Strange data parsing issue - cocoa-touch

in my code I am retrieving the users reminders and displaying them a tableview.
Whenever I print NSLog in my code, the the tables array gets displayed properly. But whenever I leave out NSLog in my code, my data isn't displayed properly anymore. The value for "title" of the reminder returns (null).
I can reproduce the issue every time. Anyone have any idea what is happening here?
- (void)shareReminderButtonAction:(UIButton *)buttonEvent {
EKEventStore *store = [[EKEventStore alloc] init];
NSPredicate *predicate = [store predicateForRemindersInCalendars:nil];
[store requestAccessToEntityType:EKEntityTypeReminder completion:^(BOOL granted, NSError *error) {
[store fetchRemindersMatchingPredicate:predicate completion:^(NSArray *reminders) {
ReminderView *shareRem = [[ReminderView alloc]init];
NSLog(#"Reminders: %#", reminders);
UINavigationController *navigation = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:shareRem];
[navigation setNavigationBarHidden:YES];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController presentViewController:navigation animated:YES
completion:^(void){[shareRem setArray:reminders];}];
}];
}];
}
Log data with NSLog in my code above:
"EKReminder <0x1d5b3630> {title = Gdghv; dueDate = 2013-03-06 22:00:00 +0000; completionDate = (null); priority = 0; calendarItemIdentifier = 0BD2CB76-588B-4103-86B0-D71D22317DC0}"
Log data at the UITableViewController end when receiving data without the NSLog in my code above:
CADObjectGetInlineStringProperty failed fetching title for EKPersistentReminder with error Error Domain=NSMachErrorDomain Code=268435459 "The operation couldn\342\200\231t be completed. (Mach error 268435459 - (ipc/send) invalid destination port)"
"EKReminder <0x1c5e6fd0> {title = (null); dueDate = (null); completionDate = (null); priority = 0; calendarItemIdentifier = (null)}"
Thanks alot!

The EKEventStore object needs to be kept around for the entire time you are using Event Kit objects. It's normally best to house it within a singleton. From Apple's docs:
An EKEventStore object requires a relatively large amount of time to
initialize and release. Consequently, you should not initialize and
release a separate event store for each event-related task. Instead,
initialize a single event store when your app loads, and use it
repeatedly to ensure that your connection is long-lived.
An event store instance must not be released before other Event Kit
objects; otherwise, undefined behavior may occur.

Related

Magical Record object for current thread

I'm using Magical Record 2.3.0 beta 5 and I have troubles understanding how to get my NSManagedObjects for the current thread. I have a long running NSOperation where I need my PSPlayer (NSManagedObject).
When I init the NSOperation, I keep an id of my PSPlayer and re-fetch the same object in the operation's main method. According to Apple that the way to do it.
#implementation TAPlayerUpdateOperation
- (instancetype)initWithPlayer:(PSPlayer *)player;
{
self = [super init];
if (self) {
self.playerMD5Id = player.md5Id;
}
}
- (void)main
{
#autoreleasepool {
__block BOOL keepUpdating = YES;
PSPlayer *player = [[PSPlayer MR_findAllWithPredicate:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"md5Id == %#", self.playerMD5Id]] firstObject];
NSLog(#"player.md5Id = %#", player.md5Id);
// rest of my operation logic
}
}
#end
When I run my app with -com.apple.CoreData.ConcurrencyDebug 1, I get a crash when accessing the property in the NSLog statement.
What is the correct way to get my NSManagedObject so that it is safe for the current thread?
I've pinned the problem down to the following snippet where it crashes as well.
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{
PSPlayer *player =[[PSPlayer MR_findAll] firstObject];
NSLog(#"player = %#", player.name);
});
cheers,
Jan
You need to ensure that everything is saved and merged before the fetch would work. If you're using MR then it's better to take the managed object and call inContext: on it supplying the other context and have it do the work (it also avoids a predicate).
