Objective C - Static class variable of type NSArray

Question

I'm storing some default initializer values for my class as static class variables. Like this:

// List.h
static NSString *DEFAULT_LIST_NAME = @"Not Set";
static BOOL DEFAULT_RECURSION = NO;

I also need a static variable of type NSArray * set to an empty array. How can this be achieved? Currently I get the error:

Initializer element is not a compile-time constant

Hi This question is similar to yours. There are different ways to do that. Maybe you want to check it: stackoverflow.com/questions/20544616/… — wei
– wei, Commented Jun 18, 2017 at 11:22
show a screenshot of your error. I don't get any compile warnings or errors in my Xcode 8 if I use static code lines above — Sam B
– Sam B, Commented Jun 18, 2017 at 16:33

Annie Gupta · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-18 11:32:42Z

1

You are getting the compile time error "Initializer element is not a compile-time constant" because the static variable's value is actually written into your executable file at compile time. So you can only use the constant values (not alloc/init which are executed at runtime). You can use any of the below option

You can write static NSArray *arr = nil and use +initialize to create your array.
Another options are you can use __attribute__ ((constructor))
Yet another option is to switch the type of your source file from Objective-C to Objective-C++ (or rename it from .m to .mm, which has the same effect). In C++, such initializers don't need to be compile-time constant values, and the original code would work just fine
Also you can use solution given Pat_Morita

edited Jun 18, 2017 at 11:32

answered Jun 18, 2017 at 11:26

Annie Gupta

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Pat_Morita · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-18 11:19:16Z

0

define a class method for this:

.m file

@implementation test
static NSArray *array; 
+ (NSArray *)array { 
    if (!array) array = [[NSArray alloc] init]; 
    return array;
 } 
@end

answered Jun 18, 2017 at 11:19

Pat_Morita

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