Adding list of URLs to an array? - ios

Question

I'm using MHVideoPhotoGallery to create gallery's of images that are stored on my website. The current way to add images (as shown in the example on Github) is
MHGalleryItem *photo1 = [MHGalleryItem.alloc initWithURL:#"*ENTER IMAGE URL HERE*"
galleryType:MHGalleryTypeImage];
MHGalleryItem *photo2 = [MHGalleryItem.alloc initWithURL:#"*ENTER IMAGE URL HERE*"
galleryType:MHGalleryTypeImage];
MHGalleryItem *photo3 = [MHGalleryItem.alloc initWithURL:#"*ENTER IMAGE URL HERE*"
galleryType:MHGalleryTypeImage];
self.galleryDataSource = #[#[photo1,photo2,photo3]];
But I want to add hundreds of images and this is not the most ideal way to do it. What would be an easier way for me to accomplish this?
Thanks!

Answer 1

You have to start with a list of the URLs. What I would do is put this in a text file in my bundle. In code, when the app runs, I would open the text file (as an NSString) and split it into an NSArray. Now I've got an NSArray of the URLs. I would then cycle through the NSArray. So now we're inside a loop. For each item the array, I would initialize the MHGalleryItem and then add it to a previously created NSMutableArray with addObject:. Thus we have a two or three-line loop which is repeated, running through all the URLs.
The following is pseudo-code and untested (so it might contain errors), but it should give the general idea of the structure I'm suggesting:
NSMutableArray* temp = [NSMutableArray new];
NSString* s =
[NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:
[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"urls" ofType:#"txt"]
encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
NSArray* urls = [s componentsSeparatedByString:#"\n"];
for (NSString* url in urls) {
MHGalleryItem *item = [[MHGalleryItem alloc] initWithURL:url
galleryType:MHGalleryTypeImage];
[temp addObject:item];
}
self.galleryDataSource = temp;

Answer 2

Loop. If you're putting numbers at the end of your variable names, you need a loop and/or an array.
NSMutableArray * photos = [NSMutableArray new];
NSArray * photoPaths = [NSArray arrayWithContentsOfFile:plistContainingPhotoPaths];
for( NSString * path in photoPaths ){
NSURL * photoURL = [NSURL URLWithString:path];
MHGalleryItem * photo = [[MHGalleryItem alloc] initWithURL:photoURL
galleryType:MHGalleryTypeImage];
[photos addObject:photo];
}
And don't use dot syntax for alloc, or your code will burst into flames.

Answer 3

Use a naming protocol on your website such as:
www.mywebsite.com/appImageGallery/insertImageNumber
And replace the insertImageNumber with the number of you image. Then add this for loop to get all of the images and add them to the array.
NSMutableArray *mutableGalleryDataSource = [self.galleryDataSource mutableCopy]
for(int i = 0; i < numberOfImagesOnWebsite; i++){ //replace numberOfImagesOnWebsite with the number of images on your website.
MHGalleryItem *newItem = [MHGalleryItem.alloc initWithURL:[#"www.mywebsite.com/appImageGallery/" stringByAppendingString:[NSString stringWithFormat: #"%i", i]] galleryType:MHGalleryTypeImage];
[mutableGalleryDataSource addObject:newItem];
}
self.galleryDataSource = mutableGalleryDataSource;

Answer 4

There is also an -addObjectsFromArray method on NSMutableArray.