I was reading about Plist just before and I saw this Bit of code:
[super viewDidLoad];
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"projects" ofType:#"plist"];
projects = [NSArray arrayWithContentsOfFile:path];
}
Now I've been manually putting in the file path of my property list, I'm curious is this the correct way to universally find the file path?
if so could someone please explain how it works to me, thanks.
Yes, for getting the file from your Main resources bundle.
For getting the resource path from you application document directory you can try like
/**
Returns the URL to the application's Documents directory.
*/
- (NSURL *)applicationDocumentsDirectory
{
return [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
}
which could be use like
NSURL *storeURL = [[self applicationDocumentsDirectory] URLByAppendingPathComponent:#"yourFile.ext"];
Yes this is the right way and its self explanatory too..first step you find the path of plist file and by then you are populating an array with the contents of plist file. If you use mutable array instead of array you can also edit the plist file and save back
Related
I have a folder in image.xcassets which has more than 50 images for both iPhone and iPad.
I don't want to hard code all the names programatically. Can I get the list of images in that folder in an NSArray?
I'm not sure if this fully answers your question, but should you normally do this with the method
- (NSArray *)contentsOfDirectoryAtURL:(NSURL *)url includingPropertiesForKeys:(NSArray *)keys options:(NSDirectoryEnumerationOptions)mask error:(NSError **)error ?
This is a code snippet from a program I wrote to get all the images from a directory:
-(void)getContentOfImageDirectory
{
//Emptying the image directory content array
[_imageDirectoryContent removeAllObjects];
//Using NSFileManager to load the content of the image directory in a temporary array
NSFileManager *fm = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSArray *tempArray = [fm contentsOfDirectoryAtURL: _imageDirectory includingPropertiesForKeys: _imageProperties options: NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsPackageDescendants error: nil];
//Copy the temporary array into the imageDirectoryContent before returning the NSMutableArray imageDirectoryContent
[_imageDirectoryContent addObjectsFromArray:tempArray];
}
The variable _imageProperties is just an array of "common file system resource keys" as Apple calls them. The variable _imageDirectory is the URL from which you want to get the files.
hope this helps.
I'm sorry to annoy you and misunderstood your question. However, if I use the URL file///User/<Your Userid>/your file path to the program/Images.xcassets/ I get the content of that directory.
On the other hand if I use URLsForDirectory:NSApplicationDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask
and then
URLByAppendingPathComponent:#"Your Application container/Contents/Resources"
I can read all the image files of any fully compiled and operational application. I'm not aware of determining the application's resource folder in any other way.
This is a code snippet for accessing the resources directory of the Windows 7 applications folder from parallels.
-(id)initWithStartURL
{
self = [super init];
if(self)
{
//Initiating the file manager
NSFileManager *fm = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
//Getting the applications directory
NSArray *listOfURLs = [fm URLsForDirectory:NSApplicationDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask];
if([listOfURLs count] >= 1)
{
_tempDirectory = [listOfURLs objectAtIndex:0];
}
_imageDirectory = [_tempDirectory URLByAppendingPathComponent:#"Windows 7 Applications.app/Contents/Resources"];
}
return self;
}
I want to start off by saying that this block of code worked before the implementation and roll out of iOS 7.
Basically I have a file name that I'm looking for in the NSCachesDirectory, so I create a URL object as my search item. Then I enumerate the directories (using the same NSFileManager object) and look for file names that equal each other, and that's how I know the file exists.
