I am coding Objective-C using the Cocos2D framework, and I have a singleton used for multiple purposes. One new purposes is to get and set character's "states" which are strings. I've recently made an NSDictionary for this purpose, but I have issues with the program freezing up when a method inside the singleton is called.
Here's the singleton code. I'm just leaving in the character state stuff:
.h
#interface ExGlobal : NSObject {
NSArray *charStates_keys;
NSArray *charStates_objects;
NSMutableDictionary *charStates;
}
#property(nonatomic, retain) NSMutableDictionary *charStates;
+(ExGlobal*)sharedSingleton;
- (NSString *)charState:(NSString *)charName;
- (void)set_charState:(NSString *)value forCharName:(NSString *)charName;
#end
.m
#import "ExGlobal.h"
#implementation ExGlobal
#synthesize charStates;
static ExGlobal* _sharedSingleton = nil;
+(ExGlobal*)sharedSingleton {
#synchronized([ExGlobal class]) {
if (!_sharedSingleton) {
[[self alloc] init];
}
return _sharedSingleton;
}
return nil;
}
+(id)alloc {
#synchronized([ExGlobal class]) {
NSAssert(_sharedSingleton == nil, #"Attempted to allocate a second instance of a singleton.");
_sharedSingleton = [super alloc];
return _sharedSingleton;
}
return nil;
}
-(id)init {
self = [super init];
if (self != nil) {
// initialize stuff here
exitName = #"ruinsSkyMid";
sceneChangeKind = #"reborn";
charStates = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
charStates_keys = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"Feathers", #"Hummus", nil];
charStates_objects = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"at wall", #"with Feathers", nil];
charStates = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithObjects:charStates_objects forKeys:charStates_keys];
}
return self;
}
- (NSString *)charState:(NSString *)charName{
NSString *value = [charStates objectForKey:charName];
return value;
}
- (void)set_charState:(NSString *)charState forCharName:(NSString *)charName{
[charStates setObject:charState forKey:charName];
}
- (void)dealloc {
//I know it doesn't get called, but just in case
[charStates release];
[super dealloc];
}
#end
It's unclear to me what exactly the issue is when it freezes. When this happens, all I get in the console is:
Program received signal: “EXC_BAD_ACCESS”.
warning: Unable to read symbols for /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport/4.3.5 (8L1)/Symbols/Developer/usr/lib/libXcodeDebuggerSupport.dylib (file not found).
Previous frame inner to this frame (gdb could not unwind past this frame)
Previous frame inner to this frame (gdb could not unwind past this frame)
Which I'm sure doesn't help finding the issue. I found if I redefine charStates_keys, charStates_objects and charStates inside both the charState and set_charState methods, it seems to work without freezing, except set_charState does not change the state.
It isn't freezing, it is crashing. Hence the EXC_BAD_ACCESS. It looks like your Xcode installation is borked, too, as the two messages following should not happen.
Note that methods should not have _s in the name; not a cause of the problem, but a comment on following convention.
You aren't retaining charStates and that is likely the cause of the crash.
Not an answer as such but I didn't have enough space in the comments field above to post this, but it might be useful.
As bbum already said, your lack of retaining charStates is likely the problem.
If you are confused about when to retain and not retain objects there's a really good book called "Learn Objective-C on the Mac" and I know it's a Mac book but most of it applies to iPhone too. On page 171 of chapter 9 (Memory Management) it talks about the "Memory Management Rules" and how if you are confused about when to retain or not then you don't understand the simple rules of Objective C memory management.
Essentially if you create an object using new, alloc or copy, then the retain count is automatically set to 1 so the object is retained and does not require you to retain it and will require a subsequent release to deallocate.
If you create the object any other way then the object will be an autoreleased object.
Obviously these rules only apply within the standard iOS libraries and can't necessarily be applied to third party libraries.
I recommend anyone who doesn't fully understand memory management in Objective C read this book. I found highly enlightening even for my iPhone work.
Hope that helps/.
Related
I'm seeing some disturbing irregularities concerning object allocation and initialization in an app I'm trying to write.
I have a 'root' Modelcontroller object, which in turn contains references to subcontrollers. The root controller is called modelController, and in it's init method it allocates and inits the subcontrollers like so:
- (id)init
{
NSLog(#"%#", #"ModelController begin init");
self = [super init];
if (self) {
LibraryController * tempLibrary = [[LibraryController alloc] init];
self.library = tempLibrary;
StoresController * tempStores = [[StoresController alloc] init];
self.stores = tempStores;
CLLocationManager * tempLocationManager = [[CLLocationManager alloc] init];
self.locationManager = tempLocationManager;
}
NSLog(#"%#", #"ModelController complete init");
return self;
}
Pretty standard. The subcontrollers' init code also contain an NSLog messages at the beginning and the end, for me to be able to see that all is well.
The properties are defined as
#property (strong) LibraryController * library;
#property (strong) StoresController * stores;
#property (strong) CLLocationManager * locationManager;
And I am using ARC.
What puzzles me is that sometimes I see the NSLogs from one of the subcontrollers, but not from the root controller. Sometimes I see the 'begin init' log message from the root controller, but not the 'complete init'. Sometimes I see no init log messages. The application launches anyway in any of these cases.
This happens seemingly at random, in one out of five launches or in one out of twenty launches. When it happens, the app acts very strange (but not every time, mind you), beachballing for no apparent reason and exhibiting general wonkiness.
As a side note, at one time I put a breakpoint in the init method of the StoreController class, which when pausing executing spit out a chunk of random data in the debugging console:
$m2303,3503,3603,3703,3803,3903#00$m2303,3503,3603,3a03#00$88ee410901000000981e420901000000001e42090100000060ee410901000000b062f668ff7f000070044391ff7f0000f00e0800000000000300000068200100dc62f668ff7f0000d862f668ff7f00000000000000000000717ddd8aff7f00000000000068200100801e420901000000000000000600000706000007000000007063f668ff7f000003280000000000007863f668ff7f000001ee410901000000f062f668ff7f00006c5bd391ff7f000000000000ff7f0000ab064391ff7f000000000000ffffffff032800000000000040
...and so on
Where should I begin to look to troubleshoot this?
The modelController is alloc init'd from the MyDocument equivalent class, and is modeled as a singleton.
The singleton implementation looks like this:
static ModelController *sharedModelController = nil;
+ (ModelController*)sharedManager
{
if (sharedModelController == nil) {
sharedModelController = [self new];
}
return sharedModelController;
}
Final note: I have tried removing the locationManager stuff and disabling/enabling the 'Restore state' preference in the scheme, but to no avail.
Sounds like you're doing some UI stuff not on the main thread.
This generally leads to weird behavior.
Make sure you call everything UI related on the main thread
Best guess: the ModelController object is being released. Perhaps the Singleton is faulty.
I'm trying to make an NSMutableArray usable in multiple classes. I'm having an issue with defining and using a custom setter, for some reason, even though I call my setter, it is never executed (I have an NSLog set up in the method). Here is all of the relevant code:
AppDelegate.h
#interface TouchTrackerAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate> {
NSMutableArray *completeLines;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain, setter = setCompleteLines:, getter = getCompleteLines) NSMutableArray *completeLines;
-(NSMutableArray*) getCompleteLines;
-(void) setCompleteLines:(NSMutableArray *) newLines;
AppDelegate.m
#implementation TouchTrackerAppDelegate
-(NSMutableArray*) getCompleteLines {
return self.completeLines;
}
-(void) setCompleteLines:(NSMutableArray *)newLines {
NSLog(#"gets here");
if (completeLines != newLines) {
[completeLines release];
completeLines = [newLines retain];
}
NSLog(#"completeLines global count: %i",[completeLines count]);
}
View.h
#import "TouchTrackerAppDelegate.h"
#interface TouchDrawView : UIView {
NSMutableDictionary *linesInProcess;
NSMutableArray *completeLines;
TouchTrackerAppDelegate *navigationDelegate;
}
#end
View.m*
#import "TouchTrackerAppDelegate.h"
- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)c
{
[super initWithCoder:c];
linesInProcess = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
completeLines = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
return self;
}
- (void)viewDidLoad {
navigationDelegate = (TouchTrackerAppDelegate *)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
}
-(void)endTouches:(NSSet *)touches
{
if([EditModeSingleton isEditMode]){
for(UITouch *t in touches){
NSValue *key = [NSValue valueWithPointer:t];
Line *line = [linesInProcess objectForKey:key];
if(line){
[completeLines addObject:line];
[linesInProcess removeObjectForKey:key];
[navigationDelegate setCompleteLines:completeLines];
NSLog(#"completeLines count: %i", [completeLines count]);
}
}
[self setNeedsDisplay];
}
else {NSLog(#"in Play mode");}
}
The problem arises in my View.m when I call '[navigationDelegate setCompleteLines:completeLines];'. As far as I can tell, this never executes. I'm also not sure if my setter method is correct in the way I'm trying to pass the array from my view to the app delegate for use in other classes. If there is a better way of doing that, I'd appreciate some help.
