Professional iPhone® and iPad™ Database Application Programming

Chapter 7. Building a Core Data Application

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Fetching data using the NSFetchedResultsController

• Filtering and sorting your data using NSPredicate and NSSortOrdering

• Displaying related data using the UITableView

• Implementing complex validation and default values using custom subclasses of NSManagedObject

In the last chapter, you explored the Xcode Data Modeling tool and learned how to graphically create a data model. In this chapter, you learn how to build a complete data-driven application using Core Data. You will learn how to fetch, filter, and sort your data and display it in a UITableView using the NSFetchedResultsController. You also learn how to modify and delete existing data and take advantage of the relationships that you have defined between your data entities. Finally, you learn how to implement complex validation rules and default values using custom subclasses of NSManagedObject.

I have introduced these topics in the previous chapter. In this chapter, you build a fully functional task manager application while learning how to put the concepts that you learned in the last chapter into action.

THE TASKS APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE

Before you sit down to start coding a new application, it is good to have an idea of what the application will do and how the application will do it. The client on the project typically determines what the application must do. The client should communicate the desired functionality in the form of user requirements or specifications. ...