When is 'dealloc' really called?

My table view has been acting a little odd and I discovered a big no no, I think. When my app launches it checks to see if there is a plist file on the iphone, If there is it instantiates 3 NSMutableArrays and adds the content from the plist. otherwise it creates a new plist file and instantiates the 3 NSMutableArrays.

Code:

- (void)readPlist{
    NSLog(@"Reading files from plist");

    NSString *filePath = [self dataFilePath];
    if([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:filePath])
    {
        savedList = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath];
        
        NSArray *tempArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray: [savedList objectForKey:@"monthly"]];
        monthlyPayments = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithArray: tempArray copyItems:YES];
        [tempArray release];
        NSLog(@"Files read monthly:%@",monthlyPayments);
        
        NSArray *tempArrayTwo = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray: [savedList objectForKey:@"total"]];
        totalPayments = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithArray: tempArrayTwo copyItems:YES];
        [tempArrayTwo release];
        NSLog(@"Files read total:%@",totalPayments);
        
        NSArray *tempArrayThree = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray: [savedList objectForKey:@"item"]];
        itemsList = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithArray: tempArrayThree copyItems:YES];
        [tempArrayThree release];
        NSLog(@"Files read item:%@",itemsList);
    } 
    else{
        savedList = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
        [savedList writeToFile: filePath atomically:YES]; // if it can't find it, it writes a blank file.
        NSLog(@"No Plist on file - created new one");
        monthlyPayments = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
        totalPayments = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
        itemsList = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    }
}

I have the release for all 3 Arrays in the dealloc. When the user deletes a row I write the new information to the plist and then re load the new information from the plist again and re calculate the totals which are displayed in a UILabel.

After writing to the plist I made a mistake to say [itemsList removeAllObject]; This only removed the objects. I then made a call to read it in again [self readPlist]; and here lies my question. Is dealloc called before the new NSMutableArrays are instantiated to release them, or did I just overwrite my old arrays with new ones with the same names causing a memory leak?

In the table method that deletes the row from the table view I now added the releases for my 3 Arrays.

Code:

.....
    [self writePlist];
    [itemsList release];
    [monthlyPayments release];
    [totalPayments release];
    [self readPlist];
.....

But now there are 2 sets of releases one in dealloc and another I release myself.

What I am unsure of is that if the program sees that it is about to allocate space for a new Array, with the same name, will it call dealloc first to release the old array before the new one is created? Or do I have to release it myself like the code snippet above? My only worry then is having 2 releases for the same object, in dealloc and in a method.

From what I read dealloc is only called as it exits the CurrentViewController. But I want to be sure I read that correctly and make sure I can have to releases for the same object.

 

The list was not operating the way I was anticipating so I asked the question and then started over with the whole class. I had started putting a lot of band aid code. I stepped back from the problem and started fresh by writing it down to paper.

I am still jumping over some hurdles but but it is clearer now since I started over.

Variable names from my understanding is that you declare a variable and the variable name will point to the address in memory that holds your instantiated object. A variable name is nothing more then a pointer to the memory address unless it is a primitive type like int, char, float and so on.

hope I got that right.