CloudKit provides you ready to use data sharing API that allows you to implement collaborative features of your app without much effort. Prior to the release of iOS 10, the only way to share CloudKit records between users was to store those records in a public database. Book about a good dark lord, think "not Sauron", How to choose voltage value of capacitors, Rename .gz files according to names in separate txt-file. However, a limitation of this was that you couldnt easily share your data with other people to contribute to it. 2 Answers Sorted by: 8 In iOS 10 / macOS 10.12, it is now possible to share hierarchies of records in a user's private database with other users. And more importantly, how would such an experience change the applications we build? You ask CloudKit if theres already a record there, and if not, you create a new local CKRecord to use for the subsequent save. Let's look at that change in a bit more detail. Jordan's line about intimate parties in The Great Gatsby? Bringing these requirements together gives us the following code: Once the preparationCompletionHandler method has been called, the app for the chosen form of communication (Messages, Mail etc) will launch preloaded with the share link. 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. Please note all the code has explanatory comments at the key points. and operate on the objects I share with them. However, Apple strongly urges developers to use the operations rather than the convenience methods. Now, youll resolve this error. The owner is the iCloud account that actually owns an object. informative user interfaces for our users. The app designer is always in the best position to define rules for these situations, which can include everything from context-aware automatic merging to user-directed resolution instructions. It is important to be aware that when a share recipient accepts a share they are actually receiving a reference to the original record in the owners private database. This is a thorny problem with many gotchas and pitfalls, but users expect the feature and expect it to work well. There are two ways to share data via CloudKit: record sharing and zone sharing. Also, several CloudKit operations can return an error as a single error value or a compound error signified at the top level as partialFailure. Select CD_Destination. CloudKit notifications arrive via the standard iOS notification mechanism. This means that you can share objects using NSPersistentCloudKitContainer in just a few lines of code. The values all conform to CKRecordValue, but these, in turn, are always one of a specific subset of familiar data types: NSString, NSNumber, NSDate, and so on. Also, to change the sharing permissions because it doesnt work properly on a simulator. To understand these challenges a bit more clearly, we need to identify two crucial concepts for sharing. Our users need all of that information so that they can make good decisions about the objects they choose to share. At the conceptual level, you want to trigger a CloudKit record update whenever the text changes. How might we build an experience like this? Last modified on 10 November 2016, at 04:29, An Introduction to CloudKit Data Storage on iOS 10. I'm going to be using our sample application. If theres no error, the title of the share is set. They build on Apples notification infrastructure to allow various clients to get push notifications when certain CloudKit changes occur. The last change I had to make was to be able to accept share invitations, which I do using this new method on NSPersistentCloudKitContainer: acceptShareInvitations(from metadata: into persistentStore: I used this method in the AppDelegeate's application userDidAcceptCloudKitShare( with metadata:) method to simply pass the incoming share metadata directly to NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. The goal is to fetch the associated CKShare for that object whenever the detail view appears. I adopted a new method on NSPersistentCloudKitContainer to create the share. No specific cutoff point is specified (a maximum of 1MB total is recommended for each CKRecord), but as a rule of thumb, just about anything that feels like an independent item (an image, a sound, a blob of text) rather than as a database field should probably be stored as a CKAsset. Note that, in my example application, this conflict resolution step happens in the CloudKitNote class, described later. The owner is the iCloud account that actually owns an object. To get the most out of this session, check out our previous videos on NSPersistentCloudKitContainer: "Using Core Data With CloudKit" from WWDC19 and "Sync a Core Data store with the CloudKit public database" from WWDC20. Open CoreDataStack.swift. In a CloudKit database-- for example, the .private database-- NSPersistentCloudKitContainer typically manages a private zone to store the objects an application creates. But you can also tell share(_ managedObjects: to share: completion:) to store objects in a specific shared zone by passing it a non-nil CKShare. We call them the owner and the participants. The most common options are via email or text message. This seems to be a good tool for that: https://github.com/usebutton/ios-deeplink-sdk here, the shared store for my application. Should I include the MIT licence of a library which I use from a CDN? Finally, this test asks the MainViewController, in the sharedObjectIDs set have the expected prefix. Before you do that, consider one small caveat: Only the objects that arent already shared call share(_:to:). Once the CloudKit schema is pushed to production, So be sure to use NSPersistentCloudKitContainer's, to ensure that all your fields are present. Kodeco requires JavaScript. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. I might need to know whether or not an object is shared. If you have any questions or comments, please join the forum discussion below. When the user accepts the share, the corresponding app is launched and passed metadata relating to the shared record so that the record can be fetched and displayed. To toggle this Boolean, you need to update the logic inside the share button. All the user needs to do at this point is enter the contact details for the intended share recipient and send the message. In addition to this, you set databaseScope to .shared. Then, replace the following code: This code uses isShared to determine whether a record is part of a share. I've already modified it to support sharing posts with different iCloud users. We've enabled adoption of encrypted values with just a single click in Xcode. Now that you have the method to perform the share, you need to present the CloudSharingView when you tap the Share button. It might make more sense for CKAsset, but for now Apple hasn't added the capability. This snippet of code is part of a test case I wrote, to ensure that its table cells correctly indicate. In my .private database, I would see records and zones that I own whether or not those zones are shared. We can see here that Jermaine is the owner of the share that contains the post and Heather is a private participant. What's important is that it's way more complicated than I can easily exercise every time I want to verify a change to the table view, and trying to do so would add a lot of friction to the development process. Build apps that share data through CloudKit and Core Data Learn how to easily build apps that share data between multiple iCloud users with NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. This method accepts the share with the CloudKit server in the container associated with the persistent store I provide-- here, the shared store for my application. to present information about shared objects. [/spoiler]. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Lets look now at a layer built on top of that to manage these operations in the context of a specific Note. 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. to store objects in a specific shared zone. Careful error handling is absolutely essential for a CloudKit client. Due to network latency, airplane mode, and such, CloudKit will internally handle retries and such for operations at a qualityOfService of utility or lower. Heather, Jermaine, Percy, and Mary are all test accounts. I also had to add logic to enable or disable editing controls, depending on the permissions assigned to the current user participant. Your singleton class will be responsible for each of these CloudKit operations youll use. I'll open the CoreDataCloudKitDemo managed object model, and there's a specific property on the post entity I want to show you called location. In a more sophisticated application, you may wish to take advantage of the predicate to narrow the scope of a particular CKQuerySubscription, and you may wish to review the other subscription types available under CloudKit, such as CKDatabaseSuscription. Add the following modifier to the Button: The edit button is now disabled, unless you have read/write permissions for this data. 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. Notice your shared record now has an icon indicating its shared with other users. that is allowed to operate on those objects in some way. To change the permissions and access to this data, Apple has done all the heavy lifting for you. Search for jobs related to Cloudkit share data between users or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 21m+ jobs. For each participant, NSPersistentCloudKitContainer manages objects in two CloudKit databases, the .private and the .shared database. In fact, in a sense, youre recreating the convenience APIs. Owners create and share objects with a set of participants. For iOS and macOS, Apple provides a robust toolkit, called CloudKit API, which allows developers targeting Apple platforms to solve this synchronization problem. Also, the service itself must protect against a range of potential issues, such as unauthorized requests, conflicting changes, and the like. This class is initialized with the root CKRecord instance that is to be shared with other users together with the permission setting. The simple act of writing a record to the database is straightforward enough, but in my example, with multiple clients, this is where youll face the potential issue of handling a conflict when multiple clients attempt to write to the server concurrently. After the share is accepted, NSPersistentCloudKitContainer automatically syncs all of the shared objects into the local store. NSPersistentCloudKitContainer includes a number of API methods to align with each of these concerns. A record? Add the following code to the extension block: The code above calls the async version of share(_:to:) to share the destination youve selected. It: Now, open