Can't access an object's properties in objective-c

Question

I have just jumped into Objective-C and I got stuck pretty early on. I will post code with my question but to keep it readable i'll get rid of some of the crap, let me know if you want more code posted!

I have created a new object called 'Phrase' (subclassed from NSObject), and am reading items from JSON into these 'Phrase' objects and adding them to an array. Here's the first lot of code:

Example JSON:

    {
    "phrases": [
        {
            "title": "Title of my Phrase",
         "definition" : "A way to look at some words",
   "location" : "Irish Proverb"
        }   
    ]
    }

Script I'm reading it in with:

    - (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];

 self.phraseDictionary = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:nil];

 NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"phrase" ofType:@"json"];  
 NSString *myRawJSON = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath];

 NSData *jsonData = [myRawJSON dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF32BigEndianStringEncoding];
 NSDictionary *entries = [[CJSONDeserializer deserializer] deserializeAsDictionary:jsonData error:nil];


 for (id key in entries) {

  NSObject *phrases = [entries objectForKey:key];

  for (id phrase in phrases) {

   Phrase *pushArrayToPhrase = [[Phrase alloc] initWithText:[phrase objectForKey:@"title"] definition:[phrase objectForKey:@"definition"] location:[phrase objectForKey:@"location"]];
   [self.phraseDictionary addObject:pushArrayToPhrase];

  }

    }
    }

Phrase m file:

#import "Phrase.h"


@implementation Phrase

@synthesize title;
@synthesize definition;
@synthesize location;

- (id)init {
 self = [super init];
 if (self != nil) {
  title = @"";
  definition = @"";
  location = @"";
 }
 return self;
}

- (id)initWithTitle:(NSString *)tit definition:(NSString *)def location:(NSString *)loc {
 self = [super init];
 if (self != nil) {
  title = tit;
  definition = def;
  location = loc;
 } 
 return self;
}


@end

From here I loop through the objects and add them to a list in my splitview:

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

 static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"CellIdentifier";

 // Dequeue or create a cell of the appropriate type.
 UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier] autorelease];
        cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
    }

    Phrase *cellPhrase = [self.phraseDictionary objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
 cell.textLabel.text = cellPhrase.title;
 return cell;
}

But when I click an item, and ask for a phrase based on the indexPath.row of the one clicked, I can only ever access the property used in the cell.textLabel.text. Any other attempt from here on in to access a property from the Phrase object exits the simulator.

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)aTableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

 Phrase *cellPhrase = [self.phraseDictionary objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
 detailViewController.detailItem = cellPhrase;
 //If i attempt 'cellPhrase.definition' here, the app will close without an error

}

Hope that's easy to follow, let me know if it's not and i'll try again!

Answer 1

In the initWithTitle method you are assigning the variables but not retaining them. If they are not retained anywhere they will be released and when you try to access them your app will crash. If you are not getting any error messages make sure you turn debugging on.