How can I actually backup my app document directory by using iCloud, so that user can switch over iCloud accounts and get his app data, related to that particular account.
And my document directory contains sqlite database file and images.
I just read the iOS Data Storage Guidelines,
To ensure that backups are as efficient as possible, store your app’s data according to the following guidelines:
Only documents and other data that is user-generated, or that cannot otherwise be recreated by your application, should be stored in the Application_Home/Documents directory and will be automatically backed up by iCloud.
Data that can be downloaded again or regenerated should be stored in the Application_Home/Library/Caches directory. Examples of files
you should put in the Caches directory include database cache files
and downloadable content, such as that used by magazine, newspaper,
and map applications.
Data that is used only temporarily should be stored in the Application_Home/tmp directory. Although these files are not backed
up to iCloud, remember to delete those files when you are done with
them so that they do not continue to consume space on the user’s
device.
Use the "do not back up" attribute for specifying files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations. Use this attribute
with data that can be recreated but needs to persist even in low
storage situations for proper functioning of your app or because
customers expect it to be available during offline use. This attribute
works on marked files regardless of what directory they are in,
including the Documents directory. These files will not be purged and
will not be included in the user's iCloud or iTunes backup. Because
these files do use on-device storage space, your app is responsible
for monitoring and purging these files periodically.
As per guidelines, Application_Home/Documents will be automatically backed up by iCloud.
References and useful links
https://developer.apple.com/icloud/documentation/data-storage/index.html
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/DataManagement/Conceptual/UsingCoreDataWithiCloudPG/BestPractices/BestPractices.html
https://developer.apple.com/icloud/
Related
Currently i was saving my application data (Media) to the CacheDirectory i.e
/var/mobile/Applications/BEAFC76C-C450-4A3A-9765-A0385A9580F3/Library/Caches
and things were going fine. But recently i got a bug report that the application data has been deleted. When i searched over it, i got this Apple Doc. According to it, DocumentsDirectory should be the ideal place to store the User/Application data.
Put user data in the /Documents/. User data is any
data that cannot be recreated by your app, such as user documents and
other user-generated content.
And Cache should not be used to store the User Data that could not be reproduced by the application.
Put data cache files in the /Library/Caches
directory. Examples of files you should put in this directory include
(but are not limited to) database cache files and downloadable
content, such as that used by magazine, newspaper, and map apps. Your
app should be able to gracefully handle situations where cached data
is deleted by the system to free up disk space.
What should be the ideal place to store it.
EDIT:
I have an application that allows user to store Videos and Photos in the application. For that i used CacheDirectory. But i am getting bug reports that the Data (Videos/Photos) is getting deleted. What conclusion i draw is that the data is being getting delete by the Device itself in order to provide space.
Secondly i also wanna give the iTunes sharing function. So only the particular files has to be stored in the DocumentsDirectory. Some files can never be exposed and some has has to be shared. What should be the ideal way to store the files.
Use Documents (NSDocumentDirectory) for files you wish to share via iTunes.
Use Application Support (NSApplicationSupportDirectory) for files you wish to hide from the user but still be backed up and never deleted by the OS.
Starting iOS 5, Apple says that it's no longer a good thing to save all kind of files in Documents Directory - if you do that, your app will be rejected for sure because this folder is backed up to iTunes & iCloud, unless otherwise specified.
It says that we should save files into Caches or Tmp Directory - these won't be backed up, but it's not a good thing to do because files from these directories can disappear if low memory happens.
So I think the best think to do is to save the important files that you need all the time in your app into Documents Directory and mark them not to be backed up, like this.
Library/Application Support Folder is the folder you should be using.
This directory doesn't always exist, and thus you may need to create it.
You can enable or disable whether you want to backup this data with iTunes or not.
This data is not accessible even if you enable file sharing. Only data that you put in Document directory would be shared with iTunes sharing, so you can still protect your data and get it backed up as well. Apple's documentation
Here's message from Apple:
2.23 Details
On launch and content download, your app stores 6.38 MB on the user's iCloud, which does not comply with the iOS Data Storage Guidelines.
Next Steps
Please verify that only the content that the user creates using your app, e.g., documents, new files, edits, etc. is backed up by iCloud as required by the iOS Data Storage Guidelines. Also, check that any temporary files used by your app are only stored in the /tmp directory; please remember to remove or delete the files stored in this location when it is determined they are no longer needed.
Data that can be recreated but must persist for proper functioning of your app - or because users expect it to be available for offline use - should be marked with the "do not back up" attribute. For NSURL objects, add the NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey attribute to prevent the corresponding file from being backed up. For CFURLRef objects, use the corresponding kCRUFLIsExcludedFromBackupKey attribute.
