Load PDF from documents directory - iPhone

Question

Instead of loading a PDF from the resources folder I would like to load it from the documents directory. I have been trying to do this for days but the CGPDFDocumentRef keeps returning NULL. Here is my code:

                // Get Documents Directory 
                NSArray *searchPaths = 
NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, 
NSUserDomainMask, YES); 
                NSString *documentsDirectoryPath = [searchPaths objectAtIndex:0]; 
                NSString *tempPath = [documentsDirectoryPath 
stringByAppendingPathComponent:[appDelegate.issueToLoad 
stringByAppendingPathExtension:@"pdf"]]; 
                NSString *path = [tempPath 
stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"localhost/" withString:@""]; 
                NSLog(@"PATH: %@", path); 
                //Display PDF 
                CFURLRef pdfURL = CFURLCreateWithFileSystemPath (NULL, 
(CFStringRef)path, kCFURLPOSIXPathStyle, FALSE); 
                NSLog(@"PDF URL: %@", pdfURL); 
                pdf = CGPDFDocumentCreateWithURL(finalURL); 
                NSLog(@"PDF: %@", pdf); 

The file path is correct and I have checked the simulator documents directory and the file is definitely there. When I run the app the last NSLog says (NULL) and a blank white page PDF is displayed. Any ideas what is wrong? Thanks!

Answer 1

ok, next try. I hope this time it will be more useful :-/

are you sure the file exists at this path?
I created a testcase similar to yours. And with a file named "file 123.pdf" this seems to work. At least I can read the version of the pdf.

I added this after your code sample to see if the pdf was loaded.

NSLog(@"PDF: %@", pdf);
int majorVersion;
int minorVersion;
CGPDFDocumentGetVersion(pdf, &majorVersion, &minorVersion);
NSLog(@"%d %d", majorVersion, minorVersion);

and this gives me the following console output:

2010-10-08 13:01:40.246 test[3517:207] PATH: /var/mobile/Applications/E9CDCAC1-430D-488E-ABC3-33F40F6A06F4/Documents/file 123.pdf
2010-10-08 13:01:40.252 test[3517:207] URL: file://localhost/var/mobile/Applications/E9CDCAC1-430D-488E-ABC3-33F40F6A06F4/Documents/file%20123.pdf
2010-10-08 13:01:40.257 test[3517:207] PDF: <NSCFType: 0x139660>
2010-10-08 13:01:40.260 test[3517:207] 1 4

there is clearly a %20 inside, so I think this is not the problem with your implementation.

---

EDIT: Add this to your code to make sure that the file exists at this path.

if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:path])
    NSLog(@"File does not exist!");

There must be a valid pdf-File at your path.

Answer 2

The obvious answer would be to use the pdfURL in der DocumentCreate function. finalURL comes out of nowhere and it's not apparent what it's even there for.

pdf = CGPDFDocumentCreateWithURL(pdfURL);

Answer 3

You probably don't have a PDF file at that path. The “Create” in CGPDFDocumentCreateWithURL refers to the CGPDFDocument object; it will not create a document file at that URL. You can only create a CGPDFDocument object for a PDF file that already exists.

Also, as I mentioned on your other question, I don't see why you're trying to delete “localhost/” from the path. It's unlikely to exist there in the first place (it's more likely to only appear in the URL), and if it ever does appear there, it should appear there, and stripping it out will make the path wrong.