SwiftUI and FetchRequest : delay the reordering of a list - core-data

Question

I have written an application displaying a list of students. I use a List of NavigationLink for that purpose. The students are ordered by one of their properties questionAskedClass which is an integer. All this information is stored within CoreData.
#Environment(\.managedObjectContext) var managedObjectContext
#FetchRequest(entity: Student.entity(),
sortDescriptors: [NSSortDescriptor(keyPath: \Student.questionAskedClass,
ascending: true)])
var students: FetchedResults<Student>
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
List {
ForEach(students) {student in
NavigationLink(destination: StudentView(student: student)) {
HStack {
VStack(alignment: .leading) {
Text("\(student.firstName)").font(.headline).foregroundColor(Color.black)
Text("\(student.lastName)").font(.headline).foregroundColor(Color.gray)
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
When I press the name of the students, I switch to a new view called StudentView where I can get more information about the student and where I can update the property questionAskedClass
struct StudentView: View {
#Environment(\.managedObjectContext) var managedObjectContext
func askQuestion() {
self.managedObjectContext.performAndWait {
self.student.questionAskedClass += 1
try? self.managedObjectContext.save()
}
}
}
Unfortunately, when I change that property, the ordering of the initial list is changed and I am taken away from the StudentView. The framework seems to get the feeling that the list needs to be reordered. But I just want this list to be reordered when I go back to the list. Not immediately when I change the value of questionAskedClass.
What can I do to mitigate this problem?
Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

You can try creating a simple NSFetchRequest<Student> and use the result of this fetch to update your students list.
#State var students: [Student] = []
fun refresh() {
let fetchRequest = NSFetchRequest<Student>(entityName: "Student")
students = try? managedObjectContext.fetch(fetchRequest) ?? []
}
You can trigger this refresh in onAppear so the list will be updated every time the View appears:
NavigationView {
...
}.onAppear {
self.refresh()
}
Alternatively you can save your context in onAppear of the main view instead of StudentView:
struct StudentView: View {
func askQuestion() {
self.student.questionAskedClass += 1
}
}
NavigationView {
...
}.onAppear {
try? self.managedObjectContext.save()
}
If you want your data to persist when the app is terminated, add this function in AppDelegate (assuming your persistentContainer is declared there:
func applicationWillTerminate(_ application: UIApplication) {
try? persistentContainer.viewContext.save()
}