Question

Im trying to set an array for a timer program im writing in xcode. the values are in seconds, and what i want is to have a button in the interface builder that starts a timer with that number of seconds. This is the struct im trying to declare to provide the times in a .h header file. its just an array with 2 arrays in it, that i could call with @collegeTimes.constructive or something similar.

Thanks in advance!

- (NSDictionary *)debateTimes;
 id debateTimes = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:
 [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
   @"540", @"constructive",
   @"360", @"rebuttal",
   @"180", @"cx",
   @"600", @"prep",
     nil], @"collegeTimes",
 [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
   @"480", @"constructive",
   @"300", @"rebuttal",
   @"180", @"cx",
   @"480", @"prep",
     nil], @"hsTimes",
                   nil]; \\error is called here.

Answer 1

This is the struct im trying to declare to provide the times in a .h header file

This is the problem. You can not create constant NSDictionary objects (or most other NS objects, for that matter) outside of a function. One way to do what wou want would be as follows:

SomeThing.h

@interface SomeThing : NSObject
{
    ...
}
+ (NSDictionary *)debateTimes;
@end

SomeThing.m

static NSDictionary * staticDebateTimes = nil;
@implementation SomeThing
...
+ (NSDictionary *)debateTimes
{
    if (staticDebateTimes == nil)
    {
        staticDebateTimes = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:
          [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjects:...
    }
    return staticDebateTimes;
}
@end

This code would now be used externally as follows:

NSDictionary * debateTimes = [SomeThing debateTimes];