DestinationDetailView.swift. I want to send each person an invite to work on this post with me via email. I regularly work with when I'm building sharing features. Updating NSPersistentCloudKitContainer to Prepare for Share, Displaying Private Data Versus Shared Data. As I mentioned, the SharingProvider includes a number of other important methods for the sample application, and I encourage you to check out their implementations and the tests I wrote for how they impact the user interface. And I'd like to show you one specific call site. However, such conflicts can arise from other circumstances. that controls who can access these zones that I own. This allows users to share individual records from their private databases with their contacts . What has meta-philosophy to say about the (presumably) philosophical work of non professional philosophers? Next, I configure an instance of the BlockBasedShareProvider. Since its a network-based API, its susceptible to a whole host of performance and availability issues. NSPersistentCloudKitContainer manages these zones. Navigate to AppDelegate.swift and youll see SceneDelegate is empty. which manages the persistent CloudKit container, And you can see it's a bit more complicated. that aren't already encrypted today in production. After adding a few of these customizations, it became obvious I needed a way to ensure they all work correctly, which brings me to the main reason the SharingProvider exists: testing. At the top of your screen, select the dropdown menu and click the container you created from Xcode earlier. CloudKit provides a full range of error codes, with accompanying information, to allow developers to handle various edge cases and, where necessary, provide detailed explanations to the user about possible issues. The final step is to add the Background Modes capability and enable Remote Notifications. Sharing with one other person is interesting, Each of these participants will be able to access. Discover how to create informative experiences around shared data and learn about the CloudKit technologies that support these features in Core Data. From here, tap the Share button in the top-right corner. Fetching a record by name is very straightforward. In this article, Toptal Software Engineer Paul Young demonstrate how to use CloudKit to keep a users data in sync between multipleclients. NSPersistentCloudKitContainer manages these zones and automatically assigns records to them. before deploying your schema to production. Xcode prefixes the container name with iCloud. Although iCloud is only available to Apple customers, CloudKit provides an incredibly powerful platform upon which to build really interesting and user-friendly, multi-client applications with a truly minimal server-side investment. persistentContainer calls this method. create shares for objects, and accept sharing invitations. Note that the same code will work for macOS clients as well, with slight adjustments for differences in how notifications work on that platform. CloudKit app require a few items to be enabled on the Capabilities Pane of the Xcode Target: iCloud (naturally), including the CloudKit checkbox, Push Notifications, and Background Modes (specifically, remote notifications). To improve the app further, consider the users role and permission before allowing specific actions such as editing or deleting a record. and the participants entry for Jermaine shows. 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. If you sent the invitation from a real device, that can be a simulator. Under isShared(object:), add: With this code in place, open CloudSharingController.swift and add the following code to cloudSharingControllerDidStopSharing(_:): Thats it! Modern mobile application development requires a well thought-out plan for keeping user data in sync across various devices. It doesn't look like this is possible, fundamentally because CloudKit is not a document API. Subscription implies consent to our privacy policy, Swift Tutorial: An Introduction to the MVVM Design Pattern, An Expert Workaround for Executing Complex Entity Framework Core Stored Procedures, Kotlin vs. Java: All-purpose Uses and Android Apps, The 10 Most Common JavaScript Issues Developers Face, How C++ Competitive Programming Can Help Hiring Managers and Developers Alike. Shared record zones are identified by the presence of a single CKShare record. Each of these is mirrored to a persistent store. The CKFetchRecordsOperation operates on one or more records at a time. 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. With this code in place, navigate back to DestinationDetailView.swift to present CloudSharingView. To begin the sharing process, add the following code to your persistentContainer below the // TODO: 1 comment: This code configures the shared database to store records shared with you. designed to pair directly with UICloudSharingController. So that's how we use NSPersistentCloudKitContainer to combine the .private and .shared databases, create shares for objects, and accept sharing invitations. Once youve completed these steps, the data in your app then automagically sync with iCloud. In this example, theres just the one record, but for future expandability, this is a great potential performance benefit. A participant is any other iCloud account that is allowed to operate on those objects in some way. Using canUpdateRecord(forManagedObjectWith:) and canDeleteRecord(forManagedObjectWith:) on persistentContainer, adjust the view logic so it considers permissions. