Open local PDF file in iBooks

Question

I am trying to open a PDF file that I have stored locally within my app in iBooks. The app currently has a list of "literature" in a table view and when each cell is tapped the app segues to a webView that displays the PDF file (works great). I have made a BarButton at the top right in navBar to allow the user to open the PDF in iBooks (so they can store it on his/her device).

So far the button will open a UIDocumentInteractionController that displays all apps on the device that can open the file (after checking if iBooks is installed). Then when I click the iBooks icon the app crashes. I was able to revise the code so that iBooks opens without crashing, but the PDF file is not carried through so it's kind of pointless (code below is reverted back to when it crashes).

Code below is inside the IBAction of the barButton...

NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:litFileName ofType:@"pdf"];
NSURL *targetURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:path];

UIDocumentInteractionController *docController = [UIDocumentInteractionController interactionControllerWithURL:targetURL];

if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"itms-bookss:"]])
{
    [docController presentOpenInMenuFromRect:CGRectZero inView:self.view animated:YES];
    NSLog(@"ibooks is installed");
}
else
{
    NSLog(@"no ibooks installed");
}

Midstream

Answer 1

Fixed it! Took some time away from the project and after coming back two weeks later I figured it out in <15 minutes.

So it was a memory issue for the docController and by declaring in the .h file and using (retain) it works perfectly. I was also able to use the [NSBundle mainBundle] method as well.

.h
@property (retain)UIDocumentInteractionController *docController;

.m
@synthesize docController;

//in bar button IBAction
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:litFileName ofType:@"pdf"];
NSURL *targetURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:path];

docController = [UIDocumentInteractionController interactionControllerWithURL:targetURL];

if([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"itms-books:"]]) {

    [docController presentOpenInMenuFromRect:CGRectZero inView:self.view animated:YES];
    NSLog(@"iBooks installed");

} else {

    NSLog(@"iBooks not installed");

}

Midstream

Answer 2

On iOS 8 the layout of the file system changed and sharing files directly from the main bundle no longer works. Copy the file to the documentsdirectory and share it from there.

Here is how to create the file path:

NSString *documentsDirectory = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) firstObject];
NSString *fileName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@.pdf",litFileName];
NSString *filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:filePath];

Vestavestal

Not sure exactly how to do that... I tried: NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES); NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0]; NSString *filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@.pdf",litFileName]]; NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:filePath]; SAME ERROR – Midstream

You are adding the file incorrectly to the path, you should use stringByAppendingPathComponent: not just append the string – Vestavestal