Thank you!
If you're not entering that function, there's really only one solid possibility:
navigationDelegate is nil. Verify this by logging or asserting it just before sending the message to it in endTouches and then figure out why.
Cnage:
[linesInProcess removeObjectForKey:key];
[navigationDelegate setCompleteLines:completeLines];
To:
[linesInProcess removeObjectForKey:key];
NSAssert(navigationDelegate != nil, #"navigationDelegate is nil");
[navigationDelegate setCompleteLines:completeLines];
For future reference/help (and to answer your question in comments) -
Breakpoint basics in brief:
Set breakpoints at or before the line where you suspect your code breaks/fails/behaves-unexpectedly. Run your program in debug...
If the breakpoint gets hit: Examine both the call-stack and variable-values in the various Debugging panes in Xcode for clues.
Or if the breakpoint is never hit: Go back up a step in your function calls and set a breakpoint there.
If nothing else, breakpoints can narrow your issue down by process of elimination and help you ask better questions that get answered faster. =)
Although StackOverflow helped you track down this problem pretty fast, you can save yourself a lot of time and frustration in the future if you make use of breakpoints.
In this case, setting a breakpoint at or before the line: [navigationDelegate setCompleteLines:completeLines]; would have revealed navigationDelegate was nil. Then you repeat: set a breakpoint at or before navigationDelegate is assigned and re-run it. When this breakpoint didn't get hit, you would then realize your problem is something other than your setter! =)
You might still have had to ask "why isn't viewDidLoad being called?" but with part of the confusion already solved by you, your answer would have arrived much faster! Hope that helps you in the future~
As a relative Objective-C beginner, I'm obviously still not grasping certain memory management rules. I can't figure out how to make this not crash:
#interface MyClass { NSArray *playerArray4th; }
- (void) viewDidLoad { playerArray4th = [self getAudioPlayersForSoundFile:#"rimshot" ofType:#"aif"]; }
- (NSArray*) getAudioPlayersForSoundFile:(NSString*)soundFileName ofType:(NSString*)soundFileType {
//code instantiating objects....
NSArray *toRet = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:toRetTickPlayer,toRetTickPlayerCopy,toRetTickPlayerCopy2,toRetTickPlayerCopy3, nil];
return toRet;
}
Then later, in a different function:
NSArray *currentArray = playerArray4th;
[currentArray release];
currentArray = nil;
currentArray = [self getAudioPlayersForSoundFile:fileName ofType:ofType];
And it crashes when trying to access the array again:
- (void) playSound:(NSString*)soundType {
AVAudioPlayer *currentPlayer;
if ([soundType isEqualToString:#"4th"]) {
if (playerArray4thCounter >= [playerArray4th count]) playerArray4thCounter = 0;
NSLog(#"Playing from array: %#",playerArray4th);
currentPlayer = [playerArray4th objectAtIndex:playerArray4thCounter];
playerArray4thCounter++;
}
}
Try to learn about properties and about using getters and setters. Don't take shortcuts unless you know exactly what's going on.
So define the playerArray4th property in your header file:
#property (nonatomic,retain) NSArray *playerArray4th;
And then in your .m file create getter/setter:
#synthesize playerArray4th;
Then, always use self.playerArray4th for assigning and getting the variable. The prior objects will be released when needed.
So this will not leak:
self.playerArray4th = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"text",#"text",nil];
self.playerArray4th = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"new array",#"text",nil];
because the second assignment releases the first array.
Furthermore, read about using autorelease. In short, if you alloc, copy or new, you should either release or autorelease. There's a lot to read about this here on SO which I will not repeat here now.
Don't forget to put self.playerArray4th = nil; in your dealloc method.
I have a class like this:
#interface MyCollection : NSObject {
NSMutableDictionary *data;
}
and in the implementation of it, I have a method to init it like this:
- (id) init {
if(self = [super init])
{
self.data = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
}
return self;
}
Now when I create a object of this class in my code like this:
MyCollection *c = [[MyCollection alloc] init];
... at which point the Leaks utility shows that I have a memory leak in the init function on the very line where I try to set up the instance variable. I am totally new to Objective C & Iphone and I can't just get what is going wrong here. I have read through the Memory Management Guide and all, but I think I'm missing something pretty serious here.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time already.
you are using self.data =. So there is most likely a property. And it most likely is a property which either copies or retains your object if you use it.