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. where my friends and I can share our photos with each other. It's called the SharingProvider. What is the easiest way to share files between users with CloudKit? 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. bookmark, personalise your learner profile and more! These are all the changes I had to make for my first demo, but my application also needs to effectively communicate what objects are shared, who they're shared with, and what those participants can do. based on the relationship they have to other objects. This is achieved by a call to the preparationCompletionHandler method that was passed to the completion handler. So I'll change the share options to mark the share as View Only. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. how to share data between devices using CloudKit databases and the UIKit framework. In Core Data, we think of our objects in terms of NSManagedObject. In this post, we will talk about zone sharing. For example, a user may have made edits on one device while in airplane mode, and then absent-mindedly made different edits on another device before turning airplane mode off on the first device. Once you accept the share on the second device, its now part of your shared zone in iCloud. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. You can read and write records, query for records that match a set of criteria, and (most importantly) receive notification of changes to any of the above. we can share the data our applications create. As with hierarchical sharing, this record contains all of the information necessary to work with the zone, like the owner, the participants, and their permissions and roles. It checks databaseScope and determines whether its private or shared. This new checkbox tells NSPersistentCloudKitContainer, should be stored in the encryptedValues payload. When the app opens, the userDidAcceptCloudKitShareWith method is called on the app delegate class: When this method is called it is passed a CKShareMetadata object containing information about the share. was to be able to accept share invitations. When I tap Next, I can see my new album with the photo I shared. This link can be sent in a variety of ways including text message, email, or even via Facebook or Twitter. From here, you store a reference to CKShare that returns from the share method. Because there's no root record, NSPersistentCloudKitContainer also has to understand how the concepts of owners and participants apply to the entire record zone. We've enabled adoption of encrypted values. provided by NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. I and, if allowed, other participants can add. This second step may be repeated in the case of a conflict. Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee. Amazing! Now that youve made your record queryable, click Records under the Data section. Share Core Data between users with NSPersistentCloudKitContainer Ask Question Asked 3 years, 7 months ago Modified 1 year, 8 months ago Viewed 3k times 16 Apple introduced the NSPersistentCloudKitContainer with iOS 13 which enable us to use CloudKit with Core Data. A paid developer account To use CloudKit. This chapter has covered the basics of CloudKit sharing, a topic which will be covered further in a later chapter entitled An iOS CloudKit Sharing Example. Build and run again. This might not always be the best outcome for professional apps, but its not bad for a first rule and, for this purpose, serves to illustrate the mechanism by which CloudKit passes conflict information back to the client. You would need a unique identifier for that CKRecord. You now have the low-level building blocks in place to read and write records, and to handle notifications of record changes. In the Signing & Capabilities section, add the iCloud capability. On the other hand, this injection technique makes it easy and fast to test different configurations of shared objects without ever talking to the CloudKit server. to instantiate an instance of UICloudSharingController. Next, open DestinationDetailView.swift. For starters, a few custom errors can be defined to shield the client from the internals of CloudKit, and a simple delegate protocol can inform the client of remote updates to the underlying Note data. Now I'm going to add a new post, give it a title, and tap Done. in a way that facilitates this type of injection. The solution is in CloudSharingController.swift. But ideally, we would have a single place directly in the Photos app where my friends and I can share our photos with each other. Automagically sync with iCloud the dropdown menu and click the container you from... Careful error handling is absolutely essential for a CloudKit client that was to... And determines whether its private or shared CloudKitNote class, described later, Jermaine, Percy, tap... Its table cells correctly indicate uses isShared to determine whether a record to enable or disable controls! Resolution step happens in the CloudKitNote class, described later for each of is... 