I have file tree in my Documents folder. What is the easiest way to watch all changes in Documents folder and in all its subfolders? I've already read about kqueue but it seems that it works only for folder itself(not for its subfolders).
The cost of scanning the file system is relatively high if you can't do it using a function built into the OS.
For iOS, your app file system can't really change while the app is running. iTunes can sync some file which may be an issue for you but generally, while the app is open, it is only the app that is making changes. So, the app should deal with this situation by posting notifications about the change events so that other classes inside the app can observe them and deal with the situation accordingly.
Your notifications can also include details of what changed in the userInfo dictionary.
Related
This is a very theoretical question, but quiet important for me, how I approach my next steps.
I am developing a SwiftUI MacOS app, where a user can upload own files. The metadata getting stored in CoreData and the file I store manually in the file system. At the moment I am using the default file folder for my application.
Soon I want to have a iCloud sync between my Mac OSX app and my iOS app. I read about it and it should work. CoreData should be no problem.
Now to my question if it will be possible to approach it that way I am thinking of:
I would like to create a Finder Sync Extension for my Mac OSX app, so I get a own folder, which can be added to the favorites and be observed. I want all my local files to be stored there. That should work..
Will I am able to sync these files which are stored in the Finder Sync Extension with iCloud to my iOS app?
Can I create a extension on iOS aswell, to display these files?
I am not storing my documents in a Data blob of the CoreData or allowing External Storage. I store all manually. Will I am able to still sync my documents via iCloud.
All in all, I want to know if I can store my files in the Finder folder, and still keep them synced with iCloud to iOS? If that is not possible, please let me know. Would be interesting to know in forehand.
A Finder Sync Extension should not "do" any syncing. In fact, Apple specifically recommends that a separate background process be used for any networking-like activity:
It’s generally best if the extension focuses on handling the badges, contextual menus, and toolbar buttons. Place in a separate service (a Login Item or Launch Agent) any code that performs the sync, updates state, or communicates with remote data sources. This approach ensures that there is only one syncing service running at a time.
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Conceptual/ExtensibilityPG/Finder.html
A Finder Sync Extension is used to provide file badges, menus, and otherwise modify the UI of Finder.
Adding a Finder extension doesn't give you a folder, let alone one that syncs.
You need to provide the folder and all sandbox details related to that. Your main app and/or background process needs to provide the syncing service.
In summary, your main app handles all of the syncing.
The Finder Extension only updates the UI for certain folders. It doesn't provide any syncing itself. So any "syncing with iCloud" question you have should be asked independently of the Finder Sync Extension context.
According to the App Programming Guide for watchOS it is possible to store data in a Documents folder in the watch app. My code also seems to be doing this sucessfull, as there are no errors.
However, to really debug this, i wonder if there is some way to access this data on the device through the GUI for debugging (e.g., iTunesFilesharing with UIFileSharingEnabled, downloading the Container).
I am working on a library with a very verbose logger module that, on iOS, writes xml logs to NSDocumentDirectory in a consistent file tree. I want to come up with a way for the user of this library to easily access these logs.
I know it is simple to programatically retrieve files from this directory, but is it possible to access this directory on an iOS physical device in any way from outside Xcode to retrieve these logs? I feel like I have seen it somewhere before, something in the manner of extracting the .ipa file and going into the package contents, but I could be wrong.
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This (Browse the files created on a device by the IOS application I'm developing, on workstation?) is how to do it with Xcode on a device, but I have to assume that there is some way we can create that gets the logs off of a device for a user.
is it possible to access this directory on an iOS physical device in any way from outside Xcode to retrieve these logs?
It is possible to expose the Documents directory by enabling iTunes file sharing. When file sharing is enabled through this method, the contents of Documents directory would be visible to the user in iTunes, which can also be exported. The documents would also be visible for export through some third party desktop apps like iExplorer.
Here is the link to Apple documentation. You may also refer this thread to understand how this is done.
If you're using a simulator (apparently your task doesn't seem to need te real device) you are in luck.
You should go to a folder similar to this one:
/Users/[YOUR_USER_NAME]/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/[RANDOM_HASH_YOU_SHOULD_DISCOVER]/data/Containers/Data/Application/[RANDOM_HASH_2_YOU_SHOULD_ALSO_DISCOVER]
Once there, with finder, you'll get the "documents" folder of the simulator and the app you're trying to retrieve your logs from.
You might say: I don't know which 2 RANDOM_HASHES should I go to.
Yes, you're right. If you have MANY simulators installed and or being used, it might be tricky to discover which one is the one you're trying to debug.
