I'm trying to use class property following this example. But I'm getting the following error:"Use of undecleared identifier '_myProperty'".
Here is my implementation:
#interface myClass()
#property (class,strong,nonatomic) NSString *myProperty;
#end
+ (NSString*)myProperty
{
if (!_myProperty) {
}
return [NSString new];
}
Why I'm getting this error? or any of you knows a work around this?
I'll really appreciate your help
Class properties don't get synthesized in Objective-C. You have to provide your own backing variable and your own getter/setter:
static NSString *_myProperty = nil;
+ (NSString *)myProperty {
if (!_myProperty) {
_myProperty = [NSString new];
}
return _myProperty;
}
+ (void)setMyProperty:(NSString *)myProperty {
_myProperty = myProperty;
}
Class properties and never auto-synthesised, the getter and/or setter must be implemented, and no backing variable is automatically created for them.
If your property needs a variable you must declare one, use a static global in the implementation file - that is effectively a "class variable" in Objective-C. Alternatively if you only require a getter you can declare a static variable local to the getter itself, further reducing its visibility and keeping the getter and variable together as a package.
HTH
In fact, class property is not a member of a class. So it will be created at once and all instances will use this one. So there is nothing to synthesize.
Related
My code invokes a C library function:
#implementation Store
...
-(void) doWork {
// this is a C function from a library
int data = getData();
...
}
end
I am unit testing the above function, I want to mock the C function getData() in my test, here is my test case:
#interface StoreTests : XCTestCase {
int mData;
Store *store;
}
#end
#implementation StoreTests
-(void) setUp {
[super setUp];
mData = 0;
store = [[Store alloc] init];
}
-(void) testDoWork {
// this call will use the mocked getData(), no problem here.
[store doWork];
}
// mocked getData()
int getData() {
mData = 10; // Use of undeclared identifier 'mData', why?
return mData;
}
...
#end
Why I get complier error:
Use of undeclared identifier 'mData' inside mocked getData() function?
You are misunderstanding how instance methods and variables work.
Every instance method has a variable self which references the current instance (or "current object") and a use of an instance variable, such as mData, is shorthand for accessing that variable using self, e.g self->mData, where -> is the (Objective-)C operator for field access. So your setup method written "long hand" is:
-(void) setUp {
[super setUp];
self->mData = 0;
self->store = [[Store alloc] init];
}
But where does self, the reference to the instance, itself come from? Well it's not magical, just hidden, it is passed to an instance method automatically as a hidden extra argument. At this point which switch to pseudo-code to show this. Your setup method is effectively compiled as:
-(void) setUp withSelf:(StoreTest *)self {
[super setUp];
self->mData = 0;
self->store = [[Store alloc] init];
}
and a call such as:
StoreTests *myStoreTests = ...
[myStoreTests setup];
is effectively compiled as something like:
[myStoreTests setup withSelf:myStoreTests];
automatically adding the extra self argument.
Now all the above only applies to methods, and enables them to access instance variables and methods, it does not apply to plain C functions - they have no hidden self argument and cannot access instance variables.
The solution you mention in the answer you added of declaring mData outside of the interface:
int mData;
#interface StoreTests : XCTestCase {
Store *store;
}
#end
changes mData into a global variable, instead of being an instance variable. C functions can access global variables. However this does mean that every instance of the class shares the same mData, there is only one mData in this case rather than one for every instance.
Making an instance variable into a global is therefore not a general solution to to issues like this, however as it is unlikely that you will have more than one instance of your StoreTests class it is a suitable solution in this case.
You should however make one change: you can only have one global variable with a given name with a program, so your mData must be unique and is accessible by any code within your program, not just the code of StoreTests. You can mitigate this my declaring the variable as static:
static int mData;
this keeps the variable as global but only makes it visible to code within the same file as the declaration, which is probably just the code of StoreTests.
HTH
I found one solution for my question, that is declare mData above #interface StoreTests : XCTestCase, something like this:
int mData;
#interface StoreTests : XCTestCase {
Store *store;
}
#end
...
I am trying to use an array of strings dynamically access methods at runtime within my class. For now the methods are already there, eventually I want to create them.
Is this possible?
For example:
bool nextLevel=NO;
for(NSString * match in gameLevels)
{
if([match isEqualToString:self.level])
{
nextLevel=YES;
}
else if(nextLevel==YES)
{
self.level=match;
nextLevel=NO;
}
}
//access method named self.level
Thank you in advance!
I use:
NSSelectorFromString(selectorString)
In your case, the selectorString would be:
NSString * selectorString = #"setLevel:";
This is 'setLevel' instead of 'level' because the Objective-C runtime will automatically expand dot properties to these selector names when assignment occurs.
To access a method based on a string, check the other answer.
To add a method in the runtime you need to create a IMP function or block.
If using a function, could be something like:
void myMethodIMP(id self, SEL _cmd)
{
// implementation ....
}
You could also use a block like this:
IMP blockImplementation=imp_implementationWithBlock(^(id _self, ...){
//Your Code here
}
Then you need to add the method, like this:
class_addMethod(yourClass, #selector(selectorName), (IMP) blockImplementation, encoding);
The encoding part is a special runtime encoding to describe the type of parameters your method receives. You can find that on the Objective-C runtime reference.
If you receive dynamic arguments on your generated methods, you need to use the va_list to read the values.
If I want to access a variable that is declared in Class A and I
want to use that variable in Class B .
I don't want to use Property.
How Can I do ?
