Property is null after adding subview - objective-c

Question

I'm launching a UIPopoverViewController that is supposed to draw two buttons (add and delete buttons). The ContentViewController for the UIPopover has a property called outputJackView that is set just before the UIPopoverViewController is launched. This property is necessary for the buttons to draw properly. The problem is right after the first button is added as a subview, the outputJackView is set to null somehow.
Here is the ContentViewController for UIPopoverViewController:
CableConnectionMenuController.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#class JackView;
#interface CableConnectionMenuController : UIViewController
{
JackView *outputJackView;
}
#property (nonatomic, weak) id <CableConnectionDelegate> delegate;
#property (nonatomic, strong) JackView *outputJackView;
- (void)setButtonTextWithOutputJack:(JackView *)outputJack withInputArray:(NSMutableArray *)inputArray;
- (void)createAddConnectionButton;
- (void)createDeleteConnectionButton;
#end
CableConnectionMenuController.m
#import "CableConnectionMenuController.h"
#import "JackView.h"
#import "CableDisconnectButton.h"
#implementation CableConnectionMenuController
#synthesize delegate;
#synthesize outputJackView;
...
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
//alloc output jack view
self.outputJackView = [[JackView alloc] init];
//set size of popover view in cables view
self.contentSizeForViewInPopover = CGSizeMake(200, 200);
//change view background color
self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
}
//this method is called from the class that launches the UIPopoverViewController
- (void)setButtonTextWithOutputJack:(JackView *)outputJack withInputArray:(NSMutableArray *)inputArray
{
//set output jack which will be the same for all inputs
self.outputJackView = outputJack;
//draw add connection button
[self createAddConnectionButton];
//draw delete connection button - not working
//[self createDeleteConnectionButton];
}
- (void)createAddConnectionButton
{
CableDisconnectButton *addConnectionButton = [CableDisconnectButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
addConnectionButton.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 190, 40);
[addConnectionButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"images/cable_connect_button.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[addConnectionButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"images/cable_connect_button_over.png"] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];
//add output jack
addConnectionButton.outputJack = self.outputJackView;
//add action to button
[addConnectionButton addTarget:self action:#selector(addConnectionButtonTarget:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
NSLog(#"output jack name before: %#", self.outputJackView.jackName);
[self.view addSubview:addConnectionButton];
NSLog(#"output jack name after: %#", self.outputJackView.jackName);
}
The two NSLog's at the end return the name correctly on the first one (before) and return null on the second (after). The jackName properties are NSString's. It's obvious that the property is being set to null after a subview is added, but I can't figure out why that would happen.
Here is the method from the class that launches the UIPopoverViewController in case it matters:
- (void)editCableConnectionsWith:(JackView *)outputJack
{
//launches the note menu popover
self.cableConnectionMenuController = [[CableConnectionMenuController alloc] init];
self.cableConnectionMenuController.delegate = (id)self;
//find appropriate connection to edit
for (JackView *currentJack in jackArray)
{
if (currentJack == outputJack)
{
//create temp array of input jacks to send to cable connection controller
NSMutableArray *inputButtonTempArray = [self returnInputJackArrayWithOutputJack:currentJack];
//set information for creating disconnect buttons in popover
[self.cableConnectionMenuController setButtonTextWithOutputJack:currentJack withInputArray:inputButtonTempArray];
}
}
self.editConnectionsPopoverController = [[UIPopoverController alloc] initWithContentViewController:self.cableConnectionMenuController];
[self.editConnectionsPopoverController presentPopoverFromRect:pulseRing.frame inView:self permittedArrowDirections:UIPopoverArrowDirectionAny animated:YES];
}

Answer 1

How is the jackName property declared? My guess is that it's a weak reference.
I had a similar issue where a weak reference on a view was reset after the view was added as a subview. My understanding is that a weak reference should only be used when there's a potential retain cycle (e.g. you have a backpack with a reference to a calculator and the calculator points back to the backpack--see the Big Nerd Ranch book).
I'm not quite sure why that's an issue here, but I encountered something similar and figured I'd share.