objective c how to create dictionaries dynamically and refer to them - iphone

Question

i need to create and destroy dynamically dictionaries, or arrays,
and have them as instance variables,
so for example, [pseudocode]
*.h
nsmutableDictionary myDictn???
nsstring arrayn ???
how to create an instance dictionarie, and property, that dinamically get created and destroyed?, and how to refer to it?
*.m
n = 0
create container {
myDictn alloc init
n+1
}
other {
myDictn addobject#"data" forKey"myKey"
}
destroy container {
myDictn release
n-1
}
So what intend to show is that i would like to have myDict1, myDict2...
if created,
or destroy them if needed
thanks a lot!

Answer 1

To create dictionaries dynamically & add entries to them you could do this -
NSMutableDictionary *dictResult = [[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init] retain];
[dictResult setValue:result forKey:#"key"];
Here result can be anything. NSString or NSArray etc. Also using retain retains this object & causes a memory leak if not explicitly released. Instead try to do autorelease that way ios takes care of releasing the object when its no longer referred to. You do that like so -
NSMutableDictionary *dictResult = [[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init] autorelease];
This is all you need to create dictionaries dynamically.

Answer 2

I think what you're asking for is how to have multiple mutable dictionaries dynamically created. You haven't said where the numbering scheme is coming from, so you may need to modify this solution for your purposes.
What you want is an array or dictionary of dictionaries.
Make one NSMutableDictionary called something like dictionaryContainer. Then, when you want to create dictionary number 7, do
NSMutableDictionary *aDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary new];
[dictionaryContainer setObject:aDictionary forKey:[NSNumber numberWithInt:7]];
To recall that dictionary, do
NSMutableDictionary *theSameDictionary = [dictionaryContainer objectForKey:[NSNumber numberWithInt:7]];
You don't have to hard code the 7, you can get it from anywhere and pass it in as an integer variable.

Answer 3

If I got your question correctly, this is pretty easy
#interface MyClass {
NSMutableDictionary *dict;
NSMutableArray *arr;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSMutableDictionary *dict;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSMutableArray *arr;
#end
Implementation file
#import "MyClass.h"
#implementation MyClass
#synthesize dict;
#synthesize arr;
- (id) init {
self = [super init];
if (self) {
dict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
arr = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
}
return self;
}
- (void) dealloc {
[dict release];
[arr release];
[super dealloc];
}
- (void) otherStuff {
[dict setObject: #"value" forKey: #"key"];
[arr addObject: #"item"];
}
#end
usage from another class:
...
MyClass *instance = [MyClass new];
[instance.dict setObject: #"value" forKey: #"key"];
NSLog(#"Array items: %#", instance.arr);
[instance release];
...