IOS/Core Data: Retrieve single user object from entity - ios

I am trying to retrieve a user object for the primary app user in order to have access to the user's name, photo etc.
The code below returns null. Is this valid code for retrieving an object? If not, it may be that the user info is not getting stored properly in core-data in the first place....if only you could easily view the underlying sql-lite file--but that is another matter. However, I'd like to rule out an issue with the code that retrieves the user object.
- (User *)getUserInfo:(NSNumber *)userid
inManagedObjectContext:(NSManagedObjectContext *)context
{
User *user = nil;
NSFetchRequest *request = [NSFetchRequest fetchRequestWithEntityName:#"User"];
request.predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"userid == %#",userid];
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:#"userid" ascending:YES];
request.sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor];
NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *matches = [_managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:request error:&error];
if (!matches || [matches count] > 1) {
// handle error
} else {
user = [matches lastObject];
}
return user;
}
//This is returning null currently. Is there an error visible somewhere?
Edit:
This is how it is called:
//in viewdidload
_managedObjectContext = [myModel sharedInstance].managedObjectContext;
NSNumber *useridnum =[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] valueForKey:#"userid"];
User *user = [self getDemoInfo:useridnum
inManagedObjectContext:_managedObjectContext];
NSLog(#"user is%#",user);//logs as null

One way your user will stay nil if the [matches count] > 1 is true , so check that you didn't made duplicated user objects with the same id