I checked my testing device iCloud backup and it is about ~0,3KB on launch.
I am using Realm.io database for storing data, but I set path of realm file to ..Library/Cache. Realm version 0.100.
change of path in code:
Realm.Configuration.defaultConfiguration.fileURL = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.CachesDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0].stringByAppendingPathComponent("cache.realm"))
So I checked storage activity in debugger and also placement of file. But every option shows that files are actually saved in Cache folder and Documents folder is empty. Am I missing something ? What should I do next ?
Looks like you're writing something to the documents directory. What makes you think Realm is responsible writing to the user's documents? Are you perhaps using an image cacheing library which writes to the documents directory?
If you're certain that the documents directory is empty, why is Apple telling you otherwise?
If you access the Realm prior to overwriting Realm's default configuration, then it's possible you're actually writing to the documents directory until that time.
If you somehow confirm that Realm is writing to a different directory that you've specified, please file a bug report at https://github.com/realm/realm-cocoa/issues/new
I recently had my application rejected, by Apple for:
"Your app has the UIFileSharingEnabled key set to true in the Info.plist, but files and folders not intended for file-sharing are contained within its Documents folder..."
I am storing my application data in the documents directory, images and the core data database. This is a very simple progress, that allows the user to backup and import data. Below are the major steps:
The user can backup the data, which zips the folder.
The user can then use iTunes file sharing to take out the backup.
The user can import, the zip file which overwrites the data in the documents directory.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues? It seems like I am using this correctly.
You should put the zip file in the Documents folder, not any other files. The fact that you also put your core-data files (and some of the other files the user shouldn't see) in the Documents folder is why it was rejected.
You can store any files that the user shouldn't see in another folder such as the Application Support folder.
I am attempting to add iCloud synching to my iOS/Mac app by using the iCloud methods on NSFileManager (no documents or file coordinators). The app needs to synch audio files across the various instances; create, delete and metadata changes. It isn't a collaboration style app, so I am not very worried about conflicts, etc. I have something basic working, but have run into some basic questions that I can't seem to find definitive answers to.
When using iCloud, there are two local directories involved, the sandbox directory where the file originates and the ubiquity container directory. Once I enable a file for ubiquity, should I start interacting with the file in the ubiquity container directly or should I continue interacting with the sandbox file and pushing/pulling changes from the ubiquity counterpart? It feels like the latter is best so that I don't lose all the users files if they turn iCloud off (not sure what happens to files in ubiquity container in that case).
If I maintain two files, is there a preferred way to push/pull incremental changes to/from the ubiquity container? As I understand it, if a user changes a file on a given device, all other devices get the incremental changes in their local ubiquity copy (if downloaded). Should I just be copying the file in it's entirety over to my local sandbox directory every time the ubiquity file changes and vice versa?
Constantly copying files to the ubiquity container as they are modified doesn't seem like a good strategy to me and might even result in iCloud thinking more of the file has changed than really has. You can interact with files in the ubiquity container directly, working with them just as you would a file in your 'normal' document sandbox. This is the model prescribed in all of the iCloud documentation, sparse as it may be.
You're right that you need to be able to handle the situation where a user migrates away from iCloud. There are methods to move a file out of the ubiquity container and some of the newer iOS 6 API makes it easier to detect if the user has iCloud enabled, though this is still an area where we could use more API.
I'm a bit confused. I'm including in the bundle a Core Data file that will not be modified by the user. Apple rejected my app after I started copying the file to /Documents (due to the new iCloud requirements), so I now I copy the file over to /Library/myprivatedir/
The question is why do I need to copy over to /Library in the first place. What's wrong with it staying in the Bundle after all?
There's nothing wrong with opening a CoreData store from within the bundle. Just be sure to pass the NSReadOnlyPersistentStoreOption as part of the options to -addPersistentStoreWithType:configuration:URL:options:error:
Skimming the docs for iOS Data Storage Guidelines (apple id required) I found this
... Data that can be downloaded again or regenerated should be stored in the <Application_Home>/Library/Caches directory. Examples of files you should put in the Caches directory include database cache files and downloadable content, such as that used by magazine, newspaper, and map applications.
Because it is easily regenerated they may have taken issue with it.
A couple of points down may be useful if you did have a read/write database scenario
... Use the "do not back up" attribute for specifying files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations. Use this attribute with data that can be recreated but needs to persist even in low storage situations for proper functioning of your app or because customers expect it to be available during offline use. This attribute works on marked files regardless of what directory they are in, including the Documents directory. These files will not be purged and will not be included in the user's iCloud or iTunes backup. Because these files do use on-device storage space, your app is responsible for monitoring and purging these files periodically.