Is there a method that I can override in my custom classes so that when
NSLog(@"%@", myObject)
is called, it will print the fields (or whatever I deem important) of my object? I guess I'm looking for the Objective-C equivalent of Java's toString().
It is the description instance method, declared as:
- (NSString *)description
Here's an example implementation (thanks to grahamparks):
- (NSString *)description {
return [NSString stringWithFormat: @"Photo: Name=%@ Author=%@", name, author];
}
Add this to the @implementation of your Photo class:
- (NSString *)description {
return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Photo: Name=%@ Author=%@",name,author];
}
You can override the description method of NSObject:
- (NSString *)description
On the subject of logging I recommend this blog post for better logging in Objective-C.
I think comment from @Nuthatch of overriding "description" with CoreData (i.e classes inheriting NSManagedObject) should be emphasized
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coredata/nsmanagedobject?language=objc
Avoid overriding description—if this method fires a fault during a debugging operation, the results may be unpredictable.