Question

I’m building an app that starts off with a UITableView however the first time I build and run my app on my phone the UITableView shows up empty. If I stop the run then re-build and run it again all the data shows up. Also If the app is already on my phone it builds and runs fine. It’s just the first initial build and run when it “installs” the app on my phone that leaves the UITableView empty. I’m curious if this is going to cause any problems with apple when they review my app? And is there anything that I am doing wrong to make this happen?

note: the UITableView is being populated from a plist which is being moved to the documents directory. My original thought was that the UITableView is trying to populate the list before the plist has successfully been moved to the documents directory. So I tried to call [self.tableView reloadData]; at the end of viewDidLoad method but I got the same result.

@implementation AppDelegate

- (void)createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded
{
    //TESTING FOR EXISTENCE
    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    NSArray *searchPaths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *documentsDirectory = [searchPaths lastObject];
    NSString *writeableDBPath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"ScotchList.plist"];

    BOOL dbexists = [fileManager fileExistsAtPath:writeableDBPath];
    if (!dbexists) {
        // The writeable database does not exist, so copy the default to the appropriate location.
        NSString *defaultDBPath = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"ScotchList.plist"];

        NSError *error;
        BOOL success = [fileManager copyItemAtPath:defaultDBPath toPath:writeableDBPath error:&error];
        if (!success) {
            NSAssert1(0, @"Failed to create writeable database file with message '%@'.", [error localizedDescription]);
        }
    }
}

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    self.window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];
    // Override point for customization after application launch.
    if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] userInterfaceIdiom] == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPhone) {
        MasterViewController *masterViewController = [[MasterViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"MasterViewController_iPhone" bundle:nil];
        self.navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:masterViewController];

        self.window.rootViewController = self.navigationController;
    } else {
        MasterViewController *masterViewController = [[MasterViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"MasterViewController_iPad" bundle:nil];
        UINavigationController *masterNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:masterViewController];

        DetailViewController *detailViewController = [[DetailViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"DetailViewController_iPad" bundle:nil];
        UINavigationController *detailNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:detailViewController];

        masterViewController.detailViewController = detailViewController;

        self.splitViewController = [[UISplitViewController alloc] init];
        self.splitViewController.delegate = detailViewController;
        self.splitViewController.viewControllers = @[masterNavigationController, detailNavigationController];

        self.window.rootViewController = self.splitViewController;
    }
    [self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
    [self createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded];
    [application setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque];
    return YES;
}

MasterViewController.m

- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super viewWillAppear:animated];
    self.sections = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
    BOOL found;

    // Loop through the whiskys and create our keys
    for (NSMutableDictionary *whisky in self.drinks)
    {
        NSString *c = [[whisky objectForKey:NAME_KEY] substringToIndex:1];

        found = NO;

        for (NSString *str in [self.sections allKeys])
        {
            if ([str isEqualToString:c])
            {
                found = YES;
            }
        }

        if (!found)
        {
            [self.sections setValue:[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] forKey:c];
        }
    }
    // Loop again and sort the whiskys into their respective keys
    for (NSMutableDictionary *whisky in self.drinks)
    {
        [[self.sections objectForKey:[[whisky objectForKey:NAME_KEY] substringToIndex:1]] addObject:whisky];
    }
    // Sort each section array
    for (NSString *key in [self.sections allKeys])
    {
        [[self.sections objectForKey:key] sortUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:[NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:NAME_KEY ascending:YES]]];
    }
        [self.tableView reloadData];
}

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.582d0e
    self.navigationController.navigationBar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlack;
    self.navigationController.navigationBar.tintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0x015/255.0 green:0x04/255.0 blue:0x04/255.0 alpha:1];
    self.tableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"cellBackground.png"]];
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = self.editButtonItem;
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem.tintColor = [UIColor redColor];
    self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem.tintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0x3e/255.0 green:0x3e/255.0 blue:0x3e/255.0 alpha:1];
    UIBarButtonItem *addButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd target:self action:@selector(insertNewObject:)];
    self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = addButton;
    self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem.tintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0x015/255.0 green:0x04/255.0 blue:0x04/255.0 alpha:1];

    UIImage *titleImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"whiskeyTitle.png"];
    self.navigationItem.titleView = [[UIImageView alloc]initWithImage:titleImage];

    NSArray *searchPaths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *documentsDirectory = [searchPaths lastObject];
    NSString *writeableDBPath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"ScotchList.plist"];

    NSMutableArray *tmpArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc]initWithContentsOfFile:writeableDBPath];

    self.drinks = tmpArray;
    deletedDrink = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self 
                                             selector:@selector(applicationDidEnterBackground:) 
                                                 name:UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification
                                               object:nil];

    //Register for application exiting information so we can save data
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]addObserver:self selector:@selector(applicationWillTerminate:) name:UIApplicationWillTerminateNotification object:nil];

    bookCover = [[UIImageView alloc]init];
    bookCover.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"Default.png"];
    openBookButton = [[UIButton alloc]init];
    [openBookButton addTarget:self action:@selector(goToPage:flipUp:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    bookCover.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 480);
    openBookButton.frame = bookCover.frame;

    [self.navigationController.view addSubview:bookCover];
    [self.navigationController.view addSubview:openBookButton];
    [self.tableView reloadData];
}

OK UPDATE

I have NSLog()‘d my array that pulls from the plist in the viewDidLoad when the app is initially built and ran (installed) on the phone it logs null. If I stop and re-build and run it returns the information from the plist (not null).

Answer 1

GOT IT. Basically I have a method in my appDelegate.m (createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded) that checks for a database (in my case a plist) inside my documents directory. If there is already an existing plist it will not overwrite it. If there isn’t a plist then it moves the plist that I have shipped with the app to the documents directory. then inside of applicationDidFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method I called [self createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded]; which seems like it should be all good. However inside of the applicationDidFinishLaunchingWithOptions method there is the if statement to check the currentDevice userInterfaceIdiom I was calling [self createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded]; after the if and the else that checks the interfaceIdiom. I simply just moved up into the if statement where the userInterfaceIdiom is the iPhone.

Below I have commented where the issue was and where I moved it to solve it.

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    self.window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];
    // Override point for customization after application launch.
    if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] userInterfaceIdiom] == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPhone) {
        MasterViewController *masterViewController = [[MasterViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"MasterViewController_iPhone" bundle:nil];
        self.navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:masterViewController];

        self.window.rootViewController = self.navigationController;

        //THIS WAS THE SOLUTION RIGHT BELOW.
        [self createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded];
    } else {
        MasterViewController *masterViewController = [[MasterViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"MasterViewController_iPad" bundle:nil];
        UINavigationController *masterNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:masterViewController];

        DetailViewController *detailViewController = [[DetailViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"DetailViewController_iPad" bundle:nil];
        UINavigationController *detailNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:detailViewController];

        masterViewController.detailViewController = detailViewController;

        self.splitViewController = [[UISplitViewController alloc] init];
        self.splitViewController.delegate = detailViewController;
        self.splitViewController.viewControllers = @[masterNavigationController, detailNavigationController];

        self.window.rootViewController = self.splitViewController;
    }
    [self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
    //THIS IS WHERE [self createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded]; WAS ORIGINALLY WHICH WAS CAUSING THE PROBLEM
    [application setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque];
    return YES;
}