NSFetchedResultsController is a really handy class. Use one of the default Core Data templates in Xcode and you’ll very quickly have a nice list of managed objects in a table view. With a few more lines of code you can get the NSFetchedResultsController to group your objects by sections. You do this by specifying a key-path in the class’s constructor method but there is another step that if overlooked will cause some confusion.
In a sample app I’ve created a food table that lists food in categories.
FetchedResultsController method grouping sections using a key-path:
- (NSFetchedResultsController *)fetchedResultsController {
if (fetchedResultsController != nil) {
return fetchedResultsController;
}
// Create and configure a fetch request with the food entity.
NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:@"RWFood" inManagedObjectContext:managedObjectContext];
[fetchRequest setEntity:entity];
// Create the sort descriptors array.
NSSortDescriptor *nameDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"name" ascending:YES];
NSArray *sortDescriptors = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:nameDescriptor, nil];
[fetchRequest setSortDescriptors:sortDescriptors];
// Create and initialize the fetch results controller.
NSFetchedResultsController *aFetchedResultsController = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc] initWithFetchRequest:fetchRequest managedObjectContext:managedObjectContext sectionNameKeyPath:@"category" cacheName:@"Food"];
self.fetchedResultsController = aFetchedResultsController;
fetchedResultsController.delegate = self;
// Memory management.
[aFetchedResultsController release];
[fetchRequest release];
[nameDescriptor release];
[sortDescriptors release];
return fetchedResultsController;
} |
Save and quit the app a few times and you’ll see the objects seem to be in the wrong sections. If you look closer you’ll see that the objects are actually sorted in ascending name order. On looking at the code, it seems this is exactly what we asked the program to do! After some testing it also seems to show up more often if the table is a grouped one.
As per the docs, after you specify a key-path to group each section with you also need to make sure the first sort descriptor is sorting this key-path. Add a sort descriptor and everything will work as expected.
Revised fetchedResultsController method with missing sort descriptor:
- (NSFetchedResultsController *)fetchedResultsController {
if (fetchedResultsController != nil) {
return fetchedResultsController;
}
// Create and configure a fetch request with the plant entity.
NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:@"RWPlant" inManagedObjectContext:managedObjectContext];
[fetchRequest setEntity:entity];
// Create the sort descriptors array.
NSSortDescriptor *typeDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"type" ascending:YES];
NSSortDescriptor *nameDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"name" ascending:YES];
NSArray *sortDescriptors = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:typeDescriptor, nameDescriptor, nil];
[fetchRequest setSortDescriptors:sortDescriptors];
// Create and initialize the fetch results controller.
NSFetchedResultsController *aFetchedResultsController = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc] initWithFetchRequest:fetchRequest managedObjectContext:managedObjectContext sectionNameKeyPath:@"type" cacheName:@"Plants"];
self.fetchedResultsController = aFetchedResultsController;
fetchedResultsController.delegate = self;
// Memory management.
[aFetchedResultsController release];
[fetchRequest release];
[categoryDescriptor release];
[nameDescriptor release];
[sortDescriptors release];
return fetchedResultsController;
} |
Here’s a quick fire list of 5 time-saving Objective-C tips that every developer should know. Perfect for making time for that extra coffee!
A few years ago I wrote a simple but handy Mac app that calculates unix file permissions using a matrix of check boxes. I wrote it because I wanted to better understand how those octal values get calculated and to expand my experience of writing Mac apps.
