OBJ C filling arrays in awakefromnib - scope question?

Question

Hey all:

I'm attempting to fill an array, called from awakeFromNib. My problem is that the variable isn't visible when I try to access it.

Here's the relevant snippet:

   -(id)returnHaiku
{
    return [self getOne:[self getOne:five]] // doesn't know what "five" is...
}

- (void)awakeFromNib

{
    [super awakeFromNib];
    [self fillArrays];  
}

-(id)fillArrays
{   
    NSArray *five=[NSArray arrayWithObjects: @"blustry zen buddhists",@"barking tiny dogs", @"closeted bigot", @"yowling alley cats",@"shrugging teenagers",@"piece of tangled string", @"ball of woolen yarn", @"big pile of garbage",  @"line of well-wishers", @"moldy piece of bread", @"middle manager", @"a terrified rat", @"whispering goofballs", @"various people", @"cross-dressing monkey", @"terrifying dolt", @"sneering idiot", @"grinning sycophant", @"hurtful sloganist",@"annoying haiku",@"hardened criminal",@"vile politician", @"lost generation", @"poetical crap",@"slimy strategist", @"fake conservative", @"old-style liberal",@"evil yuppie scum", @"proud midwesterner",@"artful panhandler",@"noisy spoiled brats",@"frustrated poseurs",nil];
    return five;
}

-(id)getOne:(NSArray *)myArray
{
    return [[myArray objectAtIndex:arc4random()%myArray.count]stringByAppendingString:@"\n"];
}

I'd appreciate any help you could provide this newbie. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

five isn't an instance variable, so it's only visible in fillArrays. You should make five an instance variable.

Answer 2

Your fillArrays method is creating a new local NSArray, and then returning it. However, you're invoking this method like so:

[self fillArrays];

The problem is that you're completely ignoring the return value, which means your array is getting lost in the small void that exists in between stack frames.

Answer 3

OK.

Answering my own question, but maybe this will help someone else out.

Here's the relevant code, what I ended up with:

-(id)returnHaiku
{
    return [self getOne:five];
}

- (void)awakeFromNib

{
    [super awakeFromNib];

    [self fillArrays];  
}

-(void)fillArrays
{
//fill array declared in header file as an instance variable

//Note: it's using arrayWithObjects, a factory method, which I guess 
// autoreleases memory after the array is no longer needed...

five=[NSArray arrayWithObjects: @"blustry zen buddhists",@"barking tiny dogs", @"closeted bigot", @"yowling alley cats",@"shrugging teenagers",@"piece of tangled string", nil];

// and here's what I was missing!!
     [five retain];
}

-(id)getOne:(NSArray *)myArray
// returns random element from an array
{
    return [[myArray objectAtIndex:arc4random()%myArray.count]stringByAppendingString:@"\n"];
}

So my earlier problem apparently involved not retaining the array I was filling. I guess it was being dumped right after being passed out of the method, and so couldn't be used in the later method that picked a random object out of the array.

This works fine.