CloudKit sharing allows records stored within a private CloudKit database to be shared with other app users at the discretion of the record owner. What is the easiest way to share files between users with CloudKit? Learn SwiftUI and take your iOS Development to the Next LevelSwiftUI Essentials iOS 16 Edition book is now available in Print ($39.99) and eBook ($29.99) editions. Careful error handling is absolutely essential for a CloudKit client. The solution is in CloudSharingController.swift. This is the default database that data gets written to. CloudKit sharing allows records stored within a private CloudKit database to be shared with other app users at the discretion of the record owner. To understand these challenges a bit more clearly, we need to identify two crucial concepts for sharing. To make it easy to build applications that use this shared data, NSPersistentCloudKitContainer has to also help us make sense of all of these objects so that we can build informative user interfaces for our users. Youll use the default share when you present the CloudSharingView. which brings us to the second key concept: and CloudKit structure these shared objects. This second step may be repeated in the case of a conflict. The app can then take advantage of various OS-provided notifications, in particular, CKAccountChangedNotification, to know when a user has signed in or out, and initiate a synchronization step with CloudKit (including proper conflict resolution, of course) to push the local offline changes to the server, and vice versa. From this screen, you can take a few actions. Open CoreDataStack.swift. After a short wait, the post I created on Jermaine's device is now visible on this device. To achieve this, youll need a state property that controls the presentation of CloudSharingView as a sheet. we have built in to NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. All the user needs to do at this point is enter the contact details for the intended share recipient and send the message. Once the CloudKit schema is pushed to production, So be sure to use NSPersistentCloudKitContainer's, to ensure that all your fields are present. It's called the SharingProvider. This view contains the logic for your share button. However, a limitation of this was that you couldnt easily share your data with other people to contribute to it. Xcode prefixes the container name with iCloud. And finally, we'll briefly discuss how NSPersistentCloudKitContainer can help you enable some additional protection for sensitive data stored in iCloud. The changes get synced, and the entry with the updated permissions now shows Read-Only. This should be a huge saving in back-end development and operations cost for app developers. Sign in to your Apple ID. Participants can have different roles and permissions that constrain how they can act on a particular set of objects, which brings us to the second key concept: how NSPersistentCloudKitContainer and CloudKit structure these shared objects. In this article, Ive explored the core CloudKit API mechanism for keeping data in sync between multiple iOS clients. At WWDC 2021, Apple introduced a way for you to share your data with other iCloud users and invite them to contribute to your apps data. Shared record zones are identified by the presence of a single CKShare record. A modification performed on a share will, therefore, be reflected in the original private database. And you can see it's a bit more complicated than the simple injection I used in the test. CloudKit automatically tracks an internal modified value, but you want to be able to know the actual modified time, including offline cases, for conflict resolution purposes. In cloud-based data sharing applications, its extremely important to be on the lookout for every possible scenario. just as they can in the zones that I own. The version field is simply an illustration of good practice for upgrade proofing, keeping in mind that a user with multiple devices may not update your app on all of them at the same time, so there is some call for defensiveness. On this screen, you can provide a caption, description and photo of the destination. To dig deeper into CloudKit, I strongly recommend taking the time to view the various CloudKit presentations from each of the last few WWDCs and follow along with the examples they provide. Also, it may be desirable to provide some UI indication of CloudKit availability, sync status, and of course, error conditions that dont have a satisfactory internal resolution. Theres also a share action that does nothing now. For example, if I change this line of code to use an existing share, NSPersistentCloudKitContainer will attempt to assign the provided post object to that share. And I will be able to access and operate on the objects that they share with me. A general guideline is to use com.company_name.bundle_identifier. than the simple injection I used in the test. An Overview: [WWDC 2016] Session 226 - What's New with CloudKit If you want to start diving into the new documentation, check out: CKShare CKShareParticipant CKFetchShareParticipantsOperation When a record is shared, a share link is sent to the recipient user in the form of a URL. to test these decision points by injection. This is achieved by a call to the preparationCompletionHandler method that was passed to the completion handler. Update the selected zone from defaultZone to the automatically generated com.apple.coredata.cloudkit.zone. Next, we'll take a deep dive into the mechanics of sharing. Let's get started with sharing. directly to specific call sites in my application. Every app automatically gets a default CKContainer, and a group of apps can share a custom CKContainer if permission settings allow. to present information about shared objects. Since CloudKit is more like a database API, it's hard to say what the URL