initWithSpriteFrameName not initializing class after upgrade to cocos2d v2.0 - cocos2d-iphone

Question

I have been building the SpaceViking project described in the book "Learning Cocos2D". I had got to chapter 10 on Box2D when I started to experience problems. I then attempted to upgrade cocos2D from version 1 to version 2.0. After making the necessary changes to fix deprecations, the code no longer works. Specifically, I have found that when game objects or enemy objects are created, their init methods are no longer being called. For example, when the following line is executed:
RadarDish *radarDish = [[RadarDish alloc] initWithSpriteFrameName:#"radar_1.png"];
the RadarDish init method is not called. I then looked into the execution of initWithSpriteFrameName in both version 1 and version 2 and found that CCSprite.m has change such that the init method is no longer called. In the version 2 source code, initWithSpriteFrameName method calls initWithSpriteFrame which calls initWithTexture which calls:
-(id) initWithTexture:(CCTexture2D*)texture rect:(CGRect)rect rotated:(BOOL)rotated
{
if( (self = [super init]) ) {
Consequently, RadarDish init method is not called. Instead, CCNode init method is called. However in version 1, initWithSpriteFrameName calls initWithSpriteFrame which calls initWithTexture which has this code:
// IMPORTANT: [self init] and not [super init];
if( (self = [self init]) ){
[self setTexture:texture];
[self setTextureRect:rect];
}
That allows the RadarDish init method to be called.
What can I do to resolve this? It seems unlikely that the book would need to change to support the upgrade to cocos2d v2.0, so I suspect I must be missing something else. But if I am wrong, then what would be the way to change this code to cause the RadarDish init method to be called?

Answer 1

Ok, I was wrong. "cocos2d 2.x is different in many details from v1.x so can't expect v1.x code to just work under 2.x". If you are going to follow the book "Learning Cocos2D", I would recommend loading cocos2d-iphone version 1.0.1. Otherwise, you will be faced with many incompatibilities as well as a lot of deprecations to fix.
But if you really want to use the latest cocos2d, then there are some things you should do. 1) Follow the instructions in this link. 2) You are going to have a lot of deprecations and changes to fix, so use this link to understand how to fix those deprecations and changes. 3) You'll need to update the Joystick classes also, so go to this link to get those changes, 4) you'll have to google the rest to find solutions.
Now as for the solution to the problem I mentioned here, there are likely multiple solutions but I will offer one below (thanks to Sylvan's answer above):
In each of the GameObjects, EnemyObjects, and PowerUps, I added a method to override initWithFrameName. This will circumvent the use of the objects init method. For example, for the RadarDish, I added the following:
-(id) initWithSpriteFrameName:(NSString*)frameName {
if( (self=[super init]) ) {
if ((self = [super initWithSpriteFrameName:frameName])) {
CCLOG(#"### RadarDish initialized");
[self initAnimations]; // 1
characterHealth = 100.0f; // 2
gameObjectType = kEnemyTypeRadarDish; // 3
[self changeState:kStateSpawning]; // 4
}
}
return self;
}
This allows the GameObject and GameCharacter init methods to run before the CCSprite's initWithSpriteFrameName method to run.
The Viking GameObject had to have a slightly different solution because it is initialized with initWithSpriteFrame rather than initWithSpriteFrameName. But the override implementation is basically the same as the example of RadarDish above.
(Aside from all the changes necessary to overcome the deprecations) The above change allowed everything else in the examples of "Learning Cocos2D" to remain intact.
Good Luck.

Answer 2

I think you are having trouble because you are keeping your init method as it was and not modifying it. You are calling a method initWithSpriteFrameName: on your RadarDish class but that class doesn't have that method name, so it looks to its superclass. I think you could have simply renamed your init method to initWithSpriteFrameName: and you would have been fine. Like this:
// RadarDish.m
-(id) initWithSpriteFrameName:(NSString*)frameName {
if ((self = [super initWithSpriteFrameName:frameName])) {
// init anything here
}
return self;
}
Just don't also have a method named init and expect it to get called.