I created an EOEditingContext and release it but its not gone

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <Foundation/NSDebug.h>
#import <EOControl/EOControl.h>


int main (int argc, const char * argv[])
{
   NSAutoreleasePool   *pool;
   EOEditingContext    *ec;
   EOGenericRecord     *record;
   
   NSZombieEnabled = YES;

   pool = [NSAutoreleasePool new];
      
   record = [[[EOGenericRecord alloc] initWithEditingContext:nil
                                            classDescription:[[EOClassDescription new] autorelease]
                                                    globalID:nil] autorelease];
   ec = [EOEditingContext new];  // RC 1
   [ec insertObject:record];
   [ec release];                 // RC 0 ?

   NSLog( @"-[ec retainCount] = %u", [ec retainCount]);  
   
   [pool release];
   return( 0);
}

One would probably expect that this code crashes horribly. Yet the output of this program is

2008-01-17 17:54:51.242 ECDontVanish[15904] -[ec retainCount] = 1

The solution to the puzzle is that edits are queued in the EOEditingContext and processed in a delayed manner. For that the EOEditingContext hooks into the NSRunLoop, which will retain the context. This can be a pain for tool applications, that do not utilize the NSRunLoop, yet Foundation nevertheless sets one up.

TODO: You can use EOEditingContextDontProcessChangesInRunloop to not register, also check the -processChangesImmediately flag.