Related

IOS Core Data - Find or Create duplicates inserts

I'm missing something in my logic when trying to sync web service data with local store and I need your help. This is what I've got:
I have one NSArray of NSDictionaries describing each event object (downloaded from web), which I sort by event id. Then I fetch local store using IN predicate and also sort it by event id. Then I try to iterate and match the ids and if they match, i update record and if they don't match i create new NSManagedObject. It works fine if the newly downloaded event object has a greater eventID than last eventID in local store, but if the eventID from web service is smaller than the one in local store then it INSERTS ALL OBJECTS, no matter if they exist or not and that exactly is my problem.
So in other words, if a new record is at the beginning of sorted array it will add every object, but if it is at the end of sorted array it will update all except the new one. I need it to create the new one and update old ones.
Here's some code:
The function with the logic where I believe I'm missing something:
- (void)findOrCreateObject:(NSArray*)eventArray
{
NSManagedObjectContext *context = [self.fetchedResultsController managedObjectContext];
//get sorted stored records
NSArray *fetchedRecords = [self.fetchedResultsController fetchedObjects];
//sort dictionaries
NSSortDescriptor *aSortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:#"id" ascending:YES];
NSArray *downloadedRecords = [self.events sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:aSortDescriptor]];
NSLog(#"DOWNLOADED EVENTS = %#", downloadedRecords);
NSLog(#"FETCHED EVENTS = %#", fetchedRecords);
//if store is not empty we need to walk through data and add/update records, otherwise/ELSE we need to import initial data
if (fetchedRecords.count != 0) {
//stores has records already
NSLog(#"FIND OR CREATE PROCESS");
if ([downloadedRecords count] > 0) {
NSArray *storedRecords = [self fetchEvents:eventArray withContext:context];
NSUInteger currentIndex = 0;
for (NSDictionary* event in downloadedRecords) {
Event* eventObject = nil;
if ([storedRecords count] > currentIndex) {
eventObject = [storedRecords objectAtIndex:currentIndex];
}
NSLog(#"STRING VALUE OF KEY = %#", [[eventObject valueForKey:#"eventID"]stringValue]);
if ([[event valueForKey:#"id"] isEqualToString:[[eventObject valueForKey:#"eventID"] stringValue]]) {
//Update Record
NSLog(#"Updating Record!!!");
[self updateManagedObject:eventObject withRecord:event inContext:context];
}
else
{
//New Record
NSLog(#"Inserting Record!!!");
eventObject = (Event*)[NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Event" inManagedObjectContext:context];
eventObject.eventID = [self makeNumberFromString:[event valueForKey:#"id"]];
eventObject.title = [event valueForKey:#"title"];
eventObject.venue = [event valueForKey:#"venue"];
}
currentIndex++;
}
}
}
else
{
//import initial data
NSLog(#"IMPORTING INITIAL DATA");
for (NSDictionary* event in downloadedRecords) {
Event *eventObject = (Event*)[NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Event" inManagedObjectContext:context];
eventObject.eventID = [self makeNumberFromString:[event valueForKey:#"id"]];
eventObject.title = [event valueForKey:#"title"];
eventObject.venue = [event valueForKey:#"venue"];
}
}
// Save the context.
NSError *error = nil;
if (![context save:&error]) {
NSLog(#"Unresolved error %#, %#", error, [error userInfo]);
}
}
The FETCHEVENTS method:
-(NSArray*)fetchEvents:(NSArray*)eIDs withContext:(NSManagedObjectContext*)context
{
NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:#"Event" inManagedObjectContext:context];
[fetchRequest setEntity:entity];
NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"(eventID IN %#)", eIDs];
[fetchRequest setPredicate:predicate];
[fetchRequest setSortDescriptors:#[ [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey: #"eventID" ascending:YES] ]];
NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *fetchedObjects = [context executeFetchRequest:fetchRequest error:&error];
if (fetchedObjects == nil) {
NSLog(#"No rows returned");
}
return fetchedObjects;
}
The Update Object method:
- (void)updateManagedObject:(NSManagedObject*)object withRecord:(NSDictionary*)record inContext:(NSManagedObjectContext*)context
{
[object setValue:[self makeNumberFromString:[record valueForKey:#"id"]] forKey:#"eventID"];
[object setValue:[record valueForKey:#"title"] forKey:#"title"];
[object setValue:[record valueForKey:#"venue"] forKey:#"venue"];
}
I'm calling findOrCreate method once I download the web service data and parse it.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Try this,
- (void)findOrCreateObject:(NSArray*)eventArray {
//if store is not empty we need to walk through data and add/update records, otherwise/ELSE we need to import initial data
if (fetchedRecords.count != 0) {
//stores has records already
NSLog(#"FIND OR CREATE PROCESS");
if ([downloadedRecords count] > 0) {
NSArray *storedRecords = [self fetchEvents:eventArray withContext:context];
for (NSDictionary* event in downloadedRecords) {
NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"eventID = %#",[event valueForKey:#"id"]];
NSArray *matchedArray = [storedRecords filteredArrayUsing
Predicate:predicate];
Event* eventObject = nil;
if ([matchedArray count] > 0) {
//Update Record
NSLog(#"Updating Record!!!");
eventObject = [matchedArray objectAtIndex:0];
[self updateManagedObject:eventObject withRecord:event inContext:context];
}
else
{
//New Record
NSLog(#"Inserting Record!!!");
eventObject = (Event*)[NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Event" inManagedObjectContext:context];
eventObject.eventID = [self makeNumberFromString:[event valueForKey:#"id"]];
eventObject.title = [event valueForKey:#"title"];
eventObject.venue = [event valueForKey:#"venue"];
}
}
}
} else {
.....
}
}
I think, every time you insert a new event object, you should update storedObjects such that it should now contain the inserted object.
Or more simply, you should put the initialisation line of storedObjects inside your for loop. (This would make sure that as you enumerate from the beginning of downloadedObjects every eventObject will have the same index on it as on storedObjects. But, with regards to your code this will only be true if all elements of storedObjects will always be found in downloadedObjects which, I assume is the case.)
One thing though, isn't fetchedRecords supposed to be the same as storedObjects, if they are you should just reassign storedObjects as [self.fetchedResultsController fetchedObjects], as it would reflect the changes in your context without executing another fetch request which would solve the inefficiency of the suggestion above.

