Objective-c – Retain cycle on `self` with blocks

memory-managementobjective cobjective-c-blocks

I'm afraid this question is pretty basic, but I think it's relevant to a lot of Objective-C programmers who are getting into blocks.

What I've heard is that since blocks capture local variables referenced within them as const copies, using self within a block can result in a retain cycle, should that block be copied. So, we are supposed to use __block to force the block to deal directly with self instead of having it copied.

__block typeof(self) bself = self;
[someObject messageWithBlock:^{ [bself doSomething]; }];

instead of just

[someObject messageWithBlock:^{ [self doSomething]; }];

What I'd like to know is the following: if this is true, is there a way that I can avoid the ugliness (aside from using GC)?

Best Answer

Strictly speaking, the fact that it's a const copy has nothing to do with this problem. Blocks will retain any obj-c values that are captured when they are created. It just so happens that the workaround for the const-copy issue is identical to the workaround for the retain issue; namely, using the __block storage class for the variable.

In any case, to answer your question, there's no real alternative here. If you're designing your own block-based API, and it makes sense to do so, you could have the block get passed the value of self in as an argument. Unfortunately, this doesn't make sense for most APIs.

Please note that referencing an ivar has the exact same issue. If you need to reference an ivar in your block, either use a property instead or use bself->ivar.

Addendum: When compiling as ARC, __block no longer breaks retain cycles. If you're compiling for ARC, you need to use __weak or __unsafe_unretained instead.

Compare method

Either you implement a compare-method for your object:

- (NSComparisonResult)compare:(Person *)otherObject {
    return [self.birthDate compare:otherObject.birthDate];
}

NSArray *sortedArray = [drinkDetails sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(compare:)];

NSSortDescriptor (better)

or usually even better:

NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor;
sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"birthDate"
                                           ascending:YES];
NSArray *sortedArray = [drinkDetails sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:@[sortDescriptor]];

You can easily sort by multiple keys by adding more than one to the array. Using custom comparator-methods is possible as well. Have a look at the documentation.

Blocks (shiny!)

There's also the possibility of sorting with a block since Mac OS X 10.6 and iOS 4:

NSArray *sortedArray;
sortedArray = [drinkDetails sortedArrayUsingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(Person *a, Person *b) {
    return [a.birthDate compare:b.birthDate];
}];

Performance

The -compare: and block-based methods will be quite a bit faster, in general, than using NSSortDescriptor as the latter relies on KVC. The primary advantage of the NSSortDescriptor method is that it provides a way to define your sort order using data, rather than code, which makes it easy to e.g. set things up so users can sort an NSTableView by clicking on the header row.

Ios – use Objective-C blocks as properties

@property (nonatomic, copy) void (^simpleBlock)(void);
@property (nonatomic, copy) BOOL (^blockWithParamter)(NSString *input);

If you are going to be repeating the same block in several places use a type def

typedef void(^MyCompletionBlock)(BOOL success, NSError *error);
@property (nonatomic) MyCompletionBlock completion;

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ios – How to sort an NSMutableArray with custom objects in it

Compare method

NSSortDescriptor (better)

Blocks (shiny!)

Performance

Ios – use Objective-C blocks as properties

Related Topic