Say I have my class
#interface Person : NSObject { NSString *name; }
I need to get the name of NSString's within my class
Person *person = [[Person alloc] init];
NSLog(#"Name of variable %s\n", _NameofVariable_(person->name));
Thanks for the answers, here's the solution I came up from the replies
//returns nil if property is not found
-(NSString *)propertyName:(id)property {
unsigned int numIvars = 0;
NSString *key=nil;
Ivar * ivars = class_copyIvarList([self class], &numIvars);
for(int i = 0; i < numIvars; i++) {
Ivar thisIvar = ivars[i];
if ((object_getIvar(self, thisIvar) == property)) {
key = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:ivar_getName(thisIvar)];
break;
}
}
free(ivars);
return key;
}
As easy as
#define VariableName(arg) (#""#arg)
Then you do:
NSObject *obj;
NSString *str = VariableName(obj);
NSLog(#"STR %#", str);//obj
You can get the names of a class's instance variables with the Objective-C runtime API function class_copyIvarList. However, this is rather involved, rarely done and almost never the best way to accomplish something. If you have a more specific goal in mind than mere curiosity, it might be a good idea to ask about how to accomplish it in Objective-C.
Also, incidentally, person.name doesn't specify an instance variable in Objective-C — it's a property call. The instance variable would be person->name.
You might use preprocessor stringification and a bit of string twiddling:
NSUInteger lastIndexAfter(NSUInteger start, NSString *sub, NSString *str) {
NSRange found = [str rangeOfString:sub options:NSBackwardsSearch];
if(found.location != NSNotFound) {
NSUInteger newStart = NSMaxRange(found);
if(newStart > start)
return newStart;
}
return start;
}
NSString *lastMember(NSString *fullName) {
if(!fullName) return nil;
NSUInteger start = 0;
start = lastIndexAfter(start, #".", fullName);
start = lastIndexAfter(start, #"->", fullName);
return [fullName substringFromIndex: start];
}
#define NSStringify(v) (##v)
#define _NameofVariable_(v) lastMember(NSStringify(v))
If the person object is exposed as a property of the class, you can use objc_msgSend to get the value.
So, if you could access person using
[object person]
You could also do
objc_msgSend(object, "person")
For more details on message sending, including how to pass arguments to methods, see the Objective-C Runtime Programming Guide section on Messaging
The following works as a macro:
#define STRINGIZE(x) #x
Related
Since property named "age" would always have a selector named "age" as well, I could use respondsToSelector as this question suggests and that will tell me if a particular selector exists at runtime in any given object.
If a property named "age" exists, I can verify that. How could I know if that selector (the read method for that property) returns an object (id) or non-object (int)?
Is such type determination possible at runtime, or is the Objective-C way to always assume that someone implemented that method using the type I'm hoping it used, or can I also verify the return type?
This is using the latest Objective-C version (LLVM 4.1) in XCode 4.5.
Update: This is the utility-category-on-NSObject that I came up with:
- (NSString*) propertyType: (NSString*)propname
{
objc_property_t aproperty = class_getProperty([self class], [propname cStringUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding] ); // how to get a specific one by name.
if (aproperty)
{
char * property_type_attribute = property_copyAttributeValue(aproperty, "T");
NSString *result = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:property_type_attribute];
free(property_type_attribute);
return result;
}
else
return nil;
}
While looking into this question I also wrote this handy-dandy utility method that
can list all the properties on this object:
- (NSArray*) properties;
{
NSMutableArray *results = [NSMutableArray array];
#autoreleasepool {
unsigned int outCount, i;
objc_property_t *properties = class_copyPropertyList([self class], &outCount);
for (i = 0; i < outCount; i++) {
objc_property_t property = properties[i];
const char * aname=property_getName(property);
[results addObject:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:aname]];
//const char * attr= property_getAttributes(property);
//[results addObject:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:attr]];
}
if (properties) {
free(properties);
}
} // end of autorelease pool.
return results;
}
You could use class_copyPropertyList to get a list of properties declared in a class.
class_copyPropertyList
Describes the properties declared by a class.
And then property_getAttributes:
property_getAttributes
Returns the attribute string of an property.
Here you can find some more concrete hints and examples.
