iOS - Passing a NSMutableArray via method return - iphone

Question

How would one pass a NSMutableArray via method return.
I have it passing the array "spaces" so an array of 10 objects passes the 10 blocks but none of the information contained in those objects.
Thanks in advance
Edit: Basically I created another class that contains path information because my controller was getting a bit cluttered. So this new class I want call the "create" method which returns an NSMutableArray. The array is created fine in the path class but when the return statement fires it only passes the spaces and not the values or even a pointer.
currently it's
return path;
I've tried
return &path;
and that fails epically.
Edit2: Here is the issue I'm having unfortunately.
Still crashing
calling
newNode = [newNode copy];
causes a crash

Answer 1

- (NSMutableArray *) mutableFloobizwits {
NSMutableArray *array = [NSMutableArray array];
for (NSInteger i = 0; i < TheAnswerToTheUltimateQuestion; ++i) {
void(^MyBlock)(void) = ^{
NSLog(#"captured i: %ld", i);
};
MyBlock = [MyBlock copy]; //move the block from off the stack and onto the heap
[array addObject:[Floobizwit floobizwithWithBlock:MyBlock]];
[MyBlock release]; //the Floobizwit should've -retained the block, so we release it
}
return array;
}

Answer 2

I would set up your other class that returns the array of path objects as follows:
#implementation PathFactory
- (NSMutableArray*) create
{
// In your PathFactory object you create an array and make it autorelease so
// it becomes the callers responsibility to free the memory
NSMutableArray * pathArray = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
// Create a bunch of PathObject objects and add them to the mutable array
// also set these to autorelease because the NSMutableArray will retain objects
// added to the collection (ie It is the NSMutableArray's responsibility to ensure
// the objects remain allocated).
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfPaths; i++)
[pathArray addObject:[[[PathObject alloc] init] autorelease]];
// Just return the pointer to the NSMutableArray. The caller will need to
// call the retain message on the pointer it gets back (see next)
return pathArray;
}
#end
So in your caller code:
// create a tempory PathFactory (autorelease will make sure it is cleaned up when we
// are finished here)
PathFactory * newPathFactory = [[[PathFactory alloc] init] autorelease];
// grab the new array of Path objects and retain the memory. _newPathArray
// is a member of this class that you will need to release later.
_newPathArray = [[newPathFactory create] retain];