pointer before declaration of object objective-c - objective-c

can you tell me something : is it a mistake or can we write "result" without the " * " here :
#implementation Person (Sorting)
- (NSComparisonResult)compareByName:(Person *)person2 {
>>//here :
>>NSComparisonResult result = [self.lastName caseInsensitiveCompare:person2.lastName];
if (result == NSOrderedSame) {
return [self.firstName caseInsensitiveCompare:person2.firstName];
}
return result;
}
#end
Thanks

caseInsensitiveCompare method returns NSComparisonResult so not using * is absolutely correct.
In objective-c you must use pointers to obj-c objects, but NSComparisonResult is just an enum (i.e. plain integer) so you may freely use it without pointer.

Related

Convert Swift convenience init with Switch statement to Objective-C

I am trying to convert this swift code to Objective-C
convenience init(fromString string: String, format:DateFormat)
{
if string.isEmpty {
self.init()
return
}
let string = string as NSString
switch format {
case .DotNet:
let startIndex = string.rangeOfString("(").location + 1
let endIndex = string.rangeOfString(")").location
let range = NSRange(location: startIndex, length: endIndex-startIndex)
let milliseconds = (string.substringWithRange(range) as NSString).longLongValue
let interval = NSTimeInterval(milliseconds / 1000)
self.init(timeIntervalSince1970: interval)
So far, I am doing this:
-(id) initFromString: (NSString *) string format: (DateFormat *) format{
if (string == nil) {
self = [self init];
return self;
}
switch (format) {
case .DotNet:
NSRange *startIndex = [[string rangeOfString:#"("] location]+1;
}
}
and have already run into the following errors:
for the switch(format): statement requires expression of integer type (DateFormat * __strong' invalid)
and for the 2 following lines: Expected expression
Any ideas ?
In Objective-C, the string is impliedly optional. Testing for nil merely tests whether a string was supplied. It doesn't check whether an empty string was supplied. You probably want to switch to string.length == 0 as, by the magic of nil-messaging, that'll work to check for either an empty string or no string at all.
Objective-C uses C's switch statement. So you can switch on integral types only. If this were Objective-C code originally, DateFormat would probably be an NS_ENUM — an integral type rather than an object type. It looks like the original was an enumeration from your use of dot syntax? If you can make it an Objective-C enumeration then do so and simply use:
- (id)initFromString:(NSString *)string format:(DateFormat)format {
....
switch(format)
{
case DateFormatDotNet: {
....
} break;
}
(with the curly brackets within the case being because you want to declare variables in there).
Otherwise, if it must be an object format then you're looking at a painful construction like:
if([format isEqual:[DateFormat dotNetFormat]]) {
}
else if([format isEqual:[DateFormat otherFormat]]) {
}
... etc ...
Also Objective-C has a syntactic distinction between structs, which are exactly what they are in C — named fields but no built-in behaviour — and object types, which is again because it's a strict superset of C. NSRange is a struct. So square bracket messaging syntax doesn't work on it. Instead of:
[[string rangeOfString:#"("] location]
Use:
[string rangeOfString:#"("].location
Square brackets around the rangeOfString call because it's a message dispatch to an object, then a dot for location because you get back a C struct as a value, and that's how one accesses a field in a C struct.
(dot syntax also works for properties on Objective-C objects, but explicitly to alias to getter and setter calls, and only for about the most recent of Objective-C's three decades)
Assuming this code is related to How to convert a Swift enum: String into an Objective-C enum: NSString?
Since your DateFormat variable is an object with a dateFormatType that is an NSString, you are going to have to use a chained if-else construct to select from the various possibilities:
if([format.dateFormatType compare: DotNetDateFormatType] == NSOrderedSame) {
[self handleDotNetDateFormat: format]
} else if ([format.dateFormatType compare: RSSDateFormatType] == NSOrderedSame) {
[self handleRSSDateFormat: format]
...
Objective-C has no concept of the dot-value syntax for enum values (so ".DotNet" is not a valid term in Objective-C). That's why the compiler is complaining about those either lines.

