NSArray containsObject method

Question

I have a simple question regarding xcode coding but don't know why things are not performing as I think. I have an array of objects (custom objects). I just want to check if this one is within the array. I used the following code:

NSArray *collection = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:A, B, C, nil]; //A, B, C are custom "Item" objects
Item *tempItem = [[Item alloc] initWithLength:1 width:2 height:3];  //3 instance variables in "Item" objects
if([collection containsObject:tempItem]) {
    NSLog(@"collection contains this item");
}

I suppose the above checking will give me a positive result but it's not. Further, I checked whether the objects created are the same.

NSLog(@"L:%i W:%i H:%i", itemToCheck.length, itemToCheck.width, itemToCheck.height);
for (int i = 0, i < [collection count], i++) {
    Item *itemInArray = [collection objectAtIndex:i];
    NSLog(@"collection contains L:%i W:%i H:%i", itemInArray.length, itemInArray.width, itemInArrayheight);
}

In the console, this is what I got:

L:1 W:2 H:3
collection contains L:0 W:0 H:0
collection contains L:1 W:2 H:3
collection contains L:6 W:8 H:2

Obviously the tempItem is inside the collection array but nothing shows up when I use containsObject: to check it. Could anyone give me some direction which part I am wrong? Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

The documentation for [NSArray containsObject:] says:

This method determines whether anObject is present in the receiver by sending an isEqual: message to each of the receiver’s objects (and passing anObject as the parameter to each isEqual: message).

The problem is that you are comparing references to objects rather than the values of the objects. To make this specific example work, you will either need to send [collection containsObject:] an instance of a variable it contains (e.g. A, B, or C), or you will need to override the [NSObject isEqual:] method in your Item class.

This is what your isEqual method might look like:

- (BOOL)isEqual:(id)other {
    if (other == self)
      return YES;
    if (!other || ![other isKindOfClass:[self class]])
      return NO;
    if (self.length != other.length || self.width != other.width || self.height != other.height)
      return NO;
    return YES;
}

For a better implementation, you may want to look at this question.