NSMetadataQuery doesn't finish gathering (no notification)

Question

I'm making a backup managrer for my App (via iCloud). I did some tests and the basics worked. But few days later it stopped. I'm using NSMetadataQuery for searching if backup file exists. My backup files are named e.g. Backup29112011154133.xml where numbers represent date of the backup (formatted as ddMMyyyyHHmmss). I check for it in -viewDidAppear:

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [self checkForRemoteFile];
}

- (void)checkForRemoteFile {
    NSURL *ubiq = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLForUbiquityContainerIdentifier:nil];
    if (ubiq) {
        NSMetadataQuery *query = [[NSMetadataQuery alloc] init];
        [query setSearchScopes:[NSArray arrayWithObject:NSMetadataQueryUbiquitousDocumentsScope]];
        NSPredicate *pred = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"%K like 'Backup*'",NSMetadataItemFSNameKey];
        [query setPredicate:pred];
        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(queryDidFinishGathering:) name:NSMetadataQueryDidFinishGatheringNotification object:query];
        [query startQuery];
    } else {
        UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"iCloud is unavailable at the moment" message:nil delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Close" otherButtonTitles:nil];
        [alert setTag:TAG_ALERT_NOICLOUD];
        [alert show];
    }
}

- (void)queryDidFinishGathering:(NSNotification *)notif {
    NSMetadataQuery *query = [notif object];
    [query disableUpdates];
    [query stopQuery];
    [self loadRemoteFile:query];
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name:NSMetadataQueryDidFinishGatheringNotification object:query];
}

- (void)loadRemoteFile:(NSMetadataQuery *)query {
    if ([query resultCount] == 1) {
        canRestore = YES;
        NSMetadataItem *item = [query resultAtIndex:0];
        // parse the backup file
        [self.tableView reloadData];
    } else {
        canRestore = NO;
        modifDate = @"never";
        backupInfoLoaded = YES;
        [self.tableView reloadData];
    }
}

The problem is that - (void)queryDidFinishGathering:(NSNotification *)notif is never executed. I put breakpints and NSLogs ion there but nothing happend.

I also tried to check for other notifications e.g. 'query did start gathering' and 'query process'. Only 'query did start' notification is posted.

I also have AppID with iCloud registered and entitlements file attached.

Can you help me out what's going on? Maybe I missed something?

Answer 1

First of all NSMetadataQuery doesn't works if startQuery was called not from the MaintThread. There is possibility that predicate fails for every path also. Following code works for me.

NSURL *mobileDocumentsDirectoryURL = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLForUbiquityContainerIdentifier:nil];
...
query.predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%%K like \"%@*\"", [mobileDocumentsDirectoryURL path]], NSMetadataItemPathKey];
[query startQuery];

Answer 2

FIXED by creating ivar for NSMetadataQuery.

I don't know why the application can't read data without NSMetadataquery ivar.