obj-c inherited variables are null - ios

Question

I have a base class which has a custom init method and then uses the value passed in through the init method to then call custom init methods on it's subclasses. problem is When i try to access variables that have had values assigned to them in the base class through the subclass Via super, the values are null, it's like the base class is a completely different object. Is it because the base class has not yet returned from it's init method yet? or am i going about the wrong way with inheritance here? code to follow.
Interface
#interface WTFGameBoard : NSObject
{
#protected
UIView *_answerView;
UIView *_keyboardView;
NSMutableArray* _answerSeperatedByCharacter;
WTFAnswerBoard *_answerBoard;
WTFGameKeyboard *_gameKeyboard;
OpenGameViewController *_weakGameViewRef;
GameInfo *_gameinfo;
}
-(id) initWithGameVC:(OpenGameViewController*)gameVC;
#property (nonatomic,unsafe_unretained)OpenGameViewController *weakGameViewRef;
#property (nonatomic,strong)GameInfo *gameInfo;
#end
Implementation
#implementation WTFGameBoard
#synthesize weakGameViewRef = _weakGameViewRef;
#synthesize gameInfo = _gameinfo;
-(id) initWithGameVC:(OpenGameViewController*)gameVC
{
if (self = [super init])
{
//[weakGameViewRef ]
_answerView = [gameVC answerView];
_keyboardView = [gameVC keyboardView];
self.weakGameViewRef = gameVC;
self.gameInfo = [[CurrentGamesInfo sharedCurrentGamesInfo]_selectedGame];
_answerBoard = [[WTFAnswerBoard alloc] initWithAnswer:[gameVC answer] blankSpaceImageView:[gameVC answerBox]];
_gameKeyboard = [[WTFGameKeyboard alloc] initWithButtons:[gameVC letterSelectButtons]];
}
return self;
}
#end
Interface
#interface WTFAnswerBoard : WTFGameBoard
{
NSMutableArray *WTFAnswerSpaces;
NSMutableArray *_answerBlankBlocks;
NSMutableArray *_answerGiven;
NSMutableArray *_answerBlankOriginalPosition;
NSString *_answer;
}
-(id)initWithAnswer:(NSString*)answer blankSpaceImageView:(UIImageView*)answerBox;
Implementation
-(id)initWithAnswer:(NSString*)answer blankSpaceImageView:(UIImageView*)answerBox
{
if ( self = [super init] )
{
_weakGameViewRef = [super weakGameViewRef];//WHY U NO NOT BE NULL?
_gameinfo = [super gameInfo];//WHY U NO NOT BE NULL?
_answerBlankBlocks = [_weakGameViewRef answerBlankBlocks];
_answerGiven = [_weakGameViewRef answerGiven];
_answerBlankOriginalPosition = [_weakGameViewRef answerBlankOriginalPosition];
[self SetupBlankAnswerSpacesForAnswer:answer withTemplate:answerBox];
}
return self;
}

Answer 1

Problem is the fact that you are not invoking your custom constructor in your derived class:
if ( self = [super init] )
You are calling the default one, which is not overridden, and that doesn't initialize the ivars that you are trying to access.
You should call your custom constructor:
if ( self = [super initWithGameVC:gameVC] )
Of course this means that you need to pass along the parameter, or override the default constructor by initializing what you want to initialize without the need of any parameter.
Another thing that I don't understant is why you are setting ivars of the derived class in your custom class:
_weakGameViewRef = [super weakGameViewRef];
This basically does nothing because the ivar is the same, if you set the one of your base class then you can directly access it.
EDIT
Since you have a strange dependency issue here a quick solution would be to have something like
WTFAnswerBoard initWithWTFGameBoard:(WTFGameBoard*)board {
self.board = board;
}
so that you can access the board that instantiates the WTFAnswerBoard and keep inheritance but switching the usage to composition (by adding a property to WTFAnswerBoard so that your recursive initialization doesn't occur.