Setting up CoreDataLab for a macOS project
Sometime ago I bought this app called Core Data Lab. The app helps inspect CoreData stores created by my mac apps. This is very handy when building Mac apps (probably iOS apps too – I haven't tried it).
Sharing notes here because it took me a while to figure out how to get the app setup and running for my project – I'm just getting started with building apps with Swift.
The entire walkthrough assumes that you are using Xcode to build your mac app.
Open CoreDataLab
Click on “Create a new Core Data Lab project”.
Choose your app file (the one you are building)
When creating a new CoreDataLab project, the app file has to be chosen first.
- Click on “Select App”. This opens the file picker window.
- If you are using Xcode to build your mac app, then the use the keyboard shortcut
cmd+shift+G
to invoke a prompt to enter a custom folder path - Enter the path
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData
and hit the enter key - Within this directory, look for your app's folder.
If your app is called Hello
, then the folder would look something like Hello-23erwfaewra
(some random string follows the folder name).
Within your app's directory, navigate into the following folder structure to find your .app
file.
Build
-> Projects
-> Debug
-> Hello.app
After selecting the app, continue to setup the database path
- Like how the app was selected, click on “Select database”
- Use the
cmd+shift+G
shortcut to enter a custom path - If your app's identifier is
app.example.Hello
, then look for a directory like below:
~/Library/Containers/app.example.Hello/
Once inside, navigate to the following path to find the SQLite database file (path depends on your app name).
Data
-> Library
-> Application Support
-> Hello
-> Hello.sqlite
The final path will look something like below. Click on the “Continue” button to proceed.
~/Library/Containers/app.example.Hello/Data/Library/Application Support/Hello/Hello.sqlite
Final step: Give your project a name
Once the project is named, that is the end of the setup. Feel free to explore the data for your CoreData models.
Link – Core Data Lab website