In most cases, you should not use self in methods.
In fact, this is similar to having an implicit self. prefix self. when accessing class properties and methods in a class method:
type TMyClass = class public Value: string; procedure MyMethod; procedure AddToList(List: TStrings); end; procedure TMyClass.MyMethod; begin Value := 'abc'; assert(self.Value='abc'); // same as assert(Value=10) end;
self should be used when you want to point the current object to another method or object.
For instance:
procedure TMyClass.AddToList(List: TStrings); var i: integer; begin List.AddObject(Value,self); // check that the List[] only was populated via this method and this object for i := 0 to List.Count-1 do begin assert(List[i]=Value); assert(List.Objects[i]=self); end; end;
this code above will add an item to the TStrings list, and List.Objects [] points to an instance of TMyClass. And he will verify that this applies to all elements of the list.