array count returned from NSFetchRequest is wrong

I'm using Core Data to cache data, here is my code to insert object:
//data array count is 15
for (NSDictionary *dictionary in dataArray)
{
NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:#"CacheData" inManagedObjectContext:context];
[request setEntity:entity];
NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"title LIKE '%#'",dictionary[#"title"]];
[request setPredicate:predicate];
NSArray *fetchArray = [context executeFetchRequest:request error:NULL];
if ([fetchArray count] == 0)
{
CacheData *cacheData = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"CacheData" inManagedObjectContext:context];
[cacheData setTitle:dictionary[#"title"]];
[cacheData setLink:dictionary[#"link"]];
[cacheData setPublishDate:dictionary[#"pubDate"]];
NSError *insertError = nil;
if (![context save:&insertError])
{
return NO;
}
}
}
The count of dataArray is 15, so I should insert 15 items to Core Data.
But once I used NSFetchRequest to fetch items, the array count returned added 1, and become 16, and fetch items again, it added 1 to 17 again:
NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:#"CacheData" inManagedObjectContext:[[CacheDataManagement sharedInstance] managedObjectContext]];
[request setEntity:entity];
NSArray *fetchArray = [[[CacheDataManagement sharedInstance] managedObjectContext] executeFetchRequest:request error:NULL];
for (CacheData *data in fetchArray) {
NSLog(#"fetch:%#",[data title]);
}
NSLog(#"%ld",[fetchArray count]); //fetch array count is 16
Something wrong with my code ?
Update
Changed if ([fetchArray count] != 0) { … } to if ([fetchArray count] == 0) { … }
Since the problem it's not quite clear to me (I would like to have more details), I'll try to give you some hints.
First, the save should be done outside the for loop (In addition it's not correct to do a return within it).
// for in loop here
NSError *insertError = nil;
if (![context save:&insertError]) {
NSLog("%#", insertError);
return NO; // do it if the method you are running in returns a bool
}
Second, to check for duplicated you should rely on a GUID but if don't have it the predicate should look like the following.
NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"title == %#",dictionary[#"title"]];
Third, also the execute for executeFetchRequest:error: should be replace with countForFetchRequest:error: since you don't need to return the objects but only a count. According to Apple doc, it
Returns the number of objects a given fetch request would have
returned if it had been passed to executeFetchRequest:error:.
Finally, in the for loop you are executing a request each time. My suggestion is to move execute a request before the loop and then checking for results within it. This according to Implementing Find-or-Create Efficiently. In this case, the pattern will enforce you to have a GUID for you entity.
Obviously, these are just hints. The real way to find the problem is to debug. In addition, I will perform tests starting from a fresh environment, i.e. the app has been deleted from the simulator or device.
In your code [fetchArray count] != 0 checks the inserting data is already exists. Try changing it like
if ([fetchArray count] == 0)
{
CacheData *cacheData = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"CacheData" inManagedObjectContext:context];
[cacheData setTitle:dictionary[#"title"]];
[cacheData setLink:dictionary[#"link"]];
[cacheData setPublishDate:dictionary[#"pubDate"]];
NSError *insertError = nil;
if (![context save:&insertError])
{
return NO;
}
}

Editing a Core Data Table View Entry With Overwriting the existing entry rather than creating a new entry

I have a Core Data based application with a table view controller; the user presses the plus button in the navigation bar and they're taken modally to a view controller where they can enter information into text fields. Pressing the save button saves this information Core Data and displays it in the Table view.
I've configured the app so that when I click on a cell, I'm taken to a view that has the information passed across successfully.
What I want to achieve is renaming a text field (for example, a name) and pressing Save updates THAT attribute in Core Data, rather than creating a brand new one with the same name and keeping the old one.
My save method in the editing view controller is:
- (IBAction)save:(id)sender
{
NSManagedObjectContext *context = [self managedObjectContext];
Transaction *transaction = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Transaction" inManagedObjectContext:context];
Item *itemType = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Item" inManagedObjectContext:context];
Person *enteredPerson = (Person *)[Person personWithName:self.editingNameTextField.text inManagedObjectContext:context];
transaction.whoBy = enteredPerson;
NSError *error = nil;
if (![context save:&error])
{
NSLog(#"Can't save! %# %#", error, [error localizedDescription]);
}
}
Which calls:
+ (Person *)personWithName:(NSString *)name inManagedObjectContext:(NSManagedObjectContext *)context
{
Person *person = nil;
// Creating a fetch request to check whether the name of the person already exists
NSFetchRequest *request = [NSFetchRequest fetchRequestWithEntityName:#"Person"];
request.predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"name = %#", name];
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:#"name" ascending:YES];
request.sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor];
NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *people = [context executeFetchRequest:request error:&error];
if (!people)
{
// Handle Error
}
else if (![people count])
{
// If the person count is 0 then let's create it
person = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Person" inManagedObjectContext:context];
person.name = name;
}
else
{
// If the object exists, just return the last object .
person = [people lastObject];
}
return person;
/*
for (Person *info in people)
{
NSLog(#"Names are: %#", person.name);
}
*/
}
So when I click on a cell for Jack, it shows me all of Jack's information. I want to rename Jack to Jackie and have that update Core Data for ALL "Jackie's transactions" but with overwriting the Jack object, rather than keeping that and creating another called Jackie.
Any help on this would be appreciated!
To rename a person, you just have to fetch the object (using the old name) and then
update the name attribute. For example:
Person *person = [Person personWithName:oldName inManagedObjectContext:context];
person.name = newName;
All relationships to other objects (like transactions etc) are not modified by this.

