Setting static inside its method call (with singleton pattern) - objective-c

is smth. like this legit? it compiles and looks running ok, but is it ok? (aim setting myself to nil, inside my method)
i mean iam setting myself static to nil, in a method
static MyClass * StaticInstance = nil;
+ (MyClass *) sharedStaticInstance
{
if (StaticInstance == nil) {
StaticInstance = [[MyClass alloc] init];
}
return StaticInstance;
}
- (void) killStaticSelf
{
StaticInstance = nil;
}
and later
[[MyClass sharedStaticInstance] doSmth]; // our static instance is created
[[MyClass sharedStaticInstance] killStaticSelf]; // now its killed inside itself method
[[MyClass sharedStaticInstance] doSmth]; // now it should recreate again

Its having a memory leak.
You should dealloc the StaticInstance first and then you should assign nil to it.

Yes, that's how it's done. I use the sharedStaticInstance often, though I don't usually create a destructor it's probably a good idea, as long as all references to the shared instance in this class pass through sharedStaticInstance first.
EDIT: I just noticed that killStaticSelf is an instance method - it should be a class method I believe, but there shouldn't be any issue either way.
[MyClass killStaticSelf];
Even as the function stack closes, since sending messages to nil doesn't cause issues in Objective-C.

your sharedInstance method is not thread safe so you could get a race condition in this code:
if (StaticInstance == nil) {
StaticInstance = [[MyClass alloc] init];
}
- (void) killStaticSelf
{
StaticInstance = nil;
}
the above code has a leak since you do not provide StaticInstance as a retain property (apparently). You could instead wrap your singleton code in a property but that uses the same static instance.

It's legit, but you need to release the variable before setting it to nil, to avoid memory leaks if you're not using ARC.
Though comprehension of such singleton usage logic is beyond my humble brain abilities.

Related

What to do with useless init?

This is currently what I have for my init,
- (id)init
{
self = [super init];
if (self) {
self.url = [[NSURL alloc] init];
self.blurb = [[NSString alloc] init];
self.author = [[NSString alloc] init];
}
return self;
}
It does nothing, but I have another method called initWithObject: that will use its argument to fill up the instance variables url, blurb, and author. I don't know what I should be doing with this init. Should I throw an exception? What other options do I have?
If you want to override your standard -init method you could either return nil (if you do not want -init to be used) or do:
- (instancetype)init
{
return [self initWithObject:nil];
}
If you want to stop the use of -init completely you can tag it as an unavailable attribute or use NSAssert:
// .h
// ...
- (instancetype)init UNAVAILABLE_ATTRIBUTE;
// ...
// .m
- (instancetype)init
{
NSAssert(NO, #"This method should not be used");
return nil;
}
You can use either UNAVAILABLE_ATTRIBUTE or NSAssert(), but if you use UNAVAILABLE_ATTRIBUTE you need some kind of implementation of -init, even if it just returns nil.
You don't have to have a plain init—you can simply have your initWithObject: method. If you're doing any basic setup that will remain the same 80% of the time, or if you have some common code in all your initializers, you can override init, but you are not required to.
Also consider changing your initWithObject: name to be more specific, to something like initWithPost: (I'm assuming this is some kind of blog-entry fetcher based on your ivars) so it's more apparent what object is desired.
I think you misinterpreted what you read. I don't think you would throw an exception. You could; however, leak memory. If your initWithObject: method looks like this:
- (id)initWithObject:(id)obj {
if ((self = [self init])) {
self.url=[obj url];
self.blurb=[obj blurb];
self.author=[obj author];
}
return self;
}
And you would be perfectly fine. You could get an exception if your object was instantiated with -init and you used a variable which was assigned, assuming it was real. So in your subsequent methods be sure to check that the objects exist before using them.
If you made your object with -init rather than -initWithObject this could throw an exception:
- (void)dealloc {
[url release];
[blurb release];
[author release];
[super dealloc];
}
The rule that Apple has established for Cocoa programming is that every class must have one initializer method which is the "Designated Initializer". Every other initializer for the class must call that D.I.* The D.I. itself must call the superclass's D.I. Generally, the initializer with the greatest number of arguments (the one that most completely specifies the state of the new object) is the D.I.
In your case, with the bare init, and initWithObject:, the second would likely be the D.I. You would therefore override init to call initWithObject: with some default argument:
- (id) init {
return [self initWithObject:[Object objectWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.apple.com"]
blurb:#""
author:#""]];
}
This will result in a sort of dummy object, which is correctly initialized with useless data. (Outside of ARC, be sure to watch the memory management of the default argument(s) -- you want to use an autoreleased/unowned object(s).)
*Sometimes an exception is made for initWithCoder:.
If you have any method that you don't want called and that you don't want your subclass to support, throwing an exception in a Debug build is perfectly reasonable.

When and where to release a Singleton instance in Objective-C?

I am not sure if i am asking the right question or not.
I have a singleton class as below:
static DBHandler *dbHandler = nil;
+(DBHandler *)sharedDBHandler {
#synchronized(self) {
if(nil == dbHandler) {
dbHandler = [[[self class] alloc] init];
}
}
return dbHandler;
}
When and where to release a Singleton instance in Objective-C ?
Thanks,
Never and Nowhere. Unless in the code that uses the singleton object you retained it for some inexplicable reason.
Most often they are located in static memory which means they are handled differently. See this question:
Objective-C/iPhone Memory Management Static Variables

How to handle memory management for Singleton pattern in Objective-C?