As a side note, the following statement:
Since property named "age" would always have a selector named "age" as well
is not correct, since a property can have custom getter and/or setter:
#property (nonatomic, getter=isImmediate) BOOL immediate;
EDIT:
Some sample code I found in another S.O. post:
const char * type = property_getAttributes(class_getProperty([self class], "myPropertyName"));
NSString * typeString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:type];
NSArray * attributes = [typeString components separatedByString:#","];
NSString * typeAttribute = [attributes objectAtIndex:0];
NSString * propertyType = [typeAttribute substringFromIndex:1];
const char * rawPropertyType = [propertyType UTF8String];
if (strcmp(rawPropertyType, #encode(float)) == 0) {
//it's a float
} else if (strcmp(rawPropertyType, #encode(int)) == 0) {
//it's an int
} else if (strcmp(rawPropertyType, #encode(id)) == 0) {
//it's some sort of object
} else ....
One approach you can take, assuming you know the property name already, is to use the class_getProperty function. You can also use the property_copyAttributeValue() function to get just a particular attribute by name:
objc_property_t number_property = class_getProperty([MyClass class], "number");
char *number_property_type_attribute = property_copyAttributeValue(number_property, "T");
NSLog(#"number property type attribute = %s", number_property_type_attribute);
Will log:
2013-01-14 14:45:37.382 RuntimeFun[61304:c07] number property type
attribute = i
Assuming MyClass looks something like:
#interface MyClass : NSObject
#property (nonatomic) int number;
#end
#implementation MyClass
#end
One you have your type attribute string, you can then compare it to the various Objective-C type encodings. Once you're done with your comparison, be sure to call free() on your attribute string.
I want to create a class that contains a dynamic, two-dimensional c-array of pointers to NSStrings. I know I can simulate a two-dimensional array using an NSArray containing multiple NSArrays, but if possible I'd like to do this using a traditional two-dimensional c-array. ARC won't allow a simple assignment of a pointer to an NSString to an element of a c-array unless you use "__unsafe_unretained":
#interface NumberStringsArray : NSObject
{
#public
NSString * __unsafe_unretained **_array;
}
To avoid memory leaks and to give an object in the class ownership of each NSString assigned to the c-array, I add a pointer to each NSString object to an NSMutableArray. In -(void)dealloc I free the memory acquired to create the two-dimensional c-array.
Here's my question: How do I declare a property based on the _array ivar so that I can refer to the i,j element of the array as "foobar.array[i][j]" rather than "foobar->array[i][j]"?
Later amplification: I did it in a very similar manner to the answerer except for the __bridge stuff. I don't know if that makes a difference. I allocate the two-dimensional array here:
self->_array = (NSString * __unsafe_unretained **)calloc(_columnCount, sizeof(void *));
if (!self->_array)
return nil;
for (UINT16 i = 0; i < _columnCount; i++)
{
self->_array[i] = (NSString * __unsafe_unretained *)calloc(_rowCount, sizeof(void *));
if (!self->_array[i])
{
for (UINT16 a = 0; a < _columnCount; a++)
if (self->_array[a])
free(self->_array[a]);
if (self->_array)
free(self->_array);
return nil;
}
}
I put pointers to the NSString objects into the array using substrings generated from a file of comma-separated values:
NSArray *numbers = [line componentsSeparatedByString: #","];
for (UINT16 i = 0; i < _columnCount; i++)
{
NSString *number = #"";
if (i < [numbers count])
number = [numbers objectAtIndex: i];
//
// save it in owners
//
[self.owners addObject: number];
self->_array[i][j] = number;
}
In -(void)dealloc I free all the memory:
-(void)dealloc
{
for (UINT16 i = 0; i < self.columnCount; i++)
if (self->_array[i])
free(self->_array[i]);
if (self->_array)
free(self->_array);
}
Declare this property:
#property (nonatomic) NSString * __unsafe_unretained **_array;
Then you can allocate the pointers to objects:
_array= (NSString * __unsafe_unretained **) malloc(M*sizeof(CFTypeRef) );
for(NSUInteger i=0; i<M;i++)
{
_array[i]= ((NSString * __unsafe_unretained *) malloc(N*sizeof(CFTypeRef) );
for(NSUInteger j=0; j<N;j++)
{
_array[i][j]= (__bridge NSString*) (__bridge_retained CFTypeRef) [[NSString alloc]initWithCString: "Hello" encoding: NSASCIIStringEncoding];
// I see that you got habit with C so you'll probably like this method
}
}
Then when you don't need it anymore, free the array:
for(NSUInteger i=0; i<M; i++)
{
for(NSUInteger j=0; j<N;j++)
{
CFTypeRef string=(__bridge_transfer CFTypeRef) _array[i][j];
}
free(_array[i]);
}
free(_array);
You can't because you can't declare a concrete object for an Objective-C class. So
NumberStringsArray object;
is not allowed.
