A simple mechanism that allows you to track changes to your app's files. Each instance of the FileDrone will watch a directory for changes, provide a list of files in that directory, and will post a notification with the changes when they occur. It's super lightweight, and makes it much easier to implement an app that builds on the file system, such as ones that you might include in the Documents directory.

Installation

There are a couple of ways to include FileDrone in your Xcode project.

Subproject

This method is demonstrated in the included example project (example/FileDroneExample.xcodeproj).

1. Drag the FileDrone.xcodeproj file into your Project Navigator (⌘1) from the Finder. This should add FileDrone as a subproject of your own project (denoted by the fact that it appears as in a rectangle and you should be able to browse the project structure).

2. In your Project's target, under the Build Phases tab, add libFileDrone.a under 'Link Binary with Libraries'.

3. While you're in the Build Phases tab, add libFileDrone.a under 'Target Dependencies'.

4. Under the Build Settings tab of you Project's target, do a search for 'Header Search Paths'. Add the path to the /src/FileDrone/ folder of the FileDrone project. This should look something like "$(SRCROOT)/../src/FileDrone/", replacing the .. with the relative path from your project to the FileDrone project.

5. Build your project (⌘B). All going well, you should get a 'Build Succeeded' notification. This signifies that you're ready to implement FileDrone in your project.

Implementing FileDrone

To use automatic surveillance on the Documents directory, you can use the default file drone, and simply start and stop it in your App Delegate.

At the top of the App Delegate's implemention file, include FileDrone:

#import "FileDrone.h"

In application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:, start the default file drone like so:

[[JSMFileDrone defaultFileDrone] startSurveillance];

The file drone will start watching the directory's contents for changes and will post a JSMFileDroneFilesChanged notification when it detects changes. It will also begin observing system notifications and pause itself while your app is in the background, or is inactive, and will stop completely when the app is terminated.

For more details on implementing FileDrone, read the documentation and check out the included FileDroneExample project.

Released under the BSD License

Copyright © 2013 Daniel Farrelly

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

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