I'm using UIDocumentBrowserViewController in my app. In Apple's Pages app, files that are in iCloud Drive have the version history saved. Version history is accessed from the file browser in Pages, which resembles UIDocumentBrowserViewController though it may be a customized version:
Is there a way I can opt in to this behavior? I don't see anything in the documentation.
Related
I have an application using Firestore and I want my application to be able to use the default files app.
However, after I set up the app to use the iOS files app, it shows a firestore folder, and within that contains _FIRAPP_DEFAULT, then within that additional subfolders etc.
I'd expect this to be located in the .libraryDirectory not the .documentDirectory
So now if I support the files app, users will see this folder and contents, which I class as system files that my users should no be seeing.
Is there a fix for this ? Can I specify where the firebase folder is saved? I looked at FirebaseOptions but found nothing.
This is a known issue without a known workaround. Follow it at https://github.com/firebase/firebase-ios-sdk/issues/843
==================
This issue is now fixed, in Version 6.16 - Jan 28 2020
Changed the location of Firestore's locally stored data from the
Documents folder to Library/Application Support, hiding it from users
of apps that share their files with the iOS Files app. Important:
After a user's data is migrated, downgrading to an older version of
the SDK will cause the user to appear to lose data, since older
versions of the SDK can't read data from the new location
===================
I wrote a React Native application that downloads a file and saves it to the document directory.
The application gives me a path like this:
/Users/laurent/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/SOMEID/data/Containers/Data/Application/SOMEID/Documents
and using macOS Finder I can see that the file has indeed been created.
My problem is how to view this file from the iOS emulator? If I click on the Files app for instance, I can't see that file. Basically is this file available to the user from somewhere and, if so, where? Or maybe I need to save it to a different directory?
Your iOS app is sandboxed by default, meaning that no other app can access its resources. The simulator is very different since it runs on your mac and stores your files there so you can easily access them.
That said, it is very simple to expose your Documents folder by adding the appropriate keys to your app's info.plist:
Add the UISupportsDocumentBrowser key to grants access to all the documents in the app’s Documents directory and have them appear in the Files app (iOS 11 and above). When this is enabled, other apps can also have access to your documents when using UIDocumentBrowserViewController.
Add the UIFileSharingEnabled key to expose the app’s Documents directory to the desktop iTunes app. When combined with the LSSupportsOpeningDocumentsInPlace key, it will also enable Files app support and document browser as mentioned above.
By default any files your application downloads are only available from within that app, they will not show up in the file system of the device.
As far as I know there is no react-native library which allows you to access the iOS file system, so you will need to make use of native iOS code to solve your problem. Besides pointing you to the official documentation, there is not much more I can do to help.
I am writing a PDF file on an iPhone running iOS 11, using Cordova File Plugin (in Ionic). The file is created successfully (e.g. in a location like file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/CDFC4E19-082F-4878-9168-F4A735CDAFEB/Documents or file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/DA918690-B345-438A-B26D-2EA21D618341/Library/Cloud), but then I can't find the file on the iPhone. I have tried setting the directory to cordova.file.documentsDirectory as well as cordova.file.syncedDataDirectory. When I run the Files app on the iPhone, it shows no recent documents, nor any documents at all. I can't find the file on the phone to view it outside of my app.
Where do I have to save the file to make it findable outside of the app?
I think I've answered this myself. Viewing a PDF that an app created is just not a thing on iOS, as useful as that may be. You can of course do that on Android, which is far more useful. It appears that to view the PDF, you have to use iTunes on an iMac to download the file from the phone. Jumping through those Apple hoops, which I am slowly becoming accustomed to, I was able to view the file in the cordova.file.documentsDirectory location.
Having only worked with Android/web dev before I am having a hard time figuring out where in the world my file should be getting copied to in iOS. After reading the file browser documentation on the iOS developer resource page it says that each app is an "island" which contains its own folder system. If I want to have my user be able to copy a file from my app's sdk to their iOS device, where should I put it?
I downloaded a file browser app from the app store on my iOS testing device but am I right in thinking that there is no global file browsing system?
I am using a Cordova plugin called Asset2sd which works perfectly for me in Android, getting the root storage folder and downloading the file to there. It has no iOS alternative so I'm going to have to figure something else out, I just need to know where to start. Do I have to have the user access my app's internal files somehow? Can I create a folder for them to look in when they download my app? Some documentation or something would be wonderful. I am totally lost.
Thanks!
You're right. Apps don't have access to the global file system. Each app only has access to their own app directory. Here's in-depth information on Sandboxing: https://developer.apple.com/app-sandboxing/
In your app's sandbox, you basically can manage files as you want, i.e. download, copy, move, delete, etc. So you can create a folder Downloads in your apps documents directory and then display the contents of this folder for instance in a table view.
Related documentation/links:
https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSFileManager_Class/index.html
https://stackoverflow.com/a/6907432/967327
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/iPhoneAppProgrammingGuide.pdf
I would like to create a NSPersistentDocument in Mac OS X and read this document as a UIManagedDocument on iOS 7.
Is this possible?
Are both file formats compatible?
Thank you!
Interesting question - I can confirm that the basic core data files are compatible. I have a Mac app and an iOS app using the same file that gets synced using iCloud. The app is a document based app and currently I have been storing the actual database file in iCloud so the whole file gets sync'ed by iCloud.
This works fine but obviously if a user opens the file on two devices and is not careful about saving and closing there is a possibility their changes may be overridden.
Apple has approved the Mac app which uses standard NSPersistentDocument to create and save files. Unfortunately they have rejected the iOS apps with some obscure reference to not conforming to their data storage guidelines, saying that documents must be stored in /Documents directory if they need to be backed up to iCloud. Well if the user has selected iCloud then I store the files in the iCloud location provided by the API calls.
Anyway I am still waiting to hear back from them about what is specifically wrong with this approach since it seems to be the same one used by Pages and other document based apps.
If I try using UIManagedDocument then iOS creates a folder structure and stores the database inside this folder structure. The Mac app File->Open dialog then shows this folder structure as well as a file that essentially looks like a the normal sqlite file. But then perhaps OS X 10.8.4 does not implement the latest iCloud/Core Data stuff - who knows...
EDIT
Here is a link to code examples and videos showing OSX and iOS app integration using Core Data and iCloud. http://ossh.com.au/design-and-technology/software-development/uimanageddocument-icloud-integration/
I agree this is definitely possible. I'm using NSPersistent document on OS X 10.8/10.9/10.10 with a binary core data format (no wrappers - plain files). On iOS i'm using UIDocument. Core data works fine in both environments.
Apple says NSPersistentDocument does not support iCloud. It is more correct to say it isn't fully supported. Most of the NSDocument support (which includes iCloud Document Library access from 10.8) will work. Handling of conflicted files on open works.
You can't enable auto save (which is listed as a requirement for iCloud Documents in the iCloud Design Guide). Autosave works asynchronously and is definitely not supported by NSPersistentDocument.
So if you handle file saving, and conflicts, it is possible to use NSPersistent document. There are some quirks: so, for example, if an iCloud change arrives on OS X for a document that is open, the normal NSDocument response would be to automatically reopen the document. This doesn't happen - and there is no warning the file has changed until you are about to save the file. But at least there is a warning. On iOS it is easier to detect changes as they happen by using UIDocumentStateChangedNotification.