Question

I have a NSMutableArray instance called entries and I would like to send one of its value (which is a NSDictionary) to a method, but I’m thinking of how to avoid it to leak or properly release it. Here’s what I’m doing right now:

NSDictionary *pdata = [self.entries objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

[self start_download:pdata];

[pdata release]; // <--> Is it ok to do this ?

Thx for helping,

Stephane

Answer 1

You should absolutely not release pdata, since you never retained it. -objectAtIndex: returns a non-owned object. If -start_download: needs to refer to pdata after it returns (e.g. if it holds onto it for some asynchronous process) then it should retain pdata itself, and subsequently it should release pdata when it’s done, but that’s orthogonal to the bit of code you pasted.

If you haven’t already done so, you should read the Cocoa Memory Management Rules.