I have defined a UTI for a custom document format. I can export files from my app and append them to text messages, email, etc. I can import the files into my app by tapping on the document icon in iMessage. By tapping on the document icon, I have the option to copy to my app. That triggers a call in my AppDelegate to handle the incoming file.
What's bugging me is that the url for the incoming file is:
file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/21377C94-1C3C-4766-A62A-0116B369140C/Documents/Inbox/...
Whereas, when saving documents to the .documents directory, I use this URL:
file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/21377C94-1C3C-4766-A62A-0116B369140C/Documents/...
The difference being the /private/ and /Inbox/ path components.
Question: how can I purge the /private/.../Inbox/ path of the files that were copied to my app from iMessage? I noticed this when testing my app and when I tapped on the same document icon in iMessage it started generating file copies with the same name but adding -1, then -2, then -3 to the file name of the document from iMessage. It appears that copies are building up in that /private/.../Inbox/ path.
Is that something that gets flushed on its own or can I access that directory to remove those files? It's also annoying because based upon the filename, it appears to be a different file thus allowing multiple copies of the same file to be imported with a slightly different file name.
Ok, this took a fair amount of digging, but I'll post my solution that seems to work thus far in case anyone runs across the same problem.
let fileManager = FileManager.default
// get the URL for the "Inbox"
let tmpDirURL = fileManager.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[0].appendingPathComponent("Inbox")
// get all the files in the "Inbox" directory
let anythingThere = try? fileManager.contentsOfDirectory(at: tmpDirURL, includingPropertiesForKeys: nil)
if anythingThere?.count ?? 0 > 0 {
for eachURL in anythingThere! {
// for each url pointing to a file in that directory, get its path extension
let pathExtension = eachURL.pathExtension
// test to see if it's a UTI that you're interested in deleting
// in my case, the three "OCC" strings are the relevant UTI extensions
if pathExtension == "OCCrcf" || pathExtension == "OCCrdi" || pathExtension == "OCCsrf" {
// attempt to delete the temporary file that was copied to the
// "Inbox" directory from importing via email, iMessage, etc.
try fileManager.removeItem(at: eachURL)
}
}
}
If anyone has a more elegant solution, please respond as well. Thanks.
I have an HTML file (webview.html, for now) with relative links to images and .js files. I need to load it, and those linked resources into an iOS app's WKWebView. All the files are stored in Resources/Non-Localized/.
I'm attempting to load the files using the following code during viewDidLoad():
print("loadWebView: Bundle.main = ", Bundle.main); // This prints
if let htmlUrl = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "webview", withExtension: "html") {
print("htmlUrl = ", htmlUrl) // Doesn't print
webView.load(URLRequest.init(url: htmlUrl))
}
The app loads without error, but also without the contents in the webview.
I get the first print statement, but not the second, indicating something is wrong with my URL or resource bundle configuration.
What am I doing wrong? Do I need to do anything in XCode to add these files to the project? Where should I be looking for error messages that will hint me in the correct direction in the future?
I needed to add the file to the Project. I did this by simply dragging the Finder file icon to the project tree in Xcode.
Alternatively (and my final solution), I dragged the parent directory's icon, making a folder reference, and then added subdirectory parameter to .url(forResource...).
I'm still working on getting informative errors out of the WebView.
Apple's recommendation:
In apps that run in iOS 8 and later, use the WKWebView class instead of using UIWebView.
Thus, I have replaced my good old UIWebView with a shiny new WKWebView. But what I thought to be an easy exercise (simply swapping the classes and replacing the delegate methods) turned out to be a real mess.
The Problem
When I load an HTML string using
loadHTMLString(String, baseURL: URL?)
the web view loads and renders the pure HTML but it doesn't load any images or CSS files referenced inside the htmlString.
This happens only on a real device!
In Simultor all referenced resources are loaded correctly.
Example
I have defined a simple htmlString in my view controller class:
let imageName = "image.png"
let libraryURL: URL // The default Library URL
var htmlString: String {
return "<html> ... <img src=\"\(imageName)\" /> ... </html>"
// "..." represents more valid HTML code incl. header and body tags
}
The image is stored in the root Library folder so its URL is:
let imageURL = libraryURL.appendingPathComponent(imageName)
Now I load the htmlString into the web view:
webView.loadHTMLString(htmlString, baseURL: libraryURL)
and it doesn't load the image even though the baseURL is set correctly.
Ideas for a Solution
Maybe WKWebView has a problem with resolving relative paths so my first idea was to use absolute paths inside the HTML string instead.
→ ❌ Doesn't work.
Two answers to another SO post suggested that using
loadFileURL(URL, allowingReadAccessTo: URL)
instead of loadHTMLString(...) works in iOS 9+.
→ ✅ That works.
However, I cannot use solution 2 because my HTML files are encrypted and the decrypted files must not be stored on the disk.
Question
Is there any way to load local resources like images and styles using the WKWebView's
loadHTMLString(String, baseURL: URL?)
function? Or is still a bug in iOS 9+?
