Xcode Property Not Retaining Value - ios

I have a view controller called LoginWindowViewController.h that declared a property called usernameTextField:
#property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *usernameTextField;
A string called James is associated to this TextField.
I then import another view controller,FirstViewController.h into my LoginWindowViewController.m and I also imported LoginWindowViewController.h into FirstViewController.m . In my FirstViewController.h there is a property called username.
#property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet NSString *userName;
Then i assign usernameTextField to username(In my FirstViewController.m). But when i NSlog the property username in my FirstViewController.m, it gives a null value.How do i fix this?

When you import classes you do not actually import any values. When you set the value of a property it is only set on that instance of the class. You will need to explicitly reference the property of your current instance to get the value you have set.
One note: IBOutlet stands for Interface Builder Outlet and is how you create a link from a storyboard or xib file UI element to a class property. So, no need to use IBOutlet if you are not linking to something in interface builder.
String should be declared
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *userName;
Then when you instantiate your login view controller from first view controller you can set the property like this
LoginWindowViewController *loginVC = [[LoginWindowViewController alloc] init];
[loginVC.usernameTextField setText:self.userName];

Related

The use of #property

Why is this code okay?
#interface AddViewController : UIViewController <UIPickerViewDelegate>
{
IBOutlet UILabel *category;
IBOutlet UIPickerView *categoryPicker;
}
#end
But this code is not
#interface AddViewController : UIViewController <UIPickerViewDelegate>
IBOutlet UILabel *category;
IBOutlet UIPickerView *categoryPicker;
#end
Also, I was looking up a video on how to use the UIPickerView, and instead of making properties for the IBOutlet, he just made the outlets. Which clearly has something to do with why those curly braces are there.
category and categoryPicker are instance variables, not properties. You either reference them directly via their name e.g. category or by using self->category.
Instance variables are declared in the curly braces, while properties are declared with #property
Instance variables do not have setter and getter methods, while properties have.
you need to change "IBOutlet UILabel *category;" to "#property (nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet UILabel *category;", the same for "IBOutlet UIPickerView *categoryPicker;"
Within the bracket {}, category and categoryPicker are instance variables, but if you delete the "{}", you need to use "property" so that they work the same way

how to connect IBOutlet from a class to another class

I have Class A which contains a xib with some buttons and a UITextField and Class B which contains a tableView
I want to add Class A to the table view header.
I am importing the xib from class A into class B using [[[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibName: owner:self options:nil] objectAtIndex:0];
I just want to reflect the button and textview actions inside classB. In ClassB I do have some UITextfield Delegate methods which i expect to be called when typing some text in uitextfield defined and declared in ClassA (xib + property definition in .h file).
Class A .h:
//properties are set from xib file ClassA.xib
#interface ClassA : UIView
#property (unsafe_unretained, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *addC;
#property(strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *nText;
#end
Class B.h
#import "ClassA"
#interface ClassB : UIViewController <UITextFieldDelegate, UITableViewDataSource,...>
#property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITableView *mTableView; //property set from ClassB.xib
#property(strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *nText_B;
#property (unsafe_unretained, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *addC_B;
- (IBAction)addC:(UIButton *)sender;
#end
I don't know how to make the link ClassB button and textfield to ClassA
In ClassB viewDidLoad method i;ve tried this:
getHeader = [[ClassA alloc]init];
_addC_B = [getHeader addC];
_nText_B = [getHeader nText];
_nText_B.delegate =self;
_nText_B.text=#"";
but it's not working
I am new to iOS on this side area.
Thank you for your help
You haven't explained your problem well. Classes do not "contain xibs".
If your objective is to create a piece of user interface in XIB and reuse it, you can achieve this with [NSBundle loadNibNamed:owner:options:]. The best way to reference parts of it is through properties like Noval explained in his answer. Another possibility is to attach views to "File's Owner" outlet's properties.
you can't connecting IBOutlet that placed outside your XIB class. but if you just want to access the outlet from other class, it's possible by creating instance of ClassA in ClassB. and then accessing the property like instanceOfClassA.outletObject

Should I make my ivars properties in iOS?

