Program receives SIGABRT when setting an ivar - objective-c

[[self numSidesBox] setName: #"numSidesBox"];
This line of code receives the SIGABRT signal and i don't know why. numSidesBox is an instance of my subclass of UITextField. I have an NSString ivar that uses the
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *name;
way of creating setters/getters. I have no idea what's causing this problem.

Why not try:
self.numSidesBox.name=#"numSidesbox"
This assumes you have the following in your numSidesBox header:
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString*name;
and in your .m:
#synthesize name;
This is just a general idea to get you started and point you in the right direction; you might prefer something other than retain and will also need your numSidesBox object similarly synthesized in the current .h/.m to use dot notation on it.
Additionally, just because numSidesBox has an ivar, does not mean it actually exists in memory. Before you can use it, you have to at some point initialize it with alloc and init or a custom or dedicated initializer.

Related

Hiding implementation details with .h and .m in objc

I'm confused about something. If in your .h file you have:
#property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSArray *categories;
and then in the .m you have:
#interface MyClass ()
#property (nonatomic, strong, readwrite) NSMutableArray *categories;
#end
If I want to later set categories in the .m file, I can do:
[self setCategories:[NSArray arrayWithArray:categories]];
But then Xcode complains that incompatible pointer types sending NSArray to NSMutableArray. I'm basically trying to hide the implementation details and have the .m use a NSMutableArray and to a consumer
use an NSArray.
[self setCategories:[NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:categories]]; // this gives no Xcode warning
By using the [NSMutableAray arrayWithArray:] method, does it still prevent the consumer of my Class from mutating my categories array?
You've done all you can in objc.
Your internal readwrite declaration needs a mutable array, so Xcode's complaining is right, you have to use a mutable for the setter.
The consumer can do everything with that object, even if it's declared as NSArray you can find out it's a NSMutableArray in reality and change it.
You can't prevent that. But your public declaration shows it should be assumed immutable. There's nothing more you can do.

How to dealloc a static variable declared in my header file?

I have a -dealloc() method which I am assuming I can use to dealloc instance variables, I have another variable that is not in the instance, rather a class level variable, wondering when & how I dealloc this? I can't do it in the instance method dealloc() right? Code below for reference (on varaible: levelHash):
#interface Level : CCNode
{
//Instance variables
PlayBackgroundLayer* playBGLayer;
PlayTilemapLayer* playTilemapLayer;
PlayUILayer* playUILayer;
PlayElementLayer* playElementLayer;
}
//Property declarations for instance variables
#property (nonatomic, retain) PlayBackgroundLayer* playBGLayer;
#property (nonatomic, retain) PlayTilemapLayer* playTilemapLayer;
#property (nonatomic, retain) PlayUILayer* playUILayer;
#property (nonatomic, retain) PlayElementLayer* playElementLayer;
//Static methods
+(void) Initialize: (NSString*) levelReference;
+(void) InitLevel: (NSString*) levelReference;
+(Level*) GetCurrentLevel;
#end
//static variables
NSMutableDictionary *levelHash;
and my implementation:
+(void) Initialize: (NSString*) levelReference
{
levelHash = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
[levelHash setObject:NSStringFromClass([LevelOne class]) forKey:#"1"];
//EG CALL IT [levelHash objectForKey:#"foo"];
//WHEN DO I CALL THIS??? [levelHash release];
}
Classes aren't deallocated for the life of your program, so there doesn't seem to be much point in releasing that dictionary. All the memory your app uses is reclaimed when it terminates. You can create a "tear down" method for the class where you release the dictionary if you want to, just as you've created a custom initialization method.
(By the way, it is neither a class nor a static variable; ObjC doesn't have class variables and, lacking the static keyword, it's actually global. This is why there's no need to worry about a leak -- global variables also exist for the entire lifetime of your program.
Also, you shouldn't be putting it in your header file, as I mentioned earlier. Every file that imports this header is going to be re-defining it, which will cause a linker error -- you can only define things once.)

Features of use #property and #synthesize (cocos2d)

I saw in the libraries for use cocos2d strange #property and #synthesize
Standard in the examples is written as follows:
in .h
CGFloat minimumTouchLengthToSlide;
}
#property(readwrite, assign) CGFloat minimumTouchLengthToSlide;
in .m
#synthesize minimumTouchLengthToSlide
But in lib https://github.com/cocos2d/cocos2d-iphone-extensions/tree/master/Extensions/CCScrollLayer and another libs\extensions
in .h
CGFloat minimumTouchLengthToSlide_;
}
#property(readwrite, assign) CGFloat minimumTouchLengthToSlide;
in .m
#synthesize minimumTouchLengthToSlide = minimumTouchLengthToSlide_;
What is the meaning of this code?
Why they changed minimumTouchLengthToSlide to minimumTouchLengthToSlide_ and added minimumTouchLengthToSlide = minimumTouchLengthToSlide_;
Its often considered good practice to name the instance variable different from the property. The resoning behind this is that in that case you cannot accidently use the instance variable instead of the property. This is not that important when using value types such as integers and floats but more important when using reference types on retain properties. Consider a property
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *myString;
...
#synthesize myString;
The compiler takes care of retaining the string when you do self.myString = someString. But when you write myString = someString you do not actually use the property but rather the variable directly and no retaining will take place. This can lead to zombies, leaks etc. By giving the instance variable a different name like this:
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *myString;
...
#synthesize myString = myString_;
you can no longer write myString = someString because this would issue a compiler error. If you needed to use the instance variable directly you could always write _myString = someString but in practice this is rarely needed.
There are other cases when you write explicit property methods but the issue is basically the same, you cannot accidently bypass the property methods when using the second variant.
So basically this is a method to avoid unnecessary errors when handling properties (mostly retain-properties).
#property and #synthesize are a really cool feature of Objective-C to allow the automatic creation of getter and setter methods. In your examples they would create:
- (CGFloat)minimumTouchLengthToSlide and
- (void)setMinimumTouchLengthToSlide:(CGFloat)newLength; for free.
#synthesize minimumTouchLengthToSlide = minimumTouchLengthToSlide_ means they are telling Objective-C that when someone tries to access that property, then it should point at the instance variable minimumTouchLengthToSlide_
readwrite,assign describe what happens when someone sets the property. Assign means that the value is not retained, the variable is just pointed. An example of what that method might look like could be this:
- (void)setMinimumLengthToSlide:(CGFloat)newLength {
[self willChangeValueForKey:#"minimumLengthToSlide"]; // let observers know this property is changing
minimumLengthToSlide_ = newLength;
[self didChangeValueForKey:#"minimumLenghtToSlide"];
}
You can read more about them here.