+ (BOOL)itemExistsInMemory:(NSString *)itemName
{
BOOL itemExists = NO;
NSFileManager *fileManager = [[NSFileManager alloc] init];
NSArray *mySandboxDirs = [fileManager URLsForDirectory:NSCachesDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask];//get the directories for the application
NSURL *searchForURL = [[mySandboxDirs lastObject] URLByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#%#", itemName, FileNameAppendix]];//look for the specific file
NSArray *enumerator = [fileManager contentsOfDirectoryAtURL:[mySandboxDirs lastObject] includingPropertiesForKeys:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:NSURLNameKey, NSURLIsRegularFileKey, NSURLCreationDateKey, nil] options:NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsHiddenFiles error:nil];
for(NSURL *url in enumerator)
{//find out if any of the URLs within the NSCachesDirectory match what we're looking for
NSNumber *isRegularFile = nil;
[url getResourceValue:&isRegularFile forKey:NSURLIsRegularFileKey error:NULL];
if([isRegularFile boolValue])
{
if([url relativeString] isEqualToString:[searchForURL relativeString]])
{
itemExists = YES;
break;
}
}
}
return itemExists;
}
The file DOES INDEED EXIST in the NSCachesDirectory, however, the code doesn't find it because the searchForURL object was created without a path component (the path component is private/...). Why? Even stranger is that I save the data to a URL that's created with the
[[mySandboxDirs lastObject] URLByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#%#", itemName, FileNameAppendix]];
instruction! So it doesn't include the private/ path component in the URL, but when I write the data with [NSData writeToURL:] it "redirects" it to the private/ directory.
So why can't [NSFileManager URLsForDirectory: inDomains:] get me the correct directories for NSCachesDirectory?
More info moved from the comment for better formatting:
By the way, here's an example of what's contained in the URLs I'm creating and looking for ->
When I create a URL for saving:
file:///var/mobile/Applications/C63B378E-5EBE-417C-A465-8C3A3DCE013A/Library/Caches/Experimental%20Post.cnt
When I create a URL for searching:
file:///var/mobile/Applications/C63B378E-5EBE-417C-A465-8C3A3DCE013A/Library/Caches/Experimental%20Post.cnt
What the enumerator sees:
file:///private/var/mobile/Applications/C63B378E-5EBE-417C-A465-8C3A3DCE013A/Library/Caches/Experimental%20Post.cnt
I could simply take the URLs that the enumerator comes up with and remove the "private" part of the URL so that the strings match and I can proceed, but I'd like to understand why this is happening. Please also note that this only happens when you put the app on an iDevice since the directories are different than when you simulate it with the iOS Simulator.
Thanks to anyone that can be of assistance.
/var is a symlink to /var/private, use [NSURL URLByResolvingSymlinksInPath] to resolve the symlink.
In your example:
for(NSURL *url in enumerator) {
NSURL *resolvedSymlinksURL = [url URLByResolvingSymlinksInPath];
...
}
More detailled discussion: What does the /private prefix on an iOS file path indicate?
in the for loop, see if the url object have some return characters (like \r or \n) and remove it before proceeding.
A little embarrassing question, but I can find an answer which works in my case... I need to put some xml file (settings.xml) in order to read some data from it during application runtime.
According to some answers here and not only here, I have putted it here:
~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/5.0/[AppUUID]/Documents
and I'm trying to use it as follows:
// Loading data from external XML File
NSURL *url = [[NSBundle mainBundle]
URLForResource: #"settings" withExtension:#"xml"];
NSError *err;
if ([url checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError:&err] == NO){
NSLog(#"FILE NOT FOUND");
}
Result: "FILE NOT FOUND".
I've tried to do put the file under any possible directory in
~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/5.0/[AppUUID]/ and efect is still the same.
I'm using XCode 4.2
If you are putting the file into the .../Documents folder then you need to use the following code to access it (you are looking for it in the App Bundle, which is a different location altogether):
NSString *docFolder = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filename = [docFolder stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"settings.xml"];
if ([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:filename])
{
// Read file
}
else
{
NSLog(#"settings.xml file not found!");
}
In my game, I'm saving stats of the player in a plist that I store in the Documents directory. I have an empty dictionary of each stats that should be saved named "Default_Stats.plist" so that if it's the first time the app is loaded, it will copy it in the appropriate directory so it could be loaded and overwritten at will. The problem is, every time my app is loaded, it doesn't recognize the "Stats.plist" and overwrite it with the Default Stats, resetting every stats the player have made... And weird enough, it was perfectly working on the simulator, but not on the device. Here's my code :
In this method I read the stats :
- (void) readStatsFromFile{
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *statsPath = [[paths objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"Stats.plist"];
//Check if the file has already been created
if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:statsPath]){
[self createStatsList];
}else{
stats = [[NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:statsPath]retain];
}
}
Here's my creating method :
- (void) createStatsList{
NSString *statsPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath];
statsPath = [statsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"Default_Stats.plist"];
stats = [[NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:statsPath] retain];
[self writeStatsToFile];
}
And my writing method :
- (void) writeStatsToFile{
BOOL ok;
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *statsPath = [[paths objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"Stats.plist"];
ok = [stats writeToFile:statsPath atomically:YES];
if (!ok) {
NSLog(#"Couldn't write to file");
}else
NSLog(#"Stats written succesfully!");
}
Please help, I really don't understand what's wrong! I hope I've made myself clear enough!