The same thing with your APP, your app will live in another RANDOM_HASH folder, and you should browse them, one by one, and then discover your documents folder.
Someone needed to solve this "mess" and created a Xcode Alcatraz Extension that leads you to the exact live simulator and APP you're debugging in any given moment, and then you don't need to guess which 2 random_hash paths you need to navigate to.
If Xcode + Alcartaz plugin extension manager is somewhat out of your reach, you might need to google it. It's not a difficult process.
PS: That magical Alcatraz Extension is named "XCodeWay" (in case you are brave enough to install Alcatraz onto your copy of XCode).
EDIT: Useful link to get Alcatraz: http://alcatraz.io/ Follow its easy instructions and you're done.
EDIT2: If Xcode cannot be used, then the last question in this other thread might come in handy: Browse the files created on a device by the IOS application I'm developing, on workstation?
(Still, an external application in your users machine will be needed )
Having only worked with Android/web dev before I am having a hard time figuring out where in the world my file should be getting copied to in iOS. After reading the file browser documentation on the iOS developer resource page it says that each app is an "island" which contains its own folder system. If I want to have my user be able to copy a file from my app's sdk to their iOS device, where should I put it?
I downloaded a file browser app from the app store on my iOS testing device but am I right in thinking that there is no global file browsing system?
I am using a Cordova plugin called Asset2sd which works perfectly for me in Android, getting the root storage folder and downloading the file to there. It has no iOS alternative so I'm going to have to figure something else out, I just need to know where to start. Do I have to have the user access my app's internal files somehow? Can I create a folder for them to look in when they download my app? Some documentation or something would be wonderful. I am totally lost.
Thanks!
You're right. Apps don't have access to the global file system. Each app only has access to their own app directory. Here's in-depth information on Sandboxing: https://developer.apple.com/app-sandboxing/
In your app's sandbox, you basically can manage files as you want, i.e. download, copy, move, delete, etc. So you can create a folder Downloads in your apps documents directory and then display the contents of this folder for instance in a table view.
Related documentation/links:
https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSFileManager_Class/index.html
https://stackoverflow.com/a/6907432/967327
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/iPhoneAppProgrammingGuide.pdf
I would like to create a NSPersistentDocument in Mac OS X and read this document as a UIManagedDocument on iOS 7.
Is this possible?
Are both file formats compatible?
Thank you!
Interesting question - I can confirm that the basic core data files are compatible. I have a Mac app and an iOS app using the same file that gets synced using iCloud. The app is a document based app and currently I have been storing the actual database file in iCloud so the whole file gets sync'ed by iCloud.
This works fine but obviously if a user opens the file on two devices and is not careful about saving and closing there is a possibility their changes may be overridden.
Apple has approved the Mac app which uses standard NSPersistentDocument to create and save files. Unfortunately they have rejected the iOS apps with some obscure reference to not conforming to their data storage guidelines, saying that documents must be stored in /Documents directory if they need to be backed up to iCloud. Well if the user has selected iCloud then I store the files in the iCloud location provided by the API calls.
Anyway I am still waiting to hear back from them about what is specifically wrong with this approach since it seems to be the same one used by Pages and other document based apps.
If I try using UIManagedDocument then iOS creates a folder structure and stores the database inside this folder structure. The Mac app File->Open dialog then shows this folder structure as well as a file that essentially looks like a the normal sqlite file. But then perhaps OS X 10.8.4 does not implement the latest iCloud/Core Data stuff - who knows...
EDIT
Here is a link to code examples and videos showing OSX and iOS app integration using Core Data and iCloud. http://ossh.com.au/design-and-technology/software-development/uimanageddocument-icloud-integration/
I agree this is definitely possible. I'm using NSPersistent document on OS X 10.8/10.9/10.10 with a binary core data format (no wrappers - plain files). On iOS i'm using UIDocument. Core data works fine in both environments.
Apple says NSPersistentDocument does not support iCloud. It is more correct to say it isn't fully supported. Most of the NSDocument support (which includes iCloud Document Library access from 10.8) will work. Handling of conflicted files on open works.
You can't enable auto save (which is listed as a requirement for iCloud Documents in the iCloud Design Guide). Autosave works asynchronously and is definitely not supported by NSPersistentDocument.
So if you handle file saving, and conflicts, it is possible to use NSPersistent document. There are some quirks: so, for example, if an iCloud change arrives on OS X for a document that is open, the normal NSDocument response would be to automatically reopen the document. This doesn't happen - and there is no warning the file has changed until you are about to save the file. But at least there is a warning. On iOS it is easier to detect changes as they happen by using UIDocumentStateChangedNotification.