Saving image and then loading it in Swift (iOS)

I am saving an image using saveImage.

func saveImage (image: UIImage, path: String ) -> Bool{

    let pngImageData = UIImagePNGRepresentation(image)
    //let jpgImageData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1.0)   // if you want to save as JPEG

    print("!!!saving image at:  \(path)")

    let result = pngImageData!.writeToFile(path, atomically: true)

    return result
}

New info:

Saving file does not work properly ("[-] ERROR SAVING FILE" is printed)--

            // save your image here into Document Directory
        let res = saveImage(tempImage, path: fileInDocumentsDirectory("abc.png"))
        if(res == true){
            print ("[+] FILE SAVED")
        }else{
            print ("[-] ERROR SAVING FILE")
        }

Why doesn't the saveImage function save the image? Access rights?

Older info:

The debug info says:

!!!saving image at:  file:///var/mobile/Applications/BDB992FB-E378-4719-B7B7-E9A364EEE54B/Documents/tempImage

Then I retrieve this location using

fileInDocumentsDirectory("tempImage")

The result is correct.

Then I am loading the file using this path

    let image = UIImage(contentsOfFile: path)

    if image == nil {

        print("missing image at: \(path)")
    }else{
        print("!!!IMAGE FOUND at: \(path)")
    }

The path is correct, but the message is "missing image at..". Is the file somehow inaccessible or not stored? What can be a reason for this behavior?

I am testing this code on iphone 4 with ios 7 and iphone 5 with ios 7 simulator.

Edit: 1. The fileInDocumentsDirectory function

func fileInDocumentsDirectory(filename: String) -> String {

    let documentsURL = NSFileManager.defaultManager().URLsForDirectory(.DocumentDirectory, inDomains: .UserDomainMask)[0]
    let fileURL = documentsURL.URLByAppendingPathComponent(filename).absoluteString
    return fileURL        
}

This function will save an image in the documents folder:

func saveImage(image: UIImage) -> Bool {
    guard let data = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1) ?? UIImagePNGRepresentation(image) else {
        return false
    }
    guard let directory = try? FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: false) as NSURL else {
        return false
    }
    do {
        try data.write(to: directory.appendingPathComponent("fileName.png")!)
        return true
    } catch {   
        print(error.localizedDescription)
        return false
    }
}

To use:

let success = saveImage(image: UIImage(named: "image.png")!)

This function will get that image:

func getSavedImage(named: String) -> UIImage? {
    if let dir = try? FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: false) {
        return UIImage(contentsOfFile: URL(fileURLWithPath: dir.absoluteString).appendingPathComponent(named).path)
    }
    return nil
}

To use:

if let image = getSavedImage(named: "fileName") {
    // do something with image
}

iOS 13+ Swift 5.1

iOS 12 introduced some API Changes.

func saveImage(imageName: String, image: UIImage) {


 guard let documentsDirectory = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first else { return }

    let fileName = imageName
    let fileURL = documentsDirectory.appendingPathComponent(fileName)
    guard let data = image.jpegData(compressionQuality: 1) else { return }

    //Checks if file exists, removes it if so.
    if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: fileURL.path) {
        do {
            try FileManager.default.removeItem(atPath: fileURL.path)
            print("Removed old image") 
        } catch let removeError {
            print("couldn't remove file at path", removeError)
        }

    }

    do {
        try data.write(to: fileURL)
    } catch let error {
        print("error saving file with error", error) 
    }

}



func loadImageFromDiskWith(fileName: String) -> UIImage? {

  let documentDirectory = FileManager.SearchPathDirectory.documentDirectory

    let userDomainMask = FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask.userDomainMask
    let paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(documentDirectory, userDomainMask, true)

    if let dirPath = paths.first {
        let imageUrl = URL(fileURLWithPath: dirPath).appendingPathComponent(fileName)
        let image = UIImage(contentsOfFile: imageUrl.path)
        return image

    }

    return nil
}

Details

  • Xcode Version 10.2 (10E125), Swift 5

Solution

// save
extension UIImage {

    func save(at directory: FileManager.SearchPathDirectory,
              pathAndImageName: String,
              createSubdirectoriesIfNeed: Bool = true,
              compressionQuality: CGFloat = 1.0)  -> URL? {
        do {
        let documentsDirectory = try FileManager.default.url(for: directory, in: .userDomainMask,
                                                             appropriateFor: nil,
                                                             create: false)
        return save(at: documentsDirectory.appendingPathComponent(pathAndImageName),
                    createSubdirectoriesIfNeed: createSubdirectoriesIfNeed,
                    compressionQuality: compressionQuality)
        } catch {
            print("-- Error: \(error)")
            return nil
        }
    }

    func save(at url: URL,
              createSubdirectoriesIfNeed: Bool = true,
              compressionQuality: CGFloat = 1.0)  -> URL? {
        do {
            if createSubdirectoriesIfNeed {
                try FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: url.deletingLastPathComponent(),
                                                        withIntermediateDirectories: true,
                                                        attributes: nil)
            }
            guard let data = jpegData(compressionQuality: compressionQuality) else { return nil }
            try data.write(to: url)
            return url
        } catch {
            print("-- Error: \(error)")
            return nil
        }
    }
}

// load from path

extension UIImage {
    convenience init?(fileURLWithPath url: URL, scale: CGFloat = 1.0) {
        do {
            let data = try Data(contentsOf: url)
            self.init(data: data, scale: scale)
        } catch {
            print("-- Error: \(error)")
            return nil
        }
    }
}

Usage

// save image (way 1)
let path = "photo/temp/album1/img.jpg"
guard   let img = UIImage(named: "img"),
        let url = img.save(at: .documentDirectory,
                           pathAndImageName: path) else { return }
print(url)

// get image from directory
guard let img2 = UIImage(fileURLWithPath: url) else { return }

// save image (way 2)
let tempDirectoryUrl = URL(fileURLWithPath: NSTemporaryDirectory()).appendingPathComponent(path)
guard let url2 = img2.save(at: tempDirectoryUrl) else { return }
print(url2)

Check results

open the iOS simulator directory


You should save image name with extension so your path should be like,

///var/mobile/Applications/BDB992FB-E378-4719-B7B7-E9A364EEE54B/Documents/tempImage.png

And second thing replace below line,

   let result = pngImageData!.writeToFile(path, atomically: true)

with

    let result = pngImageData!.writeToFile(path, atomically: false)

You need to set false as parameter of atomically.

atomically:

If true, the data is written to a backup file, and then—assuming no errors occur—the backup file is renamed to the name specified by path; otherwise, the data is written directly to path.

Hope this will help :)