I expect the crash is because you use player.md5Id instead of self.playerMD5Id so you're accessinh the managed object on the wrong thread.

Save multiple images quickly in iOS 6 (custom album)

I'm writing an application that will take several images from URL's, turn them into a UIImage and then add them to the photo library and then to the custom album. I don't believe its possible to add them to a custom album without having them in the Camera Roll, so I'm accepting it as impossible (but it would be ideal if this is possible).
My problem is that I'm using the code from this site and it does work, but once it's dealing with larger photos it returns a few as 'Write Busy'. I have successfully got them all to save if I copy the function inside its own completion code and then again inside the next one and so on until 6 (the most I saw it take was 3-4 but I don't know the size of the images and I could get some really big ones) - this has lead to the problem that they weren't all included in the custom album as they error'd at this stage too and there was no block in place to get it to repeat.
I understand that the actual image saving is moved to a background thread (although I don't specifically set this) as my code returns as all done before errors start appearing, but ideally I need to queue up images to be saved on a single background thread so they happen synchronously but do not freeze the UI.
My code looks like this:
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:singleImage]]];
[self.library saveImage:image toAlbum:#"Test Album" withCompletionBlock:^(NSError *error) {
if (error!=nil) {
NSLog(#"Error");
}
}];
I've removed the repetition of the code otherwise the code sample would be very long! It was previously where the NSLog code existed.
For my test sample I am dealing with 25 images, but this could easily be 200 or so, and could be very high resolution, so I need something that's able to reliably do this over and over again without missing several images.
thanks
Rob
I've managed to make it work by stripping out the save image code and moving it into its own function which calls itself recursively on an array on objects, if it fails it re-parses the same image back into the function until it works successfully and will display 'Done' when complete. Because I'm using the completedBlock: from the function to complete the loop, its only running one file save per run.
This is the code I used recursively:
- (void)saveImage {
if(self.thisImage)
{
[self.library saveImage:self.thisImage toAlbum:#"Test Album" withCompletionBlock:^(NSError *error) {
if (error!=nil) {
[self saveImage];
}
else
{
[self.imageData removeObject:self.singleImageData];
NSLog(#"Success!");
self.singleImageData = [self.imageData lastObject];
self.thisImage = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:self.singleImageData]]];
[self saveImage];
}
}];
}
else
{
self.singleImageData = nil;
self.thisImage = nil;
self.imageData = nil;
self.images = nil;
NSLog(#"Done!");
}
}
To set this up, I originally used an array of UIImages's but this used a lot of memory and was very slow (I was testing up to 400 photos). I found a much better way to do it was to store an NSMutableArray of URL's as NSString's and then perform the NSData GET within the function.
The following code is what sets up the NSMutableArray with data and then calls the function. It also sets the first UIImage into memory and stores it under self.thisImage:
NSEnumerator *e = [allDataArray objectEnumerator];
NSDictionary *object;
while (object = [e nextObject]) {
NSArray *imagesArray = [object objectForKey:#"images"];
NSString *singleImage = [[imagesArray objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:#"source"];
[self.imageData addObject:singleImage];
}
self.singleImageData = [self.imageData lastObject];
self.thisImage = [UIImage imageWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:self.singleImageData]]];
[self saveImage];
This means the rest of the getters for UIImage can be contained in the function and the single instance of UIImage can be monitored. I also log the raw URL into self.singleImageData so that I can remove the correct elements from the array to stop duplication.
These are the variables I used:
self.images = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
self.thisImage = [[UIImage alloc] init];
self.imageData = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
self.singleImageData = [[NSString alloc] init];
This answer should work for anyone using http://www.touch-code-magazine.com/ios5-saving-photos-in-custom-photo-album-category-for-download/ for iOS 6 (tested on iOS 6.1) and should result in all pictures being saved correctly and without errors.
If saveImage:toAlbum:withCompletionBlock it's using dispatch_async i fear that for i/o operations too many threads are spawned: each write task you trigger is blocked by the previous one (bacause is still doing I/O on the same queue), so gcd will create a new thread (usually dispatch_async on the global_queue is optimized by gcd by using an optimized number of threads).
