How to update @FetchRequest, when a related Entity changes in SwiftUI?

In a SwiftUI View i have a List based on @FetchRequest showing data of a Primary entity and the via relationship connected Secondary entity. The View and its List is updated correctly, when I add a new Primary entity with a new related secondary entity.

The problem is, when I update the connected Secondary item in a detail view, the database gets updated, but the changes are not reflected in the Primary List. Obviously, the @FetchRequest does not get triggered by the changes in another View.

When I add a new item in the primary view thereafter, the previously changed item gets finally updated.

As a workaround, i additionally update an attribute of the Primary entity in the detail view and the changes propagate correctly to the Primary View.

My question is: How can I force an update on all related @FetchRequests in SwiftUI Core Data? Especially, when I have no direct access to the related entities/@Fetchrequests?

import SwiftUI

extension Primary: Identifiable {}

// Primary View

struct PrimaryListView: View {
    @Environment(\.managedObjectContext) var context

    @FetchRequest(
        entity: Primary.entity(),
        sortDescriptors: [NSSortDescriptor(key: "primaryName", ascending: true)]
    )
    var fetchedResults: FetchedResults<Primary>

    var body: some View {
        List {
            ForEach(fetchedResults) { primary in
                NavigationLink(destination: SecondaryView(primary: primary)) {
                VStack(alignment: .leading) {
                    Text("\(primary.primaryName ?? "nil")")
                    Text("\(primary.secondary?.secondaryName ?? "nil")").font(.footnote).foregroundColor(.secondary)
                }
                }
            }
        }
        .navigationBarTitle("Primary List")
        .navigationBarItems(trailing:
            Button(action: {self.addNewPrimary()} ) {
                Image(systemName: "plus")
            }
        )
    }

    private func addNewPrimary() {
        let newPrimary = Primary(context: context)
        newPrimary.primaryName = "Primary created at \(Date())"
        let newSecondary = Secondary(context: context)
        newSecondary.secondaryName = "Secondary built at \(Date())"
        newPrimary.secondary = newSecondary
        try? context.save()
    }
}

struct PrimaryListView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
    static var previews: some View {
        let context = (UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate).persistentContainer.viewContext

        return NavigationView {
            PrimaryListView().environment(\.managedObjectContext, context)
        }
    }
}

// Detail View

struct SecondaryView: View {
    @Environment(\.presentationMode) var presentationMode

    var primary: Primary

    @State private var newSecondaryName = ""

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            TextField("Secondary name:", text: $newSecondaryName)
                .textFieldStyle(RoundedBorderTextFieldStyle())
                .padding()
                .onAppear {self.newSecondaryName = self.primary.secondary?.secondaryName ?? "no name"}
            Button(action: {self.saveChanges()}) {
                Text("Save")
            }
            .padding()
        }
    }

    private func saveChanges() {
        primary.secondary?.secondaryName = newSecondaryName

        // TODO: ❌ workaround to trigger update on primary @FetchRequest
        primary.managedObjectContext.refresh(primary, mergeChanges: true)
        // primary.primaryName = primary.primaryName

        try? primary.managedObjectContext?.save()
        presentationMode.wrappedValue.dismiss()
    }
}

Solution 1:

I also struggled with this and found a very nice and clean solution:

You have to wrap the row in a separate view and use @ObservedObject in that row view on the entity.

Here's my code:

WineList:

struct WineList: View {
    @FetchRequest(entity: Wine.entity(), sortDescriptors: [
        NSSortDescriptor(keyPath: \Wine.name, ascending: true)
        ]
    ) var wines: FetchedResults<Wine>

    var body: some View {
        List(wines, id: \.id) { wine in
            NavigationLink(destination: WineDetail(wine: wine)) {
                WineRow(wine: wine)
            }
        }
        .navigationBarTitle("Wines")
    }
}

WineRow:

struct WineRow: View {
    @ObservedObject var wine: Wine   // !! @ObserveObject is the key!!!

    var body: some View {
        HStack {
            Text(wine.name ?? "")
            Spacer()
        }
    }
}

Solution 2:

You need a Publisher which would generate event about changes in context and some state variable in primary view to force view rebuild on receive event from that publisher.
Important: state variable must be used in view builder code, otherwise rendering engine would not know that something changed.

