retainCount dispatching event?

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retainCount dispatching event?

(18 posts) (5 voices)

Started 7 months ago by Stylish
Latest reply from Stylish

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Stylish
Member

Hello,

I have (yes, another one) problem. This time is related to dispatching events.

    NSLog(@"LevelWillStart_LINE857 %d",[self retainCount]);
    SPEvent *localEvent = [[SPEvent alloc] initWithType:EVENT_TYPE_LEVEL_WILL_START bubbles:NO];
    NSLog(@"LevelWillStart_LINE859 %d",[self retainCount]);
 
    [self dispatchEvent:localEvent];
    NSLog(@"LevelWillStart_LINE862 %d",[self retainCount]);
 
    [localEvent release];
    NSLog(@"LevelWillStart_LINE865 %d",[self retainCount]);

I obtain this log

[1508:12b03] BuildLevel:LINE356 1
[1508:12b03] BuildLevel:LINE532 1
[1508:12b03] LevelWillStart_LINE857 1
[1508:12b03] LevelWillStart_LINE859 1
[1508:12b03] OnLevelWillStart_LINE210 4
[1508:12b03] LevelWillStart_LINE862 5
[1508:12b03] LevelWillStart_LINE865 4

The log line "OnLevelWilLStart_LINE210 4" is the first line called by the method launched by EVENT_TYPE_LEVEL_WILL_START event.

Why is this happening? I can't figure out where the release count is growing.

When I release the level on my gameManager class the retain count is 6!! so the level is not being deallocated and I have a memory growing problem.

What am I doing wrong?

Best regards,

Posted 7 months ago #

alex_h
Moderator
Try using an autorelease object for your event instead.

so use:
[self dispatchEvent:[SPEvent eventWithType:EVENT_TYPE_LEVEL_WILL_START bubbles:NO]];
instead of your code above.
Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

Same behavior. The new code does not change the retainCount.

Best regards,

Posted 7 months ago #
alex_h
Moderator

In that case I'd say that seems to suggest that the event is a red herring - something else has incremented the retain count of your game level instance.
Presumably you call alloc on the game level when you create it (retain count 1)
If you then add it to the display list its retain count will now be 2.
If you add it to an array or dictionary its retain count will be 3.
You need to make sure that each of these retain increments has a corresponding release - either explicit or by removing the reference from the array or display list.

Posted 7 months ago #
borrrden
Moderator

This is not a reliable way to check this. If you use the Allocations profiling tool, you can see exactly when your object is retained and released. Presumably, Sparrow is retaining your object internally (and will release it later).

See this page for how to enable reference counting in the profile tools:

http://www.markj.net/iphone-memory-debug-nszombie/

Posted 7 months ago #
alex_h
Moderator

Thats true, using the retainCount property for debugging is a bit of a dodgy approach, it can potentially be misleading.
Getting NSZombieEnabled on the case is definitely a good idea at this point.

Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

I got a instrument allocations log with the actions taken to my Level class. There are 1795!!!!! Where to start? the last retainCount is 1. There is something not releasing the object.

Any advice?

Posted 7 months ago #
Shilo
Master Sparrow

Have you tried anazlying your project? It warns you of potential memory leaks. Besides the Leaks instrument, the analyzer is the only other tool I have found useful.

In Xcode 4, you can analyze your code via "Product > Analyze".

(Also look at the Leaks tool if you haven't done so yet)

Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

Sure, it is the first a tried. 0 messages.

Posted 7 months ago #
borrrden
Moderator

Most of that is probably from an enter frame event. Just look at where it is retained in YOUR code (the responsible library will be listed, and you can even sort by it).

Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

Checked too! My library only make a malloc and a release.

But it's related to a enter frame event. I called dealloc method instead release and I had an exception from

-[Level hasEventListenerForType:]: message sent to deallocated instance 0x1ceef0

and the requested eventType is SP_ENTER_FRAME_EVENT

Maybe an important clue?

Posted 7 months ago #
borrrden
Moderator

Calling the dealloc method manually will only add to the confusion. It will be deallocated before it is released by everything, so any subsequent calls to release (for example, by Sparrow) will result in the exact error you just listed. By any chance are you using NSTimer, or repeating tweens?

Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

I'm not using NSTimers not repeating tweens. But I'm using delayed calls.

I have an instruments trace saved. Will it help if I attach it?

Thanks again for the outstanding help.

Posted 7 months ago #
borrrden
Moderator

It may or may not help...I spent considerable time working on problems like this and I was only able to achieve a successful result because I had intimate knowledge of the entire code base. If you look through it, you probably notice an "enter frame event loop" happening (a pattern of retains and releases by the Sparrow event system). The most important lines are the lines before that starts, and the lines after that finishes.

Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

I will try to find something weird, but no idea where to start.

Any further clue borrrden? There is a long night waiting for me lol

EDIT: The behavior could be related to removeEventListener not used?

Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

It's partially solved!!!

The memory growing problem has disappeared by changing the subclass of my level from SPStage to SPSprite. Why?? I can't understand it.

I changed the subclass because I saw that on the demo project.

Posted 7 months ago #
Daniel
Primary Feather

Ah, you're using multiple stages? That might really have been the problem. The stage class is only expected to be used once: subclassing it at the base class of your game. Everywhere else, you should use sprites instead.

Using the stage elsewhere might lead to problems (and does not have any advantages). I agree that this is easy to misunderstand!

Posted 7 months ago #
Stylish
Member

Hi Daniel,

Thanks!! It have been my fault because I didn't follow the demo project structure. But what's the difference between using SPStage and SPSprite? The code works without editing. It would be great to know a technical explanation for telling to the other teams working with sparrow

Thanks a lot!

Posted 7 months ago #

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