Can't figure out this leak

Question

SettingsView *settings = [[SettingsView alloc] initWithNibName:@"SettingsView" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
settings.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransitionStyleCoverVertical;
[self.navigationController presentModalViewController:settings animated:YES];
settings = nil;
[settings release];

Instruments claims that the following line is leaking

[self.navigationController presentModalViewController:settings animated:YES];

Can anyone help me out here? Thank you so much!

Answer 1

You need to release settings before setting it to nil, not after!

What you're doing now is the same as:

settings = nil;
[nil release];

So the -release is being sent to nil, not to your SettingsView object. (And sending any message to nil is a NOOP).

Answer 2

Right. Since 'settings' was never set up with a @property and @synthesize, setting it to nil just erases the memory address it is holding.

If you had set it up with @property (nonatomic, retain) SettingsView *settings;

then a later call to settings = nil;

would also send a [settings release] message.