Objective C - How to return local variable in this code?

Question

I have the following code that works. It successfully displays myName in the NSLog ...

NSURL *apiString = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://testapi.com/url"];

[XMLConverter convertXMLURL:apiString completion:^(BOOL success, NSDictionary *dictionary, NSError *error)
{
    if (success)
    {
        NSString *myName = dictionary[@"profile"][@"real_name"];
        NSLog(@"%@ is my name", myName);
    }
}];

I have the following code for the method convertXMLURL which is in XMLConverter.m which I imported. It does a nice job of converting my XML to NSDictionary. That is what I want ...

+ (void)convertXMLURL:(NSURL *)url completion:(OutputBlock)completion
{
///Wrapper for -initWithContentsOfURL: method of NSXMLParser
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{
NSXMLParser *parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:url];
[[XMLConverter new] parser:parser completion:completion];
});
}

The problem I have is *dictionary is a local variable. I need to use it elsewhere in the code. How can I return it?

Answer 1

Simply create a @property and assign dictionary to it inside your completion handler.

For example:

Class Foo

@interface Foo : NSObject

@property (strong, nonatomic) NSDictionary* dictionary;

@end

Completion handler

NSURL *apiString = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://testapi.com/url"];

[XMLConverter convertXMLURL:apiString completion:^(BOOL success, NSDictionary *dictionary, NSError *error)
{
    if (success)
    {
        NSString *myName = dictionary[@"profile"][@"real_name"];
        NSLog(@"%@ is my name", myName);
        myInstanceOfFoo.dictionary = dictionary;
    }
}];

EDIT: If the completion handler is not inside a member of the Foo class the dictionary property must be declared in the header file (.h). Otherwise you can declare it in the implementation file (.m).

_{Based on the comment by carlodurso}