Question

I am getting a memory leak in a method that builds a email message string from a NSManagedObject. The string is created with NSString convenience methods, and so should be autoreleased. What am I missing? Code below… Instruments is flagging the final occurance of buildString near the bottom of the method (see comment in code):

    -(void)buildEmailMessage {

    //check for presence of lat and lon data
    BOOL hasStartLatLon = NO;
    BOOL hasEndLanLon = NO;
    NSString *startLat;
    NSString *startLong;
    NSString *endLat;
    NSString *endLong;
    NSString *mapURL;
    NSString *finalMapURL;

    if( [managedObject valueForKey:@"startLat"] > 0 ){
        hasStartLatLon = YES;
        startLat = [self formatLatLon:[managedObject valueForKey:@"startLat"]];
        startLong= [self formatLatLon:[managedObject valueForKey:@"startLong"]];
    }

    if( [managedObject valueForKey:@"endLat"] > 0 ) {
        hasEndLanLon = YES;
        endLat = [self formatLatLon:[managedObject valueForKey:@"endLat"]];
        endLong= [self formatLatLon:[managedObject valueForKey:@"endLong"]];
    }

    // Build strings from managedObject
    // Start with the trip info already validated
    NSString *tripName = [managedObject valueForKey:@"tripName"];
    NSString *intro = [NSString stringWithString:@"
Please contact the approriate authorities and provide them with the enclosed information if our party does not return withing 12 hours of the return date shown below. Thanks.
"];

    id  vStartDate = [managedObject valueForKey:@"startDate"];
    NSString *startDate = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"
Start Date: %@", [vStartDate managedObjectValueDisplay]];

    id  vEndDate = [managedObject valueForKey:@"endDate"];
    NSString *endDate = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"
End Date: %@
", [vEndDate managedObjectValueDisplay]];

    NSString *startFrom = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"
Departing from:
%@", [managedObject valueForKey:@"startFrom"]];
    if( hasStartLatLon ){
        startFrom = [startFrom stringByAppendingString:@"
"];
        startFrom = [startFrom stringByAppendingString:[self getLatLon:@"start"]];

    }
    startFrom = [startFrom stringByAppendingString:@"
"];

    NSString *endAt = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"
Returning to:
%@", [managedObject valueForKey:@"endAt"]];
    if( hasStartLatLon ){
        endAt = [endAt stringByAppendingString:@"
"];
        endAt = [endAt stringByAppendingString:[self getLatLon:@"end"]];
    }
    endAt = [startFrom stringByAppendingString:@"
"];

    // Add a link to Google Maps if there is geodata
    if (hasStartLatLon || hasEndLanLon) {

        if (hasStartLatLon) {
            mapURL = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://maps.google.com/?q=%@,%@+(%@)&ll=%@,%@&z=14&t=p", startLat, startLong, [managedObject valueForKey:@"startFrom"], startLat, startLong];
        } else {
            mapURL = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://maps.google.com/?q=%@,%@+(%@)&ll=%@,%@&z=14&t=p", endLat, endLong, [managedObject valueForKey:@"endAt"], endLat, endLong];
        }

        NSString* escapedUrlString =[mapURL stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
        NSLog(@"escaped  map url = %@", escapedUrlString);
        finalMapURL = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Link to Google Map:
%@", escapedUrlString];
    }

    NSString *routeInfo = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"
Route Information:
%@ 
", [managedObject valueForKey:@"routeInfo"]];

    // Check for vehicle info
    BOOL hasVehicleMakeAndModel = NO;
    BOOL hasVehicleLicenseNumber = NO;
    BOOL hasVehicleState = NO;

    NSString *vehicleMakeAndModel = [managedObject valueForKey:@"vehicleMakeAndModel"];
    NSString *vehicleLicenseNumber = [managedObject valueForKey:@"vehicleLicenseNumber"];
    NSString *vehicleState = [managedObject valueForKey:@"vehicleState"];

    if ( vehicleMakeAndModel.length > 0 ) {
        hasVehicleMakeAndModel = YES;
    }

    if ( vehicleLicenseNumber.length > 0 ) {
        hasVehicleLicenseNumber = YES;
    }

    if ( vehicleState.length > 0 ) {
        hasVehicleState = YES;
    }

    //Build the vehicle string
    NSString *vehicleString;

    if (hasVehicleMakeAndModel || hasVehicleLicenseNumber || hasVehicleState) {
        vehicleString = [NSString stringWithString:@"
Vehicle Information:
"];
    }

    if (hasVehicleMakeAndModel) {
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:@"Make/Model: "];
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:vehicleMakeAndModel];
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:@"
"];
    }

    if (hasVehicleLicenseNumber) {
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:@"License #: "];
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:vehicleLicenseNumber];
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:@"
"];
    }

    if (hasVehicleState) {
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:@"State: "];
        vehicleString = [vehicleString stringByAppendingString:vehicleState];
    }

