What should my Objective-C singleton look like? [closed]

Answer 1

I've not read through all the solutions, so forgive if this code is redundant.

This is the most thread safe implementation in my opinion.

+(SingletonObject *) sharedManager
{
    static SingletonObject * sharedResourcesObj = nil;

    @synchronized(self)
    {
        if (!sharedResourcesObj)
        {
            sharedResourcesObj = [[SingletonObject alloc] init];
        }
    }

    return sharedResourcesObj;
}

Answer 2

Per my other answer below, I think you should be doing:

+ (id)sharedFoo
{
    static dispatch_once_t once;
    static MyFoo *sharedFoo;
    dispatch_once(&once, ^ { sharedFoo = [[self alloc] init]; });
    return sharedFoo;
}

Answer 3

With Objective C class methods, we can just avoid using the singleton pattern the usual way, from:

[[Librarian sharedInstance] openLibrary]

to:

[Librarian openLibrary]

by wrapping the class inside another class that just has Class Methods, that way there is no chance of accidentally creating duplicate instances, as we're not creating any instance!

I wrote a more detailed blog here :)

Answer 4

This works in a non-garbage collected environment also.

@interface MySingleton : NSObject {
}

+(MySingleton *)sharedManager;

@end


@implementation MySingleton

static MySingleton *sharedMySingleton = nil;

+(MySingleton*)sharedManager {
    @synchronized(self) {
        if (sharedMySingleton == nil) {
            [[self alloc] init]; // assignment not done here
        }
    }
    return sharedMySingleton;
}


+(id)allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone {
    @synchronized(self) {
        if (sharedMySingleton == nil) {
            sharedMySingleton = [super allocWithZone:zone];
            return sharedMySingleton;  // assignment and return on first allocation
        }
    }
    return nil; //on subsequent allocation attempts return nil
}


-(void)dealloc {
    [super dealloc];
}

-(id)copyWithZone:(NSZone *)zone {
    return self;
}


-(id)retain {
    return self;
}


-(unsigned)retainCount {
    return UINT_MAX;  //denotes an object that cannot be release
}


-(void)release {
    //do nothing    
}


-(id)autorelease {
    return self;    
}


-(id)init {
    self = [super init];
    sharedMySingleton = self;

    //initialize here

    return self;
}

@end

Answer 5

My way is simple like this:

static id instanceOfXXX = nil;

+ (id) sharedXXX
{
    static volatile BOOL initialized = NO;

    if (!initialized)
    {
        @synchronized([XXX class])
        {
            if (!initialized)
            {
                instanceOfXXX = [[XXX alloc] init];
                initialized = YES;
            }
        }
    }

    return instanceOfXXX;
}

If the singleton is initialized already, the LOCK block will not be entered. The second check if(!initialized) is to make sure it is not initialized yet when the current thread acquires the LOCK.

Answer 6

I've rolled singleton into a class, so other classes can inherit singleton properties.

Singleton.h :

static id sharedInstance = nil;

#define DEFINE_SHARED_INSTANCE + (id) sharedInstance {  return [self sharedInstance:&sharedInstance]; } \
                               + (id) allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone { return [self allocWithZone:zone forInstance:&sharedInstance]; }

@interface Singleton : NSObject {

}

+ (id) sharedInstance;
+ (id) sharedInstance:(id*)inst;

+ (id) allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone forInstance:(id*)inst;

@end

Singleton.m :

#import "Singleton.h"


@implementation Singleton


+ (id) sharedInstance { 
    return [self sharedInstance:&sharedInstance];
}

+ (id) sharedInstance:(id*)inst {
    @synchronized(self)
    {
        if (*inst == nil)
            *inst = [[self alloc] init];
    }
    return *inst;
}

+ (id) allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone forInstance:(id*)inst {
    @synchronized(self) {
        if (*inst == nil) {
            *inst = [super allocWithZone:zone];
            return *inst;  // assignment and return on first allocation
        }
    }
    return nil; // on subsequent allocation attempts return nil
}

- (id)copyWithZone:(NSZone *)zone {
    return self;
}

- (id)retain {
    return self;
}

- (unsigned)retainCount {
    return UINT_MAX;  // denotes an object that cannot be released
}

- (void)release {
    //do nothing
}

- (id)autorelease {
    return self;
}


@end

And here is an example of some class, that you want to become singleton.

#import "Singleton.h"

@interface SomeClass : Singleton {

}

@end

@implementation SomeClass 

DEFINE_SHARED_INSTANCE;

@end

The only limitation about Singleton class, is that it is NSObject subclass. But most time I use singletons in my code they are in fact NSObject subclasses, so this class really ease my life and make code cleaner.