You are forced to declare it as
NumberStringsArray *object = [[NumberStringsArray alloc] init.. ];
so you have to access to the ivar through the correct -> operator applied to pointers. Mind that the object.something in Objective-C is just a shorthand for [object something] while in standard C you would use . to access to fields of a concrete struct.
(Note: This addresses the creation/use of the property to access the data, not the way the data should be managed by conventional Objective-C storage management or by ARC. Thinking about that makes my head hurt.)
If you want a read-only C array to "look" like an Objective-C property, declare the property such as #property (readonly, nonatomic) char* myProp; and then, rather than using #synthesize, implement a getter for it along the lines of:
-(char**)myProp {
return myPropPointer;
// Or, if the array is allocated as a part of the instance --
return &myPropArray[0];
}
It's possible to get list of classes from a bundle via NSBundleDidLoadNotification. But I can't figure out how I can get them from already loaded bundle. (same bundle with code)
I'm trying to get class list of my application bundle. More specifically, the classes only in my application binary.
I looked at objc_getClassList, but it returns ALL classes and it's obviously too heavy for me. I need lightweight method. I found objc_copyClassNamesForImage by googling, but it's not documented, and I don't know how to use it safely. I think I can try to use it conventionally, but I want to find another more safe option before going there.
Another option would be to iterate through all the classes registered with the runtime and use +[NSBundle bundleForClass:] on each one to figure out which one it came from. You can then sort things into sets based on the result.
Something like this:
#interface NSBundle (DDAdditions)
- (NSArray *)definedClasses_dd;
#end
#implementation NSBundle (DDAdditions)
- (NSArray *)definedClasses_dd {
NSMutableArray *array = [NSMutableArray array];
int numberOfClasses = objc_getClassList(NULL, 0);
Class *classes = calloc(sizeof(Class), numberOfClasses);
numberOfClasses = objc_getClassList(classes, numberOfClasses);
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfClasses; ++i) {
Class c = classes[i];
if ([NSBundle bundleForClass:c] == self) {
[array addObject:c];
}
}
free(classes);
return array;
}
#end
Then you can call:
NSLog(#"%#", [[NSBundle mainBundle] definedClasses_dd]);
Try this magic:
- (NSArray *)getClassNames {
NSMutableArray *classNames = [NSMutableArray array];
unsigned int count = 0;
const char **classes = objc_copyClassNamesForImage([[[NSBundle mainBundle] executablePath] UTF8String], &count);
for(unsigned int i=0;i<count;i++){
NSString *className = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:classes[i]];
[classNames addObject:className];
}
return classNames;
}
I could find some example for the function objc_copyClassNamesForImage at here.
http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/objc4/objc4-493.9/test/weak.m
// class name list
const char *image = class_getImageName(objc_getClass("NotMissingRoot"));
testassert(image);
const char **names = objc_copyClassNamesForImage(image, NULL);
testassert(names);
testassert(classInNameList(names, "NotMissingRoot"));
testassert(classInNameList(names, "NotMissingSuper"));
if (weakMissing) {
testassert(! classInNameList(names, "MissingRoot"));
testassert(! classInNameList(names, "MissingSuper"));
} else {
testassert(classInNameList(names, "MissingRoot"));
testassert(classInNameList(names, "MissingSuper"));
}
free(names);
The source code is unofficial but from Apple. So I decided to use this code until I find any better way.
I need a way to pass a property and get the name assigned to it. Any suggestions?
#property (nonatomic, retain) MyObject *crazyObject;
NSString *str = SOME_WAY_TO_GET_PROPERTY_NAME(crazyObject);
// Above method should return #"crazyObject"
You can try this:
unsigned int propertyCount = 0;
objc_property_t * properties = class_copyPropertyList([self class], &propertyCount);
NSMutableArray * propertyNames = [NSMutableArray array];
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < propertyCount; ++i) {
objc_property_t property = properties[i];
const char * name = property_getName(property);
[propertyNames addObject:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:name]];
}
free(properties);
NSLog(#"Names: %#", propertyNames);
It's as simple as this...expanding upon what Chuck already mentioned:
#ifndef STR_PROP
#define STR_PROP( prop ) NSStringFromSelector(#selector(prop))
#endif
You then use it like so:
NSString *strProp = STR_PROP(myProperty);
Background
Keep in mind that properties are really just, to quote Apple, "a syntactical shorthand for declaring a class’s accessor methods." In fact, by itself, the #property declaration doesn't even work. Your #synthesize statement translates the #property into the equivalent of two methods:
- (void)setCrazyObject:(MyObject *)something;
- (MyObject *)crazyObject;
Which one is used depends on the context surrounding your self.crazyObject. (#synthesize also creates a matching instance variable if you didn't do it yourself.) The offshoot of all this is that you can't really translate to and from a property with one single method.