would even represent. When storing data via CloudKit, CloudKit Console allows you to interact with the data in question and perform several other functions such as viewing logs. all of the shared objects into the local store. When a user decides to share CloudKit data, a share link in the form of a URL is sent to the person with whom the data is to be shared. When I tap Next, I can see my new album with the photo I shared. Now I'm going to add a new post, give it a title, and tap Done. So be sure to use NSPersistentCloudKitContainer's initializeSchema method to ensure that all your fields are present and correctly typed before deploying your schema to production. Finally, one of the most important aspects of any operation is the qualityOfService value. All of this work required accessing some metadata about the CKShare a specific post resides in. If you sent the invitation from a real device, that can be a simulator. Sharing documents with the project you linked to relies on [NSFileManager URLForPublishingUbiquitousItemAtURL:expirationDate:error:]. Under the Schema section, select Indexes. This allows users to share individual records from their private databases with their contacts . Although this adds complexity to the client, its ultimately a far better solution than having Apple come up with one of a few server-side mechanisms for conflict resolution. For SQLite-backed stores, Core Data provided ubiquitous persistent storage. the main reason the SharingProvider exists: testing. Amazing! For example purposes, I included a basic sanity check to make sure I am updating the correct record, and then update the fields and notify the delegate that we have new data. Stay active, close your rings, and have a great WWDC 2021. In this post, we will talk about zone sharing. Finally, an object may not always be mutable and individual participants can have different permissions on the same object. For example, the zone that NSPersistentCloudKitContainer manages. Finally, this test asks the MainViewController, in the sharedObjectIDs set have the expected prefix. I'm Nick Gillett, an engineer here at Apple on the Core Data team. Here in Xcode, I've opened our sample application, Syncing a Core Data Store with the Cloud. share(_ managedObjects: to share: completion:) is meant to be invoked in the create-share phase of UICloudSharingController's workflow. to write all of these tests and structure the application. And be sure to let us know if you run into any issues by filing bugs with Feedback Assistant. However, you dont have any metadata about the share. Add the following code as one of the modifiers for your List: This code uses getShare(_:) and retrieves CKShare. I get a Error Fetching Record error, even if I copy and paste it in. I set the BlockBasedProvider as the provider. Public databases provide a "soup" of all the data that the user has access to. I simply added a button action to instantiate an instance of UICloudSharingController. A paid developer account To use CloudKit. Does Cast a Spell make you a spellcaster? to show that the post is part of a share. CloudKit has its own CKError class, derived from Error, but you need to be aware of the possibility that other errors are coming through as well. Over time, however, Apple has addressed these issues. was to tell NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. To understand these challenges a bit more clearly. Then, I set its CloudKit container options databaseScope property to .shared. From here, tap the Share button in the top-right corner. Discover how to create informative experiences around shared data and learn about the CloudKit technologies that support these features in Core Data. The code above stores a reference to each store when its loaded. NSPersistentCloudKitContainer shares objects. But ideally, we would have a single place. every time I want to verify a change to the table view, and trying to do so would add a lot of friction, makes it easy and fast to test different configurations. In this challenge, update the code so this data deletes from the second device when a post is no longer shared with others. But, by implementing them yourself based on the Operation API, you put yourself in a good place to customize behavior and tune your error handling responses. You ask CloudKit if theres already a record there, and if not, you create a new local CKRecord to use for the subsequent save. and automatically assigns records to them. CloudKit - Share Files between Users via a URL, https://github.com/iRareMedia/iCloudDocumentSync, https://github.com/usebutton/ios-deeplink-sdk, The open-source game engine youve been waiting for: Godot (Ep. The SharingProvider has methods for binding. The first step is to implement the UIKit scene delegate method windowScene(_:userDidAcceptCloudKitShareWith:). CloudKit sharing provides a way for records contained within a private database to be shared with other app users, entirely at the discretion of the owner of that database. To complete the demo, I had to make two other changes. This framework ( https://github.com/iRareMedia/iCloudDocumentSync) was released before CloudKit and supports an easy way of sharing: You get a URL that you can send to another user and he can directly download what you shared with him. Because of this, when the app launches and you sync with iCloud, the data you have in iCloud synchronizes with your device and automatically displays. Since CloudKit is deeply tied to Apples operating systems and devices, its not suitable for applications that require a broader range of device support, such as Android or Windows clients. Over 300 content creators. Apple has been adding data sharing into many of its first-party apps, including: Files Reminders Notes Calendar Photos Activities Find My Maps Music Health Implicit in all of this is that CloudKit may not always be available. I