Core Data: trying to find minimum date for an attribute in an entity

Question

I'm trying to find the oldest date in a particular attribute in Core Data. I've found an example in the Core Data Programming Guide that purports to do exactly that, but keep getting an unrecognized selected error when I run it.

My code (with only minimal changes from the Apple Example):

NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:@"Session" inManagedObjectContext: ctx];
[request setEntity:entity];

// Specify that the request should return dictionaries.
[request setResultType:NSDictionaryResultType];

// Create an expression for the key path.
NSExpression *keyPathExpression = [NSExpression expressionForKeyPath:@"startedAt"];

// Create an expression to represent the minimum value at the key path 'creationDate'
NSExpression *minExpression = [NSExpression expressionForFunction:@"min:" arguments:[NSArray arrayWithObject:keyPathExpression]];

// Create an expression description using the minExpression and returning a date.
NSExpressionDescription *expressionDescription = [[NSExpressionDescription alloc] init];

// The name is the key that will be used in the dictionary for the return value.
[expressionDescription setName:@"minDate"];
[expressionDescription setExpression:minExpression];
[expressionDescription setExpressionResultType:NSDateAttributeType];

// Set the request's properties to fetch just the property represented by the expressions.
[request setPropertiesToFetch:[NSArray arrayWithObject:expressionDescription]];

// Execute the fetch.
NSError *error;
NSArray *objects = [ctx executeFetchRequest:request error:&error];

And the error:

-[NSCalendarDate count]: unrecognized selector sent to instance ...

Which is strange given that 1) NSCalendarDate is deprecated and 2) I'm definitely not calling count.

Any help would be most appreciated!

Is "startedAt" Defined as NSDate ? and is it indexed. I have used almost the exact code to you and it works great. I think it is better than using a sort — Ryan Heitner, Oct 15 '15 at 08:01

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '10 at 21:57

16

Why not just add a sort descriptor to sort by startedDate ascending, and then only have the fetch request return 1 object?

answered May 10 '10 at 21:57

Dave DeLong

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Well, obviously because I wasn't thinking... :-) That works. Thanks! – AndrewO May 11 '10 at 02:56
That's… very intelligent. Applause. – duci9y Oct 18 '13 at 14:59
I think that using an expression over a sort would be more efficient. – Ryan Heitner Oct 15 '15 at 07:56

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 15 '15 at 08:03

This is my code which does work. I cannot see any significant difference to your own code and perhaps it is in the definition of the core data model. Make sure your date is NSDate and it is indexed.

- (NSDate *)lastSync:(PHAssetMediaType)mediaType {
    NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription  entityForName:kMediaItemEntity inManagedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext];

    NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
    fetchRequest.entity = entity;
    fetchRequest.resultType = NSDictionaryResultType;

    NSMutableArray *predicates = [NSMutableArray array];
    [predicates addObject:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"%K=%d", kMediaType,mediaType]];
    [predicates addObject:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"%K=%d", kMediaProviderType,self.mediaProviderType]];
    NSPredicate *predicate = [NSCompoundPredicate andPredicateWithSubpredicates: predicates];
    fetchRequest.predicate = predicate;

    // Create an expression for the key path.

    NSExpression *keyPathExpression = [NSExpression expressionForKeyPath:kSyncTime];
    // Create an expression to represent the function you want to apply

    NSExpression *maxExpression = [NSExpression expressionForFunction:@"max:"
                                                            arguments:@[keyPathExpression]];

    // Create an expression description using the maxExpression and returning a date.
    NSExpressionDescription *expressionDescription = [[NSExpressionDescription alloc] init];
    [expressionDescription setName:@"maxDate"];
    [expressionDescription setExpression:maxExpression];
    [expressionDescription setExpressionResultType:NSDateAttributeType];

    // Set the request's properties to fetch just the property represented by the expressions.
    fetchRequest.propertiesToFetch = @[expressionDescription] ; // @[kSyncTime];

    NSError *fetchError = nil;
    id requestedValue = nil;

    // fetch stored media
    NSArray *results = [self.managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:fetchRequest error:&fetchError];
    if (fetchError || results == nil || results.count == 0) {
        return [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSince1970:0];
    }
    requestedValue = [[results objectAtIndex:0] valueForKey:@"maxDate"];
    if (![requestedValue isKindOfClass:[NSDate class]]) {
        return [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSince1970:0];
    }
    DDLogDebug(@"sync date %@",requestedValue);
    return (NSDate *)requestedValue;
}

Core Data: trying to find minimum date for an attribute in an entity

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