Document Directory Path Change When Rebuild Application

iOS file path is changing at every launch/rerun the application

Edit 1:

Hi I created the new project and use the same code I posted in main, and it's working. But in the real project it not working.

Not sure what exactly going on in your project, try to debug it. It's part of development as well. :)

If you are in hurry to fix this issue in this weekend try to use the following code snippet.

// collect data from bundle
let constFileURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "AppConst", withExtension: "json")!
let data = try! Data(contentsOf: constFileURL)

// try to write data in document directory
do {
    let constFileURL = try saveFileInDocumentDirectory(filePath: "MyFolder/AppConst.json", data: data)
    // use your `constFileURL`
} catch (let error as FileOperationError) {
    switch error {
    case .fileAlreadyExists(let url):
        let data = try! Data(contentsOf: url)
        print(String(data: data, encoding: .utf8))
    case .IOError(let error):
        print("IO Error \(error)")
    }
} catch {
    print("Unknown Error \(error)")
}

// Helpers
enum FileOperationError: Error {
    case fileAlreadyExists(url: URL)
    case IOError(Error)
}
func saveFileInDocumentDirectory(filePath: String, data: Data) throws -> URL {
    
    // final destination path
    let destURLPath = fullURLPathOf(filePath, relativeTo: .documentDirectory)
    // check for file's existance and throw error if found
    guard FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: destURLPath.path) == false else {
        throw FileOperationError.fileAlreadyExists(url: destURLPath)
    }
    // Create Intermidiate Folders
    let intermidiateDicPath = destURLPath.deletingLastPathComponent()
    if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: intermidiateDicPath.path) == false {
        do {
            try FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: intermidiateDicPath, withIntermediateDirectories: true, attributes: nil)
        } catch {
            throw FileOperationError.IOError(error)
        }
    }
    
    // File Writing
    do {
        try data.write(to: destURLPath, options: .atomic)
    } catch {
        throw FileOperationError.IOError(error)
    }
    return destURLPath
}
func fullURLPathOf(_ relativePath: String, relativeTo dic:FileManager.SearchPathDirectory ) -> URL {
    return FileManager.default.urls(for: dic, in: .userDomainMask).first!.appendingPathComponent(relativePath)
}

Original Answer

Why don't you just return "MyFolder/\(fileName)" on successful file operation? If you need to access the path later you can always do that using FileManager APIs.

let docDir = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!
let constFilePath = docDir.appendingPathComponent("MyFolder/\(fileName)")

// Access const file data
do { 
  let fileData = try Data(contentsOf: constFilePath)

  // Use you data for any further checking

} catch {
  // Error in reading file data
  print("Error in file data access : \(error)")
}

Document directory path change when rebuild application

iOS 8 onwards, Absolute url to app's sandbox changes every time you relaunch the app. Hence you should never save the absolute url of the video. Save the name of the video and recreate the url every time you relaunch the app.

  let pathComponent = "pack\(self.packID)-\(selectRow + 1).mp4"
  let directoryURL: URL = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[0]
  let folderPath: URL = directoryURL.appendingPathComponent("Downloads", isDirectory: true)
  let fileURL: URL = folderPath.appendingPathComponent(pathComponent)

Once you have fileURL look for the file and you will find the file downloaded in previous launch.

iOS creates a new Sandbox for app every time user launches the app. Hence absolute URL will very. But iOS will take care of setting up all the folders and contents inside the Sandbox as it was earlier. So though base url of SandBox change, relative url's of all the content will be remained intact.

Hence its advised never to save absolute url to any folder :) Hope it helps

ios FileManager losing stored data when rebuilding app

The problem is that you are storing an absolute path. You can't do that, because your app is sandboxed, which means (in part) that the URL of the Documents folder can change. Store just the document name, and each time you want to save to it or write from it, calculate the path to the Documents folder again and append the document name and use that result as your path.

Document Or cache Path Changes on every launch in iOS 8

I got the answer. As the absolute path is changing on every launch, we can save the data on relative path and retrieve it on appending absolute path and relative path.

This is how we can save the data on the relative path:

NSString *documentsDirectory = @"MyFolder";
documentsDirectory = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:filename];
NSString *relativePath = documentsDirectory;

But when you read the file you have to use absolute path + relative path:

  NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
  NSString *fullCachePath = ((NSURL*)[[fileManager URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject] ).path;
  NSString *fullPath = [fullCachePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:relativePath];  

For Database also store data on the relative path only. But while reading take the absolute path and append the relative path coming from database and read.

Its Working here.

Different path URL for FileManager everytime I open the app

You are using the wrong API. absoluteString (in rootURL.absoluteString) returns the string representation including the scheme file://. The correct API for file system URLs is path

I recommend to use the URL related API as much as possible

public func directoryExists(at url: URL) -> Bool {
    let fileManager = FileManager.default
    var isDir : ObjCBool = false
    if fileManager.fileExists(atPath: url.path, isDirectory:&isDir) {
        return isDir.boolValue
    } else {
        return false
    }
}

and compose the URL in a more reliable way

func createARObjectDirectory() {
    let rootURL = try! FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: false)
    if directoryExists(at: rootURL.appendingPathComponent(DefaultURL.arObjectUrlDirectoryName)  {
        Logger.logServer("ARObject directly found")
    } else {
        createNewDirectory(name: DefaultURL.arObjectUrlDirectoryName)
    }
}

And this is swiftier too

public func createNewDirectory(name: String) {
    
    let documentDirectory = try! FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: false)
    let dirURL = documentDirectory.appendingPathComponent(name)
    do
    {
        try FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: dirURL, withIntermediateDirectories: false, attributes: nil)
    }
    catch let error as NSError
    {
        Logger.logError("Unable to create directory \(error.debugDescription)")
    }
    Logger.logInfo("Dir Path = \(dirPath.path)")
}
  

iOS8 Document directory path

application Documents directory, it works on every iOS version:

- (NSURL *)applicationDocumentsDirectory {
    return [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
}

Xcode changes location of applications folder on build

Since iOS 8.0, every time you rebuild your code, the name of the application folder (which contains your documents and library directories) changes. This is the intended behaviour.

So if you want to store a path, you should only store the filename, and then combine it with the location of the documents directory on the fly. This way, it will always point to the correct location.

The contents of the documents directory will persist even though the name of the folder in which it resides will change from build to build.

// Returns the URL to the application's Documents directory.
- (NSURL *)applicationDocumentsDirectory
{
    return [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
}

See: Technical Note TN2406.

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