It is bad practice to declare a public variable without making it a property.
You may also use KVC to access(both read and write) ivar, even if it is readonly.
[instanceOfMyClass valueForKey:#"myIvar"];
I hope someone finds my first stackOverflow answer helpful :)
#interface Class1
{
#public
int var; // if you not declare it public by default it'll be protected
}
// methods...
#end
// Inside a Class2 method:
Class1 *obj = ...;
obj->var = 3;
But property approach is far better.
Well, you can declare variable as public and access it with selector operator, but this is not recommended:
#interface A:NSObject{
#public
int x;
}
#end
...
//Somewhere inside class B
A *a = [[A alloc] init];
a->x;
However it's hard to imagine why it can be better that to use a property.
The 4 possibles cases that I can think to access a variable are:
1 Declare the variable in class A as public
#public
BOOL _test;
Totally not recommended. If you need a public variable you use a property.
2 Use a property.
#property (readonly, getter = myMehtodName) id myVariable;
3 Use a custom method. In practice it acts the same as a property with readonly attribute. Also you can access it with the dot notation.
4 Use KVC to access the variable.
This can be useful when you don't know the name of the property / variable in compilation time.
A little example:
NSString *myKey = [self obtainKey];
id myVariable = [self valueForKey:myKey];
if ([myVariable isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) {
//Do something
}else {
//Do another thing
}
Note that key can be either a method name or a variable.
I am having some issue about naming overridings of static variables in objective-c.
My .h file is:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#interface FetchClass : NSObject
+ (void)initWithNSManagedObjectContext:(NSManagedObjectContext *) managedObjectContext;
#end
And my .m file is:
static NSManagedObjectContext * managedObjectContext;
#implementation FetchClass
+ (void)initWithNSManagedObjectContext: (NSManagedObjectContext *) managedObjectContext{
FetchClass.managedObjectContext = managedObjectContext;
}
However, I get the error
"Property managedObjectContext not found on object of type FetchTasks"
So, the problem is, function argument managedObjectContext is of course overriding the static variable of the same name. That is why I have to get the static variable through Class.staticVariableName. But this time I get error as I mentioned above.
However If I change the static variable name to some other name , like:
static NSManagedObjectContext * managedObjectContextOtherName;
#implementation FetchClass
+ (void)initWithNSManagedObjectContext: (NSManagedObjectContext *) managedObjectContext{
managedObjectContextOtherName = managedObjectContext;
}
It works perfectly. My question is that, how to use these variables (static variable and function argument variable) if they have same name?
A static variable, like your managedObjectContext, is the closest thing to a class variable that Objective-C provides but it is not the same thing and this is why you get errors doing what you are trying - you cannot resolve your reference by qualifying it with the class name.
In (Objective-)C a static variable declared outside of any function/method has global lifetime and file scope - i.e. the variable always exists but is only visible from within the same source file as its declaration. There is no "file scope" qualifier you can use to resolve ambiguity/hiding when reference a static, any variable with the same name in an inner scope will hide the static.
In your case you can just use:
+ (void)initWithNSManagedObjectContext:(NSManagedObjectContext *)_managedObjectContext
{
managedObjectContext = _managedObjectContext;
}
(And there is no need to change your declaration of initWithNSManagedObjectContext: in the interface - parameter names are not required to match - so your "public" declaration doesn't require _'s in the names if you don't wish it to.)
Method arguments and instance variable should have different names. When they are the same, the compiler should warn you that it using the method variable.
Is is possible to create getters and setters for constants? I want to refer to a constant directly, and have it instantiate itself if it's value is nil. A constant declared like this:
// Prefs.h
extern MyClass * const kThing;
// Prefs.m
MyClass * const kThing = nil;
and the getter/setter would look like:
// getter
+ (MyClass *)kThing
{
_kThing = _kThing ? : [MyClass new];
return _kThing;
}
// setter
+ (void)setKThing:(MyClass *)myClass
{
_kThing = myClass
}
And then I could use it like:
[kThing doSomething];
Is this possible?
edit edited the methods to class methods
What you describe are not constants, they are global variables. You cannot define getters and setters for them, but you can use their values to back class methods, which is precisely what you have done.
However, when you send message like this
[kThing doSomething];
the global variable is used directly, bypassing your getter. If you want to go through a getter, you can write
[[MyClass kThing] doSomething];
or inside methods of MyClass you can write
[[[self class] kThing] doSomething];
Another note is that when yo implement accessor methods like that, you should make the backing variables static, rather than extern. This will ensure that other modules cannot access these variables bypassing your getters.
Global variable declaration in other file is very dangerous in objective C. Ideally we use sharedInstance. Try like this:
In MyGame.h
#interface MyGame : NSObject
{
int mScore;
}
#property(nonatomic,assign) int score;
+(MyGame*)sharedObject;
-(void)someFunction;
#end
In MyGame.m
static MyGame *gGame = nil;
#implementation MyGame
#synthesize score = mScore;
+(MyGame*)sharedObject
{
if(!gGame)
{
gGame = [[MyGame alloc] init];
}
return gGame;
}
-(void)someFunction
{
}
#end
To access anywhere in project:
#import "MyGame.h"
[MyGame sharedObject].score;
[MyGame sharedObject] someFunction];
The short answer is that this is not possible.
MyClass * const kThing = nil;
means that kThing is a constant pointer, which means that the address in memory that it points to cannot be changed. So once it's set to nil, it can't later be set to a new object.