Question

I have the following line in my view controller:

-(void) retrieveAccounts {
    accounts = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    selAccounts=[[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    NSString *url=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://host/accts"];
    processor=[[AsynConnectionProcessorController alloc] init];
    processor.delegate=self;
    processor.server=self.server;
    [processor createRequestfromURL:url];
}

The AsynConnectionProcessorController class creates an NSURLConnection to load data from a url in asynchronous mode. It creates a connection in the createRequestfromURL method. Later when page is received comepltely in connectionDidFinishLoading I invoke a processData method on the delegate I set in above snippet. processData updates the tableView and so on.

My question is when I can release the processor variable created above. Should I be calling autorelease. Will the control come to next line of code if I put [processor release] after this line above:
[processor createRequestfromURL:url]

Note: I have a similar question before but this one has more specifics so adding it as a separate question here.

Answer 1

It sounds like you need the processor until the delegate call that does processData. Here’s what I usually do:

1. Declare your delegate protocol such that a reference to the object that makes the call is in the method, e.g. connectionProcessor:didProcessData:
2. In the delegate callback, invoke release on the reference passed back in the callback.

This way the delegate decides when it’s done with the object.