setting new properties in category interface/imple

Question

Ok, so I have this, but it wont work:

@interface UILabel (touches)

@property (nonatomic) BOOL isMethodStep;

@end


@implementation UILabel (touches)

-(BOOL)isMethodStep {
    return self.isMethodStep;
}

-(void)setIsMethodStep:(BOOL)boolean {
    self.isMethodStep = boolean;
}

-(void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
    if(self.isMethodStep){
        // set all labels to normal font:
        UIFont *toSet = (self.font == [UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:16]) ? [UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica-Bold" size:16] : [UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:16];

        id superView = self.superview;
        for(id theView in [(UIView *)superView subviews])
            if([theView isKindOfClass:[UILabel class]])
                [(UILabel *)theView setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:16]];

        self.font = toSet;
    }
}

@end

If I take out the getter and setter methods then it doesn't work it tells me I need to create some getter and setter methods (or use @synthesize - but putting @synthesize in the @implementation throws an error too). But with the getter and setter methods I get an EXC_BAD_ACCESS and a crash. Any ideas? Thanks

Tom

Answer 1

There is actually a way, which may not be ideal, but does work.
For it to work, you will need to create a category for a class X and can only be used on subclasses of the same X (e.g. category UIView (Background) can be used with class MyView : UIView, but not directly with UIView)

// UIView+Background.h

@interface UIView (Background)

@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *hexColor;

- (void)someMethodThatUsesHexColor;

@end

// UIView+Background.h

@implementation UIView (Background)

@dynamic hexColor; // Must be declared as dynamic

- (void)someMethodThatUsesHexColor {
    NSLog(@"Color %@", self.hexColor);
}

@end

Then

// MyView.m

#import "UIView+Background.h"

@interface MyView : UIView

@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *hexColor;

@end

@implementation MyView ()

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    [self setHexColor:@"#BABACA"];
    [self someMethodThatUsesHexColor];
}

@end

Using this method, you will need to "redeclare" your properties, but after that, you can do all of its manipulation inside your category.

Answer 2

You could inject an associated object during runtime.

#import <objc/runtime.h>

@interface UIView (Private)

@property (nonatomic, assign) CGPoint initialTouchPoint;
@property (nonatomic, strong) UIWindow *alertWindow;

@end

@implementation UIView (Private)

@dynamic initialTouchPoint, alertWindow;

- (CGPoint)initialTouchPoint {
    return CGPointFromString(objc_getAssociatedObject(self, @selector(initialTouchPoint)));
}

- (void)setInitialTouchPoint:(CGPoint)initialTouchPoint {
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, @selector(initialTouchPoint), NSStringFromCGPoint(initialTouchPoint), OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN);
}

- (void)setAlertWindow:(UIWindow *)alertWindow {
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, @selector(alertWindow), alertWindow, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
}

- (UIWindow *)alertWindow {
    return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, @selector(alertWindow));
}

@end

Answer 3

EDIT: Warning: This property would have a unique value for all the instances of the class.

This worked for me, but only because I had only one instance of this class in my app.

#import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

@interface AVAudioPlayer (AstroAVAudioPlayer)

@property (nonatomic) BOOL redPilot;

@end


#import "AVAudioPlayer+AstroAVAudioPlayer.h"

@implementation AVAudioPlayer (AstroAVAudioPlayer)

BOOL _redPilot;

-(void) setRedPilot:(BOOL)redPilot
{
    _redPilot = redPilot;
}

-(BOOL) redPilot
{
    return _redPilot;
}

@end

Answer 4

A solution that I found to this was to just give each object that you want flagged a unique tag.

I made a UILabel category to add custom fonts to all my labels but on some i wanted them to be bold so i did this ->

- (void) layoutSubviews {
    [super layoutSubviews];
    [self addCustomFont];   
}

- (void) addCustomFont {
    if (self.tag == 22) {
        [self setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:SEGOE_BOLD size:self.font.pointSize]];
    }else{
        [self setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:SEGOE_LIGHT size:self.font.pointSize]];
    }
}

Answer 5

It seems as if since Xcode 7 (7.0.1, 7A1001), properties are supported in categories. I noticed that Xcode generates categories now for Core Data subclasses.

For example, I got the files:

Location+CoreDataProperties.h

#import "Location.h"

NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN

@interface Location (CoreDataProperties)

@property (nullable, nonatomic, retain) NSNumber *altitude;
@property (nullable, nonatomic, retain) NSNumber *latitude;
@property (nullable, nonatomic, retain) NSNumber *longitude;

@end

NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_END

Location+CoreDataProperties.m

#import "Location+CoreDataProperties.h"

@implementation Location (CoreDataProperties)

@dynamic altitude;
@dynamic latitude;
@dynamic longitude;

@end

So looks like properties in categories might work now. I haven't tested on non-Core Data classes.

What I've noticed is that they do include the category file back into the original class:

Location.h

@interface Location : NSManagedObject

@end

#import "Location+CoreDataProperties.h"

This allows the original class to edit the properties specified by the category.

Answer 6

Checked all answers and did not find the most common solution:

#import <objc/runtime.h>

static void const *key;

@interface ClassName (CategoryName)
@property (nonatomic) BOOL myProperty;
@end

@implementation ClassName (CategoryName)
- (BOOL)myProperty {
    return [objc_getAssociatedObject(self, key) boolValue];
}

- (void)setMyProperty:(BOOL)value {
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, key, @(value), OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN);
}
@end