Understanding @property & @synthesize directives

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I am new to Objective-C and still understanding some of the basics. While trying to debug an issue at work with a colleague, I had to take a deeper dive in how synthesize really work. After reading through apple docs and other blogs here are few of my understandings.

Basics

An object’s property declared using @property in @interface synthesizes getter & setter methods for other objects to access it.
@property NSString *propertyName defaults to synthesizing the getter/setter for instance variable _propertyName. Getter as object.propertyName and setter as ``[object setPropertyName]
@synthesize directive (declared in @implementation) can be used to customize instance variable names. e.g. @synthesize propertyName = fooInstanceVariable. Default @synthesize propertyName has same instance name as the property’s name.

self vs underscore

self.propertyName or object.propertyName calls setter/getter
_propertyName is for direct access

If you override setter of getter method you should use underscore to accessing or updating the value. If you use self notation you would end up in a recursive loop.

  - (void)setName:(NSString *)newName {
  	NSLog(@"Changing name from %@ to %@", _name, newName);
  	self.name = newName; // This will result in infinite loop
  }

Gotchas

@synthesize creates instance variables local to the class. It is not visible to subclasses. Consider the following example:

//Automobile.h
@interface Automobile : NSObject
@property (strong) NSString *name;
@end

//Automobile.m
@implementation Automobile
@synthesize name;
- (instancetype) initWithName:(NSString *)aName {
   if (self = [super init]) {
       self.name = aName;
   }
 return self;
}
@end

//FourWheeler.h
@interface FourWheeler : Automobile
@end

//FourWheeleer.m
@implementation FourWheeler
- (void)accessingName {
  //  Note: The following gives a Semantic Issue
  NSLog(@">> name is an ivar and is not visible to subclass :: %@", name);
  
  //  Note: The following line works as we are accessing the property of
  //  parent class.
  NSLog(@">> self.name is a prop and is visible to subclass :: %@", self.name);
}
@end

property is a public legitimate access to the private instance variable (via getter/setter) it automatically synthesizes. If you have synthesized a property in both base and sub class, accessing it using an instance variable in base class method, when called from object of subclass would have null value. Consider the following example:

//Automobile.h
@interface Automobile : NSObject
@property (strong) NSString *name;
- (NSString *)decorateName;
@end

//Automobile.m
@implementation Automobile
@synthesize name;
- (instancetype) initWithName:(NSString *)aName {
    if (self = [super init]) {
        self.name = aName;
    }
  return self;
}
- (NSString *)decorateName {
return [NSString stringWithFormat:@">>%@<<", name];
}
@end

//FourWheeler.h
@interface FourWheeler : Automobile
@end

//FourWheeleer.m
@implementation FourWheeler
- (void)printDecoratedName {
    NSLog(@">>via Automobile#decorateName :: %@", self.decorateName);
}
@end

//TwoWheeler.h
@interface TwoWheeler : Automobile
@end

//TwoWheeleer.m
@implementation TwoWheeler
@sythesize name; //This synthesizes a private instance variable name
- (void)printDecoratedName {
    NSLog(@">>via Automobile#decorateName :: %@", self.decorateName);
    // This would print ">>via Automobile#decorateName :: >>(null)<<"
}
@end

I have played around a bit, you can checkout and try other cases: https://github.com/singhgarima/Synthesize

Understanding @property & @synthesize directives

Basics

self vs underscore

Gotchas

Written by

Garima Singh

Supported by

Garima Singh

My Thoughts and Know-hows