Value Objects are objects that hold simple data. This article is about creating such value objects. I use them a lot in my code, because they are robust and keep the code simple. Note that it’s not about NSValue, but about simple objects with simple data.

Implementing value objects should be easy, but there are some slightly tricky bits. So let’s look at the requirements:

• We want to create value objects quickly (i.e. an initWith:)

• The created objects should be immutable

• The created objects should be equal when they have equal values

Suppose we want to create Person objects with properties name andbirthDate, then our interface looks like this:

@interface Person : NSObject
- (id)initWithName:(NSString*)name birthDate:(NSDate*)birthDate;
@property (nonatomic, copy, readonly) NSString* name;
@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSDate* birthDate;
@end

The important thing to notice here is that the properties are readonly. However, the modern runtime still generates instance variables for us, that are prefixed by a _. Our implementation looks like this:

@implementation Person

- (id)initWithName:(NSString*)name birthDate:(NSDate*)birthDate {
  self = [super init];
  if(self) {
    _name = [name copy];
    _birthDate = birthDate;
  }
  return self;
}
@end

In the modern runtime, you don’t have to use synthesize. If you do, then your instance variables get different names (without the underscore).

Now for the equality, we implement the method isEqual:. There is an excellent articleby Mike Ash, however, there is a mistake in there. Following his advice, our first (incorrect) implementation looks like this:

- (BOOL)isEqual:(id)obj {
  if(![obj isKindOfClass:[Person class]]) return NO;

  Person* other = (Person*)obj;
  BOOL nameIsEqual = [_name isEqual:other->_name];
  BOOL dateIsEqual = [_date isEqual:other->_date];
  return nameIsEqual && dateIsEqual;
}

There is a problem here: if one of the two properties is nil, then isEqual:will return NO. This is because methods sent to nil always return NO, 0or nil. Even [nil isEqual:nil] returns NO.

Therefore, our second, correct implementation looks like this:

- (BOOL)isEqual:(id)obj {
  if(![obj isKindOfClass:[Person class]]) return NO;

  Person* other = (Person*)obj;
  BOOL nameIsEqual = _name == _other->_name || [_name isEqual:other->_name];
  BOOL dateIsEqual = _date == _other->_date || [_date isEqual:other->_date];
  return nameIsEqual && dateIsEqual;
}

To implement the hashing function, I would like to recommend following Mike’s advice.

Bonus

Finally, as a bonus, let’s also implement NSCoding, so we can serialize our objects. First change the interface of Person to this:

@interface Person : NSObject <NSCoding>

The implementation is now very simple:

- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder*)aDecoder {
  self = [super init];
  if(self) {
    _name = [aDecoder decodeObjectForKey:kName]; 
    _date = [aDecoder decodeObjectForKey:kDate]; 
  }
  return self;
}

- (void)encodeWithCoder:(NSCoder*)aCoder {
  [aCoder encodeObject:_name forKey:kName];
  [aCoder encodeObject:_date forKey:kDate];
}

The two constants kName and kDate are declared in the implementation file, above the @implementation directive:

static NSString* const kName = @"name";
static NSString* const kDate = @"date";

Voila, now we can create objects, read their properties, serialize them to disk and read them back in. Some catches: when you add a new property, you have to make sure to update the code in lots of places:

1. Add the property to the interface file

2. Add the parameter to initWith:, and also update the callers of that method

3. Add a comparison to isEqual:

4. Update the hash function

5. Add the method to both initWithCoder: and encodeWithCoder:

It helps to have some tests in place that check this for you.

The full code of the examples (without the hash function) is on github.

Update : changed the name attribute to be copy instead of strong, thanks to Christian Kienle