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Core Data Lab 2.3: Persistent column configurations

May 16, 2023 — by Ron Elemans

Version 2.3 of Core Data Lab features persistent column configurations for saved predicates, font size settings for grids, several predicate editor improvements, a few fixes and a lot of other enhancements.

Persistent column configurations

Often when working with predicates, you are only interested in a subset of the available columns, and not seldom you want them presented in a different order. Hiding and reordering columns was already possible in previous versions of Core Data Lab. Starting with this update, the selection, order and sorting of columns of the main data grid are now saved as part of a stored predicate within the Core Data Lab project, when you save a new predicate or when you adjust an existing saved predicate. The Grid view subsection of the View data section in the Core Data Lab Help contains detailed instructions how to change the position, visibility and sorting of columns.


Core Data Lab 2.3

Grid font size settings

The font size of the main and relationship grids can now be changed via menu View > Grid Font Size, or via setting Font size in the Grid subsection of the Tables tabpage in the Core Data Lab Settings, or Preferences if you use macOS 12 or older.

Predicate editor improvements

The following enhancements have been made to the Predicate editor:

  • When opening the Predicate editor, the first control is focused if it concerns a string type attribute.
  • Attributes named ‘title’ or ‘name’ are preselected if available, when the editor is opened with an Entity selected in the sidebar.
  • The default name when saving a new predicate includes now the first selection phrase, when it concerns a string type attribute. This makes it easier to save predicates without thinking about distinctive names.

Other improvements

This update contains the following additional enhancements:

  • You can now copy saved predicates in the sidebar as text, Swift code or Objective-C code, by using the Copy Predicate As right-click context menu item.
  • Detection of Apple Watch apps and databases has been improved in the Simulator browser.
  • Automatic repair of projects with apps and databases running in a simulator has been improved. There is one limitation: Apple Watch apps require watchOS 8 or newer, the auto repair fails with older versions.
  • Detection of database file deletions has been improved. When database files are moved to the bin, and the bin is being emptied, the Core Data Lab project re-opens itself with the Project settings dialog in front. From there you can browse for another database, or simply reopen the database after restoring the deleted files.
  • The styling of the Project settings dialog has been aligned with other dialogs in the app. Furthermore the dialog presents now more information about the status of the project files, with suggestions for a solution when something is wrong. The Project settings dialog can be opened via menu item File > Project Settings.
  • The Content preview panel is now able to display more binary data formats, including MP4, WEBP, JPEG and GIF media.

Bug fixes

The following issues has been fixed:

  • Fixed a bug related to autosizing columns.
  • Fixed multiple ‘Index is out of range’ bugs.
  • Restored the possibility to delete objects while in tracking modus.
  • Hitting Enter on a row while in read-only modus will no longer result in an error message.

Other changes

A crash reporter based on Microsoft App Center has been implemented. We hope that this will help us to detect the cause of a few mysterious crashes that we see in the regular Xcode crash reporter. We will remove the integration once the said crashes are solved or when the integration is no longer useful.

Downloads

Core Data Lab owners can download the update for free from the Mac App Store. If you are not yet a Core Data Lab user, you can try the app for free, 14 days long.


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