Just when you think you understand something, you don't! :)
I understand that if I make a variable a property, I can access it anywhere in the Class and even set it from outside that class.
I thought if I didnt need it I could just make it an ivar. So I have a viewcontroller with about 5 UILabels. So in its viewDidLoad I say:
pharmacyName.text = self.receivedLocation.name;
pharmacyTel1.text = #"556-7843";
pharmacyTel2.text = #"991-2345";
pharmacyTel3.text = #"800-0001";
When I have declared them like so in the .h file:
#interface DetailViewController : UIViewController{
IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyName;
IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel1;
IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel2;
IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel3;
}
#property (nonatomic,strong) MyLocation *receivedLocation;
#end
No. Its not mandatory to create ivar as property. If you don't want to access it outside of class just use as it is. In ARC you can also declare your IBOutlet as below:
#interface DetailViewController : UIViewController{
__weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyName;
__weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel1;
__weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel2;
__weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel3;
}
This will keep a week reference of outlets. Here is detail of __weak and strong
There are always many ways you can approach programming tasks and standards. Our group has started using a few coding standards. We like to put our instance variables that are NOT accessed from outside the class (and protocol statements) in the private interface in the .m file like this:
#interface DetailViewController() {
NSString *value_;
}
#end
We also like to use #property for our instance ivars and declare those in the private interface as well like this:
#interface DetailViewController() {
}
#property (nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet UIlabel *pharmacyName;
#end
and then in your code, you would refer to this as self.pharmacyName. It seems to work pretty well with autocomplete, and with getting and setting. Also when you have thread safety issues, the nonatomic, strong behavior comes in handy.

Changing outlet object properties

I have a view controller alertForNeedsClassification as a property in another class, as such:
#interface SCAAppDelegate()
{
HomeScreenViewController * _homeScreenViewController;
NSInteger SCAStatus;
}
#property (strong, nonatomic) PromptClassifyViewController * alertForNeedsClassification;
#end
#implementation SCAAppDelegate
#synthesize alertForNeedsClassification;
#synthesize window = _window;
PromptClassifyViewController's interface looks like this:
#interface PromptClassifyViewController : UIViewController
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *headerTitle;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextView *message;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *notNowButton;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *classifyButton;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIImageView *backgroundImageView;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIView *alertView;
#property NSUInteger tag;
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet id<PromptClassifyViewControllerDelegate> delegate;
- (void)show;
- (void)showFromView:(UIView *)view;
- (IBAction)show:(id)sender;
- (IBAction)dismiss:(id)sender;
- (IBAction)buttonWasPressed:(id)sender;
- (void)setHeaderTitleWithText:(NSString *)text;
#end
I am trying to change the values of IBOutlets message and headerTitle text, like this:
alertForNeedsClassification = [[PromptClassifyViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"PromptClassifyViewController" bundle:nil];
//[alertForNeedsClassification setDelegate:self];
self.alertForNeedsClassification.headerTitle.text = #"A title";
alertForNeedsClassification.message.text = #"A message";
Then I show alertForNeedsClassification calling a show method (it's like a custom uialertview, but it doesn't subclass from uialertview).
Thing is, no matter how I change it, the text on alertForNeedsClassification.view is always that which is defined in the nib, ie. I can't change it programmatically.
My custom alert view is based on Jeff LaMarche's design: http://iphonedevelopment.blogspot.com/2010/05/custom-alert-views.html
Any ideas what might be going on?
Please be careful when you allocate and initialize the UIView object, especially if you trying to mix using Nib and dynamically generating objects. The best place is within -(void)awakeFromNib or -(void)viewDidLoad
Also, make sure these methods are called. By using -(id)initWithNibName:bundle: only cannot make sure your view to be loaded. Try -(void)addChildViewController and -(void)addSubview: on parentViewController's view to make sure view is loaded after being initialized.
If the text had to be prepared before being loaded, assign it to separate NSString property within PromptClassifyViewController class. Since this property is independent from view being loaded, you can change it's value BEFORE view is appeared. Make sure this text is used and applied to the headerTitle within -(void)show method.
Since you allocate PromptClassifyViewController and access weak referenced headerTitle from self. alertForNeedsClassification, make sure it's not deallocated right afterward.
Usually, weak option is not used for IBOutlet properties. Though it is used when generating outlet connection code by dragging objects from Interface Builder. Try testing your code using strong.
I was assigning values to the IBOutlets before they were alloc'd/initialized. The solution I implemented was to set the values I needed to non-IBOutlet properties (NSStrings in this case) and assign those where needed, in Prompt...Controller's viewDidLoad;

References are null after synthesizing

I've got a problem with this code.
#class CatalogMenu;
#class SettingsMenu;
#interface TabBar : UIViewController {
CatalogMenu *catalogMasterView;
SettingsMenu *settingsMasterView;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UITabBarController *tabBarController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet CatalogMenu *catalogMasterView;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet SettingsMenu *settingsMasterView;
I got a UIViewController subclass, which implements the interface at the top. To use my classes in this UIViewController i've imported the two classes CatalogMenu and SettingsMenu. The problem is, that all the variables are null after synthesizing. That means, that they all got no address in the memory.
The problem disappears if i change the subclass to NSObject. But this can't be the answer, because then i cant use the UIViewController functions.
Is this a known problem?
Synthesizing doesn't actually allocate your variables which is why they are null, it just provides the Getter/Setter methods for accessing the variables. In your init method in the TabBar class you need to allocate your catalogMasterView and settingsMasterView

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