Multiple Managed Object Contexts with Core Data Tutorial

Using Child Contexts for Sets of Edits

Now that you know how the app currently edits and creates JournalEntry entities, you’ll modify the implementation to use a child managed object context as a temporary scratch pad.

It’s easy to do — you simply need to modify the segues. Open JournalListViewController.swift and find the following code for SegueListToDetail in prepare(for:sender:):

detailViewController.journalEntry = surfJournalEntry
detailViewController.context =
  surfJournalEntry.managedObjectContext
detailViewController.delegate = self

Next, replace that code with the following:

// 1
let childContext = NSManagedObjectContext(
  concurrencyType: .mainQueueConcurrencyType)
childContext.parent = coreDataStack.mainContext

// 2
let childEntry = childContext.object(
  with: surfJournalEntry.objectID) as? JournalEntry

// 3
detailViewController.journalEntry = childEntry
detailViewController.context = childContext
detailViewController.delegate = self

Here’s the play-by-play:

1. First, you create a new managed object context named childContext with a .mainQueueConcurrencyType. Here you set a parent context instead of a persistent store coordinator as you would normally do when creating a managed object context. Here, you set parent to mainContext of your CoreDataStack.
2. Next, you retrieve the relevant journal entry using the child context’s object(with:) method. You must use object(with:) to retrieve the journal entry because managed objects are specific to the context that created them. However, objectID values are not specific to a single context, so you can use them when you need to access objects in multiple contexts.
3. Finally, you set all required variables on the JournalEntryViewController instance. This time, you use childEntry and childContext instead of the original surfJournalEntry and surfJournalEntry.managedObjectContext.

Build and run your app; it should work exactly as before. In this case, no visible changes to the app are a good thing; the user can still tap on a row to view and edit a surf session journal entry.

By using a child context as a container for the journal edits, you’ve reduced the complexity of your app’s architecture. With the edits on a separate context, canceling or saving managed object changes is trivial.

Nice work, dude! You’re no longer a kook when it comes to multiple managed object contexts. Bodacious!

Where to Go From Here?

You can download the completed project for this tutorial with the “Download materials” button at the top or bottom of this tutorial.

If you enjoyed what you learned in this tutorial, why not check out the complete Core Data by Tutorials book, available in our store?

Here’s a taste of what’s in the book:

1. Chapter 1, Your First Core Data App: You’ll click File ▸ New Project and write a Core Data app from scratch! This chapter covers the basics of setting up your data model and then adding and fetching records.

2. Chapter 2, NSManagedObject Subclasses: NSManagedObject is the base data storage class of your Core Data object graphs. This chapter will teach you how you customize your own managed object subclasses to store and validate data.

3. Chapter 3, The Core Data Stack: Under the hood, Core Data is made up of many parts working together. In this chapter, you’ll learn about how these parts fit together, and move away from the starter Xcode template to build your own customizable system.

4. Chapter 4, Intermediate Fetching: Your apps will fetch data all the time, and Core Data offers many options for getting the data to you efficiently. This chapter covers more advanced fetch requests, predicates, sorting and asynchronous fetching.

5. Chapter 5, NSFetchedResultsController: Table views are at the core of many iOS apps, and Apple wants to make Core Data play nicely with them! In this chapter, you’ll learn how NSFetchedResultsController can save you time and code when your table views are backed by data from Core Data.

6. Chapter 6, Versioning and Migration: As you update and enhance your app, its data model will almost certainly need to change. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create multiple versions of your data model and then migrate your users forward so they can keep their existing data as they upgrade.

7. Chapter 7, Unit Tests: Testing is an important part of the development process, and you shouldn’t leave Core Data out of that! In this chapter, you’ll learn how to set up a separate test environment for Core Data and see examples of how to test your models.

8. Chapter 8, Measuring and Boosting Performance: No one ever complained that an app was too fast, so it’s important to be vigilant about tracking performance. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to measure your app’s performance with various Xcode tools and then pick up some tips for dealing with slow spots in your code.

9. Chapter 9, Multiple Managed Object Contexts: In this final chapter, you’ll expand the usual Core Data stack to include multiple managed object contexts. You’ll learn how this can improve perceived performance and help make your app architecture less monolithic and more compartmentalized.

And to help sweeten the deal, the digital edition of the book is on sale for $44.99! But don’t wait — this sale price is only available for a limited time.

Speaking of sweet deals, be sure to check out the great prizes we’re giving away this year with the iOS 12 Launch Party, including over $9,000 in giveaways!

To be eligible for for this epic iOS 12 giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on the original launch post, letting us know which book or course is your favorite on this list — or which upcoming book or course you’re most excited about!

We hope you enjoy this update, and stay tuned for more book releases and updates!