cannot call function from other function

I need to get abs. the value of NSDecimalNumber. And I use pre-defined function for that:
- (NSDecimalNumber *)aDN: (NSDecimalNumber *)num {
if ([num compare:[NSDecimalNumber zero]] == NSOrderedAscending) {
// negative value
return [[NSDecimalNumber zero] decimalNumberBySubtracting:num];
} else {
return num;
}
}
However when I try to call it from other function. Namely
- (void) prepareForSeque....
wordD=aDN(number);
I get the error: " Implicit declaration of function 'aDN' is invalid in C99'
Can you give me some pointers how to troubleshoot this?
Thanks in advance.
You appear to be confusing languages. It looks like you should have
wordD = [self aDN:number];
(Assuming the class hosting the method is the current class and not a category on decimal number which might make more sense...)

Varying Return Type Objective-C or c

How can I have a method/function that can return any type? For example sometimes the type will need to be float and sometimes it will need to be NSString* so id won't work because float isn't an id. I am not opposed to doing it in a c or c++ function if it's easier.
The reason why I need a dynamic return type is because I'm using objc/runtime to get an Ivar.
I would like some_type to be able to anything:
- (some_type)getIvarWithName:(const char *)name in:(id)obj
{
Ivar ivar(class_getInstanceVariable(object_getClass(obj),name));
return (some_type)ivar;
}
Return a float wrapped in an NSNumber, then you can use the id return type.
To simplify it, you can even use boxing literals, for example:
return #(1.1f);
The first thing to think about is why you would need a function that can return any type. It really doesn't make sense because you wouldn't be able to assign the value to anything, since you don't know the type. Of course, the situation is different when dealing strictly with Obj-C objects, as the language utilizes unknown objects with the id keyword. Unknown objects are like mixing Honeycrisp apples with Macintosh apples (no pun intended), and what you are trying to do is like mixing Honeycrisp apples with airplanes! However, if you want a certain type returned based off of the parameters (such as returning int for int parameters and float for float parameters), then you can overload the functions. Otherwise, then only way that I know of to return absolutely anything would be a void pointer (void *). This would point to a chunk of data that could really be anything. But back to the original problem. What does it represent and how long is it? Good luck!
UPDATE: As other answers mention, you can wrap simple data types (int, float, etc.) in objects such as NSNumbers or NSValues, which will work for your case. But when extending to more general scenarios with complex types such as structs, these generally can't be wrapped in built-in classes. You would need to make your own class using Obj-C.
There is no polymorphism of that kind in Obj-C.
If you know in advance what will be returned then you could use to methods of course.
Retruning id would work when you use an NSNumber for the float value.
You could even introduce a response object that either carries a number or a string and provides (bool) isNumber and (bool) isString methods for later processing.
But what are you really up to? In which context are you using that and what do you really try to achieve. To me it sounds as if there may be better solutions available.
Ofcourse it's weird solution, but you have weird question.
You need enable objective-c++: rename .m-file to .mm
Then yours code will look something like that:
void weird_function(int a)
{
switch (a)
{
case 0: throw #"Hello";
default: throw a;
}
}
void some_code(int a)
{
try
{
weird_function(a);
}
catch (int a)
{
NSLog(#"Catch int: %d", a);
}
catch (NSString* str)
{
NSLog(#"Catch string: %#", str);
}
}
Yours method can be implemented something like that:
union ValueHolder
{
void* voidPtrValue;
int intValue;
float floatValue;
NSString* nssstringValue;
};
- (void)getIvarWithName:(const char *)name in:(id)obj
{
ValueHolder vh;
Ivar ivar = object_getInstanceVariable(obj,name, &vh.voidPtrValue));
if (NULL == ivar)
return;
const char* encoding = ivar_getTypeEncoding(ivar);
if (0 == strcmp(encoding, #encode(int)))
throw vh.intValue;
if (0 == strcmp(encoding, #encode(float)))
throw vh.floatValue;
if (0 == strcmp(encoding, "#\"NSString\""))
throw vh.nsstringValue;
}
I found that using a template in c++ works to have a custom type
The following code works best for my situation:
template <typename _type>
static inline _type & hookVar(id self, NSString*name)
{
Ivar ivar(class_getInstanceVariable(object_getClass(self),[name UTF8String]));
#if __has_feature(objc_arc)
void *pointer(ivar == NULL ? NULL : reinterpret_cast<char *>((__bridge void *)self) + ivar_getOffset(ivar));
#else
void *pointer(ivar == NULL ? NULL : reinterpret_cast<char *>(self) + ivar_getOffset(ivar));
#endif
return *reinterpret_cast<_type *>(pointer);
}
To call the function I just use something like:
NSWindow *win = hookVar<NSWindow*>(self, #"_window");