Querying Core Data for Specific Attributes when Creating New Objects and returning the object if it exists, or creating a new one if it does not

I have a problem checking whether a particular attribute of an Entity exists in the Core Data Database (through predicates) before creating a new object; if the object exists, I'd rather return it than create a new object.
I have a simple App which has a table view with a plus button in the Navigation Bar; the user clicks that and is presented with a View Controller with 4 text fields. They fill in that information, press save and it gets saved to Core Data and displayed in the TableView (through the use of NSFetchedResultsControllers).
The data model is as follows:
Transaction Entity with isReceived BOOL attribute
Person Entity with name string attribute
Occasion Entity with title string attribute
Item Entity with amount string attribute
The transaction has a relationship to the Person (whoBy), Occasion (Occasion) and Item entities.
In the view controller with the save method, I have the code below which will insert new objects into the Transaction, Person, Occasion Entities, etc. Each Transaction is of course unique, but with each transaction, the user can select an existing PERSON and/or Occasion and if that person then does not exist, it will be created (likewise with the occasion).
I'm slightly confused as to the format of the code here.
EDIT: I have tried a combination of code and can just not get this working. In the code below, I'm referencing person.name in the predicate, but I also tried creation a local NSString variable to hold the self.nameTextField.text code but that did nothing. I tried creating a NSString property to reference it that way and that not work. I tried using the words MATCHES, LIKE, CONTAINS, == and every combination in-between.
- (IBAction)save:(id)sender
{
NSManagedObjectContext *context = [self managedObjectContext];
Transaction *transaction= [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Transaction" inManagedObjectContext:context];
Person *person = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Person" inManagedObjectContext:context];
Occasion *occasion = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Occasion" inManagedObjectContext:context];
Item *amount = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"item" inManagedObjectContext:context];
NSFetchRequest *personFind = [NSFetchRequest fetchRequestWithEntityName:#"Person"];
personFind.predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"name == %#", person.name];
// I have tried every combination of the predicate like MATCHES, LIKE.
// I created a local NSString variable and an NSString property
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:#"name" ascending:YES];
personFind.sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor];
NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *matches = [context executeFetchRequest:personFind error:&error];
if (!matches || ([matches count] > 1))
{
// Handle Error
}
else if ([matches count] == 0)
{
person.name = self.nameTextField.text;
transaction.whoBy = person;
occasion.title = self.occasionTextField.text;
transaction.occasion = occasion;
}
else
{
person = [matches lastObject];
transaction.whoBy = person;
occasion.title = self.occasionTextField.text
transaction.occasion = occasion;
}
if (![context save:&error])
{
NSLog(#"Can't save! %# %#", error, [error localizedDescription]);
}
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
}
Logically, what I want to achieve is:
When the user is adding a Transaction, check if it's for a new person or an existing one — if it's an existing one, choose it from a list of Persons (and when the user selects a person, get its NSManagedObjectID). If it's a new one, create it on the spot.
The same for the Occasion.
Set all the other fields of the Transaction object (amount, etc.).
My question is:
What predicate do I use to get this working?
When I put a break point in this method, a NEW NAME (one that doesn't exist before) correctly calls the else if ([matches count] == 0) method and if I create an entry with an existing name, it calls the
else
{
person = [matches lastObject];
transaction.whoBy = person;
occasion.title = self.occasionTextField.text
transaction.occasion = occasion;
