KVC 与 KVO

KVC 与 KVO 是 Objective C 的关键概念，个人认为必须理解的东西，下面是实例讲解。

（一）Key-Value Coding (KVC)

KVC，即是指NSKeyValueCoding，一个非正式的 Protocol，提供一种机制来间接访问对象的属性。KVO 就是基于 KVC 实现的关键技术之一。

一个对象拥有某些属性。比如说，一个 Person 对象有一个 name 和一个 address 属性。以 KVC 说法，Person 对象分别有一个 value 对应他的 name 和 address 的 key。 key 只是一个字符串，它对应的值可以是任意类型的对象。从最基础的层次上看，KVC 有两个方法：一个是设置 key 的值，另一个是获取 key 的值。如下面的例子：

void changeName(Person *p, NSString *newName)

{

// using the KVC accessor (getter) method

NSString *originalName = [p valueForKey:@"name"];

// using the KVC  accessor (setter) method.

[p setValue:newName forKey:@"name"];

NSLog(@"Changed %@'s name to: %@", originalName, newName);

}

现在，如果 Person 有另外一个 key 配偶（spouse），spouse 的 key 值是另一个 Person 对象，用 KVC 可以这样写：

void logMarriage(Person *p)

{

// just using the accessor again, same as example above

NSString *personsName = [p valueForKey:@"name"];

// this line is different, because it is using

// a "key path" instead of a normal "key"

NSString *spousesName = [p valueForKeyPath:@"spouse.name"];

NSLog(@"%@ is happily married to %@", personsName, spousesName);

}

key 与 key path 要区分开来，key 可以从一个对象中获取值，而 key path 可以将多个 key 用点号 “.” 分割连接起来，比如：

[p valueForKeyPath:@"spouse.name"];

相当于这样……

[[p valueForKey:@"spouse"] valueForKey:@"name"];

好了，以上是 KVC 的基本知识，接着看看 KVO。

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（二）Key-Value Observing (KVO)

Key-Value Observing (KVO) 建立在 KVC 之上，它能够观察一个对象的 KVC key path 值的变化。举个例子，用代码观察一个 person 对象的 address 变化，以下是实现的三个方法：

static NSString *const KVO_CONTEXT_ADDRESS_CHANGED = @"KVO_CONTEXT_ADDRESS_CHANGED"

@implementation PersonWatcher

-(void) watchPersonForChangeOfAddress:(Person *)p

{

// this begins the observing

[p addObserver:self

forKeyPath:@"address"

options:0

context:KVO_CONTEXT_ADDRESS_CHANGED];

// keep a record of all the people being observed,

// because we need to stop observing them in dealloc

[m_observedPeople addObject:p];

}

// whenever an observed key path changes, this method will be called

- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath

ofObject:(id)object

change:(NSDictionary *)change

context:(void*)context

{

// use the context to make sure this is a change in the address,

// because we may also be observing other things

if(context == KVO_CONTEXT_ADDRESS_CHANGED) {

NSString *name = [object valueForKey:@"name"];

NSString *address = [object valueForKey:@"address"];

NSLog(@"%@ has a new address: %@", name, address);

}

}

-(void) dealloc;

{

// must stop observing everything before this object is

// deallocated, otherwise it will cause crashes

for(Person *p in m_observedPeople){

[p removeObserver:self forKeyPath:@"address"];

}

[m_observedPeople release];

m_observedPeople = nil;

[super dealloc];

}

-(id) init;

{

if(self = [super init]){

m_observedPeople = [NSMutableArraynew];

}

returnself;

}

@end

这就是 KVO 的作用，它通过 key path 观察对象的值，当值发生变化的时候会收到通知。