Question

So in my model I have the following code… I am successfully able to return each individual value. I want to know how am I able to return the entire speakerTable []… Maybe some advice. Thanks!

typedef struct {
    NSUInteger speakerID;
    NSString * speakerName;
    NSString * speakerPosition;
    NSString * speakerCompany;
} SpeakerEntry;

static const SpeakerEntry speakerTable [] = 
{
    {0, @"name", @"position", @"company"},
    {1, @"name", @"position", @"company"},
    {-1, nil, nil, nil}
};

This works correctly…

-(NSString *) stringSpeakerCompanyForId:(NSUInteger) identifier{
NSString * returnString = nil;
if ([self helpCount] > identifier) {
    returnString = speakerTable[identifier].speakerCompany;
}
return returnString;

}

This does not work at all..

-(id) getSpeaker{
//if ([speakerTable[0].speakerName isKindOfClass:[NSString class]])
//  NSLog(@"YES");
NSArray * myArray3 = [NSArray arrayWithArray:speakerTable];
return myArray3;

}

Answer 1

arrayWithArray expects an NSArray, not a C array.

The first one works because you are using it like a C array.

Alternatively – don’t use a struct, use an object instead:

Create a class called Speaker.

In Speaker.h

@interface Speaker : NSObject {}

@property (nonatomic, assign) NSUinteger id;
@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString name;
@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString position;
@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString company;

- (void)initWithId:(NSUInteger)anId name:(NSString *)aName position:(NSString *)aPosition company:(NSString *)aCompany;

@end

in Speaker.m

#import "Speaker.h"

@implementation Speaker

@synthesize id, name, position, company;

- (void)initWithId:(NSUInteger)anId name:(NSString *)aName position:(NSString *)aPosition company:(NSString *)aCompany {
    if (!([super init])) {
        return nil;
    }
    id = anId;
    NSString name = [[NSString alloc] initWithString:aName];
    NSString position = [[NSString alloc] initWithString:aPosition];
    NSString company = [[NSString alloc] initWithString:aCompany];

    return self;
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [name release];
    [position release];
    [company release];
    [super dealloc];
}

@end

And now in your calling code you can create an immutable array of speakers with:

Speaker *speaker0 = [[Speaker alloc] initWithId:0 name:@"name0" position:@"position0" company:@"company0"];
Speaker *speaker1 = [[Speaker alloc] initWithId:1 name:@"name1" position:@"position1" company:@"company1"];
Speaker *speakerNull = [[Speaker alloc] initWithId:-1 name:nil position:nil company:nil];

NSArray *speakerArray [[NSArray arrayWithObjects: speaker0, speaker1, speakerNull] retain]

[speaker0 release];
[speaker1 release];
[speakerNull release];

note: this is typed straight in, so feel free to mention/correct typos or errors