Restkit object mapping in background

Question

i am new to IOS development and Restkit. I am creating an application in which data is loaded from external webservice in json format and there are Thousands of objects of users, which are mapping in coredata.

I am loading these user as following:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
DBUser* user = [DBUser currentUser];
    if ([user isLoggedIn]) {
        [self loadRequiredData];
    }
}

Then in loadRequiredData

- (void)loadRequiredData {
    RKObjectManager *manager = [RKObjectManager sharedManager];
    manager.requestQueue.concurrentRequestsLimit = 10;
    [manager loadObjectsAtResourcePath:@"/users" delegate:self];
}

It takes almost 4-5 minutes to map all user objects in CoreData. Now the problem is that when Restkit is busy in mapping these thousands of users in CoreData, any other request sent to webservice goes to waiting. When all the users are mapped in CoreData then the waiting requests are performed.

I have even tried to increase number of ConcurrentRequestLimit to 10

manager.requestQueue.concurrentRequestsLimit = 10;

but this too don't work

So is there any way to map objects in background or in some other thread? So that any other request sent during this period should be performed quickly.

Do you need to show or make changes to these thousands of users immediately? If not, them maybe you can make use of lazy loading where your app only shows what needs to be shown when the user makes a request for that data. Think of Apple's old app store. It shows you 25 apps, then you press load 25 more, it request 25 more, it doesn't download the 650,000 apps continously. — Zhang
I am using TITokenField for sending messages. I just need to display all usernames as autocomplete, when user types a character in Recipient textfield. As for lazy loading, it seems more slow when user types character and i may have to post request to webservice to get matching names. — Khawar
You maybe be able to use UITextField delegate method shouldReplaceText: In that method, each time a user types a character, that method gets triggered. You can shoot a request with the combination of (old text field text + new string) to your web service to find users with similar names asynchronously, then display the result in a Custom View that shows a list of results. On user tap on a row, you pass that text back to your delegate view controller from your Custom View. This is independent of any external library. — Zhang

Umair Aamir Umair Aamir · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-31T06:25:55

just call the method loadRequiredData like this [self performSelectorInBackground:@selector(loadRequiredData) withObject:nil];

Restkit object mapping in background

2 Answers