This is strange, but basically I download and save a video locally, and the store the url path to provide to an AVPlayer to play.
This works fine the first time I do it. I download a file, and then I can play it to my hearts content as many times UNTIL I exit the app. When I launch the app a second time, I now get a black screen when I try to play the same exact video using the same exact path.
Because I am using the Simulator I can verify that the videos and pictures indeed very much still exist in the same folder I saved them to, and I can still play them if I click on them from the Finder.
Maybe it's a caching issue? If it matters, I've saved them straight to the Library directory as I test this.
Relevant Code:
NSString *outputFile = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"video_%#.mp4", guid];
NSString *outputDirectory = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSApplicationSupportDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *tempPath = [outputDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:outputFile];
NSURL *fileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:tempPath];
// save the video to the URL
Then I "persist" it using an NSString [fileURL path] (The way I've built this out, assume the solution requires an NSString to NSURL conversion).
Later I create an AVPlayerItem:
NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:persistedObject.contentURL];
NSLog(#"url: %#", url); // prints a valid location**
AVPlayerItem *item = [AVPlayerItem playerItemWithURL:url];
** for example this is a sample url location
url: file:///Users/gabriel/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/CE1FC933-808C-4003-9BE4-DEC59B787FF7/data/Containers/Data/Application/FAD072B4-B5B0-4487-8A76-57B047324A00/Library/picture_D8DEAFA5-0843-4AA3-BB32-C61E32D13579.mp4
It's been suggested I use URLForDirectory:inDomain:appropriateForURL:create:error: and URLByAppendingPathComponent: instead, which I will look into. But still confused as to why it would play when I first download it, but not after app exits when it's the same exact file.
You've made a classic mistake. You are persisting the full path. But the full path changes. Never persist a full path. Only persist the part of the path relative to the value obtained from NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains.
Given what you are doing, you should only persist the base filename (outputFile). Then when the app starts, you rebuild the full path again like you did originally but use the persisted filename to append it to the dynamically obtained path to the application support folder.
Related
I was googling this question but nothing useful or current came up. I'd like to know if (and if, how) you can select an MP3 file (from itunes?) and upload the contents to one of my own servers on iOS (iphone & ipad app).
One of my clients is asking me if it's possible to do this, and I havn't found the answer yet.
Thanks in advance!
The short answer would be YES.
Here is a working solution for me. But you need to use a third party library. Then this is what you need to do:
Create a temp folder either in the NSDocuments directory or a temp directory.
Use MPMediaQuery to load the music files.
The object that you will get from the MPMediaQuery is an MPMediaItem. With this you can get the asset URL of the media item.
Code:
NSString *assetURL = [mediaItem valueForProperty:MPMediaItemPropertyAssetURL];
get the extension of with the asset URL
NSString *extension = [TSLibraryImport extensionForAssetURL:assetURL];
set a location URL (This will be the location where the mp3 music data will be imported).
NSString *locationURL = [[NSURL fileURLWithPath:[path stringByAppendingPathComponent:musicTitleYouWant]] URLByAppendingPathExtension:extension];
Now you can import the contents of the mp3 from to the directory you set earlier.
TSLibraryImport *libraryImport = [[TSLibraryImport alloc] init];
[libraryImport importAsset:assetURL toURL:locationURL completionBlock:^(TSLibraryImport *libraryImport)
{
if(libraryImport.status == AVAssetExportSessionStatusCompleted)
{
//Once complete the file will be store on the location URL you set earlier. Now you can get the file from that location and convert it to NSData and send it to the server. There are plenty of ways to do that.
}
else
{
//Here means import failed. :(
}
}];
Hope this helps. :)
I am saving audio data to the Documents directory and trying to read it back. If I play it back immediately it plays successfully, however, if I start a new session and try and play the song locally it will fail even though listing the files in the Documents directory shows that my file is still there. Note that the file is played back from the Documents folder in the same way (same code) if it is played immediately or during a new session.
Here is how I save the audio data to the Documents directory:
+(void)writeDataToAudioFile:(NSData*)data forTrack:(MediaItem*)track
{
// filename looks like "[track_id].mp3"
NSString *fileName = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#.%#",track.sc_id,track.original_format];
NSString *pathName = [[NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory,
NSUserDomainMask,
YES) firstObject]
stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
[[NSFileManager defaultManager] createFileAtPath:pathName
contents:data
attributes:nil];
}
Then in my music player I want to load the local URL to this file to initialize the AVPlayer:
NSURL *url;
if(_currentTrack.is_local_item)
{
url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:_currentTrack.local_file_path];
}
url does not get created properly as AVPlayer does not play. Furthermore, I have tried every different way to load the file as data into an NSData object to check the byte size but trying to access the file as data always returns nil. However, the file exists as if I use NSFileManager I am able to iterate over the items in the Documents directory and print their file names/paths, validating that I the path I have saved in "_currentTrack.local_file_path" does exist. Again, if I play the file immediately after saving the file to disk it will play back.
If there is more info I can provide to make this clearer I will. Thank you very much.
Do not write the full directory path to DB. It will change. You need to only save the file name to DB as reference. Then use as follows:
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsPath = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *fileName = #"SAVED_FILE_NAME.mp3"; // eg: [track_id].mp3
NSString *filePath = [documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
This will provide you the actual path of the file.
Keep coding........... :)
I found the solution after putting the problem down for a few days. I break-pointed and print-stated the heck out of the program and I found that the file path I was saving was not the same as the file path of the file.
I think this was a simulator issue, as the issue only occurred between different sessions of the simulator, and worked within the same session, so the device id (which is part of the absolute path) was changing - maybe someone more knowledgeable can weigh in on that.
Pay closer attention to the string values of your variables folks!
