nsfetchedresultscontroller with empty sections

Question

I have a database of People and pets, with a one to many relationship

Person Pet Name Name Pet <----->> Owner

I am using a UITableView backed by Core data and a nsfetchedresultscontroller to display the list of pets, grouped into sections by the owner.

NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
fetchRequest.entity = [NSEntityDescription entityFromName:@"Pet"
    inManagedObjectContext:context]
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"Owner.name"
    ascending:YES];
NSArray *sortDescriptors = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:sortDescriptor, nil];
[fetchRequest setSortDescriptors:sortDescriptors];

NSFetchedResultsController *controller = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc]
    initWithFetchRequest:fetchRequest
    managedObjectContext:context
    sectionNameKeyPath:@"Owner.name"
    cacheName:@"Root"];

This works to display all pets under their owners section, however I also want to display the empty sections of People who do not have any pets? Is this possible?

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

No. Table views will not show empty sections by design. This is a feature of the UITableView, not an issue with Core Data.