CODEWITHSUNDEEP
objective-ccore-dataios6nsdatamp4
zakdances
zakdances

Reputation: 23735

MP4 stored in CoreData as External Data Reference...how to get path?

I'm storing a MP4 file in CoreData as an "Allows External Storage" NSData attribute. How can I get a path string or NSURL to this data? Also, what happens if the mp4 file in under 1 MB and gets stored internally? Will it then not be able to provide a path? Is there any easy way to tell whether or not the data was stored externally or internally?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 520

Answers (1)

Tom Harrington
Tom Harrington

Reputation: 70976

Core Data doesn't provide any way to get the path. As you note, it doesn't even guarantee that there is a path, since it might not have used an external file. It's designed as something where you don't need to know whether a path exists or what it might be, and the API reflects that attitude.

Unofficially it's possible to locate the files. If your data store is called Foo.sqlite, the external files (if any) will be in a subdirectory in the same folder named .Foo_SUPPORT/_EXTERNAL_DATA/. The actual file names are just UUIDs though, so figuring out which one goes with which managed object is still not automatic. The best you could do would probably be something like tracking the modification date of a managed object and then looking for a file with the same mod date.

If you really need to get the file for some reason, you'll need to roll your own external reference code. This is pretty simple, really.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions