I ask sorry if this argument has already been covered, but after some research i found nothing precise.
I need to make a document based application, where the document is actually not a single file but a structured collection of files, in a directory. The windows will show a pdf contained in the folder, with a specific filename, and enrich it with informations from the other files in the folder.
I cannot use pdf annotations to achieve this, i really need to keep the files separated from the pdf.
What's the best approach to achieve this? All the sample code i found use a single file..
You can use NSFileWrapper
as a package directory in document-based applications.
In your application Info.plist file, state that your document type is a package or bundle (key LSTypeIsPackage
with value YES
).
In your NSDocument
subclass, implement the following methods for reading and writing. In this example, I’m assuming the corresponding model instance variables are pdfData
and signatureBitmapData
, which are stored in the package directory under MainDocument.pdf and SignatureBitmap.png, respectively.
- (BOOL)readFromFileWrapper:(NSFileWrapper *)dirWrapper
ofType:(NSString *)typeName
error:(NSError **)outError
{
NSFileWrapper *wrapper;
NSData *data;
wrapper = [[dirWrapper fileWrappers] objectForKey:@"MainDocument.pdf"];
data = [wrapper regularFileContents];
self.pdfData = data;
wrapper = [[dirWrapper fileWrappers] objectForKey:@"SignatureBitmap.png"];
data = [wrapper regularFileContents];
self.signatureBitmapData = data;
…
return YES;
}
- (NSFileWrapper *)fileWrapperOfType:(NSString *)typeName
error:(NSError **)outError
{
NSFileWrapper *dirWrapper = [[[NSFileWrapper alloc]
initDirectoryWithFileWrappers:nil] autorelease];
[dirWrapper addRegularFileWithContents:self.pdfData
preferredFilename:@"MainDocument.pdf"];
[dirWrapper addRegularFileWithContents:self.signatureBitmapData
preferredFilename:@"SignatureBitmap.png"];
…
return dirWrapper;
}
From the user perspective, the package directory shows up in Finder as if it were a single file, much like Xcode .xcodeproj directories or application bundles.