How to view existing data in Core Data?

Question

Well, may be this question is silly, but I couldn't find a way (except programmatically). I built a project (for iPhone OS 3.0) which uses Core Data. The xcdatamodel file shows the schema description, but I want to see the data in tabular form (like the management studio for mssql server or phpmyadmin for mysql).

Is there any way (except coding)? What is that?

Also, which file (in disk/device) those data are stored into?

[ I built the tutorial (from apple) on Core Data, named Locations. They used this line somewhere in the code: NSURL *storeUrl = [NSURL fileURLWithPath: [[self applicationDocumentsDirectory] stringByAppendingPathComponent: @"Locations.sqlite"]];

But, I did not see any "xxxxx.sqlite" file in project location (nor in the disk).]

Answer 1

The sqllite file is stored within your applications documents folder. If you're running in the simulator, that location will look something like:

~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/1C69B544-510C-47E0-8758-701FB9E259F7/Documents/Locations.sqlite

(Where the 1C69B544...701FB9E259F7 is a huge random number that's re-generated each time you reinstall the app into the simulator).

Answer 2

To view the coredata sql file, you can use any standard sqlite interface. You can use sqlite3 from command line, or use something like Sqlite Browser.

If you want something specific to Core Data, you can use Core Data Browser.

Answer 3

If you use an SQL store then any of the common tools for analyzing SQL should work to display the contents of the SQL store. However, owing to the way Core Data handles things behind the scenes, it will be difficult to interpret.

In order to easily read the data in the SQL store you'll need a specialized tool. I haven't used it yet but Core Data Editor looks useful.