Retrieve class of a NSDictionary object

Question

Why does the following code returns not a NSDictionary, but a __NSDictionaryI?

NSDictionary* dict = [NSDictionary dictionary];
Class c = [dict class];
NSLog(@"%@", c);

What are my options to check if an object is an instance of NSDictionary? As I've found out, I can't call [__NSDictionaryI class] because it's not visible.

[dict classForCoder] returns NSDictionary and seems to be a good solution, but won't it fail when calling on object of some custom class? What is the most universal method to check if an object is an instance of a given class?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 07 '13 at 10:43

2

According to header that can be found here __NSDictionaryI is descendant of NSDictionary, so I guess you can use this check:

NSDictionary* dict = [NSDictionary dictionary];
if ([dict isKindOfClass:[NSDictionary class]])
{
//your code here
}

and it should work with NSDictionary and __NSDictionaryI instances.

answered Apr 07 '13 at 10:43

Bohdan Ivanov

806
9
28

And with __NSDictionaryM which is a NSMutableDictionary – HAS Apr 08 '13 at 05:56

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

1

How to check a class in a NSDictionary

if([object isKindOfClass:[AObjectClass class])
{
    NSLog(@"object is of type AObjectClass");
}

edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

Community

1
1

answered Apr 07 '13 at 10:34

pckill

3,709
36
48

Retrieve class of a NSDictionary object

2 Answers2