how to release appDelegate variables

So, for my program i am using 5 different views that all need to access and share the same data. when i first started developing for iPhone, i found a way to create and store the data in the appDelegate. now, i have a large amount of variables that i access from there.
my question now, is how do memory management of them?
appDelegate.h
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *analysisModeForSave;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *pdfPath;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *state;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSNumber *userLevel;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSNumber *currentHiliteID;
then #synthesize them in the .m file
and use
Agri_ImaGIS_iPhoneAppDelegate *dataCenter = (Agri_ImaGIS_iPhoneAppDelegate *) [[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
to access them all in the function. right now if i don't need the variable anymore, i just set it to nil. should i release them in the appDelegate's dealloc? does the memory ever get cleared other then app termination?
Although it is true that the singleton instance of Agri_ImaGIS_iPhoneAppDelegate will not be deallocated until the app finishes it is good practice to release retain properties in the dealloc method of any class. The system would clean up after you anyway in this case but would frown at you for being messy and badly behaved...
The general rule sounds:
Whenever you alloc an object, you dealloc it in the same class.
These NSNumbers and NSStrings are no different.
You can set them to nil whereever you like but you still have to release them in the dealloc.

Can't get custom #protocol working on iOS

Note: the below is using iOS with Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) enabled. I think ARC may have a lot to do with why it isn't working as this is set up as per examples i've found via google.
I am trying to create a protocol to notify a delegate of the filename the user selects from a UITableView.
FileListViewController.h
#protocol FileListDelegate <NSObject>
- (void)didSelectFileName:(NSString *)fileName;
#end
#interface FileListViewController : UITableViewController
{
#private
NSArray *fileList;
id <FileListDelegate> delegate;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSArray *fileList;
#property (nonatomic, assign) id <FileListDelegate> delegate;
#end
FileListViewController.m
#import "FileListViewController.h"
#implementation FileListViewController
#synthesize fileList;
#synthesize delegate;
This gives an error at the
#synthesize delegate;
line which is "FileListViewController.m: error: Automatic Reference Counting Issue: Existing ivar 'delegate' for unsafe_unretained property 'delegate' must be __unsafe_unretained"
If i change FileListViewController.h putting __weak and (weak) then it will run.
#protocol FileListDelegate <NSObject>
- (void)didSelectFileName:(NSString *)fileName;
#end
#interface FileListViewController : UITableViewController
{
#private
NSArray *fileList;
__weak id <FileListDelegate> delegate;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSArray *fileList;
#property (weak) id <FileListDelegate> delegate;
#end
But when I try to set the delegate the app crashes. A view called 'ImportViewController' is creating a view from 'FileListViewController' and setting the delegate to itself (ImportViewController) so I can implement my custom protocol of 'didSelectFileName'. The error I get is;
* Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[ImportViewController setDelegate:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x6c7d430'
The code I am running is;
ImportViewController.m
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
FileListViewController *fileListViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"filelist"];
[fileListViewController setDelegate:self];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:fileListViewController animated:YES];
}
My Questions are:
Why does putting (weak) and __weak in make it work? I don't
understand why this works as I found it googling and there wasn't an
explanation.
Why can't I set my delegate using this
'[fileListViewController setDelegate:self];' ? It seems like the
compiler doesn't know 'delegate' exists.
Under ARC ivars default to strong. So the error
Automatic Reference Counting Issue: Existing ivar 'delegate' for unsafe_unretained property 'delegate' must be __unsafe_unretained"
is telling you that you've declared a property with __unsafe_unretained (assign) ownership, where the underlying ivar has __strong ownership, which is illegal. To avoid the error, you have 3 options:
Omit the ivar. It's not necessary to declare an ivar for a synthesized property. The ivar will be declared implicitly with ownership matching your property.
Define the ivar to match your (assign) property declaration: __unsafe_unretained id <FileListDelegate> delegate;
Define the property to match the ivar's implicit __strong ownership: #property (weak) id <FileListDelegate> delegate;
Personally, I'd omit the ivar declaration so you have the ownership semantics in one place, on the property declaration.
It seems that with :
FileListViewController *fileListViewController =
[self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"filelist"];
you didn't get an FileListViewController object. Look at the message it says :
-[ImportViewController setDelegate:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x6c7d430
and that why your app crashes. Also try to define a retain property, instead of just assign, in case the delegate is deallocated elsewhere, your app won't crash.
I just ran across this same issue, forcing me to finally delve into the ARC documentation.
Also try to define a retain property, instead of just assign, in case the delegate is deallocated elsewhere, your app won't crash.
To maybe clarify the above quote from user756245 's answer, based on my reading I don't think that iOS 5 has changed the best practice that you shouldn't be retaining your delegate as this is a good way to leak. I think the __weak and (weak) tokens are annotations for the compiler for the sake of being able to correctly deal with generating code for the delegate.