Function calls with pointers in Objective C

I'm a newbie in Objective C, used to write C. Anyway, I have a class called DataProcessing:
DataProcessing.m
...
- (BOOL)MyStringTweaker:(NSString *)strIn : (NSString *)strOut {
if(some_thing) {
strOut = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"I_am_tweaked_%#", strIn];
return true;
}
else
return false;
}
...
From the AppDelegate (OSX Application)
AppDelegate.m
...
NSString *tweaked;
DataProcessing *data_proc = [[DataProcessing alloc] init];
if([data_proc MyStringTweaker:#"tweak_me":tweaked])
NSLog([NSString stringWithFormat:#"Tweaked: %#", tweaked]);
else
NSLog(#"Tweaking failed...");
...
This doesn't work, *tweaked is NIL after the call to MyStringTweaker...
What am I missing?
Objective-C, like C, is pass-by-value only. You need to change your method signature to be:
- (BOOL)MyStringTweaker:(NSString *)strIn : (NSString **)strOut
and use:
*strOut = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"I_am_tweaked_%#", strIn];
to do the assignment.
Then, where you call it, you need to pass the address of the pointer you want to fill in:
[data_proc MyStringTweaker:#"tweak_me" :&tweaked]
A good explanation is in the comp.lang.c FAQ.
Editorial aside: Why not label the second argument? It looks weird to have it naked like that.

why does my objective c method give me a "error: can not use an object as parameter to a method"

I've looked at this over and over again and I can't see the problem. Its probably obvious and I'm probably being an idiot and I apologize in advance for this.
In my interface I have:
#interface PolygonShape : NSObject
{
int numberOfSides;
int minimumNumberOfSides;
int maximumNumberOfSides;
}
#property int numberOfSides, minimumNumberOfSides, maximumNumberOfSides;
// class methods
+ (float)getAngleInDegrees:(PolygonShape *) polyshape;
+ (float)getAngleInRadians:(PolygonShape *) polyshape;
+ (NSString)getName:(PolygonShape *) polyshape;
//instance methods
- (id)init;
- (id)initWithNumberOfSides:(int)sides minimumNumberOfSides:(int)min
maximumNumberOfSides:(int)max;
#end
The part in the implementation that I get errors is for the getName method:
#implentation...
+ (NSString)getName:(PolygonShape *) polyshape
{
// here is where I get the "error: can not use an object as parameter to a method"
int sides = [polyshape numberOfSides];
NSString * s = [NSString init];
switch (sides) {
case 3:
s = "#Triangle";
// there's also an "assignment from incompatible pointer type" warning...but its secondary
break;
case 4:
return "#Square";
break;
default:
break;
}
}
The thing that drives me batty is that the class methods works just fine:
+ (float)getAngleInDegrees:(PolygonShape *) polyshape;
+ (float)getAngleInRadians:(PolygonShape *) polyshape;
Your getName: method should return (NSString *), not (NSString). I assume this is the error; if so, then yes, the error message could definitely have been more informative.
In fact, in Objective-C you will never see objects getting passed around without their * behind them, not as return values, not as parameters, not as local variables and not as member variables.
BTW, the warning you mention is because you have a typo, mixing up "#foo" with #"foo". The latter is an Objectice-C string literal, the former is a C string literal whose first character just happens to be #.
In addition to the other answers, you're using [NSString init] where you should be using [[NSString alloc] init]. However, that will only allocate an empty string, so you'd probably be better off initializing s to either #"" or nil.
I think the error is slightly misleading in this case. In Objective-C, it's generally not possible to pass an object by value (including return values). In this case, you declare the return value as NSString rather than NSString*. The declaration should be:
+ (NSString*)getName:(PolygonShape *) polyshape
not
+ (NSString)getName:(PolygonShape *) polyshape