Saving gif file created from screenshots to camera roll - ios

Question

I've got a gif in my documents folder I would like users of the app to be able to access and email to use on other platforms that support gif animation.
I generated the gif file using information from this post...
Create and and export an animated gif via iOS?
The gif file generated and animates correctly (opened directly from simulator's documents folder in safari)
Unfortunately when trying to move the file to the camera roll (for easy email by user) using either UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum or writeImageDataToSavedPhotosAlbum from ALAssetsLibrary the image seems to be converted to a jpg file and loses all animation.
Checked this by emailing file from camera roll and opening on different platform (the functionality I would like users to have).
I have read every post I could find and from what I've seen it seems possible to save gif files directly from a browser to camera roll and even if they do not animate there they do retain that property when opened in another program so I am hoping what I am trying to do is at least possible : )
Thank for any help, have included my gif creation and failed copying attempts below..
- (void) makeGifFile {
////////////////////
NSDictionary *fileProperties = #{
(__bridge id)kCGImagePropertyGIFDictionary: #{
(__bridge id)kCGImagePropertyGIFLoopCount: #0, // 0 means loop forever
}
};
///////////////////
NSDictionary *frameProperties = #{
(__bridge id)kCGImagePropertyGIFDictionary: #{
(__bridge id)kCGImagePropertyGIFDelayTime: #0.06f, // a float (not double!) in seconds, rounded to centiseconds in the GIF data
}
};
///////////////////////
NSURL *documentsDirectoryURL = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomain:NSUserDomainMask appropriateForURL:nil create:YES error:nil];
NSURL *fileURL = [documentsDirectoryURL URLByAppendingPathComponent:#"animated.gif"];
////////////////////////
CGImageDestinationRef destination = CGImageDestinationCreateWithURL((__bridge CFURLRef)fileURL, kUTTypeGIF, self.screenshotnumber, NULL);
CGImageDestinationSetProperties(destination, (__bridge CFDictionaryRef)fileProperties);
/////////////////////////////////
for (NSUInteger i = 1; i < self.screenshotnumber+1; i++) {
#autoreleasepool {
////
NSString *name = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"Screenshot%d", i];
NSString *pathstring = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"Documents/%#.png", name];
NSString *gifPath = [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:pathstring];
/////
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:gifPath];
CGImageDestinationAddImage(destination, image.CGImage, (__bridge CFDictionaryRef)frameProperties); }
}
///////////////////////////////////////
if (!CGImageDestinationFinalize(destination)) {
NSLog(#"failed to finalize image destination");
}
CFRelease(destination);
NSLog(#"url=%#", fileURL);
//////////////////////////////
///
/// saved in documents directory
/////////////////////////////
//////////////////////////
//////
///// now move to camera roll
///////////////////////
ALAssetsLibrary *library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
NSString *documentDirectory = [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"Documents"];
NSString *gifImagePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/%#", documentDirectory, #"animated.gif"];
UIImage *gifImage = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:gifImagePath];
UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum(gifImage, nil, nil, nil);
CCLOG(#"wrote to camera roll");
//////////////////////// gets saved as JPG not gif
//////// next try...
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:gifImagePath]; // Your GIF file path which you might have saved in NSDocumentDir or NSTempDir
[library writeImageDataToSavedPhotosAlbum:data metadata:nil completionBlock:^(NSURL *assetURL, NSError *error) {
if (error) {
NSLog(#"Error Saving GIF to Photo Album: %#", error);
} else {
// TODO: success handling
NSLog(#"GIF Saved to %#", assetURL);
// success(gifImagePath);
}
}];
/////////// also gets saved as jpg
}
My methods for creating screenshots for those interested... I have lost track of the post I found this on... if anyone can provide me with the link I will give due credit here ...
Included to have all relevant functions together in case it helps anyone else :)
-(UIImage*) screenshotWithStartNode:(CCNode*)startNode
{
[CCDirector sharedDirector].nextDeltaTimeZero = YES;
CGSize viewSize = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] viewSize];
CCRenderTexture* rtx =
[CCRenderTexture renderTextureWithWidth:viewSize.width
height:viewSize.height];
[rtx begin];
[startNode visit];
[rtx end];
return [rtx getUIImage];
}
- (void) saveScreenShotWithName: (NSString*) name
{
CCScene *scene = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] runningScene];
CCNode *n = [scene.children objectAtIndex:0];
UIImage *tempimage = [self screenshotWithStartNode:n];
NSString *pathstring = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"Documents/%#.png", name];
NSString *savePath = [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:pathstring];
// Write image to PNG
[UIImagePNGRepresentation(tempimage) writeToFile:savePath atomically:YES];
}
Simple loop creates files and then another deletes files from documents directory after gif creation

Answer 1

Sadly this can't be solved. The reason for this is that Photos app can't (at the present) display animated GIFs and it only displays one frame from the GIF as a static image. That doesn't mean though that the gif wasn't saved properly. I haven't tried your code but everything seems Ok.
There's a way of testing this. In Messages app (for example) GIFs are being played correctly, so if you share the GIF image from Photos app via ActivityController, select Message and then send it to yourself, you should see animated GIF image in Messages app.