CoreDataRepository VS CoreStore

Shameless plug: https://github.com/roanutil/CoreDataRepository

For context, I'm almost done with a major update to a library I use. https://github.com/roanutil/CoreDataRepository/tree/v1-preview

You can actually see an example of it in the tests for that library. https://github.com/roanutil/CoreDataRepository/blob/main/Tests/CoreDataRepositoryTests/FetchRepositoryTests.swift

As for how to present the objects to views, allow me to self promote: https://github.com/roanutil/CoreDataRepository

CoreDataRepository

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea and it’s still very young but I have a library for using CoreData in the background. It’s heavy on Combine but I find it very convenient. https://github.com/roanutil/CoreDataRepository

It’s not from Apple, but there’s a framework called CoreStore which you might find easier to pick up initially.

Core Data (and CoreStore, which is backed by Core Data) is an object persistence system (so objects can survive between application sessions), which lets you work with the objects in a more database-like way. For example, you can ask for all the instances of a Person object which match a predicate like the pets relationship is not nil. You can think of it like a more advanced version of arrays and sets.

If you’re just starting out with Core Data, you may want to take a look at CoreStore. It’s an external dependency, but it does feel much more at home in Swift. Less of the constant optional unwrapping, for one.

CoreStore (though iCloud support is still in the works)

More complicated than that is Core Data. It’s extremely powerful, but pretty weird to use at first. Doesn’t feel very Swift-y (Check out CoreStore for a more Swift feel). This is great for hundreds or thousands of objects. You can retrieve objects which match a particular search predicate, objects can have relationships to one another (e.g, a manager object can have an employees relationship to multiple employee objects), which you can traverse a lot like normal objects-which-contain-objects. This is massive overkill for storing strings, but great for something like a Twitter or Reddit client.

All the issues in the article had been solved by CoreStore since Swift’s inception. Check it out

CoreStore works really well for pure Swift models: https://github.com/JohnEstropia/CoreStore/blob/develop/Playground_iOS.playground/Contents.swift

CoreData through CoreStore. Full disclosure: I’m the author of the lib

Source: I am the author of the CoreStore library. The faulting behavior of NSManagedObjects are what makes them incompatible with redux-type architecture (ex: SwiftUI) which is why CoreStore exposes an ObjectSnapshot as a struct wrapper layer for live objects.