How to show sample data in PreviewProvider when using FetchRequest

Question

I have an SwiftUI View like this:

import SwiftUI

struct ReView: View {
    @Environment(\.managedObjectContext) var moc
    @FetchRequest(
        entity: Re.entity(),
        sortDescriptors: [
            NSSortDescriptor(keyPath: \Re.name, ascending: false)
        ]
    ) var entities: FetchedResults<Re>
    
    var body: some View {
        NavigationView {
            List(entities, id: \.self) { entity in
                Text(entity.name ?? "Unknown")
            }
        }
    }
}

struct ReView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
    static var previews: some View {
            Group {
               
                ReView()
                    .environment(\.managedObjectContext, PersistentCloudKitContainer.persistentContainer.viewContext)
            }
        }
}

What can I do to show some sample data in my preview?

Answer 1

Here is adapted approach (early proposed in https://stackoverflow.com/a/61495490/12299030), tested with Xcode 12 / iOS 14

The idea is to separate explicit view + model from model provider (in this case cloud database), so view could be designed & tested (previewed) having local or dynamically constructed mock model (not involving heavy cloud connection)

struct ReView: View {
    @Environment(\.managedObjectContext) var moc
    @FetchRequest(
        entity: Re.entity(),
        sortDescriptors: [
            NSSortDescriptor(keyPath: \Re.name, ascending: false)
        ]
    ) var entities: FetchedResults<Re>
    
    var body: some View {
        ReEntitiesView(entities: entities)
    }
}

struct ReEntitiesView<Results:RandomAccessCollection>: View where Results.Element == Re {
    let entities: Results

    var body: some View {
        NavigationView {
            List(entities, id: \.self) { entity in
                Text(entity.name ?? "Unknown")
            }
        }
    }
}

struct ReView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
    static let entity = NSManagedObjectModel.mergedModel(from: nil)?.entitiesByName["Re"]

    static var previews: some View {
       let object = Re(entity: entity!, insertInto: nil)
       object.name = "Test Name"

       return ReEntitiesView(entities: [object])
   }
}