Moving data / images between two iOS apps using a custom URL handler

Question

After searching and searching SO for a while, I could not find the answer -

I wondered: how could I transfer data between my two applications using custom URL handlers? In particular, an image or an NSData object, for that matter.

I know that I can open certain parts of my application using custom handlers such as myapp1: // start, myapp2: // start, but I'm not sure how to proceed with transferring large amounts of data (~ 80k) through these handlers.

I would like to hear any creative decisions :)

ps The solution must be iOS> = 4.3 Compatible

Answer 1

Use custom URL handlers in conjunction with a UIP card. Save something from your first application (say, an image) into a common cardboard, for example:

UIPasteboard *pasteboard = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard]; [[UIPasteboard generalPasteboard] setImage:myImage]; 

Then use custom URL schemes to switch applications.

Then extract your image from the new application when you need it:

  UIPasteboard *pasteboard = [UIPasteboard generalPasteboard]; UIImage *tempImg = pasteboard.image; 

Battle trials .; )

Answer 2

One solution could be:

• Web server deployment
• Open the second application using a custom URL scheme with the IP address and port of your custom web server included in the URL
• Add a route or parameters to your image also in your URL.

Download and enjoy your photo :-)

Another solution:

• Launch the Bonjour service.
• on the network, a second application can find this service
• do the magic of transferring data between applications

EDIT: BEST OTHER SOLUTION:

Just found another, but much more efficient way to share large data sets:
It is called UIPasteboard

Best link for this:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIPasteboard_Class/Reference.html

And one more resource:
http://kmithi.blogspot.in/2012/03/sharing-data-among-ios-applications.html

That should do it. For a web server: there are many implementations found with Google

Answer 3

  [http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/43447/How-to-Use-UIPasteBoard-to-Implement-Custom-Copy-a][1] As you know many of the controls in UIKit now come pre-loaded with the ability to copy and paste text. You can also use this new ability in your own apps to copy and paste other things including: images, SQLite databases, text or any file. This is a great way to share data between your apps if you want to provide users with a suite of apps with integrated functionality. CopyFrom Source Code -(IBAction)copyImageToPasteBoard{ UIPasteboard *appPasteBoard = [UIPasteboard pasteboardWithName:@"CopyFrom" create:YES]; appPasteBoard.persistent = YES; NSData *data = UIImagePNGRepresentation([UIImage imageNamed:@"Old-Time-Photo.jpg"]); [appPasteBoard setData:data forPasteboardType:@"com.appshop.copyfrom.imagedata"]; } -(IBAction)copyStringToPasteBoard{ UIPasteboard *appPasteBoard = [UIPasteboard pasteboardWithName:@"CopyFrom" create:YES]; appPasteBoard.persistent = YES; [appPasteBoard setString:textView.text]; } PasteTo Source Code -(IBAction)pasteImageToPasteBoard{ UIPasteboard *appPasteBoard = [UIPasteboard pasteboardWithName:@"CopyFrom" create:YES]; NSData *data = [appPasteBoard dataForPasteboardType:@"com.appshop.copyfrom.imagedata"]; imageView.image = [UIImage imageWithData:data]; } -(IBAction)pasteStringToPasteBoard{ UIPasteboard *appPasteBoard = [UIPasteboard pasteboardWithName:@"CopyFrom" create:YES]; textView.text = [appPasteBoard string]; } Using UIPasteBoard in iPhone programming is amazingly simple and opens up some possibilities that we did not have a year ago. To use UIPasteBoard you simply create a instance using pasteboardWithName, put stuff into the paste board and then set the persistant property equal to YES. Then any app can get a reference to your paste board and use the data contained within. You can use it for simple strings and even data that you can put into NSData like SQLite databases. 

Answer 4

using a custom URL handler

it is specified, so it will not meet your specification.

But if this does not bother you, I would write an 80k image to the internal memory (file system), even if it were 80Mb, and pass "url" to another application.

Great ego and research effort:

copy to image folder

IPC Communication via URL

and my solution doesn’t work ... I don’t give fish, just learning how to get fish hot.

Answer 5

Well, as far as I can tell, ~ 80k is too much for a custom URL handler. But you can try Base64 to encode your data and add it to your custom URL. But I doubt that it will work with a lot of data.

You can also look at the UIDocumentInteractionController , which is designed to open files with other applications that support them. This is what the Mail application does when you open an attachment with another application.

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIDocumentInteractionController_class/Reference/Reference.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009304