Lookup tables in Core Data

Question

Core data is not a database and so I am getting confused as to how to create, manage or even implement Lookup tables in core data.

Here is a specific example that relates to my project.

Staff (1) -> (Many) Talents (1)

The talents table consists of:

TalentSkillName (String)

TalentSkillLevel (int)

But I do not want to keep entering the TalentSkillName, so I want to put this information into another, separate table/entity.

But as Core Data is not really a database, I'm getting confused as to what the relationships should look like, or even if Lookup tables should even be stored in core data.

One solution I'm thinking of is to use a PLIST of all the TalentSkillNames and then in the Talents entity simply have a numeric value which points to the PLIST version.

Thanks.

I've added a diagram which I believe is what you're meant to do, but I am unsure if this is correct.

Answer 1

I'd suggest that you have a third entity, Skill. This can have a one to many relationship with Talent, which then just has the level as an attribute.

Effectively, this means you are modelling a many-to-many relationship between Staff and Talent through the Skill entity. Logically, that seems to fit with the situation you're describing.