You should either use semaphores to limit the write operation to a fixed number at the same time or use dispatch_io_ functions that are available from iOS 5 if i'm not mistaken.
There are plenty example on how to do this with both methods.
some on the fly code for giving an idea:
dispatch_semaphore_t aSemaphore = dispatch_semaphore_create(4);
dispatch_queue_t ioQueue = dispatch_queue_create("com.customqueue", NULL);
// dispatch the following block to the ioQueue
// ( for loop with all images )
dispatch_semaphore_wait(aSemaphore , DISPATCH_TIME_FOREVER);
[self.library saveImage:image
toAlbum:#"Test Album"
withCompletionBlock:^(NSError *error){
dispatch_semaphore_signal(aSemaphore);
}];
so every time you will have maximum 4 saveImage:toAlbum, as soon as one completes another one will start.
you have to create a custom queue, like above (the ioQueue) where to dispatch the code that does the for loop on the images, so when the semaphore is waiting the main thread is not blocked.

Core Data - NSDate property changing while in the persistent store

I'm developing a calendar app which saves and displays various shift rotations. I've been banging by head against the wall the last few days after recent unexplained errors that strangely coincided with an X-Code update to ver. 4.5.2. I couldn't find any similar issues anywhere on Google or Stackoveflow.
The shift rotations are set and saved by the user. The process of creating a shift rotation involves presenting a user with a range of dates, and the user associating each date with a particular shift.
I'm using Core Data with a sqlite store to manage the saved data. The object graph for the above elements involve several "Shift" NSManagedObject entities which contain the details of a shift, such as title, start and end times, and most importantly a date which allows the shift rotation to be displayed later. The "Shift" entities are kept together by another NSManagedObject called "ShiftRotation" which has a many-to-one relationship to the "Shifts".
My app was working properly until recently, when I made few changes to how I was using these "Shift" objects.
My problem is this. The user associates a "Shift" to a date. The date is stored inside a "date" property within the "Shift" NSManagedObject. The context is saved. When I access the "Shift" later, without making any changes, the date that was assigned to the "Shift" appears changed.
I went through my code line by line and added numerous NSLogs to see where or why it's changing, with no results. I noticed that there is no change to the date immediately before AND after I save the context within the class where the save is occurring. There's also no change when I access it from the main Calendar screen. However when I later retrieve the "Shifts" from another screen where I manage all shift rotations, they appear to have changed.
The date change is approximately 31 to 32 days in the future. I can't help but wonder if this is a bug in Core Data or I'm a missing something.
Any explanation or reason why accessing a date from a sqlite persistent store causes a significant and unpredictable date change?
Update: I tried to further narrow down what was happening and where it was happening by using NSNotificationCenter.
I'm using iOS 6.
I registered the root view controller to observe any changes to the managed object context. Particularly any changes to the Objects (i.e. NSManagedObjectContextObjectDidChange).
After I updated the properties of the "Shift" NSManagedObject I receive a notification indicating that the "Shift" object was updated. Here's some code and logs.
