Accessor Search Patterns

Search Pattern for the Basic Setter

The default implementation of setValue:forKey:, given key and value parameters as input, attempts to set a property named key to value (or, for non-object properties, the unwrapped version of  value, as described in Representing Non-Object Values) inside the object receiving the call, using the following procedure:

1. Look for the first accessor named set<Key>: or _set<Key>, in that order. If found, invoke it with the input value (or unwrapped value, as needed) and finish.

2. If no simple accessor is found, and if the class method accessInstanceVariablesDirectly returns YES, look for an instance variable with a name like _<key>, _is<Key>, <key>, or is<Key>, in that order. If found, set the variable directly with the input value (or unwrapped value) and finish.

3. Upon finding no accessor or instance variable, invoke setValue:forUndefinedKey:. This raises an exception by default, but a subclass of NSObject may provide key-specific behavior.