I've got a bunch of managed objects that i'm fetching from a managed object context. These object have a imageFilePath attribute, which is just a path to an image data object ive saved to a directory on the phone. My question is this - what is the best way to batch convert all these data objects into an array of photos?
I'm considering just iterating thru the array of the managed objects, but that seems somewhat inefficient. I could also perhaps create a separate entity from this attribute in my model, and grab them directly.
Is there a way i could apply a block to each result of my fetch as it comes in?
thanks!
If you're worried about the Core Data side of things, take a look at the fetchBatchSize you can set on NSFetchRequest. You'll have to experiment a bit to see what size will work best for you, but something like 25 is a good starting point. That way Core Data will not fetch all objects from disk at once, but fault them in 25 at a time. You still see a normal NSArray and Core Data does all the magic in the background.
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This is similar to a question I asked before, but now that I've come much further along I still have a question about "proper" subclassing of NSManagedObject as I was told last night that it's a "bad idea" to put lots of non-persisted properties and ivars inside one. Currently I have TONS of code inside my NSManagedObject, and Apple's docs don't really address the "rightness" of that. FYI: the code works, but I'm asking if there are pitfalls ahead, or if there are obvious improvements to doing it another way.
My "object" is a continuously growing array of incoming data, the properties/ivars that track the progress of the analysis of that data, and the processed data (output). All of this is stored in memory because it grows huge, very quickly, and would not be possible to re-generate/re-analyze continuously. The NSManagedObject properties that are actually persisted are just the raw data (regularly saved, as Core Data doesn't support NSMutableData), a few basic properties and 2 relationships to other NSManagedObjects (1 being a user, the other being a set of snapshots of the data). Only one object is being recorded to at any one time, although dozens can be opened for viewing (which may involve further processing at any time).
It's not possible to have the object that inserts the entity (data manager that manages Core Data) have all of the processing logic/variables inside it, as each object necessitates at least a handful of arrays/properties that are used as intermediaries and tracking values for the analysis. And I, personally, think that it sounds silly to create two objects for each object that is being used (the NSManagedObject that is the store, and another object that is the processing/temp store).
Basically, all of the examples I can find using NSManagedObjects have super simple objects that are things like coordinates, address book entries, pictures: stuff that is basically static. In that case I can see having all of the logic that creates/modifies them outside the object. However, my case is not that simple and I have yet to come up with an alternative that doesn't involve duplication.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
You might use a 'wrapper', that is to say a class with a reference to one of your managed object instances, this wrapper would contain your algorithms and your non persisted algorithms.
My program should save, retrieve and manipulate a large load of data. (Around 200,000 entries, which all have around 20 entries.)
I'm wondering how I should implement the data: create my own class, use a struct or use NSDictionary.
The whole data would be saved in an array (for going through the whole data). But since performance matters (particularly the searching part) I would like to chose the fastest and savest way.
Any suggestions?
CoreData with sqlite store type is the way. You'd be able to fetch portions of data without reading the whole thing to the memory at once. This way you'd be able to generate custom NSManagedObject subclasses if you'd need custom behavior for each instance of an object.
I am building a very simple app to store data on people like name, age, etc. I give the user the option of changing the data such as when a person has a birthday. I can't figure out the best way to store the data.
I have searched for a long time now and I can't find the simple answer that I am looking for. If I change the data in a mutable array will that data be changed permanently? I mean will that write over the existing code and change the data so that it will still exist when the app is closed and reloaded again?
So far I am not able to do that. I have experience in MySql and Sql server so I have a tendency to go that direction if possible, but I would really like to use a mutable array or mutable dictionary if possible. This may be such an elementary question, but I can't find an answer anywhere.
You have some misconceptions.
The objects you create are in memory. There's nothing permanent about them. You have to save them somehow or they are gone when you quit the application and come back.
If you want to save an array, you have a number of options.
If the array contains nothing but objects of type NSString, NSData, NSDate, NSNumber, NSArray, or NSDictionary, you can save the array using the system class NSUserDefaults.
NSArray also has a method writeToFile:atomically: that will save an array of data to a file.
If your array contains any objects other than the types I listed above, though, neither of those approaches (NSUserDefaults or writeToFile:atomically) won't work.
The other option is to use an NSKeyedArchiver to convert the contents of your array to data, and then write that data to a file. In order for that approach to work, every single object i your array, and all the objects in those objects, need to support the NSCoding protocol.
As others have pointed out, you could also use Core Data or mySQL to save your data, but that seems like overkill for just saving an array.
Take a look at Core Data. It is the easiest way to manage this kind of data storage requirement on iOS.