This is where the "Shift" entity is created and given a date:
- (NSMutableArray *)arrayWithDateStartingAtDate:(NSDate *)anyDate forNumberOfDays:(NSUInteger)days;
{
NSCalendar *gregorian = [[NSCalendar alloc] initWithCalendarIdentifier:NSGregorianCalendar];
NSMutableArray *monthArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
NSDateComponents *comps = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
NSDate *tempDate;
NSManagedObjectContext *moc = [[CSEventStore sharedStore] managedObjectContext];
for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < days; i++) {
[comps setDay:i];
tempDate = [gregorian dateByAddingComponents:comps toDate:anyDate options:0];
Shift *shiftRDO = [Shift initShiftEntityRDOWithDate:tempDate InContext:moc];
[shiftRDO setShiftRotation:_shiftRotation];
NSMutableDictionary *dateDict = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:tempDate, #"date", shiftRDO, #"shift", nil];
[monthArray addObject:dateDict];
}
return monthArray;
}
This is where the call is made to update it:
[shiftEntity updateWithShiftType:_selectedShiftType inContext:context];
Which calls the method:
- (void)updateWithShiftType:(ShiftType *)shiftType inContext:(NSManagedObjectContext *)context
{
self.title = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",shiftType.title];
self.symbol = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",shiftType.symbol];
self.startTime = [shiftType.startTime dateByAddingTimeInterval:0];
self.endTime = [shiftType.endTime dateByAddingTimeInterval:0];
self.splitStartTime = [shiftType.splitStartTime dateByAddingTimeInterval:0];
self.splitEndTime = [shiftType.splitEndTime dateByAddingTimeInterval:0];
self.isWorkday = [shiftType.isWorkday copy];
self.isTimeOff = [shiftType.isTimeOff copy];
self.typeID = [shiftType typeID];
}
After the above code executes, the first notification is posted in the log:
<Shift: 0x8140b70> (entity: Shift; id: 0x81409e0 <x-coredata:///Shift/tE59A199A-444E-4079-BD8C-0D3E734607783> ; data: {
date = "2012-10-29 04:00:00 +0000";
endTime = "2012-11-02 19:35:38 +0000";
isTimeOff = 0;
isWorkday = 1;
shiftRotation = "0x81406a0 <x-coredata:///ShiftRotation/tE59A199A-444E-4079-BD8C-0D3E734607782>";
splitEndTime = nil;
splitStartTime = nil;
startTime = "2012-11-02 09:35:34 +0000";
symbol = none;
title = Days;
typeID = "991ACC8C-ECE0-4555-9002-7AC233F26CBF";
The "date" property does have the proper assigned date.
Now as soon as I save the context with the following method:
- (BOOL)saveContext
{
NSError *error = nil;
if (__managedObjectContext) {
if ([__managedObjectContext hasChanges] && ![__managedObjectContext save:&error]) {
NSLog(#"Unresolved error %#, %#", error, [error userInfo]);
// More details on error
NSArray* detailedErrors = [error userInfo][NSDetailedErrorsKey];
if(detailedErrors != nil && [detailedErrors count] > 0) {
for(NSError* detailedError in detailedErrors) {
NSLog(#" DetailedError: %#", [detailedError userInfo]);
}
}
else {
NSLog(#" %#", [error userInfo]);
}
return NO;
abort();
}
}
return YES;
}
I receive a second notification of a change with the following log:
<Shift: 0x8140b70> (entity: Shift; id: 0x82c9dd0 <x-coredata://7CE834F9-5056-457A-BB2C-B8BA638086F1/Shift/p23> ; data: {
date = "2012-12-02 05:00:00 +0000";
endTime = "2012-11-02 19:35:38 +0000";
isTimeOff = 0;
isWorkday = 1;
shiftRotation = "0x8260dc0 <x-coredata://7CE834F9-5056-457A-BB2C-B8BA638086F1/ShiftRotation/p11>";
splitEndTime = nil;
splitStartTime = nil;
startTime = "2012-11-02 09:35:34 +0000";
symbol = none;
title = Days;
typeID = "991ACC8C-ECE0-4555-9002-7AC233F26CBF";
}),
As you notice, the "date" changed to 2012-12-02, just by saving.
Update: I was finally able to track the cause of the unexplained change. It seems that I was inadvertently changing the "date" property after I was saving the context somewhere else in my code. Perhaps that would have not happened if I had followed carmin's convention (I would have given +1 if I had the reputation). The value was not changing in the Persistent store after all.
Perhaps sharing how I tracked down this bug might benefit anyone else that might have similar problems, not necessarily related to Core Data.
