iospropertiesivars

Should I make my ivars properties in iOS?

Just when you think you understand something, you don't! :)

I understand that if I make a variable a property, I can access it anywhere in the Class and even set it from outside that class.

I thought if I didnt need it I could just make it an ivar. So I have a viewcontroller with about 5 UILabels. So in its viewDidLoad I say:

pharmacyName.text = self.receivedLocation.name;
    pharmacyTel1.text = @"556-7843";
    pharmacyTel2.text = @"991-2345";
    pharmacyTel3.text = @"800-0001";

When I have declared them like so in the .h file:

@interface DetailViewController : UIViewController{
    IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyName;
    IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel1;
    IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel2;
    IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel3;
}

@property (nonatomic,strong) MyLocation *receivedLocation;

@end
Solution

  • No. Its not mandatory to create ivar as property. If you don't want to access it outside of class just use as it is. In ARC you can also declare your IBOutlet as below:

    @interface DetailViewController : UIViewController{
    __weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyName;
    __weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel1;
    __weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel2;
    __weak IBOutlet UILabel *pharmacyTel3;
}

    This will keep a week reference of outlets. Here is detail of __weak and strong