Proposed Solution
You can use what Apple already provides:
NSString *foo = NSStringFromSelector(#selector(myClassProperty));
Or do something custom:
Given that self.crazyObject really translates to either [self crazyObject] or [self setCrazyObject:foo] by the time your code is running, ou'll probably need two methods, like:
- (NSString *)setterStringForProperty:(SEL)prop;
- (NSString *)getterStringForProperty:(SEL)prop;
You might then want at least 2 companion methods such as:
- (SEL)setterForPropertyName:(NSString *)propString;
- (SEL)getterForPropertyName:(NSString *)propString;
Within these methods, you can use the Foundation functions NSStringFromSelector and NSSelectorFromString to convert back and forth between SEL and NSString. Use whatever string manipulations you like to convert back and forth between your setter string (setCrazyObject) and your property name (crazyObject).
A complete solution is hard to provide without knowing the exact use case, but hopefully this provides some more clues for anyone trying to accomplish something similar. There might even be some useful things made possible by combining this approach with Oscar's answer.
Here is a function that returns the name of an ivar, so basically it not only returns the properties but any ivar of the class. I haven't found a way to get the property directly so I used the ivar trick.
#import <objc/objc.h>
/// -----
- (NSString *)nameOfIvar:(id)ivarPtr
{
NSString *name = nil;
uint32_t ivarCount;
Ivar *ivars = class_copyIvarList([self class], &ivarCount);
if(ivars)
{
for(uint32_t i=0; i<ivarCount; i++)
{
Ivar ivar = ivars[i];
id pointer = object_getIvar(self, ivar);
if(pointer == ivarPtr)
{
name = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:ivar_getName(ivar)];
break;
}
}
free(ivars);
}
return name;
}
After searching and debugging i find solution for me...
Added #import <objc/runtime.h>
Methods object_getIvar(id obj, Ivar ivar) send bad access and app crashes. i modify some code and it worked great:
+(NSString*)stringWithProperty:(id)property withClass:(id)controller
{
NSString *name = nil;
uint32_t ivarCount;
Ivar *ivars = class_copyIvarList([controller class], &ivarCount);
if(ivars)
{
for(uint32_t i=0; i<ivarCount; i++)
{
Ivar ivar = ivars[i];
name = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:ivar_getName(ivar)];
if ([controller valueForKey:name] == property)
{
break;
}
}
free(ivars);
}
return name;
}
Modifying the solution, it works when your object is allocated already, otherwise it returns nil:-
NSString * NSStringFromProperty(NSObject* property, NSObject* class)
{
unsigned int propertyCount = 0;
objc_property_t * properties = class_copyPropertyList([class class], &propertyCount);
NSString *name = nil;
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < propertyCount; ++i)
{
name = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:property_getName(properties[i])];
NSObject *object = [class valueForKey:name];
if (object != nil && object == property)
{
break;
}
else
{
name = nil;
}
}
free(properties);
return name;
}
You can use
NSString *str = NSStringFromSelector(#selector(crazyObject));
The good thing about this approach is that:
Xcode will autocomplete word crazyObject for you.
When later on you will change the property name from crazyObject to myCrazyObject, Xcode will add a warning saying "unrecognized selector!" -- pretty good for debugging.
I use this method so often, that I even created a function, which allows to write less letters:
NSString * __nonnull sfs(SEL __nonnull theSelector)
{
if (!theSelector)
{
abort();
}
return NSStringFromSelector(theSelector);
}
Now your final solution can look like this:
NSString *str = sfs(#selector(crazyObject));
From Get property name as string, without using the runtime reference library, just define:
#define propertyKeyPath(property) (#""#property)
#define propertyKeyPathLastComponent(property) [[(#""#property) componentsSeparatedByString:#"."] lastObject]
And then you can do something like this:
NSLog(#"%#", propertyKeyPathLastComponent(appleStore.storeLocation.street)); //result: street
You may check my approach at Gist to get the string for a property with autocompletion and compile-time check.
