Objective C: Unable to Assign value to Labels - objective-c

Question

I am trying to access properties of an object (person's firstName) which is stored in an array and assign it to labels in a seperate view Controller (SplitMethodViewController). The name value is successfully assigned here. Code snippet as below:
In the initial view controller (before displaying the modal view controller containing the UILabel):
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
int row = [indexPath row];
Person *thisPerson = (Person *)[self.personArray objectAtIndex:row];
SplitMethodViewController *smvc = [[SplitMethodViewController alloc]initWithNibName:nil bundle:nil];
smvc.nameLabel.text = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:#"%#", thisPerson.firstName];
//This lines returns the value I want, showing that assignment is working till this point
NSLog(#"The name label is %#", smvc.nameLabel.text);
[self presentModalViewController:smvc animated:YES];
[smvc release];
}
However, the values became blank when I check in the splitMethodViewController (checked in ViewDidLoad Method)
#interface SplitMethodViewController : UIViewController
{
UILabel *nameLabel;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UILabel *nameLabel;
#end
#implementation SplitMethodViewController
#synthesize nameLabel;
- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil {
self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
if (self) {
// Custom initialization.
self.nameLabel = [[UILabel alloc] init];
}
return self;
}
- (id)init
{
return [self initWithNibName:nil bundle:nil];
}
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
//name label returning nothing here.
NSLog(#"namelabel is %#",self.nameLabel.text);
[super viewDidLoad];
}
#end
I am sure I made some silly mistake somewhere. I have tried deleting all the outlets and labels and re-created just one name label and outlet. But I am still hitting this same issue.
Any help will be appreciated!

Answer 1

Did you actually allocate and instantiate the nameLabel and evenBillAmountLabel once you instantiate the SplitMethodViewController? In Objective-C messages (method calls) can be sent to nil (non-existant objects) without returning any errors, but also without any results.
Make sure the -init method on SplitMethodViewController looks somewhat like this:
// this is the designated initializer of most view controllers,
// do initialization here ...
- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibName bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundle
{
self = [super initWithNibName:nibName bundle:nibBundle];
if (self)
{
nameLabel = [[UILabel alloc] init];
evenBillAmountLabel = [[UILabel alloc] init];
// add other stuff you need to initialize ...
}
return self;
}
- (id)init
{
// since we don't wanna re-implement allocation and instantiation for every
// initializer, we call the 'designated initializer' with some default values,
// in this case the default nibName and bundle are nil.
return [self initWithNibName:nil bundle:nil];
}
- (void)dealloc
{
[nameLabel release];
[evenBillAmountLabel release];
[super dealloc];
}
Be sure to read about designated initializers if this is new to you and if this was related to your issue. Here's a link to Apple's documentation on the subject.

Answer 2

If Wolfgang's answer doesn't solve it, be sure that your UILabel references in your SplitMethodViewController.xib file are wired up to the correct referencing outlet in your SplitMethodViewController.h file.