Beginning Cloudkit Part 2 Containers & DBs

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In this video, you'll gain an overview of all the various parts of the CloudKit framework which you can access in your app.

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About Containers and Databases

Multiple apps and users have access to iCloud, but data is segregated and encapsulated in partitions called containers. The containers belonging to your app cannot be accessed by apps from another developer. However, your apps can share containers. Multiple apps can share the same container, and one app can use multiple containers. There’s one default container per app, but you can create additional custom containers. The identifier for the default container matches the app’s bundle ID. The other container IDs you specify need to be unique across all developer accounts.

An app has access to both a public and private database in each container. The public database is for storing user and app data that is shared between all instances of the app. By default, all users can read the public database, but they need to enter iCloud credentials to write to the public database. There’s a private database for each user of your app, but the app only has access to the private database of the current user. The user has to enter iCloud credentials for the app to read and write to the private database.

Setup

To perform all the steps in this document, you need:

A Mac computer with Xcode 6 or later installed

For the best experience, the latest OS X and Xcode releases installed

An Xcode project that builds without errors

Membership in the Apple Developer Program

Permission to enable CloudKit in your developer account

Verify that you have performed these tasks before you begin using CloudKit. For step-by-step instructions, read App Distribution Quick Start.

If you successfully complete the preceding tasks, the error message and Fix Issue button below the Team pop-up menu in the General pane disappears. The screenshot below shows the General pane for an iOS app when the code signing assets are successfully created.

For complete steps on creating a team provisioning profile, read App Distribution Quick Start. To troubleshoot code signing and provisioning, read Troubleshooting in App Distribution Guide.

Enable iCloud and Select CloudKit

CloudKit is one of three app services provided by iCloud. The other iCloud app services—key-value storage and iCloud documents—also appear in the iCloud settings in Xcode. To use CloudKit, you first enable iCloud and then select the CloudKit service.

Important: When you select CloudKit, Xcode creates a default container ID based on the bundle ID. Because you can’t delete iCloud containers, verify that your bundle ID is correct in the General pane in Xcode before selecting CloudKit. To change your bundle ID, read Set the Bundle ID in App Distribution Quick Start.
To enable iCloud and select CloudKit

In the Capabilities pane, select the switch in the iCloud row.
Xcode provisions your app to use iCloud. (Key-value storage is enabled by default.)

Select the CloudKit checkbox.
Xcode creates a default CloudKit container based on the bundle ID and adds the CloudKit framework to your project.

Your app can now store data and documents in iCloud.

Access CloudKit Dashboard

Use CloudKit Dashboard to manage your CloudKit container schema and records. The schema describes the organization of records, fields, and relationships in a database. A record is an instance of a record type. In a relational database, a record type corresponds to a table and a record corresponds to a row in a table.

To sign in to CloudKit Dashboard

In the iCloud settings in the Capabilities pane, click CloudKit Dashboard.