(I just cannot believe that Apple provides and recommends using a web view that cannot load any local web content from inside an HTML string?!)
Without taking a look at your actual project it's difficult to give some hundreed percent sure advices.
However:
class ViewController: UIViewController {
var webView = WKWebView()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
webView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
let views = [
"webView" : webView
]
view.addSubview(webView)
var constraints = NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("H:|[webView]|", options: [.AlignAllLeading, .AlignAllTrailing], metrics: nil, views: views)
constraints.appendContentsOf(NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat("V:|[webView]|", options: [.AlignAllTop, .AlignAllBottom], metrics: nil, views: views))
NSLayoutConstraint.activateConstraints(constraints)
let path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("ios - WKWebView fails to load images and CSS using loadHTMLString(_, baseURL_) - Stack Overflow", ofType: "htm")
let url = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: path!)
webView.loadHTMLString(try! String(contentsOfURL: url), baseURL: url.URLByDeletingLastPathComponent)
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
}
I think the key point here is baseUrl parameter, you should setup it correctly. In my case i've used html's url without last path component - e.g. containing folder. This works fine on both device & simulator - check device snapshot. I've uploaded sample project to https://github.com/soxjke/WKWebViewTest so you can take a look (i've removed codesigning info from git)
So, to recap - method is working, functionality is working, just you do something wrong with it. To help you get what's wrong with your solutions, i'll add some suggestions:
1. Remember, that simulator filesystem is case-insensitive, device filesystem is case-sensitive. So if you have your filenames in html in lowercase - this won't work on device. 8fFsD.png != 8ffsd.png
2. Remember, that when copying resources, XCode ignores your folder structure. So if your html has <img src="./img/1.png"> and your XCOde project has folder structure like
test.htm
img/
1.png
2.png
After build it will be flattened, so test.htm and 1.png and 2.png will reside on same level
test.htm
1.png
2.png
I'm almost sure, after you verify these two assumptions, you'll get this method working.
I had this problem today, I've found the solution and potentially the cause:
loadHTMLString(String, baseURL: URL?)
This function doesn't allow the rendered HTML to access local media, as far as I'm aware, this is because it would be an injection risk, this could allow rendered HTML to access and manipulate your local file system. With a html string, that could come from anywhere or anyone.
loadFileURL(URL, allowingReadAccessTo: URL)
With this function, you point the WKWebview to the html file in your FileManager, and to the containing folder with 'allowingReadAccessTo'. Because the html is stored within the FileManager, it will allow the rendered HTML to access locally stored media.
If you don't have the html file stored locally for some reason(I assume you do), You could write the html sting into a .html file, then point to the URL of that file. However, this is just subverting Apple's protection, so do it at your own peril (don't do it).
This is just the solution that worked for me and my understanding of why we're having the problem to begin with.
Edit #1: Typo.
Edit #2: I've since found another nuance, When stating the 'allowingReadAccessTo:' URL, if the HTML itself needs to access things in parent folders (ie: .css, .js files), you need to specify the parent folder, not necessarily the location of the HTML itself, this will then implicitly allow access to the child folders as required also. For me, this problem was only apparent on a physical device, this didn't seem to have an effect whilst running in simulator, likely another discrepancy between how permissions work on simulator and a physical device.
Personally, I had to switch to using XWebView as the out-of-the-box behavior of WKWebView does not allow loading of local files. XWebView tricks it by loading up a local web server in the background and directing local traffic thru it. (XWebView is based on top of WKWebView)
Seems a bit overkill, but that is what I ended up having to do.
I've been experimenting with this as well, with similar restrictions, and the problem appears to be that paths aren't resolved unless baseURL references the application bundle. It doesn't work if you, for example, have something in the application's documents.
Edit: I have filed a radar for this rdar://29130863
Well you should be able to use local images and CSS files (and JavaScript files for that matter) with WKWebViews with the function that you have already found. My guess is that the problem is with your baseURL variable.
Update 7.5.2017:
I have completely updated the code from another SO answer of mine that used to be linked to my answer here. I have a working project for loadHTMLString() and .loadFileURL()
Try to create baseURL using:
let baseURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "#path#")
instead of:
let baseURL = URL(string: "#path#")
The main difference is that the first method adds file:// prefix before the path.
You can base64 encode the images... I know that works. Not sure if it will be appropriate for your use case though.
Kind of funny, I just ran into this problem while doing the opposite - moving from base64 encoded to image files.
When I used UIWebview, I used baseURL as,
let baseUrl = NSURL(string: Bundle.main.path(forResource: "cms", ofType: "html")!)! as URL
webView.loadHTMLString(bodyPage, baseURL: baseUrl)
But for the WKWebView, I used baseURL as
let baseUrl = Bundle.main.bundleURL
webView.loadHTMLString(bodyPage, baseURL: baseUrl)
This works for me.