I used Key Value Observing, to observe the "date" property. I began observing immediately after creating the "Shift" entity:
[_shiftEntity addObserver:self forKeyPath:#"date" options:NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew context:NULL];
...and stopped observing after a point in my code where the change had already occurred:
[_shiftEntity removeObserver:self forKeyPath:#"date" context:NULL];
I then implemented the KVO method:
- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context
{
NSLog(#"Object being observed: %#", [object description]);
NSLog(#"Value changed to: %#", change[NSKeyValueChangeNewKey]);
}
I placed a break point at the above method. When the change occurred, it stopped at this point, and told me what had change. Most importantly, when the code stopped executing, I looked at the call stack, and traced my way back through the path that the code took that caused the change. I was able to find exactly where my code was making the change.
I don't have much knowledge using KVO but this experience showed me its usefulness even for debugging purposes.
Possible naming conflict. I have learned to prefix all my names. For example, I call a core data property "pDate" instead of "date". I call a stack local "zDate", a parameter "aDate", a static "sDate", and an instance variable "iDate". (I do not prefix method names.) This avoids variable naming conflicts and makes code much easier to understand. Giving something a simple name is to look for a name conflict with the OS which should prefix all of its variables with __ (a double underscore), but that does not always happen. This may not be your problem, but it is possible that the OS uses the term "date" for another purpose and it seems to be modifying "date" to the time of save.

App crashes when saving UIManagedDocument

I have an application that first loads some data into an UIManagedDocument, then executes saveToURL:forSaveOperation:completionHandler:. Inside the completionHandler block, it does an update of various elements of this database, and when it's done, it does another saving.
Besides that, the app has 3 buttons that reload the data, re-update the data, and delete one entity of the database, respectively. In every button method, the last instruction is a saving as well.
When I run all this in the simulator, all goes smoothly. But in the device doesn't. It constantly crashes. I have observed that, normally, it crashes when pressing the "delete" button, or when reloading or re-updating the database. And it's always in the saveToURL operation.
In my opinion, the problem comes when there are multiple threads saving the database. As the device executes the code slower, maybe multiple savings come at same time and the app can't handle them correctly. Also, sometimes the delete button doesn't delete the entity, and says that doesn't exist (when it does).
I'm totally puzzled with this, and all this saving operations must be done...In fact, if I remove them, the app behaves even more incoherently.
Any suggestions of what could I do to resolve this problem? Thank you very much!
[Edit] Here I post the problematic code. For first loading the data, I use a helper class, with this two methods in particular:
+ (void)loadDataIntoDatabase:(UIManagedDocument *)database
{
[database.managedObjectContext performBlock:^{
// Read from de plist file and fill the database
[database saveToURL:database.fileURL forSaveOperation:UIDocumentSaveForOverwriting completionHandler:^(BOOL success) {
[DataHelper completeDataOfDatabase:database];
}];
}
+ (void)completeDataOfDatabase:(UIManagedDocument *)database
{
[database.managedObjectContext performBlock:^{
// Read from another plist file and update some parameters of the already existent data (uses NSFetchRequest and works well)
// [database saveToURL:database.fileURL forSaveOperation:UIDocumentSaveForOverwriting completionHandler:nil];
[database updateChangeCount:UIDocumentChangeDone];
}];
}
And in the view, I have 3 action methods, like these:
- (IBAction)deleteButton {
[self.database.managedObjectContext performBlock:^{
NSManagedObject *results = ;// The item to delete
[self.database.managedObjectContext deleteObject:results];
// [self.database saveToURL:self.database.fileURL forSaveOperation:UIDocumentSaveForOverwriting completionHandler:NULL];
[self.database updateChangeCount:UIDocumentChangeDone];
}];
}
- (IBAction)reloadExtraDataButton {
[DataHelper loadDataIntoDatabase:self.database];
// [self.database saveToURL:self.database.fileURL forSaveOperation:UIDocumentSaveForOverwriting completionHandler:NULL];
[self.database updateChangeCount:UIDocumentChangeDone];
}
- (IBAction)refreshDataButton {
[DataHelper completeDataOfDatabase:self.database];
//[self.database saveToURL:self.database.fileURL forSaveOperation:UIDocumentSaveForOverwriting completionHandler:NULL];
[self.database updateChangeCount:UIDocumentChangeDone];
}
[Edit 2] More code: First of all, the initial view executes viewDidLoad this way:
- (void)viewDidLoad{
[super viewDidLoad];
self.database = [DataHelper openDatabaseAndUseBlock:^{
[self setupFetchedResultsController];
}];
}
This is what the setupFetchedResultsController method looks like:
- (void)setupFetchedResultsController
{
NSFetchRequest *request = [NSFetchRequest fetchRequestWithEntityName:#"Some entity name"];
request.sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObject:[NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:#"name" ascending:YES selector:#selector(localizedCaseInsensitiveCompare:)]];
self.fetchedResultsController = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc] initWithFetchRequest:request
managedObjectContext:self.database.managedObjectContext
sectionNameKeyPath:nil
cacheName:nil];
}
Each view of the app (it has tabs) has a different setupFetchedResultsController in order to show the different entities the database contains.