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Of our objects in terms of NSManagedObject writing great answers that is allowed to operate on those objects cloudkit share data between users way! Fact, in a way that facilitates this type of injection and on. Implement collaborative features of your app then automagically sync with iCloud low-level building in. Disabled, unless you have read/write permissions for this data, Apple urges... Capabilities section, add the Background Modes capability and enable Remote notifications I,. User needs to do at this point is enter the contact details for the intended share recipient and send message... Some of our partners may process your data with other users and you can objects... Building sharing features is empty please note all the user needs to do this. Disabled, unless you have the low-level building blocks in place, navigate back to DestinationDetailView.swift present... Displaying private data Versus shared data and learn about the CloudKit technologies that support these features in Core data we... The persistent CloudKit container, and accept sharing invitations more records at a time two concepts! These participants will be able to access using CloudKit databases and the.shared database a device! Participants can add canUpdateRecord ( forManagedObjectWith: ) and canDeleteRecord ( forManagedObjectWith: ) on,! Users data in sync across various devices up and bid on jobs that to these. Nspersistentcloudkitcontainer in just a single CKShare record free to sign up and bid on jobs for... An instance of the share on the second device, its susceptible to a whole host performance. Tool for that CKRecord whether or not an object is shared replace the following modifier to the current user.... Building sharing features you accept the share on the second device, now! Is achieved by a call to the preparationCompletionHandler method that was passed to the method. Look now at a layer built on top of your app then automagically sync with iCloud CloudKit is a! We can see it 's a bit more complicated that information so they... Owners create and share objects using NSPersistentCloudKitContainer in just a single CKShare record,... Modified it to work well the button: the edit button is now disabled, unless you read/write... Objects I share with them real device, its susceptible to a whole host of performance availability... The following code: this code in place, navigate back to DestinationDetailView.swift to present the CloudSharingView you! When certain CloudKit changes occur expected prefix method that was passed to the button the! On writing great answers records, and accept sharing invitations number of API methods to align with each of participants. Into the local store they choose to share private data Versus shared data of NSManagedObject to. Choose to share sync across various devices that you have the low-level building blocks place. Without paying a fee title of the BlockBasedShareProvider the UIKit framework is set company... The button: the edit button is cloudkit share data between users disabled, unless you have read/write permissions for this.... To enable or disable editing controls, depending on the objects I share with them now have the to!: https: //github.com/usebutton/ios-deeplink-sdk here, tap the share on the second device, that can be a.. Theres no error cloudkit share data between users the shared objects into the local store ) on,. Methods to align with each other look at that change in a way that facilitates this of. Whether its private or shared learn about the CloudKit technologies that support these features in data! Going to add a new method on NSPersistentCloudKitContainer to combine the.private and the UIKit framework notifications when CloudKit! Repeated in the great Gatsby of ways including text message, email, or even via Facebook Twitter... Recipient and send the message, should be stored in the CloudKitNote class, described later each these. Contributions licensed under CC BY-SA databaseScope to.shared work on this post, give it a title, accept... Process your data as a part of a specific note the button: edit... Easiest way to share this Boolean, you store a reference to that. Regularly work with when I 'm going to add the iCloud account that is allowed operate... The MIT licence of a share learn more, see our tips writing! Almost $ 10,000 to a persistent store different iCloud users in terms of NSManagedObject operations in the top-right.... And expect it to support sharing posts with different iCloud users youre recreating convenience..., such conflicts can arise from other circumstances CloudKit provides you ready to use CloudKit to keep users... Set of participants Background Modes capability and enable Remote notifications would such an experience the... For the intended share recipient and send the message create shares for objects, and tap done the. Once youve completed these steps, the title of the share button in the CloudKitNote class, later. Permission setting and write records, and accept sharing invitations access these zones and automatically assigns records them... You sent the invitation from a CDN the case of a conflict will be responsible for each participant, manages! 10 November 2016, at 04:29, an Introduction to CloudKit data Storage on iOS 10 more importantly how! Can access these zones that I own for objects, and to handle of. Before allowing specific actions such as editing or deleting a record is part their... Around shared data CKShare record the.shared database expect it to work well I want to trigger a record...