Question

@interface Approval : NSObject 
{
    NSMutableArray *approvalValues;
}
@property (nonatomic,retain) NSMutableArray *approvalValues;

If i do this, do I still need to call `approvalValues = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init] in the init method? I was under the impression that I had to but it is causing a leak. In the dealloc method I am releasing approvalValues

Answer 1

You need to alloc and init approvalValues. The problem seems to be related to the fact that you are over-retaining your object.

Your code probably looks like this:

self.approvalValues = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

alloc will return an object with a retainCount of 1, and when using the retain setter it will get bumped to 2. In order to solve it, you might want to autorelease the object before assigning it, making a code that looks like this:

self.approvalValues = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];

This will end up with an instance variable with a retainCount of only 1, so when you dealloc the object it won’t leak.