I am trying to update my app for WatchKit and I save a NSKeyedArchiver file to the NSDocumentsDirectory normally.
With updating to app groups I need to store it in the app groups folder. The issue I am having is I cant figure out how to just get the path, and not have it referenced as a file I am looking for.
The way it is set up now is to find the file it gives the path as a NSString
/Users/ME/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/43F/data/Containers/Data/Application/5E/Documents/fav
but when I store to app groups, no matter which way I access the folder, it is returned
file:///Users/ME/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/43F/data/Containers/Data/Application/5E/Documents/fav
What is the best way to just obtain the path to the shared group, rather than have the app looking for the direct file?
So coffee deprived me had forgotten about the .path for filemanager.
NSURL *fileManagerURL = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] containerURLForSecurityApplicationGroupIdentifier:#"group.com"];
NSString *tmpPath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", fileManagerURL.path];
NSString *finalPath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",[string stringByAppendingString:#"/Favourites2"]];
I was running into the same problem. I was going through the whole process of building a string to my save location and now I'm switching over to app groups and using the
NSURL *fileManagerURL = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] containerURLForSecurityApplicationGroupIdentifier:groupID];
Well, the problem is, now instead of a string to the location that starts with "/Users/yourname/Library..." you get "file:///Users/yourname/Library..."
Here's what I did. I created the NSURL. Then I called absoluteString on it.
NSURL groupPath = [[fileManager containerURLForSecurityApplicationGroupIdentifier:groupID] absoluteString];
I now have a string that I need to strip off the first 7 characters of, then my old code works just fine, except now instead of being in the Documents directory, it's in a shared app group that can be accessed by both my old code and my new watchkit extension.
Here's the code to strip off the first 7 characters (index 6 since you start with 0), you should be able to use either method...
NSString *newGroupPath = [groupPath substringFromIndex:6];
or
NSString *newGroupPath = [groupPath substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(6, [str length]-6)];
This just removes the "file://" from the absoluteString that was made from the NSURL and gives you back your older string path the starts "/Users/YourName/Library/Developer/yada yada yada"
Hope that helps you, I have spent 4 hours figuring it out.
It seems to work for me on the simulator, I haven't tried it on the Watch yet. But at least my app is now working the way it was before, just saving the data in a shared app group. (I have a singleton that manages all of my data throughout my app, and I want that same singleton to provide data to my watch app).
I have found that so far the path sent to application:openURL:sourceApplication:annotation: is:
file://localhost/private/var/mobile/Applications/<GUID>/Documents/Inbox/file
To check that the filesystem operations that I am about to perform are indeed likely to succeed (and that the url given to me is not a location outside the sandbox), it looks like I have to do this:
NSString* hdurl = [[#"file://localhost/private" stringByAppendingString:NSHomeDirectory()] stringByAppendingString: #"/"];
NSString* path = url.absoluteString;
if ([path hasPrefix:hdurl]) {
// now ready to e.g. call fopen on: [path substringFromIndex:#"file://localhost".length]
Now, I seem to vaguely recall (and this is probably wrong) that in the past I have seen the file:/// style URL being used. That would clearly cause this code to fail.
How am I to know that it will always give me a file://localhost URL prefix?
Apple's documentation on URLs is strangely missing a section on file URLs.
An NSURL that points to a file on the local file system is called a "file URL". To convert the NSURL to an NSString representing the file's path you use:
NSString *filePath = [url path];
To check to see if an NSURL represents a file URL, use:
BOOL isFileURL = [url isFileURL];
Keep in mind that if your app is passed a file URL, you will always have access to the file. There is no need to check if it starts with any prefix. Why would iOS pass you a file that you don't have access to?
This is my first real project. I have an app that captures several seconds of video using AVFoundation, outputs this to a file in the documents directory and lets the user preview the video before they upload it using HTTP and a PHP script on my website.
All the video capture and preview work perfectly but I am stuck on uploading the video file.
I learnt a lot from this simpleSDK video which shows how to achieve the desired effect using a video file stored in the apps main bundle.
The code from the tutorial that set up videoData ready to upload originally looked like this:
NSData *videoData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"Movie" ofType:#"mov"]];
NSString *urlString = #"http://www.iphonedevnation.com/video-tutorial/upload.php";
The filename of the video file that I need to upload is always unique and generated using CFUUIDCreateString. I join this string to the path for the documents directory, add ".mov" to the end of it and save it into a text file for retrieving later.
This all works as I am able to retrieve the filename from the file and use it to preview the movie clip elsewhere in the app.
My path is in an NSString, that I have tried converting to NSURL and removing the file suffix to get it to work with the NSData *videoData.........line but it doesn't compile, I get an "No known class method for selector 'dataWithContentsOfFile:ofType.' error. I am targeting iOS 5 and using Xcode 4.3 with ARC and Storyboards.
I've been at this for best part of 5 hours now so hopefully someone can help. My code, which included tips from elsewhere on converting from a NSString to NSURL follows:
NSString *content = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:lastSavedTalentFilenamePath
usedEncoding:nil
error:nil];
NSLog(#"content=%#",content);
//Need to now remove the '.mov' file type identifier
NSString *shortContent= [content substringToIndex:[content length]-4];
NSLog(#"***************shortContent***************%#", shortContent);
NSURL *convertedContent = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:shortContent];
NSLog(#"***************convertedContent***********%#",convertedContent);
NSData *videoData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:convertedContent ofType:#"mov"];];
There is no NSData method called dataWithContentsOfFile:ofType:
The methods available are:
+ dataWithContentsOfFile:
+ dataWithContentsOfFile:options:error:
both of which take the file location as an NSString so there's not need to convert to an NSURL