Objective C Equivalent of PHP's "Variable Variables" [duplicate]
In PHP and in JavaScript you can dynamically use a variable by using another variable as part of its name. I do not want to use an array as part of the solution. Can this be achieved in Objective C? I'd like to do something like this:
for (int i=1; i<6; i++) {
if([appRecord.answer(i) length] != 0){
self.textView.answer(i)ViewSingle.text = appRecord.answer(i);
}
}
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Kind of.
- You can use an array, store your variables in there, and index into it.
- Like #1, if your objects are actually UI elements and you don't want a whole bunch of
IBOutlets
, then use anIBOutletCollection
instead. - You can use a dictionary, store your variables as values, and look them up by key.
- You can declare all your variables as
@property
, and then use[self valueForKey:]
to look them up by name. - You can build the name of the ivar as a string, and then use something like
object_getInstanceVariable()
to retrieve it's value directly (this is similar to #3, except you don't have to declare it as an@property
). This is excessively complicated and is usually a much bigger hammer than you'll actually need. - If you're dealing with views, you can assign each view a unique tag and then retrieve it via
[superview viewWithTag:aTag]
. I do not recommend using this approach.
EDIT: Note that this only works with instance variables. This does not work with global/static variables.