My code is:
static Class1 *onlyInstance;
+(Class1*) getInstance {
#synchronized([Class1 class]) {
if(onlyInstance == nil)
onlyInstance = [[Class1 alloc]init];
return onlyInstance;
}
return nil;
}
How to manage memory with sington pattern in Objective-C?
It's a singleton, you don't really need to release it at any given time, it is supposed to be around whenever you need it.
If you need to release it you can do that from within the class itself.
simply release the onlyInstance and set it to nil, so once the method that created it in the first place is called again it will recreate it.

Returning other objects on init

I've read in many places that you should always initialize Objective-C objects like so:
- (id) init {
if (self = [super init]) {
....
}
return self;
}
Because the super's init method may return a separate object from the current self.
Now I'm trying to do something like this, and I'm not sure if I have it right, vis-a-vis how retaining and releasing should work:
- (id) init:(int)idx {
id obj = [Cache findSelf:idx];
if (obj) {
[self release];
self = [obj retain];
} else {
self = [self doLoad];
}
return self;
}
I'm mostly curious if this is the correct way to do the retaining and releasing of self and obj. Is there a better way?
You're correct about the self = [super init] part, since some Cocoa classes actually do return a different object than the one that was allocated. However, this is the exception rather than the rule, and doing so in your own code should be exceedingly rare or not done at all. Although it may be tempting to intercept -init calls, you'd be going against the grain of established convention and what Objective-C programmers expect the code to do.
This type of -init method is generally a bad approach, since -init methods should be as straightforward as possible, and should really be concerned with initializing the object. I'd probably write a convenience method like this:
+ (id) instanceForIndex:(NSUInteger)index {
id obj = [Cache findSelf:index];
if (obj == nil) {
obj = [[self alloc] init];
// Add to cache
}
return [[object retain] autorelease];
}
Then call this method instead of -init. This will make the -init logic much cleaner.
Also, I'm not sure what your Cache class does, but it could be worth rethinking that implementation, and using a hidden static variable to store instances (for example, an NSMutableDictionary, where the key is an NSNumber created from the index). This SO question may be of use.
I agree with Quinn that you should use a convenience class method. Still, I think that your init method is mostly correct, except in your else clause you need to call the parent initializer, i.e. self = [super init].

Objective-C Singletons and LLVM/clang leak warnings

I'm using the singleton pattern in several places in an application, and I'm getting memory leak errors from clang when analyzing the code.
static MyClass *_sharedMyClass;
+ (MyClass *)sharedMyClass {
#synchronized(self) {
if (_sharedMyClass == nil)
[[self alloc] init];
}
return _sharedMyClass;
}
// clang error: Object allocated on line 5 is no longer referenced after this point and has a retain count of +1 (object leaked)
I'm using these settings for scan-build:
scan-build -v -v -v -V -k xcodebuild
I'm fairly certain that the code in the singleton is just fine - after all, it's the same code referenced here on Stack Overflow as well as in Apple's documentation - but I would like to get the memory leak warning sorted out so my scan-build returns success.
I may be being exceptionally dense, but surely your line 5
[[self alloc] init];
allocates an object of the containing class type, and promptly throws it away? Do you not want
_sharedMyClass = [[self alloc] init];
?
Apple has since updated their recommended singleton code to pass the static analyzer:
+ (MyGizmoClass*)sharedManager
{
if (sharedGizmoManager == nil) {
sharedGizmoManager = [[super allocWithZone:NULL] init];
}
return sharedGizmoManager;
}
+ (id)allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone
{
return [[self sharedManager] retain];
}
Now +sharedManager calls super's -allocWithZone: and assigns the return of -init, and the singleton's -allocWithZone: just returns a retained sharedInstance.
Edit:
Why the retain in +allocWithZone:?
+allocWithZone: is overridden because someone using MyGizmoClass could circumvent the singleton by calling [[MyGizmoClass alloc] init] instead of [MyGizmoClass sharedManager]. It's retained because +alloc is expected to always return an object with a retain count of +1.
Every call to +alloc should be balanced with a -release or -autorelease, so without the retain in +allocWithZone:, the shared instance could potentially be deallocated out from under other users.
You may be interested in a simple, one-method, GCD-based singleton implementation (and thus 10.6+ only) posted on Mike Ash's site:
+ (id)sharedFoo
{
static dispatch_once_t pred;
static Foo *foo = nil;
dispatch_once(&pred, ^{ foo = [[self alloc] init]; });
return foo;
}
You are referencing self in a class method! Big no-no! Secondly, you are calling [[self alloc] init] and just throwing away the instance. You should assign the singleton reference in the class method, and not in init like I am guessing you are doing. Next, there is no real guarantee that _sharedMyClass will be initialized to zero. You should explicitly initialize it to nil.
static MyClass *_sharedMyClass = nil;
+ (MyClass *)sharedMyClass {
#synchronized(self) {
if (_sharedMyClass == nil)
_sharedMyClass = [[MyClass alloc] init];
}
return _sharedMyClass;
}
You also probably had this in there too...
+ (id)allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone {
#synchronized(self) {
if (sharedInstance == nil) {
sharedInstance = [super allocWithZone:zone];
return sharedInstance; // assignment and return on first allocation
}
}
return nil; // on subsequent allocation attempts return nil
}
The reason you weren't storing it in init is because you were storing it in the method that alloc called. This is the pattern Apple has in their examples. If you save the value in your init as well, all is fine and the warning goes away. I'd leave the allocWithZone implementation alone.