Now, in the helper class, this is the first class method that gets executed, via the viewDidLoad of each view:
+ (UIManagedDocument *)openDatabaseAndUseBlock:(completion_block_t)completionBlock
{
NSURL *url = [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
url = [url URLByAppendingPathComponent:#"Database"];
UIManagedDocument *database = [[UIManagedDocument alloc] initWithFileURL:url];
if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[database.fileURL path]]) {
[database saveToURL:database.fileURL forSaveOperation:UIDocumentSaveForCreating completionHandler:^(BOOL success) {
[self loadDataIntoDatabase:database];
completionBlock();
}];
} else if (database.documentState == UIDocumentStateClosed) {
// Existe, pero cerrado -> Abrir
[database openWithCompletionHandler:^(BOOL success) {
[self loadDataIntoDatabase:database];
completionBlock();
}];
} else if (database.documentState == UIDocumentStateNormal) {
[self loadDataIntoDatabase:database];
completionBlock();
}
return database;
}
You didn't really provide much code. The only real clue you gave was that you are using multiple threads.
UIManagedDocument has two ManagedObjectContexts (one specified for the main queue, and the other for a private queue), but they still must each only be accessed from within their own thread.
Thus, you must only use managedDocument.managedObjectContext from within the main thread. If you want to use it from another thread, you have to use either performBlock or performBlockAndWait. Similarly, you can never know you are running on the private thread for the parent context, so if you want to do something specifically to the parent, you must use performBlock*.
Finally, you really should not be calling saveToURL, except when you initially create the database. UIManagedDocument will auto-save (in its own time).
If you want to encourage it to save earlier, you can send it updateChangeCount: UIDocumentChangeDone to tell it that it has changes that need to be saved.
EDIT
You should only call saveToURL when you create the file for the very first time. With UIManagedDocument, there is no need to call it again (and it can actually cause some unintended issues).
Basically, when you create the document DO NOT set your iVar until the completion handler executes. Otherwise, you could be using a document in a partial state. In this case, use a helper, like this, in the completion handler.
- (void)_document:(UIManagedDocument*)doc canBeUsed:(BOOL)canBeUsed
{
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
if (canBeUsed) {
_document = doc;
// Now, the document is ready.
// Fire off a notification, or notify a delegate, and do whatever you
// want... you really should not use the document until it's ready, but
// as long as you leave it nil until it is ready any access will
// just correctly do nothing.
} else {
_document = nil;
// Do whatever you want if the document can not be used.
// Unfortunately, there is no way to get the actual error unless
// you subclass UIManagedDocument and override handleError
}
}];
}
And to initialize your document, something like...
