Question

I created a method to generate an attributed string from a normal string. The attrString value below is non-null and correct in its content.

Upon running my application, the second line fails with an EXC_BAD_ACCESS. Any idea why?

The __bridge_retained call is an iOS 5 requirement afaik. I’ve also tried __bridge but that has no effect, the issue still occurs.

    NSMutableAttributedString *attrString = (NSMutableAttributedString*)[textLayer attributedString];
    CTFramesetterRef framesetter = CTFramesetterCreateWithAttributedString((__bridge_retained CFMutableAttributedStringRef)attrString);

UPDATE

If I do:

    NSMutableAttributedString *attrString = (NSMutableAttributedString*)[textLayer attributedString];
    NSLog(@"%@", attrString);
    CTFramesetterRef framesetter = CTFramesetterCreateWithAttributedString((__bridge CFMutableAttributedStringRef)attrString);

Then the NSLog line won’t compile; Xcode gives a warning and error stating "Incompatible pointer types passing 'char[3]' to parameter of type 'NSString *'".

So I tried this instead:

    NSLog([attrString description]);

And this gives the following output (I’ve replaced the string contents with <snipped> for privacy):

2012-01-19 06:49:11.307 WritePath[2475:707] <Snipped>
{
CTForegroundColor = "<CGColor 0x281530> [<CGColorSpace 0x22d1a0> (kCGColorSpaceDeviceRGB)] ( 0 0 0 1 )";
NSFont = "<CGFont (0x28f850): ArialMT>";
NSParagraphStyle = "CTParagraphStyle:\nwriting direction = -1, alignment = 3, line break mode = 0, default tab interval = 0\nfirst line head indent = 0, head indent = 0, tail indent = 0\nline height multiple = 0, maximum line height = 0, minimum line height = 0\nline spacing adjustment = 0, paragraph spacing = 0, paragraph spacing before = 0\ntabs:\n<CFArray 0x287b50 [0x3f229630]>{type = immutable, count = 12, values = (\n\t0 : CTTextTab: location = 28, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t1 : CTTextTab: location = 56, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t2 : CTTextTab: location = 84, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t3 : CTTextTab: location = 112, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t4 : CTTextTab: location = 140, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t5 : CTTextTab: location = 168, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t6 : CTTextTab: location = 196, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t7 : CTTextTab: location = 224, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t8 : CTTextTab: location = 252, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t9 : CTTextTab: location = 280, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t10 : CTTextTab: location = 308, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n\t11 : CTTextTab: location = 336, alignment = 0, options = (none)\n\n)}";
}

Answer 1

I noticed this in your attributed string dump:

NSFont = "<CGFont (0x28f850): ArialMT>"

Did you create the attributed string using a CGFontRef as the value for the kCTFontAttributeName key? You must use a CTFontRef, not a CGFontRef. They are different.