}
Even with the this statement, it is still creating a new person object for the same name.
I will correctly implement the occasion after getting the person working, but I'm just lost on how to get this working.
Any help would be massively appreciated!
"Is this correct?":
No. You are creating a new Person and Occasion objects whether you are using an existing person/occasion or not.
First check for existence and only if the object not already exist, insert a new one.
Alternatively, if the person/occasion exist, delete the inserted object.
"How do I retrieve the managedObjectID for person/event?":
Person* person = /*Get an existing person object*/
NSManagedObjectID* personId = person.objectID /*This is the person object ID, will work for any NSManagedObject subclass*/
To find a person that start with a string str use this predicate in a fetch request:
/*UNTESTED*/
[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"(name BEGINSWITH[cd] %#)", str];
Edit:
To be more precise, you practice find or create using something like this:
(this is very limited, and only good for a single object performance-wise)
(NOT TESTED)
- (NSManagedObject*) findOrCreateObjectByValue:(id)value
propertyName:(NSString*)propertyName
entityName:(NSString*)entityName
additionalInfo:(NSDictionary*)additionalInfo
context:(NSManagedObjectContext*)context
error:(NSError* __autoreleasing*)error
{
NSManagedObject* res = nil;
NSFetchRequest* r = [NSFetchRequest fetchRequestWithEntityName:entityName];
[r setPredicate:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"%K == %#",propertyName,value]];
NSArray* matched = [context executeFetchRequest:r
error:error];
if (matched) {
if ([matched count] < 2) {
res = [matched lastObject];
if (!res) { //No existing objects found, create one
res = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:entityName
inManagedObjectContext:context];
[res setValue:value
forKey:propertyName];
[res setValuesForKeysWithDictionary:additionalInfo];
}
} else {
if (error) {
*error = [NSError errorWithDomain:#"some_domain"
code:9999
userInfo:#{#"description" : #"duplicates found"}];
}
}
}
return res;
}
So now, your save: method should look something like:
(I assume here that the person name and occasion title are held by a UITextField on the view controller [txtPersonName and txtOccasionTitle respectively] )
- (void) save:(id)sender
{
//create a clean context so that changes could be discarded automatically on failure
NSManagedObjectContext* context = [[NSManagedObjectContext alloc] initWithConcurrencyType:NSMainQueueConcurrencyType];
[context setParentContext:[self managedObjectContext]];
//A Transaction is always created in save event, so add it to the context
Transaction* transaction = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Transaction" inManagedObjectContext:context];
__block NSError* error = nil;
Person* p = (Person*)[self findOrCreateObjectByValue:self.txtPersonName.text
propertyName:#"name"
entityName:#"Person"
additionalInfo:nil
context:context
error:&error];
if (!p) {
NSLog(#"Error: %#, person name: %#",error,self.txtPersonName.text);
return;
}
Occasion* o = (Occasion*)[self findOrCreateObjectByValue:self.txtOccasionTitle.text
propertyName:#"title"
entityName:#"Occasion"
additionalInfo:nil
context:context
error:&error];
if (!o) {
NSLog(#"Error: %#, occasion title: %#",error,self.txtOccasionTitle.text);
return;
}
transaction.whoBy = p;
transaction.occasion = o;
//Not sure what you are using this property for
transaction.item = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Item"
inManagedObjectContext:context];
NSManagedObjectContext* ctx = context;
if ([context obtainPermanentIDsForObjects:[context.insertedObjects allObjects]
error:&error])
{
//save your changes to the store
__block BOOL saveSuccess = YES;
while (ctx && saveSuccess) {
[ctx performBlockAndWait:^{
saveSuccess = [ctx save:&error];
}];
ctx = [ctx parentContext];
}
if (!saveSuccess) {
NSLog(#"Could not save transaction, error: %#",error);
}
} else {
NSLog(#"Could not obtain IDs for inserted objects, error: %#",error);
}
//Do what you have to do next
}
This is just for making things a bit clearer on what you should do to avoid duplications, and reuse existing objects.

How does this code use only updates into core data?

