reading from file: file doesn't exist - objective-c

Question

I have an App both in C# and Objective-C, that has to read from text file. Since the text file is created after the App, the user has the option to save it anywhere. In C# it was not difficult to find the file, only using file name with out the full path. In Objective-C this seems to be difficult. I can't ask the users to save it at specific Path, it is against Apple's App regulation. Any Idea how to search for the particular file with only filename? During my trial I used NSFileManager to detect the file, and the App can read the file if it is saved in Applications(Mac),But if i save the file in Documents or anywhere else , gives me Error:'file doesn't exist'.

Answer 1

You can save your txt file within your app folder. You can create directory.
Here is some code to create directory in Documents directory.
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSFileManager *flmngr = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
BOOL isDir;
if (![flmngr fileExistsAtPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/yourDicretoryName", documentsDirectory] isDirectory:&isDir]) {
[flmngr createDirectoryAtPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/yourDicretoryName", documentsDirectory]
withIntermediateDirectories:NO
attributes:nil
error:nil];
}
after creating specific directory. You can save your txt file. Assume you have one nsstring
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/txtFile.txt",documentsDirectory];
[yourString writeToFile:filePath atomically:YES encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
After saving your txt file you can read like this.
NSString *stringTxt = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
You can get the file list in directory using the code
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSError *error;
NSMutableArray *fileList = [[NSMutableArray alloc]initWithArray:[[NSFileManager defaultManager] contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/yourDirectory", documentsDirectory] error:&error]];
-contentsOfDirectoryAtPath
returns NSArray Object. with the file names in directory.
For Cocoa Thouch Mac Application.
You can create directory using code:
NSFileManager *fileManager= [NSFileManager defaultManager];
if(![fileManager fileExistsAtPath:directory isDirectory:&isDir])
if(![fileManager createDirectoryAtPath:directory withIntermediateDirectories:YES attributes:nil error:NULL])
NSLog(#"Error: Create folder failed %#", directory);
You can select directory using code:
NSOpenPanel* panel = [NSOpenPanel openPanel];
[panel setCanSelectHiddenExtension:NO];
[panel setCanChooseDirectories:YES];
[panel setCanChooseFiles:NO];
[panel setTitle:#"Kaydetmek için Dosya Yolunu Seçin!"];
[panel beginWithCompletionHandler:^(NSInteger result){
if (result == NSFileHandlingPanelOKButton) {
directoryPath = [[[panel URLs] objectAtIndex:0]path];
directoryPath = [directoryPath stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"file://localhost" withString:#""];
}
}];
Writing file still same. But you can save your in documents desktop in selected or created directory etc.
Fetching file list is same.