how can I Add a ABRecordRef to a NSMutableArray in iPhone?

Question

I want to create an array of ABRecordRef(s) to store contacts which have a valid birthday field.

   NSMutableArray* bContacts = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
   ABAddressBookRef addressBook = ABAddressBookCreate();
   CFArrayRef allPeople = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook);
   CFIndex nPeople = ABAddressBookGetPersonCount(addressBook);

   for( int i = 0 ; i < nPeople ; i++ )
   {
       ABRecordRef ref = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(allPeople, i );
       NSDate* birthdayDate = (NSDate*) ABRecordCopyValue(ref, kABPersonBirthdayProperty);
       if (birthdayDate != nil){
           [bContacts addObject:ref];
       }
   }

The compiler shows this warning: warning: passing argument 1 of 'addObject:' discards qualifiers from pointer target type I searched the web and found I have to cast ABRecordRef to a ABRecord* to be able to store in a NSMutableArray.

[bContacts addObject:(ABRecord*) ref];

But it seems ABRecord is not part of iOS frameworks. Now how I store ABRecordRef to NSMutableArray?

Answer 1

A ABRecordRef is a typedef for CFTypeRef and that in turn resolves to const void *. And this is where the warning comes from: with the call to addObject:, the const qualifier is "lost".

In this case we know it's OK. A CFTypeRef is a semi-highlevel type, instances of this type support CFRetain and CFRelease. That in turn means it's probably OK to cast it to id and treat it as a NSObject. So you should be simply able to do:

[bContacts addObject:(id)ref];