I'm writing an iOS app which needs a ~60MB resource file to work correctly. I would like to provide this file with the app itself, so it can work straight after installing it from the store without downloading extra data at the first launch.
I also want to be able to update such file by downloading a new version of it from a specific URL. I thought the most appropriate folder to store this file would be "Library/Application support", as specified in the guidelines provided by Apple itself.
My problem is that I can't find a way to provide the "Library/Application support" folder with a default population using xcode 9. I don't want to have multiple copies of this file around to avoid wasting space, and I want the possibility to update this file to a newer version, overwriting / replacing the old one.
This might be a newbie question (I'm a newbie of iOS development) but I really couldn't find anything related to pre-populating that folder.
You cannot delete anything from your distribution bundle. It's just not allowed.
So you options are:
Distribute the resource with the app, and create a copy in "Library/Application support".
Don't include the resource with the app, and download it on first run.
You didn't say what the resource is, so I don't know if this would be an option, but... Include only a portion of the resource with the app, copy it into "Library/Application support" and "update it" on first run.
Related
I'm looking for a way to update stringsdict localization files over-the-air without having to release a new version in the appStore. So ideally I want my stringdict files on a webserver, and the iOS app should download these files from the website and update the local strings.
After doing some research, I realized that we cannot update files in the bundle it was shipped in however I found some reports saying we could store/load localizations in/from the application support folder.
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Can this also be applied to stringsdict files because I'm trying but no success so far.
Basically you need to create a .bundle with your new strings and make your app download it. After that, I think it's possible to create a NSBundle object using your freshly downloaded translations and swizzle a couple of methods from the main NSBundle currently used by the system.
I've tried something similar, but found out that it's much easier to integrate an existing service such as Smartling or Lokalise. They already have an SDK that allows you to update your translation over the air.
Also I found it's much easier to manage all my translations there.
The following use case:
create a strings file (not localized) and deploy the application to your test device
localize the file (en.lproj or similar), make some changes to the new file and remove the original file
deploy the application on the device
What I noticed that very often (always?) the application will still use the old non-localized file. The reason is that apparently the file is still in somewhere the application bundle, even though it has been removed from the project. iOS's logic is that if a file of a specific type is looked up, it first checks in the root of the bundle for the non-localized version, and only if it doesn't find it does it go deeper into the localized folders. (Is it just me, or is this logic kind of backwards? I'm used to first looking for language specific file, and then falling back to some defaults, but it might be my Java background.)
Sometimes (always?) removing the app from the device completely doesn't help either. What does in this case is a CMD+SHIFT+K, which cleans the build folder, and after the app is built and deployed again, the correct file is used.
A worse problem would be if such a thing leads to an app crash, like some strange issues with Nibs or whatever - I have seen those as well...
The question is: what would happen if the first version of my app in the apple store had the non-localized file, and the second version localized it? When the user upgrades the app, would they get the same behavior as me during development (i.e. outdated, non-localized file used)?
I can't imagine because I think this would be a cause of a lot of grieving and bug requests, but I can't tell for sure as I haven't yet published any iOS app.
If the behavior is correct when upgrading from the store, why is it? What is so different? Are the files stored locally on my computer somewhere and used when I deploy?
Can anybody share their experiences?
For testing purposes, I need to periodically deploy new builds of my iOS app to the device which has old data in its document folder. I'd like to be able to selectively update part of the data and control keep-new or keep-old behaviour for any files in the document folder.
Basically, the tooling support I want is to update only the data that changed when deploying to device. For example whatever in the dev-machine's Xcode project resource folder that are newer or different from their counterparts (files of the same names) on the device (by date, size, etc.) get transferred and their counterparts on the device get overwritten by those. Everything else is ignored.
An ideal scenario would be: When I hit BuildAndRun in Xcode, Xcode will figure out what data to transfer-and-overwrite-device-files and what not to based on some custom rules.
Is is possible to achieve this with Xcode?
UPDATE
I edited the above text to make it clear that I don't want to add app logic for data versioning. I want this to happen in my build-and-test pipeline (Xcode).
Normally, this is pretty simple. Everything that XCode sends goes in the resource bundle. If you update it on the device, you have to move it to the documents directory, as the resource bundle is write only.
