News

Core Data Lab 2.1: One-to-many @count filters

July 14, 2022 — by Ron Elemans

Version 2.1 of Core Data Lab contains a few important Predicate editor improvements, a Preferences panel rearrangement, and some small enhancements.

Predicate editor

The Predicate editor has received the following improvements:

• One-to-many relationships can now be filtered using predefined @count filters. The probably most important filters are these:
  • @count = 0 returns all objects of the current entity that have no related objects for the selected relationship.
  • @count > 0 returns all objects that have one or more related objects for the selected relationship.
• UUID type attributes can now be filtered with is and is not comparison operators, in additions to the existing is nil and is not nil operators.
• URI type attributes can now be filtered with all standard string operators.
• A result counter is now being shown at the right upper side of the Predicate editor. You can hide it via the View main menu.
• Sorting of attributes in the dropdown lists has been fixed for all entity types, including sub entities.

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News Explorer 1.11: Faster initial sync and more

April 18, 2022 — by Ron Elemans

Version 1.11 of News Explorer introduces important sync performance improvements and a few other new features.

Sync performance improvements

Syncing with iCloud can sometimes be very slow, especially when you sync for the first time on a new device while you have a lot of News Explorer data stored in iCloud. Slow syncing is extra problematic on iOS and iPad devices, because when you switch to another app while syncing, the sync procedure stops because of the completely outdated background processing limitations implemented by Apple.

We implemented the following two new features to improve syncing speed:

• Data snapshots dramatically speeds up synchronisation with iCloud when syncing on a new device or on a device that hasn’t be used for some time. Snapshots are automatically saved to iCloud on a daily basis, as part of the standard sync procedure. A data snapshot stored in iCloud can be used by all devices with News Explorer 1.11 or newer. The new data snapshot feature includes the following extras:
  • The Storage tab of the Preferences contains a new Data Snapshots section with status info and new settings. With these new settings you can determine if the app should generate and store data snapshots, and you can define if and when data snapshots are being used for data synchronisation.
  • Tapping or clicking on the Info icon in the Data Snapshots preferences section will open a new page with even more details, and options to delete or manually generate a new data snapshot.
  • The Resync All function has been updated to make use of Data snapshots when one is available and the usage is allowed according the new Data snapshot settings.
• Responsive initial syncing is a special new way of data downloading that is being used when syncing for the first time with iCloud, and when there is no data snapshot available. This initial syncing operation is focused on downloading and presenting the current data stored in iCloud as fast as possible, while keeping the app responsive and fully useable.

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Movie Explorer Pro 2.4: Native Apple Silicon support

March 7, 2022 — by Ron Elemans

Movie Explorer Pro 2.4 introduces native support for Apple Silicon Macs, and improved support for modern media formats like 4K HDR video and spatial audio.

Native Apple Silicon support

Movie Explorer Pro 2.4 is a Universal macOS Binary that runs natively on both Apple Silicon Macs and Intel Macs. Of all our apps, Movie Explorer Pro was the hardest app to recompile as Universal macOS Binary because of the dependency on a few complex external libraries. Especially the OpenCV library that forms the foundation for barcode scanning was difficult to recompile. With the recompilation of the MediaInfo library we were able to add support for HDR metadata detection, which is a huge bonus for users with HDR displays or TV sets.

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Core Data Lab 2.0

February 24, 2022 — by Ron Elemans

Version 2.0 of Core Data Lab completes the Big Sur annex Monterey style adoption started in the previous version, including updated app and document icons, and adds a lot of frequently asked enhancements. Core Data Lab 2.0 is a free update for all current Core Data Lab users.

File import

Importing data was the number one feature request for Core Data Lab. In version 2.0 you can now import JSON and CSV files on entity level. To start an import, select an entity in the sidebar and choose one of the import menu items in the Data menu or right-click context menu. Some attention points:

• The JSON import function supports import of all first level relationship data of the selected entity.
• To import CSV files, macOS 12 or newer is required because the CSV import function makes use of the brand new TabularData framework.
• Data formatting of the files must be identical to the export files of Core Data Lab. Technical specifications can be found in article Exporting data in the Core Data Lab Help.
• All attribute types can be imported, except NSAttributeType.transformableAttributeType.

File export

The existing export functions have been extended and improved, to make them compatible with the new import functions:

• It is now possible to include relationship data when exporting data to a JSON file. The export dialog includes a checkbox to toggle this on or off. The relationship data concerns all first level relationship data of the entity that is being exported.
• The CSV export features improved support for boolean, date and binary data.
• You can now select the separator character when exporting to a CSV file.

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