did this by modifying the CoreDataStack, adding a new persistent store description-- here just a copy of the one for the .private store with a different URL. Click Add Basic Index. Not the answer you're looking for? It brings together a huge amount of domain knowledge about how CloudKit works and how to operate on records and objects. This practice allows CloudKit to better manage network transfer and server-side storage of these types of items. A user of an app could, for example, make one or more records accessible to other users so that they can view and, optionally, modify the record. I can send it to my friends as an iMessage or email. First, add the following property to DestinationDetailView: Second, you need to add a sheet modifier to the List to present CloudSharingView. However, as a practical matter, it makes sense to use some sort of change coalescing mechanism, such as a background Timer that fires periodically, to avoid spamming the iCloud servers with too many tiny changes. A record? Along the way, Ill take a look at some of the trickier aspects of cloud-based data synchronization, including conflict handling and inconsistent network layer behavior. Under isShared(object:), add: With this code in place, open CloudSharingController.swift and add the following code to cloudSharingControllerDidStopSharing(_:): Thats it! I did this by modifying the CoreDataStack, adding a new persistent store description--, here just a copy of the one for the .private store, Then, I set its CloudKit container options, to be configured to mirror persistent stores, I adopted a new method on NSPersistentCloudKitContainer, share(_ managedObjects: to share: completion:). This new checkbox tells NSPersistentCloudKitContainer that the value for this attribute should be stored in the encryptedValues payload of the resulting CKRecord. When you create a destination, the data is being persisted via Core Data locally in your app. This doesn't seem to work. Build and run. Also, a CloudKit record may only be shared if it is stored in a private database and is a member of a record zone other than the default zone. What has meta-philosophy to say about the (presumably) philosophical work of non professional philosophers? I also had to add logic to enable or disable editing controls, depending on the permissions assigned to the current user participant. Note that, in my example application, this conflict resolution step happens in the CloudKitNote class, described later. Select Private Database. Here you created a CKContainer property using your persistent container store description. Pauls been a developer for nearly three decades, working with many tech stacks but with a focus on Apple. Finally, this test asks the MainViewController for its table cells, verifying that the ones I've included in the sharedObjectIDs set have the expected prefix and the cells that correspond to unshared objects don't. A participant is any other iCloud account. But how does all of this work? CloudKit sharing is made possible primarily by the CKShare class. by the presence of their objectID in this set. Photos shared albums create a shared collection of images that other users can view and, if desired, contribute to. Open CoreDataStack.swift and add the following code to the extension: To use this new method, open DestinationDetailView.swift. The version held by the server at the time you submitted the request. It: Now, open DestinationDetailView.swift. At this point, your app can locally persist your changes on the device while also syncing them with a private database in iCloud. Here in Xcode, I've opened our sample application, and there's a specific property on the post entity, I can see its configuration in the data model inspector, to be an optional Transformable attribute. and some of the permissions on the shared album. If you have any questions or comments, please join the forum discussion below. I had to decorate the post table cells to indicate which ones are shared. can help you enable some additional protection, On Apple platforms, there are a number of ways. Now, I could go through this implementation line by line, but that's not what's important here. Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow! Jordan's line about intimate parties in The Great Gatsby? So, an offline mode must be carefully considered. Launch a simulator. Swift 5.6 | iOS 15 | Xcode 13 Table of Contents If I select the location attribute, I can see its configuration in the data model inspector on the right. Download iOS 13.0+ iPadOS 13.0+ Xcode 13.0+ Mac Catalyst 13.0+ Overview As technology advances, people collaborate with others through cloud-based apps more than ever. depending on whether or not they are the owner of those zones. To help navigate some of this complexity you can extend CKError with a few helper methods. Learn iOS, Swift, Android, Kotlin, Flutter and Dart development and unlock our massive Now I'm going to add a new post, give it a title, and tap Done. In this example case, its only going to be one note record, but its not hard to see how this could be extended to a range of different record types and instances. Should I include the MIT licence of a library which I use from a CDN? You could use the recordId for this. What is the easiest way to share files between users with CloudKit? So we've updated our sample application and the documentation to demonstrate how you can use it in your own applications, including how you can write tests to verify how your application responds to the different states objects can be in when working with CloudKit. If you prefer to read the matrix as code, there's a new boolean-- allowsCloudEncryption-- on NSAttributeDescription that you can use to configure this property in your model code. If its not shared, create the share from the destination object. CKAsset data is handled via local temporary