Question

I’ve just starting out with obj-c and I created 2 files, a .h and a .m file. The .h file is..

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface CardUnit : NSObject
{

@property (assign) NSString *name;
@property (assign) NSString *gold;
@end

and the .m file is

#import "CardUnit.h"

@implementation CardUnit

@synthesize gold  = @"gold";
@synthesize name = _name;

@end

But it’s giving me an error on

@synthesize gold  = @"gold";

Saying “expected ; after synthesize”

Why can’t I set that to a string?

Answer 1

@synthesize is not used for giving variables a value, but is rather a shorthand for defining basic getters and setters for the variable. The

@synthesize var = _var

syntax is used to say, “I want you to use the instance variable _var as the internal variable for the property var“.

If you want to assign a default string to a property, put it in your init method:

-(id)initWithName:(NSString*)name
{
  self = [super init];
  if(self)
  {
    self.gold = @"gold";
    self.name = name
  }
  return self;
}

Or you can set the default value in the getter (per @Mario’s comment bellow):

-(NSString*)gold 
{
  _gold ? return _gold : return @"gold";
}