    // Get the NSSet of party members from the managedObject
    // and build the party members/emergency contact info
    NSSet *membersSet = [managedObject valueForKey:@"members"];

    NSString *membersString;

    if ( [membersSet count] > 0) {

        membersString = @"
Party Members:
";

        NSArray *membersArray = [NSArray arrayByOrderingSet:membersSet byKey:@"lastName" ascending:YES];

        for (NSManagedObject *oneObject in membersArray) {

            BOOL hasFirstName = NO;
            BOOL hasLastName = NO;
            BOOL hasAge = NO;
            BOOL hasContactName = NO;
            BOOL hasContactNumber = NO;

            NSString *memberFirstName = [oneObject valueForKey:@"firstName"];
            NSString *memberLastName = [oneObject valueForKey:@"lastName"];

            NSNumber *memberAgeNum = [oneObject valueForKey:@"age"];
            NSString *memberAgeString;
            if (memberAgeNum > 0) {
                memberAgeString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", [memberAgeNum intValue]];
            } else {
                memberAgeString = [NSString stringWithString:@""];
            }

            NSString *contactName = [oneObject valueForKey:@"contactName"];
            NSString *contactNumber = [oneObject valueForKey:@"contactNumber"];

            if ( [memberFirstName length] > 0) {
                hasFirstName = YES;
            }

            if ( [memberLastName length] > 0) {
                hasLastName = YES;
            }

            if ( [memberAgeString length] > 0) {
                hasAge = YES;
            }

            if ( [contactName length] > 0) {
                hasContactName = YES;
            }

            if ( [contactNumber length] > 0) {
                hasContactNumber = YES;
            }

            NSString *oneMemberString = [NSString stringWithString:@"
"];

            if (hasFirstName) {
                oneMemberString = [oneMemberString stringByAppendingFormat:@"%@ ", memberFirstName];
            }

            if (hasLastName) {
                oneMemberString = [oneMemberString stringByAppendingString:memberLastName];
            }

            if (hasAge) {
                oneMemberString = [oneMemberString stringByAppendingFormat:@", %@", memberAgeString];
            }

            if (hasContactName) {
                oneMemberString = [oneMemberString stringByAppendingFormat:@"
Emergency Contact:
%@", contactName];
            }

            if (hasContactNumber) {
                oneMemberString = [oneMemberString stringByAppendingFormat:@"
Phone: %@

", contactNumber];
            }

            membersString = [membersString stringByAppendingString:oneMemberString];
        }
    }


    NSString *buildString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"
Trip Plan for:
%@
", tripName];
    buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: intro];
    buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: startDate];
    buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: endDate];
    buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: startFrom];
    buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: endAt];
    if (hasStartLatLon || hasEndLanLon) buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: finalMapURL];
    buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: routeInfo];
    // Append the vehicle string if any vehicle data is present
    if (hasVehicleMakeAndModel || hasVehicleLicenseNumber || hasVehicleState) {
        buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: vehicleString];
    }
    // Append the members string if any members data is present

        // **MEMORY LEAK** flagged on the line enclosed by the if statement below
    if ( [membersSet count] > 0)  {
        buildString = [buildString stringByAppendingString: membersString];
    }

    self.myEmailString = [NSString stringWithString:buildString];

}

-(NSString *)formatLatLon:(NSNumber *)value {
    NSNumberFormatter *formatter = [[NSNumberFormatter alloc] init];
    [formatter setNumberStyle:NSNumberFormatterDecimalStyle];
    [formatter setPositiveFormat:@"##0.00000"];

    NSString *returnString = [formatter stringFromNumber:value];
    [formatter release];
    return returnString;
}

Answer 1

How is your myEmailString @property defined? With copy or retain? (You should use copy with NSString objects.) If so, and you’re not doing a [myEmailString release] in dealloc, that might be the leak.