I know this is quite old already, but I ran into the exact same problem and it took me hours of trials and even to find this thread with the same problem (Xamarin Forms App)
My issue was: parsing remote HTML content into a string and also adding locally saved images (also downloaded dynamically, no resource of the app). On the simulator all works well, but on acutal device the local images are not showing (also no ? or anything indicating an error, just a blank frame). The Xamarin webview also offers the "BaseURL" option which didn't help, also not to use the BaseURL on the custom iOS wkWebView.
The only working solution as pointed out by Scott above, is to write the HTML into a file and then use the "LoadFileUrl" function and allow read access to the base directory. This also works with absolute file paths for images in the HTML (not only relative to the basedir, but of course somewhere within the basedir).
My custom webview renderer to load web and local content looks like this now:
protected override void OnElementPropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e) {
base.OnElementPropertyChanged(sender, e);
NSUrl baseURL = new NSUrl(App.dirNews, true);
string viewFile = Path.Combine(App.dirNews, "view.html");
NSUrl fileURL = new NSUrl(viewFile, false);
switch (e.PropertyName) {
case "Url":
System.Console.WriteLine("--- Loading Web page ---");
System.Console.WriteLine("--- " + Element.Url + " ---");
NSUrlRequest myRequest = new NSUrlRequest(new NSUrl(Element.Url), NSUrlRequestCachePolicy.ReloadIgnoringLocalAndRemoteCacheData, 120);
Control.LoadRequest(myRequest);
break;
case "HTML":
System.Console.WriteLine("--- Showing HTTP content ---");
File.WriteAllText(viewFile, Element.HTML, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);
Control.LoadFileUrl(fileURL, baseURL);
break;
}
}
I was able to reproduce a similar issue. WKWebView loads my images specially if they are located remotely, apart from my app server.
For servers that are not SSL-secured (http instead of https), you can set your info.plist as per below:
App Transport Security Settings
- Allow Arbitrary Loads in Web Content (Set to YES)
- Allow Arbitrary Loads (Set to YES)
The problem was actually in the server. The server application was either:
Changing the image src from "http://IP-or-domain/uploads/file.jpg" to "../../uploads/file.jpg"
- OR -
The image src was "http://localhost/uploads/file.jpg" or "http://127.0.0.1/uploads/file.jpg" instead of "http://YOUR-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS/uploads/file.jpg"
In these cases, the actual device wont be able to locate the image. This only works with iOS Simulator because the virtual device is the same as the server and development machine. It can read LOCALHOST and 127.0.0.1.
In my server, I was using a Rich Text Editor (TinyMCE) and it automatically removes the IP address after it detects that it's the same source.
WKWebView can load image or css file from NSTemporaryDirectory, so you can copy your files to NSTemporaryDirectory, and then load it. It works for me on iOS 14! see this issue. ios-wkwebview-loadhtmlstring-baseurl-fails-to-load-images-and-read-css
It took me a while to figure this out, but based on this answer I got it working:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/73519282/5868066
Try this:
let htmlPath = URL(fileURLWithPath: "")
let htmlDirectory = htmlPath.deletingLastPathComponent()
let htmlString = try! String(contentsOfFile: htmlPath.path, encoding: .utf8)
let baseURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: htmlDirectory)
let documentsDirectory = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[.zero]
webView.loadFileURL(htmlPath, allowingReadAccessTo: documentsDirectory)
webView.loadHTMLString(htmlString, baseURL: baseURL)
I am trying to read from a text file that I have already created on my desktop. I put this Story.txt into the corresponding file path on my computer through Xcode, something along these lines :
(/Users/username/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/12F046A7-a lot more numbers/data/Containers/Data/Application/8AECCA06-160C-4702-B16E-FF50B2A145F5)
and the code works perfectly. However, when I try to run the app on my iPhone, it changes the file path and Xcode doesn't automatically transfer my files to my iPhone documents folder at this file path.
(/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/139C80A3-more numbers/Documents)
How do I manually put a .txt file at this location?
Here is the code I use to read the file.
func loadStory()
{
if let dir : NSString = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSSearchPathDirectory.DocumentDirectory, NSSearchPathDomainMask.AllDomainsMask, true).first
{
let path = dir.stringByAppendingPathComponent("Story.txt")
print(path)
do
{
//reads file
let text:String = try NSString(contentsOfFile: path, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) as String
}
catch {/* error handling here */}
}
}
Since it seems you want the file included with your app, do not attempt to manually install the file somewhere on your computer. That only works with the Simulator if you happen to put the file in just the right place.
Instead, add the file to your Xcode project. Then the file will be added to your app's resource bundle. Then you can access the file using NSBundle to get its path. It will not be in the app's Documents folder. It will be in the app's bundle.
See Where to place a .txt file and read from it in a IOS project for more details.
You need to add it to your project. Drag and drop it inside your project so it'll be bundled in. Than you can access it using
Let string = NSBundle.mainBundle().resourcePath as NSString
String.stringByAppendingPathComponent('Story.txt')
If you could change the file from .txt to plist, you could integrate it on your project, and never think where it is, it will be always accessible.