How can I tell whether an `NSManagedObject` has been deleted?

Question

I have an NSManagedObject that has been deleted, and the context containing that managed object has been saved. I understand that isDeleted returns

Answer 1

UPDATE: An improved answer, based on James Huddleston's ideas in the discussion below.

- (BOOL)hasManagedObjectBeenDeleted:(NSManagedObject *)managedObject {
    /*
     Returns YES if |managedObject| has been deleted from the Persistent Store, 
     or NO if it has not.

     NO will be returned for NSManagedObject's who have been marked for deletion
     (e.g. their -isDeleted method returns YES), but have not yet been commited 
     to the Persistent Store. YES will be returned only after a deleted 
     NSManagedObject has been committed to the Persistent Store.

     Rarely, an exception will be thrown if Mac OS X 10.5 is used AND 
     |managedObject| has zero properties defined. If all your NSManagedObject's 
     in the data model have at least one property, this will not be an issue.

     Property == Attributes and Relationships

     Mac OS X 10.4 and earlier are not supported, and will throw an exception.
     */

    NSParameterAssert(managedObject);
    NSManagedObjectContext *moc = [self managedObjectContext];

    // Check for Mac OS X 10.6+
    if ([moc respondsToSelector:@selector(existingObjectWithID:error:)])
    {
        NSManagedObjectID   *objectID           = [managedObject objectID];
        NSManagedObject     *managedObjectClone = [moc existingObjectWithID:objectID error:NULL];

        if (!managedObjectClone)
            return YES;                 // Deleted.
        else
            return NO;                  // Not deleted.
    }

    // Check for Mac OS X 10.5
    else if ([moc respondsToSelector:@selector(countForFetchRequest:error:)])
    {
        // 1) Per Apple, "may" be nil if |managedObject| deleted but not always.
        if (![managedObject managedObjectContext])
            return YES;                 // Deleted.


        // 2) Clone |managedObject|. All Properties will be un-faulted if 
        //    deleted. -objectWithID: always returns an object. Assumed to exist
        //    in the Persistent Store. If it does not exist in the Persistent 
        //    Store, firing a fault on any of its Properties will throw an 
        //    exception (#3).
        NSManagedObjectID *objectID             = [managedObject objectID];
        NSManagedObject   *managedObjectClone   = [moc objectWithID:objectID];


        // 3) Fire fault for a single Property.
        NSEntityDescription *entityDescription  = [managedObjectClone entity];
        NSDictionary        *propertiesByName   = [entityDescription propertiesByName];
        NSArray             *propertyNames      = [propertiesByName allKeys];

        NSAssert1([propertyNames count] != 0, @"Method cannot detect if |managedObject| has been deleted because it has zero Properties defined: %@", managedObject);

        @try
        {
            // If the property throws an exception, |managedObject| was deleted.
            (void)[managedObjectClone valueForKey:[propertyNames objectAtIndex:0]];
            return NO;                  // Not deleted.
        }
        @catch (NSException *exception)
        {
            if ([[exception name] isEqualToString:NSObjectInaccessibleException])
                return YES;             // Deleted.
            else
                [exception raise];      // Unknown exception thrown.
        }
    }

    // Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier is not supported.
    else
    {
        NSAssert(0, @"Unsupported version of Mac OS X detected.");
    }
}

---

OLD/DEPRECIATED ANSWER:

I wrote a slightly better method. self is your Core Data class/controller.

- (BOOL)hasManagedObjectBeenDeleted:(NSManagedObject *)managedObject
{
    // 1) Per Apple, "may" be nil if |managedObject| was deleted but not always.
    if (![managedObject managedObjectContext])
        return YES;                 // Deleted.

    // 2) Clone |managedObject|. All Properties will be un-faulted if deleted.
    NSManagedObjectID *objectID             = [managedObject objectID];
    NSManagedObject   *managedObjectClone   = [[self managedObjectContext] objectWithID:objectID];      // Always returns an object. Assumed to exist in the Persistent Store. If it does not exist in the Persistent Store, firing a fault on any of its Properties will throw an exception.

    // 3) Fire faults for Properties. If any throw an exception, it was deleted.
    NSEntityDescription *entityDescription  = [managedObjectClone entity];
    NSDictionary        *propertiesByName   = [entityDescription propertiesByName];
    NSArray             *propertyNames      = [propertiesByName allKeys];

    @try
    {
        for (id propertyName in propertyNames)
            (void)[managedObjectClone valueForKey:propertyName];
        return NO;                  // Not deleted.
    }
    @catch (NSException *exception)
    {
        if ([[exception name] isEqualToString:NSObjectInaccessibleException])
            return YES;             // Deleted.
        else
            [exception raise];      // Unknown exception thrown. Handle elsewhere.
    }
}

---

As James Huddleston mentioned in his answer, checking to see if NSManagedObject's -managedObjectContext returns nil is a "pretty good" way of seeing if a cached/stale NSManagedObject has been deleted from the Persistent Store, but it's not always accurate as Apple states in their docs:

This method may return nil if the receiver has been deleted from its context.

When won't it return nil? If you acquire a different NSManagedObject using the deleted NSManagedObject's -objectID like so:

// 1) Create a new NSManagedObject, save it to the Persistant Store.
CoreData        *coreData = ...;
NSManagedObject *apple    = [coreData addManagedObject:@"Apple"];

[apple setValue:@"Mcintosh" forKey:@"name"];
[coreData saveMOCToPersistentStore];


// 2) The `apple` will not be deleted.
NSManagedObjectContext *moc = [apple managedObjectContext];

if (!moc)
    NSLog(@"2 - Deleted.");
else
    NSLog(@"2 - Not deleted.");   // This prints. The `apple` has just been created.



// 3) Mark the `apple` for deletion in the MOC.
[[coreData managedObjectContext] deleteObject:apple];

moc = [apple managedObjectContext];

if (!moc)
    NSLog(@"3 - Deleted.");
else
    NSLog(@"3 - Not deleted.");   // This prints. The `apple` has not been saved to the Persistent Store yet, so it will still have a -managedObjectContext.


// 4) Now tell the MOC to delete the `apple` from the Persistent Store.
[coreData saveMOCToPersistentStore];

moc = [apple managedObjectContext];

if (!moc)
    NSLog(@"4 - Deleted.");       // This prints. -managedObjectContext returns nil.
else
    NSLog(@"4 - Not deleted.");


// 5) What if we do this? Will the new apple have a nil managedObjectContext or not?
NSManagedObjectID *deletedAppleObjectID = [apple objectID];
NSManagedObject   *appleClone           = [[coreData managedObjectContext] objectWithID:deletedAppleObjectID];

moc = [appleClone managedObjectContext];

if (!moc)
    NSLog(@"5 - Deleted.");
else
    NSLog(@"5 - Not deleted.");   // This prints. -managedObjectContext does not return nil!


// 6) Finally, let's use the method I wrote, -hasManagedObjectBeenDeleted:
BOOL deleted = [coreData hasManagedObjectBeenDeleted:appleClone];

if (deleted)
    NSLog(@"6 - Deleted.");       // This prints.
else
    NSLog(@"6 - Not deleted.");

Here's the printout:

2 - Not deleted.
3 - Not deleted.
4 - Deleted.
5 - Not deleted.
6 - Deleted.

As you can see, -managedObjectContext won't always return nil if an NSManagedObject has been deleted from the Persistent Store.