Using a String representing the name of a variable to set the variable

Question

This is a basic example that I know can be simplified, but for testing sake, I would like to do this in such a way. I want to set a variable based on an appending string (th

Answer 1

Use KVC, it's an amazing piece of technology that will do just what you want:

for (int index = 0; index < LIMIT; index++) {

    NSString *posName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"pos%d", index];
    CGRect pos = [[self valueForKey:posName] CGRectValue];
    NSString *camName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"cam%d", index];

    UIImageView *cam = [self valueForKey:camName];
    cam.frame = pos;
}

Answer 2

One way you can do this would be to create your cameras in a dictionary and use those special NSStrings to key in to it. Like,

NSMutableDictionary *myCams;
myCams = [[myCams alloc] init];
[myCams addObject:YOUR_CAM0_OBJECT_HERE forKey:@"cam[0]"];
[myCams addObject:YOUR_CAM1_OBJECT_HERE forKey:@"cam[1]"];

NSString camString = @"cam[0]"; // you'd build your string here like you do now
id theCamYouWant = [myCams objectForKey:camString];