Use filepath instead of absolute path.
Maybe duplicates exist in your mac, which makes exists=true on simulator, but not on device.
The easiest way to check would be to NSLog the paths encountered. Refer to these tools - they allow console logs to be captured for release builds running on your device.
Most likely that your documents directory just doesn't exist - on the simulator you share a documents directory with everyone on the Mac; on the device everyone has his own directory. Use the file manager method
createDirectoryAtURL:url withIntermediateDirectories:YES
to make sure that the directory is there before you try writing there. (I tend to use the URL methods instead of the file path methods).
PS. I'd recommend having one method that returns the path or url that you want. It's a good habit not to duplicate your code again and again.
I would do pretty much that, like everything in one session:
gets the URL for the file in the Document folder;
if the file is not there yet, copies the file from bundle to the Documents folder;
that should be the method for that, I have defined some macros for avoiding mistyping the file's name in the code:
- (NSURL *)statsFileURL {
#define NSStringFromFileNameWithExtension(filename, extension) [(filename) stringByAppendingPathExtension:(extension)]
#define kExtension #"plist"
#define kDefaultStatsFileName #"Default_Stats"
#define kCustomStatsFileName #"Stats"
NSURL *_returnURL = nil;
NSFileManager *_fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSURL *_documentDirectory = [[_fileManager URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
NSURL *_myFileURLInDocumentFolder = [_documentDirectory URLByAppendingPathComponent:NSStringFromFileNameWithExtension(kDefaultStatsFileName, kExtension)];
if ([_fileManager fileExistsAtPath:[_myFileURLInDocumentFolder path]]) {
_returnURL = _myFileURLInDocumentFolder;
} else {
NSURL *_myFileURLInBundle = [[NSBundle mainBundle] URLForResource:kDefaultStatsFileName withExtension:kExtension];
if ([_fileManager fileExistsAtPath:[_myFileURLInBundle path]]) {
NSError *_error = nil;
if ([_fileManager copyItemAtURL:_myFileURLInBundle toURL:_myFileURLInDocumentFolder error:&_error]) {
if (_error == nil) {
_returnURL = _myFileURLInDocumentFolder;
} else {
// some error during copying
}
} else {
// some error during copying
}
} else {
// the file does not esixts at all, not even in the bundle
}
}
return _returnURL;
}
the URL always points inside the Documents folder, so you will have read/write access to the file – or will be nil if some error happens.
after you have the URL, you can restore back to file without any issue, and at some other point in runtime you can override the file for your convenience anytime.
NOTE: you may need to extend this code for a more detailed error handling, I put the comment only the places when you need to worry about potential errors.
I am donwloading and retrieving files with ASIHTTPRequest. It already works, but now I am trying to break the download, when it is already stored. I can't figure out, how to implement this problem. I would like to solve it with an if-clause: if the file is not cached, download it else break. Would you mind to help me writing a proper Objective-C code? I have the file path, if I need it so compare or look after that file.
Thanks in advance!
pseudo code :
-(IBAction) download : (id) sender {
if (data1.pdf) {
// the download algorithm
}
else
break;
}
If you mean how you can check if a file is stored in the documents directory of your device, then you can use:
NSString* documentsPath = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString* file = [documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"data.pdf"];
if ([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:file]) {
...