Memory leak in NSMutableArray, NSArray, NSString in iPhone SDK

Question

In my app, I got Memory leaks in NSMutableArray, NSArray and NSString.

Here is the code.

    NSString *subQuery = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"SELECT %@ FROM tbl_lang WHERE glossary = '%@'",append1,glossaryName];
    NSArray *subArray1 = [[[self returnExecuteQuery:subQuery] mutableCopy] autorelease];        
    [subArray addObjectsFromArray:subArray1];

    NSString *columnQuery = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"select AutoID,%@ from tbl_lang where glossary='%@'",lblshortName.text,glossaryName];
    NSArray *newArray =[[[self returnExecuteQuery:columnQuery] mutableCopy] autorelease];
    [langArray addObjectsFromArray:newArray];

    NSMutableArray *tempArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    for (int i=0; i<[newArray count]; i++) {
        NSString *cellText = [[newArray objectAtIndex:i] valueForKey:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",lblshortName.text]];

        if (cellText != (NSString *)[NSNull null] && ![cellText isEqualToString:@""] ) {
            NSString *decodedString3 = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[cellText cStringUsingEncoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]]];

            [tempArray addObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ : %@",lblshortName.text, decodedString3]];
        }
        else {
            [tempArray addObject:@"<empty>"];
        }

        NSString *detail = @"_________________";

        for (int j=0; j<[lableNameArray count]; j++) {

            NSString *checkNull=[[subArray1 objectAtIndex:i] valueForKey:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",[lableNameArray objectAtIndex:j]]];

            if(checkNull != (NSString *)[NSNull null] && checkNull.length > 0)
            {
                NSString *decodedString4 = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[checkNull cStringUsingEncoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]]];
                detail = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@\n%@ : %@ ",detail,[lableNameArray objectAtIndex:j],decodedString4];
            }               
        }   
        [detailTextArray addObject:detail]; 

    }

When I run in Instruments I got leaks in

-subArray1 in second line.

-detail (NSString) in second for loop.

And subArray and langArray are my global arrays.

If I remove mutableCopy from NSArray *newArray =[[[self returnExecuteQuery:columnQuery] mutableCopy] autorelease]; and NSArray *subArray1 = [[[self returnExecuteQuery:subQuery] mutableCopy] autorelease]; then subArray and langArray doesnot retain values.

How to avoid memory leak in this code?

Answer 1

Olease try this one, in above code you are creating two many objects that belong to autorelease pool here is one version where I tried to handle release of those string variables.

Second this is that the leak of detail is because you are de-referencing it many times in your code. And for subArray1 please see the comment

    NSMutableString *subQuery =[ [NSMutableString alloc] initWithFormat:@"SELECT %@ FROM tbl_lang WHERE glossary = '%@'",append1,glossaryName];
   // please make returnExecuteQuery's returned array autorelease if it is not.  
   NSArray *subArray1 = [[self returnExecuteQuery:subQuery] mutableCopy] ;
    [subArray addObjectsFromArray:subArray1];

    [subQuery release]; 
    NSMutableString *columnQuery ==[ [NSMutableString alloc] initWithFormat:@"select AutoID,%@ from tbl_lang where glossary='%@'",lblshortName.text,glossaryName];
    NSArray *newArray =[[self returnExecuteQuery:columnQuery] mutableCopy] ;
    [langArray addObjectsFromArray:newArray];
    [columnQuery relese];
    NSMutableArray *tempArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    for (int i=0; i<[newArray count]; i++) {
        NSMutableString *tempKey = [[NSMutableString  alloc]initWithFormat:@"%@",lblshortName.text]];


        NSString *cellText = [[newArray objectAtIndex:i] valueForKey:tempKey];
        [tempKey release];

        if (cellText != (NSString *)[NSNull null] && ![cellText isEqualToString:@""] ) {
            NSString *decodedString3 = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[cellText cStringUsingEncoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]]];
            NSMutableString *tempString  = [[NSMutableString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%@ : %@",lblshortName.text, decodedString3]];

            [tempArray addObject:tempString];
            [tempString release];
        }
        else {
            [tempArray addObject:@"<empty>"];
        }

        NSMutableString *detail = nil;

        for (int j=0; j<[lableNameArray count]; j++) 
        {
             detail = [[ NSMutableString alloc]initWithString:@"_________________"];
            NSMutableString *key = [[NSMutableString alloc]initWithFormat:@"%@",[lableNameArray objectAtIndex:j]];
            NSString *checkNull=[[subArray1 objectAtIndex:i] valueForKey:key];
           [key release];

            if(checkNull != (NSString *)[NSNull null] && checkNull.length > 0)
            {
                NSString *decodedString4 = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[checkNull cStringUsingEncoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]]];
                [detail setString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@\n%@ : %@ ",detail,[lableNameArray objectAtIndex:j],decodedString4]];
            } 
              [detailTextArray addObject:detail]; 
              [detail release];              
        }   


    }
    [subArray1 release];
    [newArray release];

UPDATE : Please do read comments in the code and reply back so that things could be improved.