How to use:
Get the property name for a class:
#interface AnyClass : NSObject
#property (strong) NSData *data;
#end
// == My approach ==
// C string for a class
PropertyNameForClass(AnyClass, data); // ==> "data"
// NSString for a class
PropertyStringForClass(AnyClass, data); // ==> #"data"
// Bad approach (no autocompletion; no compile-time check):
NSString *propertyName = #"data";
Get the property name for a protocol:
#protocol AnyProtocol
#property (strong) NSDate *date;
#end
// C string for a protocol
PropertyNameForProtocol(AnyProtocol, date); // ==> "date"
// NSString for a protocol
PropertyStringForProtocol(AnyProtocol, date); // ==> #"date"
Unconventional, hacky, ugly, late, but... as strong-named as it gets and works like a charm:
#define SOME_WAY_TO_GET_PROPERTY_NAME(p) p == p ? [[[[[[[NSString alloc] initWithCString:#p encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] componentsSeparatedByString:#"."] lastObject] componentsSeparatedByString:#" "] lastObject] stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"]" withString:#""] : #""
Sample usage:
NSLog(SOME_WAY_TO_GET_PROPERTY_NAME(self.customer.surname)); // surname
NSLog(SOME_WAY_TO_GET_PROPERTY_NAME([[self customer] birthDate])); // birthDate
...
I have a string I want to parse and return an equivalent enum. I need to use the enum type elsewhere, and I think I like how I'm defining it. The problem is that I don't know a good way to check the string against the enum values without being redundant about the order of the enums.
Is there no option other than a big if/else?
typedef enum {
ZZColorRed,
ZZColorGreen,
ZZColorBlue,
} ZZColorType;
- (ZZColorType)parseColor:(NSString *)inputString {
// inputString will be #"red", #"green", or #"blue" (trust me)
// how can I turn that into ZZColorRed, etc. without
// redefining their order like this?
NSArray *colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"red", #"green", #"blue", nil];
return [colors indexOfObject:inputString];
}
In Python, I'd probably do something like the following, although to be honest I'm not in love with that either.
## maps url text -> constant string
RED_CONSTANT = 1
BLUE_CONSTANT = 2
GREEN_CONSTANT = 3
TYPES = {
'red': RED_CONSTANT,
'green': GREEN_CONSTANT,
'blue': BLUE_CONSTANT,
}
def parseColor(inputString):
return TYPES.get(inputString)
ps. I know there are color constants in Cocoa, this is just an example.
try this: Map enum to char array
Pseudo code.. untested.
int lookup(const char* str) {
for(name = one; name < NUMBER_OF_INPUTS; name++) {
if(strcmp(str, stats[name]) == 0) return name;
}
return -1;
}
A more objective-c'ish version of the code could be:
// build dictionary
NSMutableDictionary* dict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
for(i=0; i<number_of_strings; i++) {
[dict setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInteger:i] forKey:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:names[i]]];
}
// elsewhere... lookup in dictionary
id obj = [dict objectForKey:name];
if(obj) return [obj intValue];
return -1;
This has already been answered: Converting between C enum and XML
Basically, you wind up defining corresponding strings when you define your enum, and then you use a category on NSArray so that you can do this:
static NSArray* colorNamesArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:colorNames];
//colorNames is a nil-terminated list of string literals #defined near your enum
NSString* colorName = [colorNamesArray stringWithEnum:color];
//stringWithEnum: is defined with a category
Sure, the #define is a little ugly, but the code above, which is what you'll work with most of the time, is actually pretty clean.
I was never satisfied with any of the suggestions. (But I appreciate the effort that went into them.) I tried a few of them but they didn't feel good or were error-prone in practice.
I ended up created a custom dictionary to map integers to strings which feels a lot better because it's Cocoa through and through. (I didn't subclass NSDictionary in order to make it harder to misuse.)
#interface ZZEnumDictionary : NSObject {
NSMutableDictionary *dictionary;
}
+ (id)dictionary;
+ (id)dictionaryWithStrings:(id)firstString, ...;
- (NSString *)stringForInt:(NSInteger)intEnum;
- (NSInteger)intForString:(NSString *)stringEnum;
- (BOOL)isValidInt:(NSInteger)intEnum;
- (BOOL)isValidString:(NSString *)stringEnum;
- (BOOL)stringEquals:(NSString *)stringEnum intEnum:(NSInteger)intEnum;
- (BOOL)setContainsString:(NSSet *)set forInt:(NSInteger)intEnum;
- (NSArray *)allStrings;
#end
#interface ZZEnumDictionary ()
- (void)setInt:(NSInteger)integer forString:(NSString *)string;
#end