Core Data sync with JSON API - ios

Question

My Data Model is named "Person" and it has 3 attributes "id", "firstName", and "lastName"
When importing the JSON data using AFNetworking I want to be able to check whether the entity already exists or not within Core Data using the "id" as the identifier. If it isn't there I would like to create it, and if it is there I would like to merge the item or update it.
right now I have a method called duplicateCheck which looks like:
NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"id==%#", _person.id];
NSFetchRequest *fetch = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSError *error = nil;
[fetch setEntity:[NSEntityDescription entityForName:#"Person" inManagedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext]];
[fetch setPredicate:predicate];
NSArray *items = [self.managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:fetch error:&error];
for (NSManagedObject *object in items) {
// Not sure how to check from here and insert or update
// then save and call it during the API request?
}
I have a predicate set up but am not sure where to go from here. Is looping over each item the right way to go or am I going about this the wrong way?

Answer 1

Usually one would expect an identifier to be unique. therefor if the predicate return 0 objects, you know that this object is new. If 1 is returned you know that this object already exists and maybe you need to update it.
NSArray *items = [self.managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:fetch error:&error];
if(items){
if([items count] == 0){
//the object is not present yet. create it.
} else if([items count] == 1) {
NSManageObject *obj = items[0];
//there is exactly 1 object. change it properties if needed
} else {
//what to do if several objects have the same identifier???
}
} else {
//handle error from the error object
}

Answer 2

So I commented with a link to a tutorial I wrote on this topic, but to narrow it down, this method may help guide you.
NSManagedObjectContext *managedObjectContext = [[SDCoreDataController sharedInstance] backgroundManagedObjectContext];
//
// Iterate over all registered classes to sync
//
for (NSString *className in self.registeredClassesToSync) {
if (![self initialSyncComplete]) { // import all downloaded data to Core Data for initial sync
//
// If this is the initial sync then the logic is pretty simple, you will fetch the JSON data from disk
// for the class of the current iteration and create new NSManagedObjects for each record
//
NSDictionary *JSONDictionary = [self JSONDictionaryForClassWithName:className];
NSArray *records = [JSONDictionary objectForKey:#"results"];
for (NSDictionary *record in records) {
[self newManagedObjectWithClassName:className forRecord:record];
}
} else {
//
// Otherwise you need to do some more logic to determine if the record is new or has been updated.
// First get the downloaded records from the JSON response, verify there is at least one object in
// the data, and then fetch all records stored in Core Data whose objectId matches those from the JSON response.
//
NSArray *downloadedRecords = [self JSONDataRecordsForClass:className sortedByKey:#"objectId"];
if ([downloadedRecords lastObject]) {
//
// Now you have a set of objects from the remote service and all of the matching objects
// (based on objectId) from your Core Data store. Iterate over all of the downloaded records
// from the remote service.
//
NSArray *storedRecords = [self managedObjectsForClass:className sortedByKey:#"objectId" usingArrayOfIds:[downloadedRecords valueForKey:#"objectId"] inArrayOfIds:YES];
int currentIndex = 0;
//
// If the number of records in your Core Data store is less than the currentIndex, you know that
// you have a potential match between the downloaded records and stored records because you sorted
// both lists by objectId, this means that an update has come in from the remote service
//
for (NSDictionary *record in downloadedRecords) {
NSManagedObject *storedManagedObject = nil;
if ([storedRecords count] > currentIndex) {
//
// Do a quick spot check to validate the objectIds in fact do match, if they do update the stored
// object with the values received from the remote service
//
storedManagedObject = [storedRecords objectAtIndex:currentIndex];
}
if ([[storedManagedObject valueForKey:#"objectId"] isEqualToString:[record valueForKey:#"objectId"]]) {
//
// Otherwise you have a new object coming in from your remote service so create a new
// NSManagedObject to represent this remote object locally
//
[self updateManagedObject:[storedRecords objectAtIndex:currentIndex] withRecord:record];
} else {
[self newManagedObjectWithClassName:className forRecord:record];
}
currentIndex++;
}
}
}
//
// Once all NSManagedObjects are created in your context you can save the context to persist the objects
// to your persistent store. In this case though you used an NSManagedObjectContext who has a parent context
// so all changes will be pushed to the parent context
//
[managedObjectContext performBlockAndWait:^{
NSError *error = nil;
if (![managedObjectContext save:&error]) {
NSLog(#"Unable to save context for class %#", className);
}
}];
//
// You are now done with the downloaded JSON responses so you can delete them to clean up after yourself,
// then call your -executeSyncCompletedOperations to save off your master context and set the
// syncInProgress flag to NO
//
[self deleteJSONDataRecordsForClassWithName:className];
[self executeSyncCompletedOperations];
}
}