How to correctly reference/retrieve a temp file created in AppData for file upload to a server? - ios

Question

So the app I'm making creates a file called "logfile" and I'm trying to send that file via Alamofire upload to a server. The file path printed in the console log is
/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/3BE13D78-3BF0-4880-A79A-27B488ED9EFE/Documents/logfile.txt
and the file path I can use to manually access the log created in the .xcappdata is
/AppData/Documents/logfile.txt
To access it, I'm using
let fileURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "", withExtension: "txt")
where inbetween the double quotes for "forResource", I've tried both file paths I listed in the previous paragraph as well as just the file name but I'm getting a nil value for file found for either. The file isn't recognized to be there, presumably because the file path I'm using is wrong as Alamofire is returning nil when trying to locate send the file. Anyone know the direct file path I'm supposed to use to be able to grab my file since the other two don't supposedly work? Thank you!

Answer 1

Use below code to get string data from text file to upload to server:
let fileName = "logfile"
let documentDirURL = try? FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: true)
let fileURL = documentDirURL.appendingPathComponent(fileName).appendingPathExtension("txt")
print("FilePath: \(fileURL.path)")
var readString = "" // Used to store the file contents
do {
// Read the file contents
readString = try String(contentsOf: fileURL)
} catch let error as NSError {
print("Failed reading from URL: \(fileURL), Error: " + error.localizedDescription)
}
print("File Text: \(readString)") // Send 'readString' to server

Answer 2

If you're dynamically creating the file at runtime, it won't be in your app bundle so the Bundle class won't be able to find it. The directories you see are also dynamically-generated and not only platform-specific, but also device-specific, so you can't use the file paths directly. Instead, you'll have to ask for the proper directory at runtime from the FileManager class, like this:
guard let documents = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentsDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first else{
// This case will likely never happen, but forcing anything in Swift is bad
return
}
let logURL = URL(string: "logfile.txt", relativeTo: documents)
do{
let fileContents = String(contentsOf: logURL)
// Send your file to your sever here
catch{
// Handle any errors you might've encountered
}
Note that I'm guessing based on the paths you pasted in your answer you put it in your application's documents directory. That's a perfectly fine place to put this type of thing, but if I'm wrong and you put it in a different place, you'll have to modify this code to point to the right place