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Re: confused about allocating and releasing objects
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Re: confused about allocating and releasing objects


  • Subject: Re: confused about allocating and releasing objects
  • From: Memo Akten <email@hidden>
  • Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:13:28 +0100

ok thanks, I"ve added that link to my ever growing Cocoa bookmarks!!

I'm just writing a Quartz Composer plugin using the QCPlugIn API and ran into a problem regarding this, my question isn't related to the QCPlugIn API so I'm posting here first.

At the start of the plugin (in enableExecution) I use the code:

- (void) loadCardXMLData {
NSString *dataPath = @"/data.plist";
cardsLoadedData = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile: dataPath];
// cardsLoadedData = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile: dataPath];
if(cardsLoadedData) {
NSLog(@"*** SUCCESSFULLY LOADED %@", dataPath);
} else {
NSLog(@"*** COULD NOT LOAD %@", dataPath);
}
}


If I use the convenience route (with no release in disableExecution) I get a freeze (I need to force quit QC) as soon as I enable the plugin. If I use the alloc route (and release in disableExecution) everything works fine. Is this normal behaviour? or could it be QC related?

P.S. cardsLoadedData is a property of my QCPlugIn class, and I don't use it at all except at the end of execute I just send it out to QC with self.outputXMLData = cardsLoadedData;

Cheers,

Memo.


On 27 Aug 2008, at 11:57, Jonathan del Strother wrote:

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 11:45 AM, Memo Akten <email@hidden> wrote:
HI All, i'm a bit confused about the 2 scenarios:

NSDictionary *myData1 = [NSDictionary
dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:@"mydata.plist"]; // this one I don't
need to release when I'm done?
NSDictionary *myData2 = [[NSDictionary alloc]
initWithContentsOfFile:@"mydata.plist"]; // this one I do
need to relase when I'm done?


There seems to be a lot of situations in Cocoa where this happens so I guess
this is a generic question for all cases when an object is created via means
of a static method vs using alloc:initWith... (e.g. NSArray, NSString,
NSNumber etc. are just a few I've seen).


Whats the difference between the two methods? (I know the second one creates
a blank dictionary first, and then loads the file - but I mean which one is
better for what purpose? - why would I choose one over the other).

Use whichever is easiest. Generally if I'm looking for a temporary object, I'll use the autoreleased method if present. If I'm going to keep the object around, I'll use the alloc/init method. But either of these can be transformed to the other with a retain or autorelease message, so there's no huge difference.

And am I
correct in assuming if I use the first method i do not need to release the
variable when I'm done? but do need to release the variable in the second
instance?

Correct. Review http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/MemoryMgmt/MemoryMgmt.html _______________________________________________

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  • Follow-Ups:
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      • From: "Jonathan del Strother" <email@hidden>
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      • From: Graham Cox <email@hidden>
References: 
 >confused about allocating and releasing objects (From: Memo Akten <email@hidden>)
 >Re: confused about allocating and releasing objects (From: "Jonathan del Strother" <email@hidden>)

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