A utility protocol for custom NSManagedObjects that makes querying contexts simpler and more convenient. Requires Swift 2.

Fetchable.swift

import CoreData

protocol Fetchable
{
    associatedtype FetchableType: NSManagedObject = Self
    
    static func entityName() -> String
    static func objectsInContext(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate?, sortedBy: String?, ascending: Bool) throws -> [FetchableType]
    static func singleObjectInContext(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate?, sortedBy: String?, ascending: Bool) throws -> FetchableType?
    static func objectCountInContext(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate?) -> Int
    static func fetchRequest(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate?, sortedBy: String?, ascending: Bool) -> NSFetchRequest<NSManagedObject>
    
}
    
extension Fetchable where Self : NSManagedObject, FetchableType == Self
{
    static func singleObjectInContext(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate? = nil, sortedBy: String? = nil, ascending: Bool = false) throws -> FetchableType?
    {
        let managedObjects: [FetchableType] = try objectsInContext(context, predicate: predicate, sortedBy: sortedBy, ascending: ascending)
        guard managedObjects.count > 0 else { return nil }
        
        return managedObjects.first
    }
    
    static func objectCountInContext(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate? = nil) -> Int
    {
        let request = fetchRequest(context, predicate: predicate)
        
        var count: Int = 0
        do {
            count = try context.count(for: request)
        } catch {
            return 0
        }
        
        return count;
    }    
    
    static func objectsInContext(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate? = nil, sortedBy: String? = nil, ascending: Bool = false) throws -> [FetchableType]
    {
        let request = fetchRequest(context, predicate: predicate, sortedBy: sortedBy, ascending: ascending)
        let fetchResults = try context.fetch(request)
        
        return fetchResults as! [FetchableType]
    }
    
    static func fetchRequest(_ context: NSManagedObjectContext, predicate: NSPredicate? = nil, sortedBy: String? = nil, ascending: Bool = false) -> NSFetchRequest<NSManagedObject>
    {
        let request = NSFetchRequest<NSFetchRequestResult>()
        let entity = NSEntityDescription.entity(forEntityName: entityName(), in: context)
        request.entity = entity
        
        if predicate != nil {
            request.predicate = predicate
        }
        
        if (sortedBy != nil) {
            let sort = NSSortDescriptor(key: sortedBy, ascending: ascending)
            let sortDescriptors = [sort]
            request.sortDescriptors = sortDescriptors
        }
        
        return request as! NSFetchRequest<NSManagedObject>
    }
}