Take a look at my book, it got good reviews and is perfect for what you are trying to do: http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Core-Data-iOS-Professionals/dp/1430233559
If you want an easy way to get started, there are tons of online tutorials too. For example Ray has written some good stuff:
http://www.raywenderlich.com/934/core-data-on-ios-5-tutorial-getting-started
Mutable means you can change the data at any time, so no, it's not permanent.
Yes, it will be permanent in terms of what you are asking. Although because the array is mutable it means you can always change the data back, the initial data will be overwritten by this new data.
Edit: No, the information will not remain after closing the app. You will need to programmatically save it. I would use Core Data.
CoreData is the way data is normally persisted in Cocoa and Cocoa-Touch. It also gives you some nice extras like undo support. But it has a big learning curve.
If what you're doing is super-simple, look at NSUserDefaults. If you need a little more flexibility, you could always use NSArray's -writeToFile:atomically: and -initWithContentsOfFile: (there are also versions of both those methods that take URLs instead of file paths).
Anything more complicated than that, and it's probably worth the trouble learning CoreData.
i have a more or less general question about using coredata the most efficient way.
i have attempted two different approaches of managing data that is shown in a view of my project.
Approach 1: when the view gets loaded i perform all coredata fetches and store the results in an array, the view then retrieves the displayed objects from the array. (ie: objectAtIndex:...)
Approach 2: the viewcontroller itself lets my data handling class perform fetches on the go, whenever a specific coredata object is needed it gets fetched.
on my current project this involes about 200-500 objects that need to be sorted and displayed in a tableview according to their attributes.
the fetch methods are the same wether i load all objects first or when i load them in batches (of correct attributes).
the difference is mainly in the cellForRow method where i have to decide if i want to pick the objects out of an array or directly from coredata.
both methods work just fine, i dont really see any performance differences just now, but i fear that with scaling of the project & more data one or the other way might be slower.
what do you think is the better way to do this?
With larger data sets there may be an advantage in terms of peak memory footprint to using NSFetchedResultsController controller that is, presumably optimized to fetch just the right amount of data from the persistent store based on the table size.
With NSFetchedResultsController you have control over the fetch batch size which you can tune for performance based on the size and number of the managed objects being fetched, etc.
I have a large MKOverlay that I would like to be saved in Core Data so that I don't have to create it later. Since this isn't one of the types that you can choose in Core Data, how do I go about saving it?
Do I need to somehow encode it first?
Do I then need to decode it when using?
What kind of object do I select in core data when creating a new property?
Thanks guys.
If you do not need to query for different overlays and you're not using core data elsewhere in your project, then you're probably better off caching the overlay on disk as an encoded NSArray.
However, if you're already using Core Data or you're caching multiple overlays then you can encode/decode the overlay in a field of type NSData. Add additional fields to the entity so you can query for the specific overlay you're looking for.
In iOS 5, you can enable optional storage of NSData fields in an external file by selecting the "Allows External Storage" option. Core Data will apply a size-based heuristic to determine if a blob or external file will result in better performance.
MKOverlay conforms to NSCoding, so you can encode and decode an entire array of MKOverlay objects using an encode method of NSKeyedArchiver and store the result in a binary field in your entity. You'll likely want + (NSData *)archivedDataWithRootObject:(id)rootObject on NSKeyedArchiver and + (id)unarchiveObjectWithData:(NSData *)data on NSKeyedUnarchiver
See the Archives section in the Archives and Serializations Programming guide for details of creating a keyed archive at: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/Archiving/Articles/archives.html
You can write a custom accessor for the entity's binary field that encodes and decodes the overlay array for you. Another option is to create a value transformer that encapsulates the encoding and decoding operations. The end result would be an overlays array property that you can set and read via entity.overlays.
I believe you can use Apple's NSCoding libraries to convert the object to and from a serialized state. However, Core Data may support saving objects, but NSCoding lets you save any class that implements it anywhere, including a string sent to a server, a file written to disk, or if you're as bad a programmer as me, an NSUserDefaults entry.
edit- You may have to implement NSCoding into your own class based on MKOverlay by adding read and write methods, I'm uncertain.
Why not instead save the properties (size, color, coordinates, etc can all be described with NSNumbers and those can be stored in Core Data natively) and recreate the MKOverlay when needed. I think that's a much more efficient approach to be honest. I'm not sure how much of an impact creating an object has, so prove me wrong if I'm wrong.
You need to take the large dataset that composes the overlay and turn those individual data nodes into NSManagedObjects to be stored in CoreData.
I mean, you probably COULD just NSCoder the entire thing into one giant datablob, but at that point, you might as well just write the thing to a flat file (which frankly might be better if all you want to do is read/write it without changing it).
Don't use Core Data unless you're going to be doing legit querying or piecemeal changes to the dataset.