Download Text File

[Jackson13]

I have seen a lot of threads on downloading images to the apps directory. What i want to know is how to download a text file and then find it. Is this possible?

[smithdale87]

Yes.

You have many options to download the file.

Synhronously - you can use NSData's initWithContentsOfUrl, then use NSFileManager's createFileAtPath method to write to disk.

Asynchronously - you can use NSURLConnection to download the data, then use the NSFileManager the same way as above to save to disk.

[Jackson13]

Originally Posted by smithdale87

Yes.

You have many options to download the file.

Synhronously - you can use NSData's initWithContentsOfUrl, then use NSFileManager's createFileAtPath method to write to disk.

Asynchronously - you can use NSURLConnection to download the data, then use the NSFileManager the same way as above to save to disk.

I am very new to this. Do you have any example code. That would be very appreciated.

[smithdale87]

I have Google. Let me google that for you

Also - NSFileManager Class Reference

[Jackson13]

Originally Posted by smithdale87

I have Google. Let me google that for you

Also - NSFileManager Class Reference

Thank you.

[Jackson13]

I am sorry but I still cannot get it. I looked at your pretty cool google search and only found definitions. I really just want some sample code. if you have worked with this before that would be great. I am just so new at this. I read everything on google from apple and other answers. But still have not found my answer. THank you for the quick responses.

[bluemonkey]

I do something similar but grab a text file and store it in a string for processing:

NSURL *urlVersion = [NSURL URLWithString: @"http://www.mydomain.com/folder1/version.txt"];
		NSString *webVersion = [NSString stringWithContentsOfURL:urlVersion encoding:1 error:NULL];
		NSLog(@"Web Version = %@", webVersion);

[Jackson13]

Is there a way to store it for later use so you do not have to continuosly download it.

[smithdale87]

Yes. Look at my 2ndpost. Use NSFileManager to save the txt file to your application documents directory.

Then always, before downloading the .txt file, check if the file exists in your documents directory first. If it does, then you dont need to downlaod the text file. Otherwise, you do.

[Jackson13]

I've tried quite a few times but that never works. Do have a code snippet that I can compare my code to. If not when I get home I'll post the code that I tried using.

[smithdale87]

When you get home, just post your code. I think it's better to show you what you're doing wrong in your own code than just give you the right code that works.

[Jackson13]

NSError *error = nil;
NSString *str;
	
// Search if the file exists already in the documents directory
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"myFile.txt"];
	
// If file doesn't exists in the docDirectory or it's empty then I take it from the MainBundle
if (filePath) {
	fileContent = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
	if (!fileContent) {
		filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"myFile" ofType:@"txt"];
		}
}else {
	filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"myFile" ofType:@"txt"];
}
	
// Once the file is taken (no matter if it comes from the docDirectory or the MainBundle) it's time to start working with it:
if (filePath) {
	fileContent = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:&error];
	if (fileContent) {

** * * * * * * */* // You can use this if you want to read from the file!
		NSArray* arr = [fileContent componentsSeparatedByString:@"\n"];
		NSEnumerator* nse = [arr objectEnumerator];
			
		str = [nse nextObject];
** * * * * * * **/
			
** * * * * * * *// Prepare the path to write to the file...
		filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingString:@"/"];	
		filePath = [filePath stringByAppendingString:@"myFile.txt"];	
			
** * * * * * * *NSString *string = @"Hello, world!";

		// Write string to file
		if ([string writeToFile:filePath atomically:YES encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error: nil]) {
			//NSLog(@"File writed correctly!");
		}else {
			//NSLog(@"ERROR: Unable to write to file!");
		}
	}
}

[smithdale87]

Here's your problem:

Here it is. I don't know if this is correct. I got it from somebody.

If you ever have any hopes of producing any kind of applications, dont just bolt together snippets of code from all over the place. Or at least if you do, you should know what the code actually does, and be able to tell if it is working correctly or not.

[smithdale87]

I see exactly why it doesnt work though.

[Jackson13]

I read the entire forum which gave me a great idea of what is happening. The problem is that there are no tutorials on this so I can't really learn anything quickly. Do you know anything that would help.

[Jackson13]

You said you know why it doesn't work. Why doesn't it work?

[Jackson13]

Thanks guys for all your help but I figured out how to do it from an online tutorial.

[smithdale87]

Would you mind posting the solution for anyone else that may have this same question in the future? or perhaps just a link to the tutorial you used?

[Jackson13]

First I use the code that blue monkey gave mr and I saved the contents of the URL to a string. Then I wrote to a text file in the documents directory from this tutorial. The link to the video is below.

YouTube - XCode Tutorial: Documents Directory

[Jackson13]

I have one last question. When I implement this the UIFreezes and I am unable to show that the application is doing something. Is it possible to allow it to do it in the background or at least show a UIActivityIndicatorView animating?
I used the initWithContentsOfURL:blah and then saved it to the documents directory using the tutorial posted above.

[javaconvert]

Originally Posted by Jackson13

I have one last question. When I implement this the UIFreezes and I am unable to show that the application is doing something. Is it possible to allow it to do it in the background or at least show a UIActivityIndicatorView animating?
I used the initWithContentsOfURL:blah and then saved it to the documents directory using the tutorial posted above.

I'd look into NSURLConnection.

[smithdale87]

Other than NSURLConnectioon, you can just use the performSelectorInBackground method and call your initWithContents of URL there. You can add an activity indicator as well