By calling
self.data = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
The retain count of the NSMutableDictionary increases because of the alloc, and if the property of data has a retain or copy statement you get another increase in retain count.
you could write data = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init]; or self.data = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary]. This would increase the retain count only one time.
And don't forget to release the object in dealloc.
You have to release the object in your dealloc method. That's why it's showing up as a leak.
to add to what fluchtpunkt mentioned you could try this instead:
- (id) init {
if(self = [super init])
{
self.data = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithCapacity:0];
}
return self;
}
and in the dealloc
-(void)dealloc
{
self.data = nil;
}
I see weird situations with the Leaks utility as sometimes it reports old leaks, sometimes it doesn't report new ones, and so on. Also, from what I could collect with all your answers and opinion elsewhere on the web, people are divided on whether one should set a pointer to nil or not.
As of now, I have solved the situation with the following approach.
- (id) init {
if(self = [super init])
{
data = [[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithCapacity:0];
}
return self;
}
-(void)dealloc
{
[data release];
}
Thanks everyone for contributing.
Are you creating the instance of "MyCollection" in the interface section?
If it has method scope try to release it in the same method after you are done with it.
-(void)setUserFilters{
//init the user filters array
userFilters = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
SearchCriteria *tmpSc= [[SearchCriteria alloc] init];
for(int i=0;i<[searchFilters count];i++)
{
tmpSc=[self.searchFilters objectAtIndex:i];
if(tmpSc.enabled==TRUE)
[userFilters addObject:tmpSc];
}
}
searchFilters is a list of filters that can be setted to true or false and I use userFilters to populate a table view with the filters that are only setted to TRUE
But the line SearchCriteria *tmpSc= [[SearchCriteria alloc] init]; causes leaks, and I don't know how to solve because if I release at the end of the function I loose my pointers and it crashes
Any ideas?
twolfe18 has made the code >much slower if searchFilters can be large. -objectAtIndex: is not a fast operation on large arrays, so you shouldn't do it more than you have to. (While true that FE is faster than objectAtIndex:, this overstated the issue and so I've striken it; see my other comments on the advantages of Fast Enumeration.)
There are a number of problems in your code:
Never create a method that begins "set" but is not an accessor. This can lead to very surprising bugs because of how Objective-C provides Key-Value Compliance. Names matter. A property named userFilters should have a getter called -userFilters and a setter called -setUserFilters:. The setter should take the same type that the getter returns. So this method is better called -updateUserFilters to avoid this issue (and to more correctly indicate what it does).
Always use accessors. They will save you all kinds of memory management problems. Your current code will leak the entire array if -setUserFilters is called twice.
Both comments are correct that you don't need to allocate a temporary here. In fact, your best solution is to use Fast Enumeration, which is both very fast and very memory efficient (and the easiest to code).
Pulling it all together, here's what you want to be doing (at least one way to do it, there are many other good solutions, but this one is very simple to understand):
#interface MyObject ()
#property (nonatomic, readwrite, retain) NSMutableArray *userFilters;
#property (nonatomic, readwrite, retain) NSMutableArray *searchFilters;
#end
#implementation MyObject
#synthesize userFilters;
#synthesize searchFilters;
- (void)dealloc
{
[searchFilters release];
serachFilters = nil;
[userFilters release];
userFilters = nil;
[super dealloc];
}
- (void)updateUserFilters
{
//init the user filters array
// The accessor will retain for us and will release the old value if
// we're called a second time
self.userFilters = [NSMutableArray array];
// This is Fast Enumeration
for (SearchCriteria *sc in self.searchFilters)
{
if(sc.enabled)
{
[self.userFilters addObject:sc];
}
}
}
It seems that your initially creating a SearchCriteria object and before you use it or release it your reassigning the variable to another object from self.searchFilters. So you don't need to create the initial object and why it's leaking and not being released.
Try:
SearchCriteria *tmpSc = nil;
Hope that helps.
first of all, the worst n00b code you can write involves if(condition==true) do_something(), just write if(condition) do_something().
second, there is no reason to have tempSc at all (never mind alloc memory for it), you can just do the following:
-(void)setUserFilters{
//init the user filters array
userFilters = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for(int i=0;i<[searchFilters count];i++)
{
if([self.searchFilters objectAtIndex:i].enabled)
[userFilters addObject:[self.searchFilters objectAtIndex:i]];
}
}