Objective-C, properties for references

Question

This might be iPhone specific, I'm not sure. The compiler doesn't complain when building for the simulator but when compiling for device it throws some funky errors when I try to set properties for references to objects. Eg,

@property (nonatomic) CGRect  &finalFrame;

and the coressponding synthesizer

@synthesize finalFrame;

for a variable declared as

CGRect finalFrame;

Gives the errors

• type of property 'finalFrame' does not match type of ivar 'finalFrame'
• Unrecognisable insn:
• Internal compiler error: Bus error
• Internal compiler error: in extract_insn, at recog.c:2904

However I can do it manually without issue, with the following methods:

- (CGRect&)finalFrame;
- (void)setFinalFrame:(CGRect&)aFrame;

Is this a gcc bug? It does compile for the simulator.

Answer 1

Your property is declared as a reference type (CGRect&) but your instance variable is not a reference type (CGRect). They need to be the same to use @synthesize.

Also, it's a little weird to be using C++ reference types as Objective-C properties, but I guess that might work as long as all the files are being compiled as Objective-C++.