Question
Is it possible to determine the location a macOS app was launched from at runtime?
Context
I develop a Safari Extension, and in order for the extension to be enabled the application needs to be present /Applications/. Several users have tried to run the application directly from the DMG file and then complained that the extension doesn't appear in Safari's extension settings. I would like to detect this and alert them that they need to move the file.
You can use NSBundle, specifically the bundlePath property. The documentation says:
The full pathname of the receiver’s bundle directory.
And you can use it something like this:
NSString* bundlePath;
bundlePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath]
NSLog(#"%#", bundlePath);
There's also bundleURL if you want a NSURL to work with instead of a string.
Related
What is the database location of a MacOS application when using Core Data ?
I searched everywhere on my Mac and did't find it.
I Have the hidden files OFF and I'm sure there is data in my database.
Also I don't use app Sandbox.
If you have sandboxing enabled for your app, it will be placed under ~/Library/Containers/app.bundle.id/Data/Library/Application Support/AppTargetName where app.bundle.id is the Bundle Identifier specified in your app's target and AppTargetName is the name of that target, i.e. the name of the generated .app file. In that folder you should find the SQLite files that contain the database data.
Look for the persistentStoreCoordinator method in your AppDelegate.m. There is a line
NSURL *applicationDocumentsDirectory = [self applicationDocumentsDirectory];
Just add
NSLog(#"myDirectory: %#", applicationDocumentsDirectory);
This assumes you started your project with Xcode 8 Cocoa template with "use Core Data" option.
Or add
NSLog(#"Array of CD stores: %#", self.persistentStoreCoordinator.persistentStores);
to applicationDidFinishLaunching, for example. The resulting path should be in your user's library Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/<whatever>/<appname>.storedata.
Ask your NSPersistentStoreCoordinator.
I would like my OS X app to open a sample document located in the application bundle.
I'm currently doing the following:
NSString* path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"tutorial.doc" ofType:nil];
[_documentController openDocumentWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:path] display:YES completionHandler:nil];
This works but has an unexpected effect: if I make changes to the document and save, the next time I open the bundle document the changes persist. I expected the bundle document to be read-only.
What am I doing wrong? How can I prevent this sample document to be modified?
You can use the duplicateDocumentWithContentsOfURL:copying:displayName:error: method instead. This creates a copy of the document the user can play with (and save to some other location if he wants to). This method is available only on OS X 10.7 or later though.
I'm trying to make an SDL application in Xcode, but I'm having trouble loading images. I'm using this template, because I couldn't get it to work when made from scratch.
Whenever I try to load an image with SDL_LoadBMP however, it returns NULL unless I give the absolute path. (/Users/Cole/code...) I looked in the exported .app file, and it does have the image I want to load in Contents/Resources/, and I've tried every combination I can think of to get at those (../Resources/image.bmp, ect.) but I can't seem to get it working.
Does anyone have a solution? I'm running Mac OS 10.7 with Xcode 4, so I can't use the templates that is within the SDL download.
Also, I tried using SDL_ttf, but I get this error:
warning: Unable to read symbols for #executable_path/../Frameworks/SDL_ttf.framework/Versions/A/SDL_ttf (file not found).
warning: Unable to read symbols from "SDL_ttf" (not yet mapped into memory).
There does not happen to be a Frameworks folder where it's looking, but somehow it finds the regular SDL framework just fine.
You can get the path to your the Resources directory containing your file with
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath];
or alternatively (in theory more clean as it can access localized files) you can get the full file name with
NSString *file = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"image.bmp" ofType:nil];
You'll need to pass the C string to SDL_LoadBMP, so either of the two:
SDL_LoadBMP([[path stringByAppendingString: #"/image.bmp"] UTF8String]);
SDL_LoadBMP([file UTF8String]);
I had the same problem and found a way without using any objective-c.
In xcode click on your target then go onto the build phase section
Then in the top bar click: Editor -> Add Build Phase -> Add Copy Files Build Phase
Now change the destination of the newly created phase to "Products Directory" and then add any subpaths if needed.
All you need to do now is add your image onto the list below and it should work!
Are there any restrictions as far as saving files when you distribute an app over the Mac App Store?
If I compile and run my app from my computer it works fine - it saves the configuration.
However the version that was downloaded over the Mac App Store is not saving the configuration. I don't even see the config file. Anyone knows what is going on?
This is the code that saves the config:
-(void)saveConfig:(id)plist {
NSString *path = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath] stringByAppendingString: CONFIG_FILE_NAME];
NSData *xmlData;
NSString *error;
xmlData = [NSPropertyListSerialization dataFromPropertyList: plist
format: NSPropertyListXMLFormat_v1_0
errorDescription: &error];
if(xmlData)
{
if (![xmlData writeToFile:path atomically:YES])
NSLog(#"Failed to write the config file onto the hard drive");
}
else
{
NSLog(error);
}
}
You cannot write files to the application bundle directory if you’re targeting the Mac App Store. The bundle is supposed to be immutable.
Consider saving your configuration with NSUserDefaults or, if you truly need a separate file, the officially recommended location is (~)/Library/Application Support. Matt Gallagher wrote a nice post called Finding or creating the application support directory in which he provides a solution that uses standard NSApplicationSupportDirectory followed by the executable name.
Generally, you should assume that your application's assets are read-only. This is true in general, not just for the app store.
If you want to save user settings as a property list, use NSUserDefaults instead of modifying files inside the application. This will "just do the right thing", which is to save preferences to ~/Library/Preferences.
I've made many apps in Xcode before and always their default working directory was the one where the .app file is, so I've accessed the internal data like Whatever.app/Contents/Resources. I know it's probably not the right way, but it has always worked. Anyway, either from a recent Xcode update or for some other reason, their default working folder is now being set to "/". This only happens when I run the .app file from Finder. If I run it from within Xcode, the folder path is correct (I can set that path in the executable options, but it has no effect on what happens when you run the .app directly). Is this a setting somewhere or just the new standard?
For resources, use this cool code:
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"awesomepic" ofType:#"png"];
You should never depend on PWD with Cocoa. Instead, use Cocoa API's whenever possible. BSD API's should only be used if Apple provided no other way.
globheader.h
static char *appdir;
appcontroller.m
#import "globheader.h"
#implementation AppController
- (void)method {
appdir = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath] UTF8String];
}
#end
cppcode.cpp
#include "globheader.h"
int main() {
printf("%s", appdir);
return 0;
}
toastie, why use the application bundle to store data? don't change your .app.
Instread, use the application support folder. You can modify the bytes in that folder with no problems. Read the following post from Matt Gallagher,
http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/05/finding-or-creating-application-support.html
regards,