Question

Say I have a class DoStuff, and that class has two methods, like so

- (NSMutableDictionary* returnToCaller) methodOne : (NSString* ) myString {

    NSMutableDictionary* bundleOfJoy = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init]; 

    if (myString) { 
       bundleOfJoy = [self methodTwo];
    }

    return bundleOfJoy; 

} 

- (NSMutableDictionary* returnToMethodOne) methodTwo {

    NSMutableDictionary* anotherDictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init]; 
    [anotherDictionary setObject: @"hardcodedstring" forKey: @"theKey"];

    return anotherDictionary;  
}

ok, so bear with me as my memory-management-fu is kind of weak. I can’t release the two dictionaries manually created after the returns as the release command won’t be called. I can’t do it before the returns or I pass no values. My understanding then is the way to handle this is with an autorelease pool…

pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];

and init my objects as such

NSMutableDictionary* anotherDictionary = [[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init] autorelease];

and then call

[pool drain];

so, if that is correct, where do I init pool? In awakeFromNib? And where do I call [pool drain]?

if this is incorrect could someone straighten me out (but please type slowly) : D

thanks

Answer 1

There is an automatic NSAutoreleasePool in each thread and you don’t have to create one instead you’re creating a new thread.

Use [pool release]; instead of [pool drain] unless to have a memory leak.

For your code it’s the responsibility of the method to release allocated object so add

 return [bundleOfJoy autorelease]; 
 return [anotherDictionary autorelease];