    NSMutableString *subQuery =[ [NSMutableString alloc] initWithFormat:@"SELECT %@ FROM tbl_lang WHERE glossary = '%@'",append1,glossaryName];
   //*****NOTE THIS POINT ----> please make returnExecuteQuery's returned array autorelease if it is not.  
   NSArray *subArray1 = [[self returnExecuteQuery:subQuery] mutableCopy] ;
    [subArray addObjectsFromArray:subArray1];

    [subQuery release]; 
    NSMutableString *columnQuery ==[ [NSMutableString alloc] initWithFormat:@"select AutoID,%@ from tbl_lang where glossary='%@'",lblshortName.text,glossaryName];
    //*****NOTE THIS POINT ----> please make returnExecuteQuery's returned array autorelease if it is not.  
    NSArray *newArray =[[self returnExecuteQuery:columnQuery] mutableCopy] ;
    [langArray addObjectsFromArray:newArray];
    [columnQuery relese];
    NSMutableArray *tempArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    for (int i=0; i<[newArray count]; i++) {
        NSMutableString *tempKey = [[NSMutableString  alloc]initWithFormat:@"%@",lblshortName.text]];


        NSString *cellText = [[newArray objectAtIndex:i] valueForKey:tempKey];
        [tempKey release];

        if (cellText != (NSString *)[NSNull null] && ![cellText isEqualToString:@""] ) {
            NSString *decodedString3 = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[cellText cStringUsingEncoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]]];
            NSMutableString *tempString  = [[NSMutableString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%@ : %@",lblshortName.text, decodedString3]];

            [tempArray addObject:tempString];
            [tempString release];
        }
        else {
            [tempArray addObject:@"<empty>"];
        }

        NSMutableString *detail =  [[ NSMutableString alloc]initWithString:@"_________________"];

        for (int j=0; j<[lableNameArray count]; j++) 
        {

            NSMutableString *key = [[NSMutableString alloc]initWithFormat:@"%@",[lableNameArray objectAtIndex:j]];
            NSString *checkNull=[[subArray1 objectAtIndex:i] valueForKey:key]; //also here if you note you are using subArray1 not subArray?
           [key release];

            if(checkNull != (NSString *)[NSNull null] && checkNull.length > 0)
            {
                NSString *decodedString4 = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[checkNull cStringUsingEncoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]]];
                [detail setString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@\n%@ : %@ ",detail,[lableNameArray objectAtIndex:j],decodedString4]];
               break;//I am not sure why you are checking this condition but assume that you want to get NOT NULL VALUE and  add it to array?
            } 

        }   
        [detailTextArray addObject:detail]; 
        [detail release];              

    }
    [subArray1 release];
    [newArray release];

UPDATE 2:

if(checkNull != (NSString *)[NSNull null] && checkNull.length > 0)
            {
                NSString *decodedString4 = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[checkNull cStringUsingEncoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]]];
                [detail appendFormat:@"%@\n%@ : %@ ",detail,[lableNameArray objectAtIndex:j],decodedString4]];

            }

Thanks,

Answer 2

Not sure what is causing the memory leak, but this may help. This is a more direct way of copying the arrays, and may result in avoiding the leak:

NSArray *langArray =[[NSArray alloc] initWithArray: [self returnExecuteQuery:columnQuery] copyItems: YES];

This basically makes a one-level deep copy of the array returned by returnExecuteQuery. You can read about it in more detail in Collections Programming Topics.

I'm not sure how mutableCopy works and that may have something to do with the leak. If it copies the objects in the old array & then adds them to the new array, they may enter the array with a retain count of 2 (1 from the copy, and 1 from being added to an array.) It doesn't make much sense that it should work this way. But, if it does, that could account for the leak.

Answer 3

You could start by releasing your tempArray once done with it (after the loops).

Often, the higher levels leaks are hidden in the flood of lower level ones (ie a container leaking causes all its content to be leaked as well), which might be the case for your string.

Using mutableCopy] autorelease]; is fine by the way.