How to properly configure NSFetchedResultsController - iphone

Question

I am placing an NSFetchedResultsController into my code so I get that nice automatic sectioning of my table view data.
So I am running a test to make sure everything works properly. I have a single Book entity in my persistent store. I will first perform the fetch the old way, then I will try to use NSFetchedResultsController. The difference between the 2 blocks of code is just 2 lines.
Code without NSFetchedResultsController:
NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:kBookEntityName inManagedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext];
[request setEntity:entity];
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:#"title" ascending:NO];
NSArray *sortDescriptors = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:sortDescriptor, nil];
[request setSortDescriptors:sortDescriptors];
[sortDescriptor release];
[sortDescriptors release];
//The following 2 lines will be replaced by the NSFetchedResultsController
NSMutableArray *mutableFetchResults = [[[self.managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:request error:nil] mutableCopy] autorelease];
Book *result = (Book*)[mutableFetchResults objectAtIndex:0];
NSString* title = [result valueForKey:#"title"];
NSString* priority = [result valueForKeyPath:#"priority.name"];
[request release];
Now I substitute in the lines for the NSFetchedResultsController:
NSFetchedResultsController* fetchedResultsController = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc] initWithFetchRequest:request managedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext sectionNameKeyPath:#"title" cacheName:#"BookList"];
Book *result = (Book*)[fetchedResultsController objectAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];
Seems pretty cut and dry. The first code block properly fetches the single Book entity. The code with the NSFetchedResultsController, however, does not. Instead it returns nil.
My question is: Am I properly configuring the NSFetchedResultsController in this example?
(note, the fetchedObjects property of the NSFetchedResultsController is also nil)

Answer 1

I think you still need to tell the NSFetchedResultsController to actually perform the fetch:
NSError *error;
BOOL success = [controller performFetch:&error];
(taken from the example in the NSFetchedResultsController reference)
one other thing that seems odd: do you really want to use "title" as the sectionNameKeyPath? won't that basically create a separate section for each book?

Answer 2

You need to initialize your NSFetchedResultsController only once, as follows.The code assumes
NSFetchedResultsController *fetchedResultsController;
NSManagedObjectContext *managedObjectContext;
are declared in the header of your controller, and that managedObjectContext is already properly initialized.
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
NSError *error;
if (![[self fetchedResultsController] performFetch:&error]) {
// Handle error
NSLog(#"Unresolved error %#, %#", error, [error userInfo]);
}
NSLog(#"%d objects fetched", [[fetchedResultsController fetchedObjects] count]);
}
- (NSFetchedResultsController *)fetchedResultsController {
if (fetchedResultsController != nil) {
return fetchedResultsController;
}
/*
Set up the fetched results controller.
*/
// Create the fetch request for the entity.
NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
// Edit the entity name as appropriate.
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:kBookEntityName inManagedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext];
[request setEntity:entity];
/* Optional settings
[request setResultType:NSManagedObjectResultType];
[request setIncludesPropertyValues:YES];
[request setIncludesPendingChanges:NO];
[request setReturnsObjectsAsFaults:NO];
*/
// Edit the sort key as appropriate.
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:#"title" ascending:NO];
NSArray *sortDescriptors = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:sortDescriptor, nil];
[request setSortDescriptors:sortDescriptors];
[sortDescriptor release];
[sortDescriptors release];;
// Edit the section name key path and cache name if appropriate.
// nil for section name key path means "no sections".
NSFetchedResultsController *aFetchedResultsController = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc] initWithFetchRequest:request managedObjectContext:managedObjectContext sectionNameKeyPath:#"title" cacheName:#"BookList"];
aFetchedResultsController.delegate = self;
self.fetchedResultsController = aFetchedResultsController;
[aFetchedResultsController release];
[request release];
return fetchedResultsController;
}