To File System

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PhotoEditor SDK supports saving photos to the file system.

For the sake of this example, we create a photo from a URL and present the photo editor in a modal. Note, that we have to make the current class the delegate of the PhotoEditViewController in order to handle export and cancellation there.

Implementing the photo export delegate method#

When a photo export is successful the method photoEditViewControllerDidFinish is invoked on the delegate class and a PhotoEditorResult object passed as argument. The result.output.data attribute will contain the output image data, including all EXIF information in the format specified in your editor's configuration.

If no modifications have been made to the photo and the Photo object that was passed to the editor's initializer was created using Photo(data:) or Photo(url:) we will not process the photo at all and simply forward it to this delegate method. If the Photo object that was passed to the editor's initializer was created using Photo(image:), it will be processed and returned in the format specified in your editor's configuration.

If you want to ensure that the original photo is always reencoded, even if no modifications have been made to it, you can set PhotoEditViewControllerOptions.forceExport to true, in which case result.output.data will always point to a newly generated photo.

In order to save the photo to a file, we first need to create a temporary directory and append a random file name to it. We ensure that the file extension matches the output format's UTI and check that the localURL does not point to an existing file. Now, we can simply write the photo object passed as data property of the result to the localURL.


import MobileCoreServices
import PhotoEditorSDK
import UIKit
import UniformTypeIdentifiers

class SavePhotoToFilesystemSwift: Example, PhotoEditViewControllerDelegate {
  override func invokeExample() {
    // Create a `Photo` from a URL to an image in the app bundle.
    let photo = Photo(url: Bundle.main.url(forResource: "LA", withExtension: "jpg")!)

    // Create and present the photo editor. Make this class the delegate of it to handle export and cancelation.
    let photoEditViewController = PhotoEditViewController(photoAsset: photo)
    photoEditViewController.delegate = self
    photoEditViewController.modalPresentationStyle = .fullScreen
    presentingViewController?.present(photoEditViewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
  }

  // MARK: - PhotoEditViewControllerDelegate

  func photoEditViewControllerShouldStart(_ photoEditViewController: PhotoEditViewController, task: PhotoEditorTask) -> Bool {
    // Implementing this method is optional. You can perform additional validation and interrupt the process by returning `false`.
    true
  }

  func photoEditViewControllerDidFinish(_ photoEditViewController: PhotoEditViewController, result: PhotoEditorResult) {
    // After the output image is done processing, this delegate method will be called.
    //
    // The `result.output.data` attribute will contain the output image data, including all EXIF information in the format specified in your editor's configuration.
    //
    // If *no modifications* have been made to the image and the `Photo` object that was passed to the editor's initializer
    // was created using `Photo(data:)` or `Photo(url:)` we will not process the image at all and simply forward it to this delegate method.
    // If the `Photo` object that was passed to the editor's initializer was created using `Photo(image:)`, it will be processed and returned
    // in the format specified in your editor's configuration.
    //
    // You can set `PhotoEditViewControllerOptions.forceExport` to `true` in which case the image will be passed through our
    // rendering pipeline in any case, even without any modifications applied.

    guard let uti = result.output.uti, let type = UTType(uti as String) else { return }

    // Get a reference to the temporary directory and append the filename and extension.
    let temporaryDirectoryURL = FileManager.default.temporaryDirectory
    // Append a random filename with an extension matching the output format's UTI.
    let localURL = temporaryDirectoryURL.appendingPathComponent(UUID().uuidString, conformingTo: type)

    if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: localURL.path) {
      // Remove the file at the destination if it already exists.
      try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: localURL)
    }

    // Write image data to `localURL`.
    try? result.output.data.write(to: localURL)

    // You can now use `localURL` for further processing. Dismissing the editor now.
    print("Saved image at \(localURL)")
    presentingViewController?.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
  }

  func photoEditViewControllerDidFail(_ photoEditViewController: PhotoEditViewController, error: PhotoEditorError) {
    // There was an error generating the photo.
    print(error.localizedDescription)
    // Dismissing the editor.
    presentingViewController?.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
  }

  func photoEditViewControllerDidCancel(_ photoEditViewController: PhotoEditViewController) {
    // The user tapped on the cancel button within the editor. Dismissing the editor.
    presentingViewController?.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
  }
}