I recently had my application rejected, by Apple for:
"Your app has the UIFileSharingEnabled key set to true in the Info.plist, but files and folders not intended for file-sharing are contained within its Documents folder..."
I am storing my application data in the documents directory, images and the core data database. This is a very simple progress, that allows the user to backup and import data. Below are the major steps:
The user can backup the data, which zips the folder.
The user can then use iTunes file sharing to take out the backup.
The user can import, the zip file which overwrites the data in the documents directory.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues? It seems like I am using this correctly.
You should put the zip file in the Documents folder, not any other files. The fact that you also put your core-data files (and some of the other files the user shouldn't see) in the Documents folder is why it was rejected.
You can store any files that the user shouldn't see in another folder such as the Application Support folder.
Related
Currently i was saving my application data (Media) to the CacheDirectory i.e
/var/mobile/Applications/BEAFC76C-C450-4A3A-9765-A0385A9580F3/Library/Caches
and things were going fine. But recently i got a bug report that the application data has been deleted. When i searched over it, i got this Apple Doc. According to it, DocumentsDirectory should be the ideal place to store the User/Application data.
Put user data in the /Documents/. User data is any
data that cannot be recreated by your app, such as user documents and
other user-generated content.
And Cache should not be used to store the User Data that could not be reproduced by the application.
Put data cache files in the /Library/Caches
directory. Examples of files you should put in this directory include
(but are not limited to) database cache files and downloadable
content, such as that used by magazine, newspaper, and map apps. Your
app should be able to gracefully handle situations where cached data
is deleted by the system to free up disk space.
What should be the ideal place to store it.
EDIT:
I have an application that allows user to store Videos and Photos in the application. For that i used CacheDirectory. But i am getting bug reports that the Data (Videos/Photos) is getting deleted. What conclusion i draw is that the data is being getting delete by the Device itself in order to provide space.
Secondly i also wanna give the iTunes sharing function. So only the particular files has to be stored in the DocumentsDirectory. Some files can never be exposed and some has has to be shared. What should be the ideal way to store the files.
Use Documents (NSDocumentDirectory) for files you wish to share via iTunes.
Use Application Support (NSApplicationSupportDirectory) for files you wish to hide from the user but still be backed up and never deleted by the OS.
Starting iOS 5, Apple says that it's no longer a good thing to save all kind of files in Documents Directory - if you do that, your app will be rejected for sure because this folder is backed up to iTunes & iCloud, unless otherwise specified.
It says that we should save files into Caches or Tmp Directory - these won't be backed up, but it's not a good thing to do because files from these directories can disappear if low memory happens.
So I think the best think to do is to save the important files that you need all the time in your app into Documents Directory and mark them not to be backed up, like this.
Library/Application Support Folder is the folder you should be using.
This directory doesn't always exist, and thus you may need to create it.
You can enable or disable whether you want to backup this data with iTunes or not.
This data is not accessible even if you enable file sharing. Only data that you put in Document directory would be shared with iTunes sharing, so you can still protect your data and get it backed up as well. Apple's documentation
I have an app written in Swift that is similar to a soundboard. Currently I just have a bunch of mp3s in the apps main bundle. Is it possible to remotely add more mp3s into the apps main bundle and then change a variable in the code to account for the new mp3s? I want it so that I can dynamically add new mp3s without going through the whole app review process. Ideally a user would be able to open the app the next day and find that 15 new mp3s have been added without having to download an update. Is this a possibility?
You can’t write to the main bundle on iOS. Its contents are
cryptographically signed as a part of the App Store submission
process; modifying its contents would prevent the application from
running.
Reference from THIS answer.
And you can get more information from this post: File write with [NSBundle mainBundle] fails.
File System Programming Guide:
< Application_Home>/AppName.app
This is the bundle directory containing the app itself. Do not write
anything to this directory. To prevent tampering, the bundle directory
is signed at installation time. Writing to this directory changes the
signature and prevents your app from launching again.
< Application_Home>/Documents/
Use this directory to store critical user documents and app data
files. Critical data is any data that cannot be recreated by your app,
such as user-generated content. The contents of this directory can be
made available to the user through file sharing. The contents of this
directory are backed up by iTunes.
< Application_Home>/Library/
This directory is the top-level directory for files that are not user
data files. You typically put files in one of several standard
subdirectories but you can also create custom subdirectories for files
you want backed up but not exposed to the user. You should not use
this directory for user data files. The contents of this directory
(with the exception of the Caches subdirectory) are backed up by
iTunes. For additional information about the Library directory, see
“The Library Directory Stores App-Specific Files.”
You can read THIS if you want to write a file into document directory.
Hope this will help.
I developed an Ipad app which download different kind of files, but after a week or some days the downloaded files are removed and the app that open the file can find it anymore.
Could anybody help me, Where should I save downloaded files in my app to avoid that the file came automatically deleted?. IOS usually remove downloaded files after certain time?.
I already read this apple documentation
I know that maybe is not something complicated but I can't figure out why the file is removed If anybody can help me I'll appreciate that.
Put data cache files in the /Library/Caches
directory. Examples of files you should put in this directory include
(but are not limited to) database cache files and downloadable
content, such as that used by magazine, newspaper, and map apps. Your
app should be able to gracefully handle situations where cached data
is deleted by the system to free up disk space.
Most probably you are using caches/temp directory which the system can clear contents of in case of low space. To avoid deletion use Documents Directory.
If you are already storing in documents directory, then the file can appear missing if you are storing its hardcoded path , which can change during app update. Try storing relative path and log the contents of your documents directory to see what files exist.
save the files in your local sqlite db, data core or if you can serialize them with the standard user defaults
Since ios5, the file in the NSDocument would be upload to iCloud automatically, if the file in NSDocument is too large Apple would reject the app.
I want to know what path should I store the downloaded file, and what path to store un-completed file (Would not be deleted when application terminate)?
The Caches directory is suitable for files that can be replaced if they were to disappear. In other words, if the file you download can simply be downloaded again if it were to be deleted, then the Caches directory is a good place.
If the downloaded file isn't replaceable and the downloaded file is something that the user initiates as data for the app, then the Documents directory is actually a good place and shouldn't cause rejection.
I'm a bit confused. I'm including in the bundle a Core Data file that will not be modified by the user. Apple rejected my app after I started copying the file to /Documents (due to the new iCloud requirements), so I now I copy the file over to /Library/myprivatedir/
The question is why do I need to copy over to /Library in the first place. What's wrong with it staying in the Bundle after all?
There's nothing wrong with opening a CoreData store from within the bundle. Just be sure to pass the NSReadOnlyPersistentStoreOption as part of the options to -addPersistentStoreWithType:configuration:URL:options:error:
Skimming the docs for iOS Data Storage Guidelines (apple id required) I found this
... Data that can be downloaded again or regenerated should be stored in the <Application_Home>/Library/Caches directory. Examples of files you should put in the Caches directory include database cache files and downloadable content, such as that used by magazine, newspaper, and map applications.
Because it is easily regenerated they may have taken issue with it.
A couple of points down may be useful if you did have a read/write database scenario
... Use the "do not back up" attribute for specifying files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations. Use this attribute with data that can be recreated but needs to persist even in low storage situations for proper functioning of your app or because customers expect it to be available during offline use. This attribute works on marked files regardless of what directory they are in, including the Documents directory. These files will not be purged and will not be included in the user's iCloud or iTunes backup. Because these files do use on-device storage space, your app is responsible for monitoring and purging these files periodically.