NSArray of weak references (__unsafe_unretained) to objects under ARC

Question

I need to store weak references to objects in an NSArray, in order to prevent retain cycles. I\'m not sure of the proper syntax to use. Is this the correct way?

Answer 1

I think an elegant solution is what Mr. Erik Ralston propose on his Github repository

https://gist.github.com/eralston/8010285

this are the essential steps:

create a category for NSArray and NSMutableArray

in the implementation create a convenience class with a weak property. Your category will assign the objects to this weak property.

.h

 #import 

@interface NSArray(WeakArray)

- (__weak id)weakObjectForIndex:(NSUInteger)index;
-(id)weakObjectsEnumerator;

@end

@interface NSMutableArray (FRSWeakArray)

-(void)addWeakObject:(id)object;
-(void)removeWeakObject:(id)object;

-(void)cleanWeakObjects;

@end

.m

#import "NSArray+WeakArray.h"

@interface WAArrayWeakPointer : NSObject
@property (nonatomic, weak) NSObject *object;
@end

@implementation WAArrayWeakPointer
@end

@implementation NSArray (WeakArray)


-(__weak id)weakObjectForIndex:(NSUInteger)index
{
    WAArrayWeakPointer *ptr = [self objectAtIndex:index];
    return ptr.object;
}

-(WAArrayWeakPointer *)weakPointerForObject:(id)object
{
    for (WAArrayWeakPointer *ptr in self) {
        if(ptr) {
            if(ptr.object == object) {
                return ptr;
            }
        }
    }

    return nil;
}

-(id)weakObjectsEnumerator
{
    NSMutableArray *enumerator = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    for (WAArrayWeakPointer *ptr in self) {
        if(ptr && ptr.object) {
            [enumerator addObject:ptr.object];
        }
    }
    return enumerator;
}

@end

@implementation NSMutableArray (FRSWeakArray)

-(void)addWeakObject:(id)object
{
    if(!object)
        return;

    WAArrayWeakPointer *ptr = [[WAArrayWeakPointer alloc] init];
    ptr.object = object;
    [self addObject:ptr];

    [self cleanWeakObjects];
}

-(void)removeWeakObject:(id)object
{
    if(!object)
        return;

    WAArrayWeakPointer *ptr = [self weakPointerForObject:object];

    if(ptr) {

        [self removeObject:ptr];

        [self cleanWeakObjects];
    }
}

-(void)cleanWeakObjects
{

    NSMutableArray *toBeRemoved = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    for (WAArrayWeakPointer *ptr in self) {
        if(ptr && !ptr.object) {
            [toBeRemoved addObject:ptr];
        }
    }

    for(WAArrayWeakPointer *ptr in toBeRemoved) {
        [self removeObject:ptr];
    }
}

@end