2]
for create method:
-(void)mymethods:(NSString *)aCont withsecond:(NSString *)a-second {
//method definition...
}
for call the method:
[mymethods:self.contoCorrente withsecond:self.asecond];
(int) add: (int) numberOne plus: (int) numberTwo ;
(returnType) functionPrimaryName : (returnTypeOfArgumentOne) argumentName functionSecondaryNa
me:
(returnTypeOfSecontArgument) secondArgumentName ;
as in other languages we use following syntax
void add(int one, int second)
but way of assigning arguments in OBJ_c is different as described above
First, I'm not sure I really understand what a selector is. From my understanding, it's the name of a method, and you can assign it to a class of type 'SEL' and then run methods such as respondToSelector to see if the receiver implements that method. Can someone offer up a better explanation?
Secondly, to this point, I have the following code:
NSString *thing = #"Hello, this is Craig";
SEL sel = #selector(lowercaseString:);
NSString *lower = (([thing respondsToSelector:sel]) ? #"YES" : #"NO");
NSLog (#"Responds to lowercaseString: %#", lower);
if ([thing respondsToSelector:sel]) //(lower == #"YES")
NSLog(#"lowercaseString is: %#", [thing lowercaseString]);
However, even though thing is clearly a kind of NSString, and should respond to lowercaseString, I cannot get the 'respondsToSelector' conditional to return "YES"...
You have to be very careful about the method names. In this case, the method name is just "lowercaseString", not "lowercaseString:" (note the absence of the colon). That's why you're getting NO returned, because NSString objects respond to the lowercaseString message but not the lowercaseString: message.
How do you know when to add a colon? You add a colon to the message name if you would add a colon when calling it, which happens if it takes one argument. If it takes zero arguments (as is the case with lowercaseString), then there is no colon. If it takes more than one argument, you have to add the extra argument names along with their colons, as in compare:options:range:locale:.
You can also look at the documentation and note the presence or absence of a trailing colon.
Selectors are an efficient way to reference methods directly in compiled code - the compiler is what actually assigns the value to a SEL.
Other have already covered the second part of your q, the ':' at the end matches a different signature than what you're looking for (in this case that signature doesn't exist).
That's because you want #selector(lowercaseString), not #selector(lowercaseString:). There's a subtle difference: the second one implies a parameter (note the colon at the end), but - [NSString lowercaseString] does not take a parameter.
In this case, the name of the selector is wrong. The colon here is part of the method signature; it means that the method takes one argument. I believe that you want
SEL sel = #selector(lowercaseString);
NSString's method is lowercaseString (0 arguments), not lowercaseString: (1 argument).
Don't think of the colon as part of the function name, think of it as a separator, if you don't have anything to separate (no value to go with the function) then you don't need it.
I'm not sure why but all this OO stuff seems to be foreign to Apple developers. I would strongly suggest grabbing Visual Studio Express and playing around with that too. Not because one is better than the other, just it's a good way to look at the design issues and ways of thinking.
Like
introspection = reflection
+ before functions/properties = static
- = instance level
It's always good to look at a problem in different ways and programming is the ultimate puzzle.
From my understanding of the Apple documentation, a selector represents the name of the method that you want to call. The nice thing about selectors is you can use them in cases where the exact method to be called varies. As a simple example, you can do something like:
SEL selec;
if (a == b) {
selec = #selector(method1)
}
else
{
selec = #selector(method2)
};
[self performSelector:selec];
As per apple docs:
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Conceptual/DevPedia-CocoaCore/Selector.html
A selector is the name used to select a method to execute for an object, or the unique identifier that replaces the name when the source code is compiled. A selector by itself doesn’t do anything. It simply identifies a method. The only thing that makes the selector method name different from a plain string is that the compiler makes sure that selectors are unique. What makes a selector useful is that (in conjunction with the runtime) it acts like a dynamic function pointer that, for a given name, automatically points to the implementation of a method appropriate for whichever class it’s used with. Suppose you had a selector for the method run, and classes Dog, Athlete, and ComputerSimulation (each of which implemented a method run). The selector could be used with an instance of each of the classes to invoke its run method—even though the implementation might be different for each.
Example:
(lldb) breakpoint --set selector viewDidLoad
This will set a breakpoint on all viewDidLoad implementations in your app.
So selector is kind of a global identifier for a method.
I know how to create a SEL at compile time using #selector(MyMethodName:) but what I want to do is create a selector dynamically from an NSString. Is this even possible?
What I can do:
SEL selector = #selector(doWork:);
[myobj respondsToSelector:selector];
What I want to do: (pseudo code, this obviously doesn't work)
SEL selector = selectorFromString(#"doWork");
[myobj respondsToSelector:selector];
I've been searching the Apple API docs, but haven't found a way that doesn't rely on the compile-time #selector(myTarget:) syntax.
I'm not an Objective-C programmer, merely a sympathizer, but maybe NSSelectorFromString is what you need. It's mentioned explicity in the Runtime Reference that you can use it to convert a string to a selector.
According to the XCode documentation, your psuedocode basically gets it right.
It’s most efficient to assign values to SEL variables at compile time with the #selector() directive. However, in some cases, a program may need to convert a character string to a selector at runtime. This can be done with the NSSelectorFromString function:
setWidthHeight = NSSelectorFromString(aBuffer);
Edit: Bummer, too slow. :P
I'd have to say that it's a little more complicated than the previous respondents' answers might suggest... if you indeed really want to create a selector... not just "call one" that you "have laying around"...
You need to create a function pointer that will be called by your "new" method.. so for a method like [self theMethod:(id)methodArg];, you'd write...
void (^impBlock)(id,id) = ^(id _self, id methodArg) {
[_self doSomethingWith:methodArg];
};
and then you need to generate the IMP block dynamically, this time, passing, "self", the SEL, and any arguments...
void(*impFunct)(id, SEL, id) = (void*) imp_implementationWithBlock(impBlock);
and add it to your class, along with an accurate method signature for the whole sucker (in this case "v#:#", void return, object caller, object argument)
class_addMethod(self.class, #selector(theMethod:), (IMP)impFunct, "v#:#");
You can see some good examples of this kind of runtime shenanigans, in one of my repos, here.
I know this has been answered for long ago, but still I wanna share. This can be done using sel_registerName too.
The example code in the question can be rewritten like this:
SEL selector = sel_registerName("doWork:");
[myobj respondsToSelector:selector];