This is a SyncEngine from an RW tutorial. I need help understanding how only UPDATED records from the web are fetched and processed into Core Data.
- (void)processJSONDataRecordsIntoCoreData {
NSManagedObjectContext *managedObjectContext = [[SDCoreDataController sharedInstance] backgroundManagedObjectContext];
// Iterate over all registered classes --- CHECK!
for (NSString *className in self.registeredClassesToSync) {
if (![self initialSyncComplete]) {
NSDictionary *JSONDictionary = [self JSONDictionaryForClassWithName:className];
NSArray *records = [JSONDictionary objectForKey:#"results"];
for (NSDictionary *record in records) {
[self newManagedObjectWithClassName:className forRecord:record];
}
} else {
NSArray *downloadedRecords = [self JSONDataRecordsForClass:className sortedByKey:#"objectId"];
if ([downloadedRecords lastObject]) {
NSArray *storedRecords = [self managedObjectsForClass:className sortedByKey:#"objectId" usingArrayOfIds:[downloadedRecords valueForKey:#"objectId"] inArrayOfIds:YES];
int currentIndex = 0;
//if dl count is < current index, there is an updated object dl from the web
for (NSDictionary *record in downloadedRecords) {
NSManagedObject *storedManagedObject = nil;
//Quick check to see if they indeed match, if they do, update the stored object with remote service objects
if ([storedRecords count] > currentIndex) {
storedManagedObject = [storedRecords objectAtIndex:currentIndex];
}
//Othwerwise its a new object and you need to create a new NSManagedObject to represent it in CDdb
if ([[storedManagedObject valueForKey:#"objectId"] isEqualToString:[record valueForKey:#"objectId"]]) {
[self updateManagedObject:[storedRecords objectAtIndex:currentIndex] withRecord:record];
} else {
[self newManagedObjectWithClassName:className forRecord:record];
}
currentIndex++;
}
}
}
// After all NSMO are created in your context, save it!
[managedObjectContext performBlockAndWait:^{
NSError *error = nil;
if (![managedObjectContext save:&error]) {
NSLog(#"Unable to save context for class %#", className);
}
}];
// Cleanup time
[self deleteJSONDataRecordsForClassWithName:className];
[self executeSyncCompletedOperations];
}
[self downloadDataForRegisteredObjects:NO];
}
From what I understand, on the first or initial sync, it fetches JSONDictionaryForClassWithName which reads the downloaded data from disk and creates a newManagedObjectWithClassName.
My confusion is in the update else block. downloadedRecords is populated from JSONDataRecordsForClass which simply calls JSONDictionaryForClassWithName. Then it checks to see if there is at least 1 object in that array. If there is it does this:
NSArray *storedRecords = [self managedObjectsForClass:className sortedByKey:#"objectId" usingArrayOfIds:[downloadedRecords valueForKey:#"objectId"] inArrayOfIds:YES];
This fetches all managedObjectsForClass:sortedByKey which is below:
- (NSArray *)managedObjectsForClass:(NSString *)className sortedByKey:(NSString *)key usingArrayOfIds:(NSArray *)idArray inArrayOfIds:(BOOL)inIds {
__block NSArray *results = nil;
NSManagedObjectContext *managedObjectContext = [[SDCoreDataController sharedInstance] backgroundManagedObjectContext];
NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [NSFetchRequest fetchRequestWithEntityName:className];
NSPredicate *predicate;
if (inIds) {
predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"objectId IN %#", idArray];
} else {
predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"NOT (objectId IN %#)", idArray];
}
[fetchRequest setPredicate:predicate];
[fetchRequest setSortDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:
[NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:#"objectId" ascending:YES]]];
[managedObjectContext performBlockAndWait:^{
NSError *error = nil;
results = [managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:fetchRequest error:&error];
}];
return results;
}
The next bit which compares the [storedRecords count] > currentIndex is confusing. Can someone please explain this? I think my confusion lies in what the managedObjectsForClass method does with the usingArraysOfIds & inArrayOfIds.
I would expect that at some point it gets the the updatedAt field from the downloaded records and compares it to the updatedAt field of the CoreData fetched records.
This function is processing the stored JSON. The actual remote fetching and updateAt checking happens in downloadDataForRegisteredObjects and mostRecentUpdatedAtDateForEntityWithName.
[storedRecords count] > currentIndex is a bit crazy. Although in defense of the original programmer, writing any decent syncengine will quickly make you go googoo. Basically he needs to work out which records are existing and which ones are new and update the local data store accordingly, that's all.
I had another look and this code is actually horribly broken. It will only works if either you have the same records both locally and remotely. Or if the new objects have an objectId that sort-wise comes after the last object the local store has. Which is not the case with Parse objectId's.
If you are testing with just one device this works because new objects will be inserted locally before being pushed to the server. Therefor you will always have the same amount of records. If additional records get inserted any other way, this code will do weird things.

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