Core Data - many ways to add an object - ios

Question

i'm doing some testing of Core Data, let's say i have a mainViewController with a navigationBar and addButton.
Clicking on the addButton will open a detailViewController. When i press save to insert a new Object the detailVieController will close and show the table with the new data inserted.
I can think two different way to do that.
FIRST METHOD - Passing the ManagedObjectContext
In the action of the add button i create an instance of the new detailViewController and i pass the managedObjectContext to it. So will be the save button of the detailViewController that will take care of saving the context and then pop the controller.
This is the method called by the addButton in the MainViewController
-(void)addNewObject{
DetailViewController *detVC = [DetailViewController alloc]initWhit:self.managedObjectCOntext];
[self.navigationcontroller pushViewController:detVC animated:YES];
}
This method is called by the save button in the IngredientViewController
-(void)saveObject{
NSError *error;
if (![self.managedObjectContext save:&error]){
NSLog(#"Error");
}
}
SECOND METHOD - Using a delegate
In the action of addButton i create an instance of DetailViewController, i set it as delegate, so when i press the save button in the DetailViewCOntroller will call the delegate that will pass data to the main controller.
This is the method called by the addButton in the MainViewController
(void)addNewObject{
DetailViewController *detVC = [DetailViewController alloc]init];
detVC.delegate = self;
[self.navigationcontroller pushViewController:detVC animated:YES];
}
This method is called by the save button in the IngredientViewController
-(void)saveObject{
[self.delegate detailVCdidSaveObject];
}
This is the delegate implemented in the mainViewController
detailVCdidSaveObject{
NSError *error;
if (![self.managedObjectContext save:&error]){
NSLog(#"Error");
}
}
------------------------------ Passing the object
Is it best to pass raw data to the DetailViewController and create there the object or it's best to pass the instance of the object to DetailViewController that will take care of settin its data?
For Example
This way i link the object instance of the mainVC to the one DetailVC so i can easilly set its value
-(void)addObject{
DetailViewController *detailVC =[[DetailViewController alloc]init];
detailVC.delegate = self;
self.object = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Object" inManagedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext];
detailVC.object = self.object;
[self.navigationController pushViewController:detailVC animated:YES];
}
this way i pass raw data and let the detailVC create the instance
-(void)addObject{
DetailViewController *detailVC =[[DetailViewController alloc]initWithName:#"objname"];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:detailVC animated:YES];
}
those code are just pseudocode for educational purpose. all ways works, i just want to know which do you think it's the most correct and why. thanks

Answer 1

I have used the first two methods and in my opinion they are both equally valid (though I personally prefer delegation). However, the third method caused problems if you give the user the option to cancel or go back in a navigation controller. If that happens, you will have an object that you never needed to create.

Answer 2

This sounds like a perfect use case for a NSFetchedResultsController. A NSFetchedResultsController is an object makes displaying data from core data in a UITableView a lot easier. It even tells you when the objects in core data matching a predicate change (insert, delete, update, move).
So the way I would do it is that MainViewController would have a NSFetchedResultsController that provides the data to the UITableView. When you press the add button, it would do what you have in the first method. The DetailViewController will create the new instance, set the values on it then save the managedObjectContext.
Since the MainViewController has the NSFetchedResultsController, it will automatically know that a new object have been created and it can update the UITableView to show it.
The NSFetchedResutsController documentation and the NSFetchedResutsControllerDelegate documentation show you exactly how to use it with a UITableView including code you can copy into your view controller that do the majority of the work.

Answer 3

The actual answer depends on your preference. In my project, I have implemented the first two methods. A definite No for the third method from my side because of same reasons as Kevin mentioned. If the user cancels the operation or some error occurs, then you will have to take care of removing the change (Perhaps write the following code in your didMoveToParentViewController method and cancel method):-
[self.managedObjectContext rollback]
Assuming of course that you do not have any other process modifying that managedObjectContext at the same time.
Now, I prefer the first two methods because :-
The first method allows me to write additional code in saveObject method. Lets say that you want to validate some properties before saving the object. These properties are only present in detailViewController. So, you cannot use a delegate in that situation without explicitly passing each and every property back to delegate function (which can get messy).
Now, assume that you are creating a object in your mainViewController and the detailViewController is only used to populate a field of the object that was created in mainViewController. In such a situation, I would use the delegate method and pass the field back to the mainViewController so that when the user saves the object in mainViewController, then the field values are saved along with it. If the user cancels mainViewController, then the field values are also not saved.