Updated Navigation-Based Core Data Application Template

Periodically, while working on the Core Data chapters in More iPhone 3 Development, I would update my copy of Apple's provided Navigation-Based Core Data Application project template with logic to handle different common scenarios. While working on the previous blog post, I made some more tweaks to the template to better handle object changes that trigger managed objects to move between sections when specifying a sectionNameKeyPath. You can find the most recent version of this project template here, and I've included the four delegate methods from the template at the end of this blog post.

I've really tried to give NSFetchedResultsController the benefit of the doubt. It's a really, really great concept and when it works, I really like it, but the execution is way below Apple's normal level of code quality. All of the code I've added to this template is needed simply to handle typical use-cases supposedly supported by this class… things that should be handled out of the box without any need for additional code. In this particular case, the delegate methods should really only be required for handling extraordinary or unusual scenarios.

If I have time, I may try to encapsulate this logic into a subclass of NSFetchedResultsController, but for the time being, if you use this template or the delegate methods at the end of this posting, it should take care of the bulk of situations for you automatically. I suspect that there will be a few more tweaks to this code as I use it in real-world code, but if there are, I'll post the changes and a new version of the template here. In any case, this template is a far better starting point than Apple's provided template and may just keep you from pulling all your hair out.

- (void)controllerWillChangeContent:(NSFetchedResultsController *)controller {
    [self.tableView beginUpdates];
}
- (void)controllerDidChangeContent:(NSFetchedResultsController *)controller {
    [self.tableView endUpdates];
}
- (void)controller:(NSFetchedResultsController *)controller didChangeObject:(id)anObject atIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath forChangeType:(NSFetchedResultsChangeType)type newIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)newIndexPath {
    switch(type) {
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeInsert:
            [self.tableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:newIndexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
            break;
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeDelete:
            [self.tableView deleteRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:indexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
            break;
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeUpdate: {
            NSString *sectionKeyPath = [controller sectionNameKeyPath];
            if (sectionKeyPath == nil)
                break;
            NSManagedObject *changedObject = [controller objectAtIndexPath:indexPath];
            NSArray *keyParts = [sectionKeyPath componentsSeparatedByString:@"."];
            id currentKeyValue = [changedObject valueForKeyPath:sectionKeyPath];
            for (int i = 0; i < [keyParts count] - 1; i++) {
                NSString *onePart = [keyParts objectAtIndex:i];
                changedObject = [changedObject valueForKey:onePart];
            }
            sectionKeyPath = [keyParts lastObject];
            NSDictionary *committedValues = [changedObject committedValuesForKeys:nil];
            
            if ([[committedValues valueForKeyPath:sectionKeyPath] isEqual:currentKeyValue])
                break;
            
            NSUInteger tableSectionCount = [self.tableView numberOfSections];
            NSUInteger frcSectionCount = [[controller sections] count];
            if (tableSectionCount != frcSectionCount) {
                // Need to insert a section
                NSArray *sections = controller.sections;
                NSInteger newSectionLocation = -1;
                for (id oneSection in sections) {
                    NSString *sectionName = [oneSection name];
                    if ([currentKeyValue isEqual:sectionName]) {
                        newSectionLocation = [sections indexOfObject:oneSection];
                        break;
                    }
                }
                if (newSectionLocation == -1)
                    return; // uh oh
                
                if (!((newSectionLocation == 0) && (tableSectionCount == 1) && ([self.tableView numberOfRowsInSection:0] == 0)))
                    [self.tableView insertSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:newSectionLocation] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
                NSUInteger indices[2] = {newSectionLocation, 0};
                newIndexPath = [[[NSIndexPath alloc] initWithIndexes:indices length:2] autorelease];
            }
        }
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeMove:
            if (newIndexPath != nil) {
                
                NSUInteger tableSectionCount = [self.tableView numberOfSections];
                NSUInteger frcSectionCount = [[controller sections] count];
                if (frcSectionCount >= tableSectionCount) 
                    [self.tableView insertSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:[newIndexPath section]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
                else 
                    if (tableSectionCount > 1) 
                        [self.tableView deleteSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:[indexPath section]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationNone];
                
                
                [self.tableView deleteRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:indexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
                [self.tableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths: [NSArray arrayWithObject:newIndexPath]
                                      withRowAnimation: UITableViewRowAnimationRight];
                
            }
            else {
                [self.tableView reloadSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:[indexPath section]] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
            }
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
}
- (void)controller:(NSFetchedResultsController *)controller didChangeSection:(id <NSFetchedResultsSectionInfo>)sectionInfo atIndex:(NSUInteger)sectionIndex forChangeType:(NSFetchedResultsChangeType)type {
    switch(type) {
            
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeInsert:
            if (!((sectionIndex == 0) && ([self.tableView numberOfSections] == 1)))
                [self.tableView insertSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:sectionIndex] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
            break;
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeDelete:
            if (!((sectionIndex == 0) && ([self.tableView numberOfSections] == 1) ))
                [self.tableView deleteSections:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:sectionIndex] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationFade];
            break;
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeMove:
            break;
        case NSFetchedResultsChangeUpdate: 
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
}