- (id)initializeDocumentWithFileURL:(NSURL *)url
{
if (!url) {
url = [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
url = [url URLByAppendingPathComponent:#"Default_Project_Database"];
}
UIManagedDocument *doc = [[UIManagedDocument alloc] initWithFileURL:url];
if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[doc.fileURL path]]) {
// The file does not exist, so we need to create it at the proper URL
[doc saveToURL:doc.fileURL forSaveOperation:UIDocumentSaveForCreating completionHandler:^(BOOL success) {
[self _document:doc canBeUsed:success];
}];
} else if (doc.documentState == UIDocumentStateClosed) {
[doc openWithCompletionHandler:^(BOOL success) {
[self _document:doc canBeUsed:success];
}];
} else {
// You only need this if you allow a UIManagedDocument to be passed
// in to this object -- in which case the code above that initializes
// the <doc> variable will be conditional on what was passed...
BOOL success = doc.documentState == UIDocumentStateNormal;
[self _document:doc canBeUsed:success];
}
}
The "pattern" above is necessary to make sure you do not use the document until it is fully ready for use. Now, that piece of code should be the only time you call saveToURL.
Note that by definition, the document.managedObjectContext is of type NSMainQueueConcurrencyType. Thus, if you know your code is running on the main thread (like all your UI callbacks), you do not have to use performBlock.
However, if you are actually doing loads in the background, consider..
- (void)backgroundLoadDataIntoDocument:(UIManagedDocument*)document
{
NSManagedObjectContext *moc = [[NSManagedObjectContext alloc] initWithConcurrencyType:NSPrivateQueueConcurrencyType];
moc.parentContext = document.managedObjectContext;
[moc performBlock:^{
// Do your loading in here, and shove everything into the local MOC.
// If you are loading a lot of stuff from the 'net (or elsewhere),
// consider doing it in strides, so you deliver objects to the document
// a little at a time instead of all at the end.
// When ready to save, call save on this MOC. It will shove the data up
// into the MOC of the document.
NSrror *error = nil;
if ([moc save:&error]) {
// Probably don't have to synchronize calling updateChangeCount, but I do it anyway...
[document.managedObjectContext performBlockAndWait:^{
[document updateChangeCount:UIDocumentChangeDone];
}];
} else {
// Handle error
}
}];
}
Instead of parenting your background MOC to the mainMOC, you can parent it to the parentContext. Loading and then saving into it will put the changes "above" the main MOC. The main MOC will see those changes the next time it does a fetch operation (note the properties of NSFetchRequest).
NOTE: Some people have reported (and it also appears as a note in Erica Sadun's book), that after the very first saveToURL, you need to close, then open to get everything working right.
EDIT
This is getting really long. If you had more points, I'd suggest a chat. Actually, we can't do it through SO, but we could do it via another medium. I'll try to be brief, but please go back and reread what I posted, and pay careful attention because your code is still violating several tenants.
First, in viewDidLoad(), you are directly assigning your document to the result of calling openDatabaseAndUseBlock. The document is not in a usable state at that time. You do not want the document accessible until the completion handlers fire, which will not happen before openDatabaseAndUseBlock() returns.
Second, only call saveToURL the very first time you create your database (inside openDatabaseAndUseBlock()). Do not use it anywhere else.
Third. Register with the notification center to receive all events (just log them). This will greatly assist your debugging, because you can see what's happening.
Fourth, subclass UIManagedDocument, and override the handleError, and see if it is being called... it's the only way you will see the exact NSError if/when it happens.
3/4 are mainly to help you debug, not necessary for your production code.
I have an appointment, so have to stop now. However, address those issues, and here's on

NSFetchedResultsController predicate is a little too real time...?

So I've got an NSFetchedResultsController that I activate on ViewDidLoad with the managedobjectcontext that has been passed on from the appdelegate on load.
I put a predicate on some field let's call it "sectionNumber" and say it needs to equal 1 in my predicate.
NSFetchResultsController works fine until I add a new object to the MOContext...
I use MyMO *newObj = [NSEntityDescription insertnewentity]...
start filling the different fields
[newobj setName:#"me"];
[newobj setAge:12];
etc...
