How to create and save file to Files application (iOS platform) - ios

Question

I need to create PDF-file (done) and save it to Files application, so user can access it anytime outside of my app. I tried rn-fetch-blob and react-native-fs packages and they worked fine for Android, but for iOS they can only create files to internal app storage (so files are not created in external storage, i.e. not in iOS Files application).
What options do I have to save my created files to Files application? I know that it is possible, i.g. Slack app allows saving files to Files app.

Answer 1

You have to either add the UISupportsDocumentBrowser key and set to true, or both the UIFileSharingEnabled and LSSupportsOpeningDocumentsInPlace keys in your Info.plist file
When the user will open a document from your app's Documents directory, through Files app, they would be editing the document in place. The changes are saved to your app's Documents directory.
Refer this for more.

Answer 2

you can try with react-native-fs to save and download in local directory.
var url = path
let fileName = path.split("/").pop()
// console.log('fileName', fileName)
var ext = this.extention(url);
ext = "." + ext[0];
const localFile = ${RNFS.LibraryDirectoryPath}/${fileName};
// console.log('localFile', localFile)
const options = {
fromUrl: path,
toFile: localFile,
fileCache: true
};
if (await RNFS.exists(localFile)) {
FileViewer.open(localFile, { displayName: this.props.route.params.conversationSubject });
} else {
await RNFS.downloadFile(options).promise
.then((res) => {
// console.log('res', res)
FileViewer.open(localFile);
})
.then((res) => {
// success
// console.log("success", res);
})
.catch(error => {
// error
console.log("Attachment open error: ", error);
});
}

Answer 3

I've added new functionality to react-native-share module to store a file only in Files app. It's not merged yet but you can use my fork version.
https://github.com/gevorg94/react-native-share/tree/share-files-app.
Replace "react-native-share": "X.X.X" with "react-native-share": "git+https://github.com/gevorg94/react-native-share.git#share-files-app",.
You can find usage in PR https://github.com/react-native-community/react-native-share/pull/681