Hi all,

I'm working on something I thought would be simple, and it turns out to be taking way longer than I expected and spent hours looking for a similar issue that would resolve my issue, to no avail.

I've followed a tutorial to import the content of a file that is part of the application. That part works fine, no issues there. Now I want to update this import to allow the user to select a file from the Files application and then reads its content, the same way it does with the file part of the application.

I've tried several things, so my code might be a little messed up, and not optimal yet.

This is the part of the code that works, when using the file part of my application - note the path using Bundle.main.path (I stopped pasting right at the point it fails, the function continues and that part is not relevant eventually):

func loadCSVData() -> [MeasuresHistory]{
    var csvToStruct = [MeasuresHistory]()

    guard let filePath  = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "MeasuresHistory", ofType: "csv") else {
        print("Error: file not found!")
        return[]
    }

    // Convert the contents of the file into a very long string
    var data = ""
    do {
        data = try String(contentsOfFile: filePath)
    }
    catch {
        print(error)
        return[]
    }

Now how I modified the function, to attempt to make it work with a custom path from FileImporter (I'm using @AppStorage for now, I know it's not the best, but wanted to at least be able to get the value retrieved with FileImporter available in that function for now):

func loadCSVData() -> [MeasuresHistory]{
    var csvToStruct = [MeasuresHistory]()
    @AppStorage("selectedFilhPath") var selectedFilePath = ""

    guard let filePath  = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "MeasuresHistory", ofType: "csv") else {
        print("Error: file not found!")
        return[]
    }

    // Convert the contents of the file into a very long string
    var data = ""
    do {
        if selectedFilePath != "" {
            data = try String(contentsOfFile: selectedFilePath) // <--- this is the line that generates the error
        } else {
            data = try String(contentsOfFile: filePath)
        }
    }
    catch {
        print(error)
        return[]
    }

This is the error:

Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=260 "The file “MeasuresHistory.csv” couldn’t be opened because there is no such file." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/Users/{myUserID}/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/{someObfuscatedID}/data/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/{someDifferentObfuscatedID}/File%20Provider%20Storage/MeasuresHistory.csv, NSUnderlyingError=0x6000006fc4e0 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}

Adn this is how I request the user to select the file to import, in another file/view:

Button("Import") {
                        presentImporter = true
                    }
                    .fileImporter(isPresented: $presentImporter, allowedContentTypes: [.commaSeparatedText]) { result in
                        switch result {
                        case .success(let filePath):
                            print(filePath.path())
                            selectedFilePath = filePath.path()
                            loadCSVData()
                        case .failure(let error):
                            print(error)
                        }
                    }

The print of the filePath.path() is that one:

/Users/{myUserID}/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/{someObfuscatedID}/data/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/{someDifferentObfuscatedID}/File%20Provider%20Storage/MeasuresHistory.csv

To me, it seems the file can return its path and it could be used to read the content of it. I'm lost as to what I'm not understanding to make it work by selecting the file. I'm using the iOS Simulator, not a real device for the testing, if that makes a difference.

Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide.

Hi @ygeras,

Thank you very much for your answer, it really helped.

Indeed, I do not need to save the file in my app once imported, just read its content, so that piece of code, with some adjustements for my needs, did the trick:

.fileImporter(isPresented: $openImport, allowedContentTypes: [.plainText]) { result in
            if let fileURL = try? result.get() {
                if fileURL.startAccessingSecurityScopedResource() {
                    if let data = try? Data(contentsOf: fileURL) {
                        if let text = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) {
                            document.documentText = text
                        }
                    }
                    fileURL.stopAccessingSecurityScopedResource()
                }
            }
        }

Have a great week-end!