Problem/leak using NSMutableDictionary

Question

Hi All,
I am trying to use NSMutableDictionary to store my app data into plist. The code is as follows .. with comments about my problem
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSMutableString* str = [[NSMutableString alloc] initWithCapacity:300];
[str appendString:documentsDirectory];
[str appendString:@"/"];
[str appendString:KStore_File];
NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
BOOL success = [fileManager fileExistsAtPath:str];
NSMutableDictionary* dictionary = nil;
if (success)
dictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc ]initWithContentsOfFile:str];
[dictionary retain]; /* I get memory leak if I keep this line.
But if I remove this line, app works fine on emulator and device
but crashes while testing memory leaks using INSTRUMENTATION. */
else
return;
if(dictionary)
NSArray* strKeyArray = [dictionary allKeys];
MSHashTable* ht = ((CEApplication*)m_gpApp)->GetMSTransactionManager()->GetStoreTable();
for(int i = 0; i < [strKeyArray count] ;i++)
NSString* strkey = [strKeyArray objectAtIndex:i];
NSString* valstr = [dictionary valueForKey:strkey];
// doing something .. loading data to my data structures
[strkey release];
[valstr release];
[str release];
[dictionary release];
Please let me know if I am doing anything wrong in above code. The application crashes only on the instruments run, while finding the memory leaks.
thanks.
Kiran

Answer 1

The part that jumps out at me is here:
for(int i = 0; i < [strKeyArray count] ;i++)
NSString* strkey = [strKeyArray objectAtIndex:i];
NSString* valstr = [dictionary valueForKey:strkey];
// doing something .. loading data to my data structures
[strkey release]; // <-- improper release?
[valstr release]; // <-- improper release?
I may be wrong (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I am) but I don't think you want to release strkey and valstr in this situation. By general rule you don't want to release something you didn't alloc - instead you simply assigned them to other variables. And since this interacts with Dictionary and you're releasing it could this be causing your problem downstream?
=Tod