addObjects adds only last object to NSMutableArray - ios

Question

I am making an Schedule class and trying to output all events in a loop in a ViewController. I have created an Event class and Schedule class. I am looping thorough NSMutableArray to get the text all of all the events. My problem is that when I am in the addNewEvent method in Schedule.m file I overwrite my NSMutable array with the last object I am adding through addObject. My goal is to add all the event objects one by one into the array and display their text. It would also be nice if I could set separate IDs for the event objects. I understand that I probably need to loop through something in the addNewEvent method when I am adding objects to the mutable array, but I don't know through what. I also thought that maybe I am initializing the NSMutableArray (which is a property of the Schedule class) in the wrong place, but it gives an error if I move the initializer anywhere else.
Could you please help me solve this problem. Any help will be much appreciated!
My Code is below. I have two classes (Event & Schedule) and a ViewController file.
Event.h:
#interface Event : NSObject
#property int eventId;
#property NSString * eventTitle;
#property NSString * eventDescription;
#property NSDate * eventDate;
-(void) logEvent;
-(NSString*) getEventText;
#end
Event.m:
#import "Event.h"
#implementation Event
-(NSString*) getEventText {
NSString * eventText1 = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"\n\nEvent ID: %d.\n", _eventId];
NSString * eventText2 = [eventText1 stringByAppendingFormat: #"Title: %#.\n", _eventTitle];
NSString * eventText3 = [eventText2 stringByAppendingFormat:#"Description: %#.\n", _eventDescription];
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
dateFormatter.dateStyle = NSDateFormatterFullStyle;
dateFormatter.timeStyle = NSDateFormatterShortStyle;
NSString * eventText = [eventText3 stringByAppendingFormat:#"Date: %#.\n\n", [dateFormatter stringFromDate:_eventDate]];
return eventText;
}
#end
Schedule.h:
#interface Schedule : NSObject
#property int idIndex;
#property NSMutableArray * scheduledEvents;
-(NSString*) getAllEventText;
-(void)addNewEventWithTitle:(NSString *)Title Description:(NSString *)Description andDate:(NSDate *)Date;
#end
Schedule.m:
#import "Schedule.h"
#import "Event.h"
#implementation Schedule
-(void)addNewEventWithTitle:(NSString *)Title Description:(NSString *)Description andDate:(NSDate *)Date {
Event * event = [[Event alloc] init];
_idIndex = 1;
[event setEventTitle:Title];
[event setEventDescription:Description];
[event setEventDate:Date];
[event setEventId:_idIndex];
NSLog(#"%#", [event getEventText]);
_scheduledEvents = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[_scheduledEvents addObject: event];
NSLog(#"%lu", [_scheduledEvents count]);
}
-(NSString*) getAllEventText {
NSString * allEventText;
// loop through NSMutableArray calling each Event's getEventText method using a for loop
for (int i=0; i<[_scheduledEvents count]; i++) {
allEventText = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"Event %d: %#\n", i+1, [_scheduledEvents[i] getEventText] ];
NSLog(#"%#", [_scheduledEvents[i] getEventText]);
}
// return concatenated string
return allEventText;
}
#end
ViewController.m:
#implementation ViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
Schedule * mySchedule = [[Schedule alloc] init];
[mySchedule addNewEventWithTitle:#"My Birthday" Description:#"My most cherished birthday" andDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceReferenceDate:484830000]];
[mySchedule addNewEventWithTitle:#"Meeting with the Client" Description:#"My most important meeting" andDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceReferenceDate:481302000]];
[mySchedule addNewEventWithTitle:#"Appointment with Family Doctor" Description:#"My most urgent appointment" andDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceReferenceDate:480270000]];
[_outputTextView setText:[mySchedule getAllEventText]];
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning {
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
#end

Answer 1

You are re-initializing scheduledEvents everytime addNewEventWithTitle:Description:andDate is called.
You have to move _scheduledEvents = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init]; in your viewDidLoad method.

Answer 2

The problem is this line:
-(void)addNewEventWithTitle:(NSString *)Title Description:(NSString *)Description andDate:(NSDate *)Date {
// ...
_scheduledEvents = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init]; // <--
// ...
}
By definition, if _scheduledEvents already has any value (an existing array), that line destroys that value and replaces it with a new empty array. So the result of running your addNewEvent... method will always be that _scheduledEvents ends up consisting of just this one event.

Answer 3

SOLVED: the problem was in the getAllEventText method.
The allEventText string was constantly replacing its own content in the for loop in the method previously.
I had to change the NSString to NSMutableString and use the append method to add to the existing string, and not replace its content.
So I changed the method as follows and it works now:
-(NSString*) getAllEventText {
NSMutableString* allEventText = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:150];
// loop through NSMutableArray calling each Event's getEventText method using a for loop
for (int i=0; i<[_scheduledEvents count]; i++) {
[allEventText appendFormat:#"Event %d: %#\n", i+1, [_scheduledEvents[i] getEventText]];
NSLog(#"%#", [_scheduledEvents[i] getEventText]);
}
// return concatenated string
return allEventText;
}
Also big thanks to metronic and matt for suggesting that I need to move the MSMutableArray initializer away from the addNewEvent method!!