Question

Lets say that I have a UIViewController which has an instance variable UIBarButtomItem *button which is not a property. In viewDidLoad I do:

button = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] init...] 

then

self.navigationController.leftBarButtonItem = button

Should I release the button object if I want to use it later in the same class? I have the same question about arrays (add an object to an array and use it later). I am confused because both the collections and UIViews retain the objects that are added to them

Answer 1

It depends how you are accessing them later. If you are accessing them by instance variable and not by way of the target collection then you should definitely release them.