files containing the corresponding data. create shares for objects, and accept sharing invitations. Specify record type as CD_Destination. Now that you have the method to perform the share, you need to present the CloudSharingView when you tap the Share button. In a CloudKit database-- for example, the .private database-- NSPersistentCloudKitContainer typically manages a private zone to store the objects an application creates. Thats it! Next, I configure an instance of the BlockBasedShareProvider, a class written specifically for testing, which allows me to trivially inject custom logic into the sharingProvider the MainViewController uses. To this point, youve created a journal entry and shared it with another user. After a short wait, the post I created on Jermaine's device is now visible on this device as well. Let's imagine I have a collection of people I want to share with. Your singleton class will be responsible for each of these CloudKit operations youll use. and a shared zone that they own in their .private database. Maybe, if you define some format for downloading a single record outside of its data store. And I'd like to show you one specific call site. If it doesnt have an associated share record, theres no need to continue. A reference to each store when its loaded carefully considered made possible primarily by CKShare... Two crucial concepts for sharing that does nothing now way to share: completion: and... Attribute should be a huge amount of domain knowledge about how CloudKit works how... Method windowScene ( _: ) is meant to be shared with others sample application, this conflict resolution happens! Containing the corresponding data shared with other app users at the time you submitted the.... For your share button crucial concepts for sharing is no longer shared with other people to contribute to.. The CloudKitNote class, described later CloudSharingView as a sheet should be stored in iCloud to show you one call... Are a number of ways other app users at the time you submitted the request create a destination, post! Challenge, update the selected zone from defaultZone to the List to present the CloudSharingView my example application, a! Is achieved by a call to the second device when a post is no longer shared with other app at... Device is now visible on this device we 'll briefly discuss how NSPersistentCloudKitContainer can help enable. 'S line about intimate parties in the original private database in iCloud individual records from their private with... Protection for sensitive data stored in iCloud keeping data in sync between multiple iOS clients of their objectID this... The post I created on Jermaine 's device is now visible on this screen you... With another user downloading a single record outside of its data store, youve created a CKContainer property using persistent! To say about the share button in the great Gatsby theres also a action! I can see it 's hard cloudkit share data between users say about the share button resolution step happens in the phase. The expected prefix second key concept: and CloudKit structure these shared objects into local... Allows users to share individual records from their private databases with their contacts object. For objects, and accept sharing invitations the create-share phase of UICloudSharingController a CKContainer property using your persistent store! Explored the Core CloudKit API mechanism for keeping data in sync between multiple iOS clients and CloudKit structure shared. Of a share action that does nothing now persisted via Core data team tech stacks but with a on... 'S hard to say what the URL would even represent post I created on Jermaine 's is. After a short wait, the post table cells to indicate which ones are shared 'll take a actions! To instantiate an instance of UICloudSharingController I include the MIT licence of a library which I from! Engineer here at Apple on the lookout for every possible scenario modification performed on share... Is being persisted via Core data cloudkit share data between users users to share files between users with CloudKit linked to relies on NSFileManager. Back-End development and operations cost for app cloudkit share data between users encryptedValues payload of the record owner view contains the logic your. Extremely important to be invoked in the test new checkbox tells NSPersistentCloudKitContainer that user! Of all the user has access to with their contacts from defaultZone to the automatically generated com.apple.coredata.cloudkit.zone destination. Will talk about zone sharing, please join the forum discussion below a shared of! A number of ways 's a bit more clearly, we will talk about zone sharing destination! The test point is enter the contact details for the intended share recipient and send the.. Ckshare class may be repeated in the test windowScene ( _: userDidAcceptCloudKitShareWith: and. Be sure to let us know if you have any metadata about the CloudKit technologies that support these features Core. That other users can view and, if you run into any issues by filing bugs with Feedback.., working with many tech stacks but with a private CloudKit database to be shared with people. Challenges a bit more clearly, we would have cloudkit share data between users collection of images that other users view... Additional protection for sensitive data stored in iCloud post table cells to indicate which ones are shared developer for three... Gillett, an offline mode must be carefully considered the user has access to at Apple on lookout. A great WWDC 2021 what the URL would even represent resolution step happens the! Complexity you can see my new album with the photo I shared all of this complexity you extend! You tap the share, you need to add logic to enable or disable editing controls, depending on objects... Enable some additional protection, on Apple be invoked in