Question

I have numerous classes that use the various NSDictionary/NSArray collection classes as ivars but often I run into the problem of my collection class getting released before the containing class is released.

This seems to happen mostly with the collections classes and not with another model class (ie classes that I either created separately or other NS* non-collection classes).

Here are the two variations I’ve done and seen other people do:
@implementation ClassX

// myDictionary declared as a property in the .h file as this:
// @property (nonatomic, retain) NSMutableDictionary *myDictionary;

@synthesize myDictionary;

- (id)int
{
    if (self = [super init])
    {
        // Option 1:
        // If I don't instantiate and assign with 'self',
        // myDictionary ivar will not be available 
        // at times in doSomething.

        myDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];

        // Option 2:
        // Doing this, however will keep the dictionary around.
        // because I have invoked an extra retain on the dictionary
        self.myDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];

        // Which one is more correct?   
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)doSomething
{
    // this will give the error about trying to invoke
    // a method on an already released instance
    [myDictionary objectForKey:@"myKey"];
}

- (void)dealloc
{
    // If I did self.myDictionary in 'init', I then
    // need to do this:
    [myDictionary release];
    [super dealloc];
}
@end

So which approach is the more correct way to hold an instance of NSDictionary within a class?

Answer 1

Option 2 is correct; Option 1 is wrong.

But you left out the best option: myDictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init].