Label not showing up in overlay UIView - iphone

Question

Ok, I have done this kind of thing a million times but this particular case escapes me and I'm sure its just something stupid I am missing...
But I am trying to display a UIView on top of a mapView to give the impression the mapview is 'disabled.'
I created a UIView subclass and added a single label. like so...
.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#interface DisabledOverlayView : UIView
#property (nonatomic, strong) UILabel *disabledOverlayViewText;
#end
nothing complicated...
in my .m I set the text and add it to my UIView.
#synthesize disabledOverlayViewText = _disabledOverlayViewText;
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
self.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
self.alpha = 1;
_disabledOverlayViewText.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
_disabledOverlayViewText.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 200);
// [_disabledOverlayViewText setCenter:self.center];
_disabledOverlayViewText.text = #"testing";
[self addSubview:_disabledOverlayViewText];
}
return self;
}
then the class i wish to use this overlay i call it with...
DisabledOverlayView *disabledView = [[DisabledOverlayView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(12, 12, _mapView.frame.size.width, _mapView.frame.size.height)];
disabledView.disabledOverlayViewText.text = #"No Location";
[self.view addSubview:disabledView];
None of this is too complicated.. but the label doesn't show up. the overlay appears just fine, but no label text. Ive messed with the frames of the label thinking maybe it was off the visible view but no dice. and i cannot figure out what is going on.

Answer 1

Replace your initWithFrame method with the below code. I have added the alloc init line and changes the background color of the label. Try it and see whether it works :)
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
self.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
self.alpha = 1;
_disabledOverlayViewText = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 200)];
_disabledOverlayViewText.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
_disabledOverlayViewText.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
// [_disabledOverlayViewText setCenter:self.center];
_disabledOverlayViewText.text = #"testing";
[self.view addSubview:_disabledOverlayViewText];
}

Answer 2

It seems the label is not allocated and it's nil.
Try this
(id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
self.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];
self.alpha = 1;
self.disabledOverlayViewText = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 200)];
_disabledOverlayViewText.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
// [_disabledOverlayViewText setCenter:self.center];
_disabledOverlayViewText.text = #"testing";
[self addSubview:_disabledOverlayViewText];
}