Any resources that you might be updating on the device already need 'does document version exist' kind of logic, the only change you have is to maybe add some modification date stuff.
You do have the option in the run scheme to upload application data to the sandbox directory.
Here is a good starting point:-
http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#recipes/xcode_help-devices_organizer/articles/copy_app_data_to_sandbox.html
In essence, you can download data from a device in the device manager and create an xcdata package. Edit this to contain just the stuff you want to upload.
You can then either upload this manually or specify it in the Edit Scheme dialog ( under options), so it gets uploaded every time you run the scheme.
Easiest way I see to do it is to encode a version number in the files, and the ones you need to update, you increase the version number on them in your code, so when it runs and encounters a file that has a lesser version number, it deletes or ignores it
I created magazine reader app that uses png images as pages. When user downloads magazine, all png images are downloaded and stored in Caches folder.
Problem with Caches is that files in there can be apparently deleted anytime. Since app is designed to be used in offline mode as well, re-downloading of missing pages is impossible.
I tried to save it into Documents folder but my app got rejected, this apparently is not proper place for them.
So my question is, where can I put them to make that iOS won't delete them? I don't need them to be backed up to itunes or synced or anything like that, I just need them to stay there until I remove them.
I tried looking into the documentation but I could not find a category that would fit my needs, am I missing something trivial?
EDIT: I need to support iOS 4 as well
http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/FileSystemProgrammingGUide/FileSystemOverview/FileSystemOverview.html
Put it in the Libary Folder
Handle support files
—files your application downloads or generates and can recreate as needed—in one of two ways:
In iOS 5.0 and earlier, put support files in the /Library/Caches directory to prevent them from being backed up
In iOS 5.0.1 and later, put support files in the /Library/Application Support directory and apply the com.apple.MobileBackup extended attribute to them. This attribute prevents the files from being backed up to iTunes or iCloud. If you have a large number of support files, you may store them in a custom subdirectory and apply the extended attribute to just the directory.
Apple has a tech note that addresses this at http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1719/_index.html
It shows sample code for setting a no-backup attribute on files.
Like many developers, my iOS app was just rejected for having downloadable content that was being backed up to iCloud. I've searched for a clear answer to this question but have not been able to get one.
Apple says that you should implement a 'do not backup' attribute to your files, however, they also state (https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1719/_index.html):
The new "do not back up" attribute will only be used by iOS 5.0.1 or later. On iOS 5.0 and earlier, applications will need to store their data in /Library/Caches to avoid having it backed up. Since this attribute is ignored on older systems, you will need to insure your app complies with the iOS Data Storage Guidelines on all versions of iOS that your application supports.
My app supports iOS 4.0 and later. Does this mean if I want to maintain support for iOS 4.0-5.0, I have no choice but to put all my content into the Caches folder? Or, can I just add the 'do not backup' attribute and keep the files in /Documents? If I have to keep the content in the Caches folder, can I prevent these files from being purged in low storage situations? Finally, are there any developers who have put files in the Caches folder and know how often they do get purged?
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!
The concern area is the iOS 5.0, which supports iCloud, but does not recognizes “do not backup” attribute. In this case, all the data of the app inside documents directory is likely to get backed up to iCloud. For the iOS versions below 5.x:
the iCloud backup is not valid.
the "do not back up" flag is not relevent. It would not produce any warnings during compilation.
Hence the data can be kept in the documents directory, with "do not back up" flag appropiately added to the contents (files/folders), for all the versions. The problem is for the version 5.0 only.
i think you can find similar question like this :
What is suitable location for creating sqlite file?
and as per my thinking it is better to store files in library with new directory rather than document directory..
No it's wrong that tou say. I've solved your same problem in that way. I saved my database and directory images in directory Documents/.. flagons those As do not backup as suggest by Apple. In that way for devices that are updated to 5.x or more that files are not backup to iCloud; for others there are no changes because there are no support to iCloud.
This is a best practice because files that are not concerning user we do not backup in iCloud. All other files that you don't want to redownload must be saved in Documents flagging it as do not backup. If you save it in Caches folder those are deleted in a short time when you close the app and must be redownloded when you open it again.