Question

I am using this code to get book names from a config.plist file. However my memory management is problematic. The ‘[dict release]’ breaks the app completely and it exits.

The code works when the ‘[dict release]’ is removed but it causes memory leaks as far as I can tell.

bnames is a global NSMutableArray

What am I doing wrong?

- (NSString *)loadBookname: (NSInteger) bookToLoad {
    bookToLoad = [self bookOrder:bookToLoad];

    //---get the path to the property list file---
    plistFileNameConf = [[self documentsPath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Config.plist"];

    //---if the property list file can be found---
    if ([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:plistFileNameConf]) {
        //---load the content of the property list file into a NSDictionary object---
        dict = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:plistFileNameConf];
        bnames = [dict valueForKey:@"BookNames"];
        [dict release];
    }
    else {
        //---load the property list from the Resources folder---
        NSString *pListPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Config" ofType:@"plist"];
        dict = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:pListPath];
        bnames = [dict valueForKey:@"BookNames"];
        [dict release];
    }
    plistFileNameConf = nil;

    NSString *bookNameTemp;
    bookNameTemp = [bnames objectAtIndex:bookToLoad - 1];
    NSLog(@"bookName: %@", bookNameTemp);
    return bookNameTemp;
}

Answer 1

I’ve found what appears to be a better solution to the issue. This lets iOS manage the memory.

//---finds the path to the application's Documents directory---
- (NSString *) documentsPath {
    NSLog(@"Start documentsPath");
    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *documentsDir = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
    //  NSLog(@"Found documentsPath 40");
    NSLog(@"End documentsPath");
    return documentsDir;
}

- (NSString *) configPath {
    NSLog(@"Start configPath");
    NSString *plistFileNameConf = [[self documentsPath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Config.plist"];
    if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:plistFileNameConf]) {
        plistFileNameConf = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Config" ofType:@"plist"];
    }
    NSLog(@"plistFile: %@",plistFileNameConf);
    NSLog(@"End configPath");
    return plistFileNameConf;
}

The following calls the above code as necessary:

NSString *Choice;
NSArray *properties;
NSString *errorDesc = nil;
NSPropertyListFormat format;
NSData *plistXML = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] contentsAtPath:[self configPath]];
NSDictionary *temp = (NSDictionary *)[NSPropertyListSerialization propertyListFromData:plistXML mutabilityOption:NSPropertyListMutableContainersAndLeaves format:&format errorDescription:&errorDesc];
if (!temp) {
    NSLog(@"Error reading plist: %@, format: %d", errorDesc, format);
}
Choice = [temp objectForKey:@"Choice"];
properties = [temp objectForKey:Choice];