How to release IBOutlet defined as property?

Question

sorry for this question, but I searched it and I didn't find an answer for that case.

I'm studying memory management for iOS and I understood, or I think so, the view lifecycle. But now I have a question on a IBOutlet (tat is linked to a UIImageView in my xib file). I have a class like this:

@interface MyClass : UIViewController 

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIImageView *myImage;

The question is: how can I release myImage? Is this ok?

- (void)dealloc {
    self.myImage = nil;
    [super dealloc];
}

- (void)viewDidUnload {
    [super viewDidUnload];
    self.myImage = nil;
}

Can someone explain why can't I call the release method on myView (if you had some lik it is good too!)?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

In general, you don't call release on a property, you would call it on the corresponding ivar. This is my standard way to handle IBOutlet properties:

@interface MyClass

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIImageView *myImageView;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UILabel *myLabel;

@end


@implementation MyClass

@synthesize myImageView = _myImageView;
@synthesize myLabel = _myLabel;


- (void)dealloc {

    [_myImageView release];
    [_myLabel release];

    [super dealloc];
}

@end