How can I create instances of managed object subclasses in a NSManagedObject Swift extension?
(Updated for Swift 3/4 now. Solutions for earlier Swift versionscan be found in the edit history.)
You can use unsafeDowncast
to cast the return valueof NSEntityDescription.insertNewObject()
to Self
(which is the type on which the method is actually called):
extension NSManagedObject { class func create(in context: NSManagedObjectContext) -> Self { let classname = entityName() let object = NSEntityDescription.insertNewObject(forEntityName: classname, into: context) return unsafeDowncast(object, to: self) } // Returns the unqualified class name, i.e. the last component. // Can be overridden in a subclass. class func entityName() -> String { return String(describing: self) }}
Then
let obj = YourEntity.createInContext(context)
works and the compiler infers the type of obj
correctly as YourEntity
.
Here is a different approach to solve the problem, by implementingan initializer method (tested with Xcode 7.1):
extension NSManagedObject { // Returns the unqualified class name, i.e. the last component. // Can be overridden in a subclass. class func entityName() -> String { return String(self) } convenience init(context: NSManagedObjectContext) { let eName = self.dynamicType.entityName() let entity = NSEntityDescription.entityForName(eName, inManagedObjectContext: context)! self.init(entity: entity, insertIntoManagedObjectContext: context) }}
Init methods have an implicit return type of Self
and no castingtricks are necessary.
let obj = YourEntity(context: context)
creates an object of the YourEntity
type.
Swift 3/4 update:
extension NSManagedObject { // Returns the unqualified class name, i.e. the last component. // Can be overridden in a subclass. class func entityName() -> String { return String(describing: self) } convenience init(context: NSManagedObjectContext) { let eName = type(of: self).entityName() let entity = NSEntityDescription.entity(forEntityName: eName, in: context)! self.init(entity: entity, insertInto: context) }}
In Swift 2 there is a very smart solution using a protocol and a protocol extension
protocol Fetchable{ typealias FetchableType: NSManagedObject static var entityName : String { get } static func createInContext(context: NSManagedObjectContext) -> FetchableType}extension Fetchable where Self : NSManagedObject, FetchableType == Self{ static func createInContext(context: NSManagedObjectContext) -> FetchableType { return NSEntityDescription.insertNewObjectForEntityForName(entityName, inManagedObjectContext: context) as! FetchableType }}
In each NSManagedObject
subclass add the protocol Fetchable
and implement the property entityName
.
Now the function MyEntity.createInContext(…)
will return the proper type without further type casting.