Here is simple modification of affected part of your code, that gives behaviour that you need.

@State private var refreshing = false
private var didSave =  NotificationCenter.default.publisher(for: .NSManagedObjectContextDidSave)

var body: some View {
    List {
        ForEach(fetchedResults) { primary in
            NavigationLink(destination: SecondaryView(primary: primary)) {
                VStack(alignment: .leading) {
                    // below use of .refreshing is just as demo,
                    // it can be use for anything
                    Text("\(primary.primaryName ?? "nil")" + (self.refreshing ? "" : ""))
                    Text("\(primary.secondary?.secondaryName ?? "nil")").font(.footnote).foregroundColor(.secondary)
                }
            }
            // here is the listener for published context event
            .onReceive(self.didSave) { _ in
                self.refreshing.toggle()
            }
        }
    }
    .navigationBarTitle("Primary List")
    .navigationBarItems(trailing:
        Button(action: {self.addNewPrimary()} ) {
            Image(systemName: "plus")
        }
    )
}

Solution 3:

An alternative method: using a Publisher and List.id():

struct ContentView: View {
  /*
    @FetchRequest...
  */

  private var didSave =  NotificationCenter.default.publisher(for: .NSManagedObjectContextDidSave)  //the publisher
  @State private var refreshID = UUID()

  var body: some View {
      List {
        ...
      }
      .id(refreshID)
      .onReceive(self.didSave) { _ in   //the listener
          self.refreshID = UUID()
          print("generated a new UUID")
      }    
  }
}

Every time you call save() of NSManagedObjects in a context, it genertates a new UUID for the List view, and it forces the List view to refresh.

Solution 4:

To fix that you have to add @ObservedObject to var primary: Primary in SecondaryView to work List properly. Primary belong to NSManagedObject class, which already conforms to @ObservableObject protocol. This way the changes in instances of Primary are observed.

import SwiftUI

extension Primary: Identifiable {}

// Primary View

struct PrimaryListView: View {
    @Environment(\.managedObjectContext) var context

    @FetchRequest(
        entity: Primary.entity(),
        sortDescriptors: [NSSortDescriptor(key: "primaryName", ascending: true)]
    )
    var fetchedResults: FetchedResults<Primary>

    var body: some View {
        List {
            ForEach(fetchedResults) { primary in
                NavigationLink(destination: SecondaryView(primary: primary)) {
                VStack(alignment: .leading) {
                    Text("\(primary.primaryName ?? "nil")")
                    Text("\(primary.secondary?.secondaryName ?? "nil")").font(.footnote).foregroundColor(.secondary)
                }
                }
            }
        }
        .navigationBarTitle("Primary List")
        .navigationBarItems(trailing:
            Button(action: {self.addNewPrimary()} ) {
                Image(systemName: "plus")
            }
        )
    }

    private func addNewPrimary() {
        let newPrimary = Primary(context: context)
        newPrimary.primaryName = "Primary created at \(Date())"
        let newSecondary = Secondary(context: context)
        newSecondary.secondaryName = "Secondary built at \(Date())"
        newPrimary.secondary = newSecondary
        try? context.save()
    }
}

struct PrimaryListView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
    static var previews: some View {
        let context = (UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate).persistentContainer.viewContext

        return NavigationView {
            PrimaryListView().environment(\.managedObjectContext, context)
        }
    }
}

// Detail View

struct SecondaryView: View {
    @Environment(\.presentationMode) var presentationMode

    @ObservedObject var primary: Primary

    @State private var newSecondaryName = ""

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            TextField("Secondary name:", text: $newSecondaryName)
                .textFieldStyle(RoundedBorderTextFieldStyle())
                .padding()
                .onAppear {self.newSecondaryName = self.primary.secondary?.secondaryName ?? "no name"}
            Button(action: {self.saveChanges()}) {
                Text("Save")
            }
            .padding()
        }
    }

    private func saveChanges() {
        primary.secondary?.secondaryName = newSecondaryName

        try? primary.managedObjectContext?.save()
        presentationMode.wrappedValue.dismiss()
    }
}