Once I put [newobj setSectionNumber:1] - it finds it at that very instant and causes the app to crash with different weird errors that all lead to EXC_BAD_ACCESS.
All of this happens on the MAIN THREAD.
Any ideas why? How could one get around that?
UPDATE:
It only happens when I use my saveMOC method which is called at the end of an NSXMLParser specific thread I spawned off. The saveMOC is called on a successful parse with the [self performSelectorOnMainThread].... If i just added the extra managedobject via ViewDidLoad (just to check weather this is related somehow to to threading) the problem does NOT occur.
So it's obviously something with the new thread even tho the selector should have been run on the main thread.
UPDATE #2:
This is my spawned thread for the XML Parser:
-(void)getAndParseXML {
NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
DLog(#"Online storage");
NSXMLParser *parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:theUrl];
XMLTranslator *translator = [[XMLTranslator alloc] init];
[parser setDelegate:translator];
if ([parser parse]) {
//success call MOC change routine on main thread
DLog(#"success parsing");
[self performSelectorOnMainThread:#selector(saveMOC:) withObject:translator waitUntilDone:NO];
} else {
DLog(#"error: %#",[parser parserError]);
}
[parser setDelegate:nil];
[parser release];
DLog(#"XML parsing completed");
[pool release];
}
Then this is my saveMOC:
-(void)saveMOC:(XMLTranslator*)translator {
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
for (NSDictionary *dict in [translator retrievedData]) {
APost *newPost = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"APost"
inManagedObjectContext:managedObjectContext];
//parse time into NSDate
[newPost setTime:[formatter dateFromString:[dict objectForKey:#"time"]]];
//author, category, description
[newPost setAuthor:[dict objectForKey:#"author"]];
[newPost setCategory:[dict objectForKey:#"category"]];
[newPost setContent:[dict objectForKey:#"description"]];
//create a post id so that the validation will be alright
[newPost setPostid:[NSNumber numberWithInteger:[[dict objectForKey:#"postid"] integerValue]]];
[newPost setSectionDesignator:sectionDesignator];
}
This saveMoc method continues and has a [managedobjectcontext save:&error] and more... but it's not relevan to our case as my method crashes I've discovered thru commenting one line after another at the point where I set the sectionDesignator since it equals to the current predicate in my NSFetchedResultsController.
The problem is most likely in the NSFetchedResultsController delegate methods or the lack thereof.
When you add a new object to any context and then save the context, that changes the persistent store which triggers the FRC on any thread to begin an update of the tableview. All the index paths change, especially if you set a value for an attribute used as a sectionNameKeyPath. If the table ask for a cell during the update, it will cause a crash because the table can ask for a cell at a index path rendered invalid by the insertion of the new managed object.
You need to make sure you implement the FRC's delegate methods and that you send the table a beginUpdate message to freeze it while the FRC changes all its index paths.
I am sorry to admit that the problem this whole time was releasing an array that held the sort descriptors in the fetch request that was used within the FRC.
Looking at alot of examples I released that array tho unlike the examples I created my array with [NSArray arrayWithObject:.............];
So there was an overrelease each time the fetch request was accessed more than once.
Feel free to close this. Thank you everybody for your help. I discovered this when peter wrote to look at the whole stack and not just one frame.
I have further analyzed the problem and have realized it occurs inside the loop.
I have further understood that it only happens when I have more than one object, meaning that one FRC takes over after an object insertion into MOC and tries to come back to the for loop, it tries to access an object or a reference that's not there. I haven't found what object causes it and how to retain it properly.
Any suggestions?
Consider the following:
for (int i=0; i<2; i++) {
NSLog(#"%i",i);
APost *thePost = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"HWBPost" inManagedObjectContext:managedObjectContext];
[thePost setCategory:#"CAAA"];
[thePost setContent:#"SSSSSS"];
[thePost setSectionDesignator:sectionDesignator];
}
If I change the for loop to i<1 meaning it only runs once, the app does NOT crash. As soon as it is more than one object insertion the app crashes.