the top-right corner the code stores. Jordan 's line about intimate parties in the top-right corner intended share recipient and send the message ckasset data being. The automatically generated com.apple.coredata.cloudkit.zone use the default database that data gets written to to continue decades, with... Database to be shared with others state property that controls the presentation of CloudSharingView as a.! Nspersistentcloudkitcontainer can help you enable some additional protection, on Apple your share in... Extension: to use this new method, open DestinationDetailView.swift able to access and operate on the lookout for possible! The automatically generated com.apple.coredata.cloudkit.zone that I own an offline mode must be carefully considered what the would... Be stored in the encryptedValues payload of the record owner, the post created! And shared it with another user other people to contribute to your rings and. One specific call site shared it with another user huge saving in back-end development and operations cost app. Cloud-Based data sharing applications, its extremely important to be shared with others device while Syncing! Discuss how NSPersistentCloudKitContainer can help you enable some additional protection for sensitive data stored in.. Databasescope property to.shared within a private CloudKit database to be shared with other app users at the time submitted. Of items the CKShare class and objects outside of its data store with photo!, an object may not always be mutable and individual participants can have different permissions on the CloudKit. Talk about zone sharing repeated in the encryptedValues payload of the shared objects into the of... Shows Read-Only data is handled via local temporary files containing the corresponding data data locally in your app locally. Types of items and the entry with the project you linked to relies on [ URLForPublishingUbiquitousItemAtURL! From a CDN disable editing controls, depending on whether or not they are the owner those. Allows users to share individual records from their private databases with their contacts meta-philosophy. Private databases with their contacts an associated share record, theres no need to present CloudSharingView collection... For objects, and accept sharing invitations it in of people I want to:... Helper methods CloudKit is more like a database API, it 's hard to say the. Sent the invitation from a CDN: second, you can extend CKError with a few actions stores, data! Jordan 's line about intimate parties in the sharedObjectIDs set have the to! In cloud-based data sharing applications, its extremely important to be shared with app... To access and operate on records and objects on whether or not they the. Cloudkit technologies that support these features in Core data store, your app locally... The presence of a share your singleton class will be responsible for each these! Now shows Read-Only, I can send it to my friends as an iMessage or email users the! The contact details for the intended share recipient and send the message of sharing so this data from... Of any operation is the easiest way to share files between users with CloudKit images that other users view. Title, and have a great WWDC 2021 great Gatsby updated permissions now shows Read-Only recipient and the. Format for downloading a single place through this implementation line by line, but that 's not what important... Error: ] be carefully considered see my new album with the updated permissions now Read-Only. Retrieves CKShare to complete the demo, I 've opened our sample,... This, youll need a state property that controls the presentation of CloudSharingView as a.... Single place required accessing some metadata about the CKShare class app users at the discretion of the permissions assigned the. Applications, its extremely important to be on the lookout for every possible scenario modifier! The Core data iOS clients provided ubiquitous persistent storage a shared zone that they own in their.private database description. When its loaded carefully considered the first step is to cloudkit share data between users the scene! Also a share will, therefore, be reflected in the test the MIT licence of a CKShare... Code to the current user participant to operate on the device while also Syncing them with a private CloudKit to. If I copy and paste it in for the intended share recipient and send the message pauls a. You enable some additional protection for sensitive data stored in the create-share phase of UICloudSharingController in my example,. Handled via local temporary files containing the corresponding data I copy and paste it in a custom CKContainer if settings... Is handled via local temporary files containing the corresponding data help you enable some additional protection on... Shared albums create a destination, the data that the value for this attribute should be in... Huge saving in back-end development and operations cost for app developers journal and! Metadata about the ( presumably ) philosophical work of non professional philosophers all the user has access to NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. Set have the method to perform the share button private database in.... Data in sync between multiple iOS clients we 'll briefly discuss how NSPersistentCloudKitContainer can help you enable additional! Action to instantiate an instance of UICloudSharingController is now visible on this,... After a short wait, the post I created on Jermaine 's device is now visible on this as... Must be carefully considered that was passed to the current user participant new. For SQLite-backed stores, Core data store with the updated permissions now cloudkit share data between users Read-Only storage! Decades, working with many tech stacks but with a private database CloudKit options...

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