Automatically store files in Documents directory for iTunes file sharing?

[milani]

Hello everyone!

I have been search for the answer to this question for quite some time without any luck.

Here is what I'm trying to accomplish: I would like to - as the developer - store files by default inside of the Documents directory of my app so that when a user downloads my app those files will show up in iTunes file sharing.

I have tried a variety of things, but my lack of familiarity with Xcode and iPhone programming isn't helping me.

Essentially what I want to do is store a zip file inside of my app, and then have that zip file appended (or just added, I guess) to the Documents directory - either automatically or by some sort of basic user interaction. Is this possible?

If someone can help me out with this I would really really appreciate it! Thank you!

[andrewtheeditor]

Welcome to the forum! This is much easier than you'd think. You just need to find the path to the file from within the bundle, path to the documents directory, and then copy the file. You can even check to see if the file exists there already. I had a PDF I wanted to place in the directory if no other documents existed. This way, the user could delete my file and put their own there. As long as something existed there, I wouldn't add my file. Here is how I did it:

// Get documents Directory
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *publicDocumentsDir = [paths objectAtIndex:0];

// Check the File Count
NSArray *files = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:publicDocumentsDir error:NULL];
if (files.count == 0) {
    // Directory is empty -- add my file
    // Find the file in the bundle
    NSString *originalFile = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"DefaultPDF" ofType:@"pdf"];
    // Get the path I want to save it to
    NSString *newPath = [publicDocumentsDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"DefaultPDF.pdf"];
    // Save it
    [[NSFileManager defaultManager] copyItemAtPath:originalFile toPath:newPath error:nil];
}

[milani]

Thanks so much for your quick reply! I will take a look at the code and see what I can do. I may be back if I can't figure it out but I'll do my best. Thanks again!

Edit: just to clarify my situation, I'm using PhoneGap to develop the app (I'm not confident enough developing with Xcode natively). I'm not entirely sure where to place this code. Would I place this in the AppDelegate.h and/or AppDelegate.m?

For what it's worth I tried placing the code snippet in both .h and then .m, and in both cases I received several error messages. I'm sure the code is fine, but I'm probably doing something wrong. Any other help you could provide would be awesome. (Like I said, I'm as green with Xcode as you can get - and I have no prior knowledge of any languages beyond PHP).

Edit 2: by the way, since this seems relatively easy to do (if you know what you're doing) I'd certainly be willing to pay someone via PayPal for the hour or two that it takes to setup (sorry if this breaches TOS of the forums, but I'm to the point that I just want to get it done so I can launch the app)!