Access a variable declared in alertController - ios

Question

I'm trying to create an alert that prompts the user to name a song they have imported to a music sheet display app.
I have created a function for this naming process:
- (NSString *)nameImportedSong {
NSString *songName;
UIAlertController * alertController = [UIAlertController alertControllerWithTitle: #"New Song"
message: #"Choose a song name"
preferredStyle:UIAlertControllerStyleAlert];
[alertController addTextFieldWithConfigurationHandler:^(UITextField *textField) {
textField.placeholder = #"song name";
textField.textColor = [UIColor blueColor];
textField.clearButtonMode = UITextFieldViewModeWhileEditing;
textField.borderStyle = UITextBorderStyleRoundedRect;
}];
[alertController addAction:[UIAlertAction actionWithTitle:#"OK" style:UIAlertActionStyleDefault handler:^(UIAlertAction *action) {
NSArray * textfields = alertController.textFields;
UITextField * namefield = textfields[0];
NSString *chosenSongName = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", namefield.text];
}]];
songName = ; // <-------------how do I assign chosenSongName to songName?
[self presentViewController:alertController animated:YES completion:nil];
return songName;
}
How can I assign chosenSongName from the alert into my songName variable, outside the alert?

Answer 1

Use __block keyword for the variable
__block NSString *chosenSongName;
[alertController addAction:[UIAlertAction actionWithTitle:#"OK" style:UIAlertActionStyleDefault handler:^(UIAlertAction *action) {
NSArray * textfields = alertController.textFields;
UITextField * namefield = textfields[0];
chosenSongName = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", namefield.text];
}]];
songName = chosenSongName;
NSLog(#"chosenSongName = %#",chosenSongName);