Archive for the 'Core Data' Category
Creating a NSManagedObject that is Cross Platform
An interesting question came up on Stackoverflow today so I decided to expound upon it in a short blog post.
A situation that I believe we are going to be seeing more and more often is one where application developers are writing multiple “versions” of their applications to be used on the desktop, their iPhone and now the iPad.
Because of that situation, it is becoming even more important that we write as much portable code as possible. Fortunately, our model can be completely portable between the two platforms.
6 commentsThe PragPub Magazine
Last month I was given the opportunity to write an article for The Pragmatic Programmers great magazine called “PragPub”. I am happy to say that the article I wrote for them was published in this month’s edition. The article, titled “Touching the Core”, is a walk through Apple’s great addition to the Core Data API for the iPhone.
Specifically this article walks through using the NSFetchedResultsController and some best practices in its use. The magazine is available for free on their website, The Pragmatic Bookshelf.
No commentsAdding iTunes-style search to your Core Data application
iTunes has a very neat way of searching your library, where it takes each word in your search and tries to find that word in multiple fields. For example, you can search for “yesterday beatles” and it will match “yesterday” in the Name field and “beatles” in the Artist field. The basic predicate binding for NSSearchField provided by Interface Builder is not complex enough to archive this kind of search. I need to build the predicate dynamically since I can’t assume what field the user is trying to search and that each additional word should filter the list further – just like iTunes. Here is how to go about adding iTunes-style searching. Read more
5 commentsAnnouncement: Marcus’ Core Data Book Just Went Beta!
A lot of hard work has gone into this book already and I see it becoming the definitive text on the subject of Core Data. The release date is slated for March 30, 2009, but it’s great to see it in beta. If you want to pick up the beta in PDF, it is available now from Pragmatic here: Core Data: Apple’s API for Persisting Data under Mac OS X.
While new Cocoa programmers will find it a great help to getting started quickly with Core Data, the book also covers some really interesting and advanced topics such as data versioning and migration, Spotlight/Quick Look integration, Sync Services, and multi-threading. You can really see Marcus’ command of the subject shine in these chapters which are already available in the beta.
Give Marcus some feedback on the book as it progresses. It’s going to be a great reference for any Cocoa Developer looking to harness the power of Core Data.
$21.00 for the beta PDF $41.35 for the beta PDF plus hard copy when it’s released in March.
Mad props to Marcus. Congratulations!
6 commentsCocoa Tutorial: Wiring Undo Management Into Core Data
Undo support in Cocoa is fantastic but for those who have tried to mix it with Core Data know that it can be a bit frustrating. Generally, undo support can be ignored in most applications and it will “just work”. But when Core Data is added to the recipe then things get a bit confusing and more complicated.
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