Instance member cannot be used on type

Question

I have the following class:

class ReportView: NSView {  
    var categoriesPerPage = [[Int]]()
    var numPages: Int = { return categoriesPerPage.count }
}

Compilation fails with the message:

Instance member 'categoriesPerPage' cannot be used on type 'ReportView'

What does this mean?

Answer 1

Sometimes Xcode when overrides methods adds class func instead of just func. Then in static method you can't see instance properties. It is very easy to overlook it. That was my case.

Answer 2

You just have syntax error when saying = {return self.someValue}. The = isn't needed.

Use :

var numPages: Int {
    get{
        return categoriesPerPage.count
    }

}

if you want get only you can write

var numPages: Int {
     return categoriesPerPage.count
}

with the first way you can also add observers as set willSet & didSet

var numPages: Int {
    get{
        return categoriesPerPage.count
    }
    set(v){
       self.categoriesPerPage = v
    }
}

allowing to use = operator as a setter

myObject.numPages = 5