App crash - when installed from App store but not locally

Question

When i test my app as DEBUG then it works. But when i release to App store and from App Store install the app then it crash.

Therefore i changed the DEBUG RUN method into RELEASE run method for testing.

When i now run as RELEASE run method, then the app crash too (same as APP store Crash). The app crash is pointing at line 19.

How do i fix it? here i am telling to make an DNS (A or AAAA record) self.server = [self.server stringByAppendingString:@".example.com"]; by joining one string with the string i have from line 18.

- (void)myMethodHere:(NSString *)a {  
  //where a = @"splitme://test1/test2/test3";

  NSArray *work_array = [a componentsSeparatedByString:@"splitme://"];
  self.use_url =[work_array objectAtIndex:1];

  if ([self.use_url length] > 0) {    
    NSArray *work_array = [self.use_url componentsSeparatedByString:@"/"];
    self.server    = [work_array objectAtIndex:0];

    // -------------------
    // CRASH HERE // CRASH HERE 
    // -------------------
    if([self.server length] > 0) {
      NSLog(@"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 - part 1: %@", self.server); // WORKS 

      // Here we go CRASHing...
      self.server = [self.server stringByAppendingString:@".example.com"];
      NSLog(@"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 - part 2: %@", self.server); // CRASH CRASH

    }
    else {
      self.server = @"test.example.com";      
    }

  }
  else {
    NSLog(@"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9: %@", self.use_url);
  }  

  [self load_later];

}

EDIT 1: Following way of doing let me pass but if i have again self.server outside of this scope then app crash again.

  NSString *part1 = self.server;
  NSString *part2 = @".example.com";
  NSString *result =[part1 stringByAppendingString:part2];
  self.server = result;
  NSLog(@"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 - part 2: %@", self.server);

EDIT 2: crashing on AppDelegate.m, after commenting out the NSLog lines.

2017-04-08 10:32:01.773648+0200 app[344:18271] [MC] System group container for systemgroup.com.apple.configurationprofiles path is /private/var/containers/Shared/SystemGroup/systemgroup.com.apple.configurationprofiles
2017-04-08 10:32:01.774146+0200 app[344:18271] [MC] Reading from public effective user settings.
2017-04-08 10:32:01.778647+0200 app[344:18271] -[__NSArrayM length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1740457c0
2017-04-08 10:32:01.778888+0200 app[344:18271] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[__NSArrayM length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1740457c0'
*** First throw call stack:
(0x18a956fd8 0x1893b8538 0x18a95def4 0x18a95af4c 0x18a856d2c 0x100006f78 0x1000076e8 0x1000066cc 0x190a85f9c 0x190a85b78 0x190a8c3f8 0x190a89894 0x190afb2fc 0x190d038b4 0x190d092a8 0x190d1dde0 0x190d0653c 0x18c4ff884 0x18c4ff6f0 0x18c4ffaa0 0x18a905424 0x18a904d94 0x18a9029a0 0x18a832d94 0x190af045c 0x190aeb130 0x100007d78 0x18984159c)
libc++abi.dylib: terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
(lldb) 

EDIT 3: Crashing NSString not NSString even with explicit cast

- (void)setServer:(NSString *)value
{
  if (value != nil && ![value isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) {
    NSLog(@"!!!!!!!!!!!lol!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bug! Set breakpoint here!");
  }
  self.server = value;
}

NSArray *work_array = [self.use_url componentsSeparatedByString:@"/"];
NSString *setServerURL =(NSString *) [work_array objectAtIndex:0];
[self setServer:setServerURL];

EDIT 4: Crashing

- (void)myMethodHere:(NSString *)a {  
  NSArray *work_array = [a componentsSeparatedByString:@"test://"];
  id objectOne = [work_array objectAtIndex:1];
  if ([objectOne isKindOfClass:[NSString class] ] ) {
    NSString *objectOneIntoString = objectOne;
    self.use_url = (NSString *) objectOneIntoString;
  }

  if ([self.use_url length] > 0) {
    NSLog(@"3: %@", self.use_url);
    NSArray *work_array = [self.use_url componentsSeparatedByString:@"/"];
    id objectTwo = [work_array objectAtIndex:0];
    if ([objectTwo isKindOfClass:[NSString class] ]) {
      NSString *objectTwoIntoString = objectTwo;
      self.server = objectTwoIntoString;
    }

    if([self.server length] > 0) {
      NSLog(@"4 - part 1: %@", self.server);
      NSString *part1 = self.server;
      NSString *part2 = @".example.com";
      NSString *result = (NSString *) [part1 stringByAppendingString:part2];
      self.server = result;
      NSLog(@"4 - part 2: %@", self.server);
    }
    else {
      self.server = @"dns.example.com";
      NSLog(@"5:%@", self.server);

    }

    NSLog(@"8: %@", self.server);

  }
  else {
    NSLog(@"9: %@", self.use_url);
  }  

  NSLog(@"10: %@", self.use_url);
}

Answer 1

The error message in your pastebin is:

2017-04-08 10:32:01.778647+0200 app[344:18271] -[__NSArrayM length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1740457c0
2017-04-08 10:32:01.778888+0200 app[344:18271] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[__NSArrayM length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1740457c0'

This tells you that there was an array on which you called length. So if it really is related to your server property then you are accidentally storing an NSArray there somewhere.

Here's an idea on how to catch that: implement the setServer: method and check whether the type is correct.

- (void)setServer:(NSString *)value
{
    if (value != nil && ![value isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) {
        NSLog(@"Bug! Set breakpoint here!");
    }
    _server = value;
}

Edit: You implemented your setter incorrectly and would normally have produced an endless recursion. So let's start from scratch:

I assume you have a property defined like this:

@property (strong) NSString * server; // Or maybe "copy"

If your property does not look like this you need to tell us!

Then you implement the setter exactly like this:

- (void)setServer:(NSString *)value
{
    if (value != nil && ![value isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) {
        NSLog(@"Bug! Set breakpoint here!");
    }
    _server = value;
   // DO NOT DO self.server = value HERE!
}

Then you can just do self.server = blabla; in the rest of your code and if your code sets something that is not a string the NSLog will be hit. So set a breakpoint there!

Edit 2:

Now I've seen in another comment of yours what's wrong…

@property (assign, nonatomic) NSString *server;

The assign does not retain the object! You need to use strong or (in the case if NSString *) copy. As it is, the following will happen:

• You assign an object to server.
• Since it is not retained, the object is deallocated soon.
• But server still has a pointer to that memory location.

Two things can happen now:

• Either a new, different object is created at memory location before you access the property. You now get an unexpected object back. Calling methods on this object may work or it may crash since the object does not know the method.
• Or the memory location is deemed invalid and you get a crash right away.

Never use assign with objects!

Answer 2

-[__NSArrayM length]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1740457c0

self.server class is NSArray .must string length