Question

I’m relatively new to Objective-C and I have an enum with a corresponding array of string descriptions:

typedef enum {
    kCoverage = 0,
    kSingulation,
    kPopulation,
    kDownforce,
} MapTileType;

static NSString* const kMapTileTypeString[] = {
    [kCoverage] = @"Coverage",
    [kSingulation] = @"Singulation",
    [kPopulation] = @"Population",
    [kDownforce] = @"Downforce",
};

I’m discovering that I actually need to define behavior for the “type” of map tile. For instance, I have a tile rendering behavior that applies to a specific type of map tile.

static RenderingStrategy* const kMapTileTypeRenderingStrategy[] = {
    [kCoverage] = ...,
    [kSingulation] = ...,
    ...
};

I’m wondering if all of this stuff would be better suited for a class definition for encapsulation purposes. Or would I just use a factory method that receives a MapTileType and returns a RenderingStrategy?

I was thinking that I could also perhaps just use a delegate:

@protocol MapTileDelegate <NSObject>
-(NSString*)description;
-(void)renderBlahBlah...;
@end

Can somebody help break my analysis paralysis? 🙂

Answer 1

Without knowing more, there are two approaches that sound like they might make sense:

1. Turn the MapTileTypes into subclasses of MapTile that implement the custom behavior you’re looking for.

2. Create a MapTileBehavior class or something along those lines and have instances of that class take the place of your MapTileTypes values.