Question

I’m trying to add elements of a specific name to an NSMutableArray, which I’m getting from an XML file. I’m after the element. The first NSLog here outputs correctly:

Found an element named: image with a value of: http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1/10353/2320941-untitledb_tiny.jpg

The second NSLog outputs correctly:

I'm about to try adding a game called Bayonetta 2 to the array

The third NSLog always tells me that there are zero entries in the array. I didn’t get any error on the [_listOfGameNames addObject: element]; line, so I have no idea why it’s not adding it to the array.

Any ideas for me? Here’s the code in full:

- (void) searchWithString: (NSString *)string {
    NSString *searchString = [NSString stringWithFormat: @"http://api.giantbomb.com/search/?api_key=MYKEY12345BLAHBLAH&resources=game&format=xml&query=%@", string];
    NSURL *searchURL = [NSURL URLWithString: searchString];
    parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithContentsOfURL: searchURL];
    [parser setDelegate:self];
    [parser parse];
    // NSLog(@"XMLParser just reached the end of its initWithString method. The string was %@",  searchURL);
    NSLog(@"There are %u elements in the List Of Game Names array", [_listOfGameNames count]);
}

- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qualifiedName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict {
    element = [NSMutableString string];
}

- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didEndElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName {
    NSLog(@"Found an element named: %@ with a value of: %@", elementName, element);
    if ([elementName isEqualToString:@"name"]) {
        NSLog(@"I'm about to try adding a game called %@ to the array", element);
        [_listOfGameNames addObject: element];
        NSLog(@"I added an element to the array, making a total of %u", [_listOfGameNames count]);
    }
}

- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string {
    if(element == nil) element = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
    [element appendString:string];
}

Answer 1

You need to init the array. and you can implement the Getter.

-(NSMutableArray *) listOfGameNames
{
    if(!_listOfGameNames){
        _listOfGameNames = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    }

    return _listOfGameNames;
}