Fixing my NSLog() habit abuse. Sort of!

I know it is wrong to put NSLogs everywhere in the code, as they usually just clutter the console log at the point of losing its purpose (or at least part of it). Sometimes however you just want have an easy way to get some feedback in the order of: Is this method even being called?

Well, to do that I device a macro which is printing not only the classic log text but also from which function it is coming (in the style of [Class method]) and the line on the file.

#define MYLog(err)    NSLog(@"Log: %s (line n' %d)\n%@", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __LINE__, err)

Unfortunately __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ is not defined in C++, in which case you are better off with something like this:

#define MYLog(err)    NSLog(@"Log: [%s %s](line n' %d)\n%@", __FUNCTION__, __FILE__ __LINE__, err)

Unit testing while interacting with blocks

Unit testing is brilliant, it automates things and give you the peace of mind that nothing is going to break in the code you write - at least nothing you know of!

Another brilliant thing are blocks. Since their introduction in iOS4 I started to do a massive use of them; they just make everything more tidy and they solve some implementations that would be otherwise almost impossible. Also they make easier to work with background threads.

Unfortunately blocks with background capabilities do not work well with unit tests, at least out of the shelf. This is happening specifically for the reason that the assert methods implemented inside the block may not even being called because the entire suite of tests got the end before it.

As solution for my projects, I have defined a parent test class from which all the other test classes inherit with the only intention of having a boolean attribute and then I have a while loop which is checking for that boolean in the tearDown method. Inside the block I change the boolean to YES and in the next runloop the tests exists.

By default I set done to YES in the setUp method so for all the tests that do not use blocks I do not need to bother about the done variable.

Here is the code:

Parent Test Class:

#import <SenTestingKit/SenTestingKit.h>

@interface MainTests : SenTestCase

@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL done;

@end

————————————-

#import “MainTests.h”

@implementation MainTests

@synthesize done;

- (void)setUp

{

    [super setUp];

    done = YES;

}

- (void)tearDown

{

    while (!done) {

        [[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] runMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode beforeDate:   [NSDate distantFuture]];

        usleep(10000);

    }

    [super tearDown];

}

@end

Another children Test Class:

#import “MainTest.h”

@interface AChildrenTests : MainTests

- (void)testFeeds;

@end

———————-

@implementation AChildrenTests

- (void)testFeeds {

    self.done = NO;

    [AClassWithBlocks collectionForUserName:@”username” completed:^(id data, NSError *error) {

        STAssertNil(error, error.description);

        STAssertTrue((data && [(NSArray *)data count] > 0), @”Feeds shouldn’t be nill or empty”);

        self.done = YES;

    }];

}

@end

Create an Injection testing environment through the definition of custom C flags

Being Sold

I am bouth, being sold,

Standing at the edge of the dark fall,

Holding tight to the last act of independence I have left.

Keep in mind:

“Do not attach big white Apple stickers around your possessions”

It’s not much, but it is still there and they won’t get it, God the won’t.

I guess it will be easy for me, I do not own a car, but still.

I maybe better write a note down, you know, just to remember,

Where is my Moleskine? There it is.

Oh crap!

Xcode 4 move a line up and down

I really do not know how I missed this feature or when it was introduced. I only know that this was the only thing that I was really missing from my early days of web development with NetBeans - or Eclipse for what matters. I know there where several suggested hacks using scripts and key bindings, but none of them looked as a pretty solutions, and in general was frustrating to see Xcode with suc han handicap.

So today, while furiously typing code, I just sow this line of code jumping up overtaking is parent one. WAT?! I try to get to the context of what I was trying to do and replicate the “mistake”. Long story short, my fat finger tapped the option key while I was trying to indent a line.

In practice to move the line where the cursor is or multiple line selected

cmd + option + {

and to move the same down

cmd + option + }

Hope it helps.