How to browse Core Data in my app running on my iPhone?

Question

I'm working on an iPhone project that uses core data and trying to figure out a way to browse easily how data is being stored. Specifically, I am storing images in core data, and want to see how much space they're taking up, etc.

I've found an app called "Core Data Editor" that lets you browse core data on an iPhone simulator, but it's not really useful in my case since, I am storing images taken from camera. Is there a way to easily browse what is being stored on my app?

Answer 1

If you don't need to see this information in real time, Xcode's Organizer will allow you to download the sandbox directory of any development apps on the device:

1. Connect the device to your Mac.
2. Open Xcode's Organizer window to the Devices tab.
3. In the source list, select the Applications item under your device.
4. Pick your application from the list in the main part of the window.
5. Use the Download button at the bottom of the window to copy the sandbox directory to your Mac.
6. The data is downloaded in a package, so right-click it in the Finder, and select Show Package Contents.

From there, any of the many tools available to open/inspect Core Data storage or SQLite databases should work for you.

You can also use this package when running your app in the simulator or on the device to force the run into a known state. That can be tremendously helpful when debugging things like Core Data migrations or strange invalid states.

Answer 2

To view Coredata from a device :

Plug in the device -

Start Xcode

On the top Xcode menu -

Select Window -

Select Devices -

Select your device -

Select the app -

Select the settings icon (gear shaped symbol to the right of "+ -") -

Select Download container -

Save it to a folder -

It will have an extension of ".xcappdata" -

Open FireFox

(If you dont already have it - get the FireFox SQLite Manager browser plug in) Select the SQLite Manager icon on the top right (looks like a barrel with stripes)

Select the open folder icon

change Format [SQLite DB files] to All Files

Browse to and Select your database

In addition to the tables and columns (sorry - Entities and Attributes ) you created in Coredata - you will see a few extra columns created by CoreData itself.

Hope this helps somebody. It's a bit of a bear, but worth the trouble to see your database "in the flesh"

Answer 3

PonyDebugger is the tool you need, it lets you browse your Core Data store and many other aspects of your running application. It's free, just download, add to your app, and run the local server on your development computer that Pony Debugger talks to.

Answer 4

Find the location of the sqlite database on your sim.

Then, in Terminal, use a command like this:

sqlite3 myDataBase.sqlite

At the prompt sqlite>, type

.dump

On the simulator, it will be located somewhere like:

~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/[OS version]/Applications/[appGUID]/