Clearing Swift App Data

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Created Jan ’24

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Swift Newbie here... I've been coding for a very long time, but never on Apple platform until now. I'm walking my way through tutorials and examples, and trying this and that.

Today I'm trying to learn how to clear extraneous SwiftData schemas from the persistent data store on my MacOS platform. I created an App named 'Xyz' that's just the sample App that is created when one chooses File->New->Project..., built it and ran it. It supports creation of a persistent list of items, and after learning what I could from the code I deleted the project folder and moved on to the next 'lesson'. Now I find that the items that were created when I ran the Xyz App are still out there, somewhere. I need to remove them, but I cannot seem to find any info on where they are stored or how to remove them.

In my experience, discarding extraneous application data is a fundamental task normally performed over and over during early stages of application development. I understand the Migration Path concept, but that seems way too complex for Apps that are nothing more than learning environments...

Help?

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Answer 1

zubbyfett OP

Jan ’24

Since posting this I've continued to research and was able to locate the data store in question. I downloaded a copy of DB Browser for SQLite, and using it and a series of tests I was able to verify that I have identified the correct location. So now I can manipulate or delete the data as I choose. So, I found the location to be:

/Users/<user>/Library/Containers/<developer>.<application>/Data/Library/Application Support/default.store

Where: <user> is the user login name under which the Xcode development environment is being run. <developer> is the developer's name. I'm not sure if that description is correct, but for me, it's the Fictitious Name under which I develop software. <application> is the name of the application.

In order to see these folders one must enable viewing of Hidden Folders (Command + Shift + .) within Finder. It's a pretty lengthy path, so it seems like an opportunity for scripting or something. Maybe I'll feel different as I learn more.

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Answer 2

zubbyfett OP

Jan ’24

I should add that I found a post by Paul Darcy on GitHub Gist (it was very helpful), in which he warns against just using the default location and name (default.store), but since the file resides in a folder structure built under the name of the application, I don't yet see the issue, or the value of coding to target a different name. Like I sad earlier, I may feel differently as I learn more.

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