Since my code just logs file names so far, the next thing I am going to do is change it so that it actually saves the data to disk. Initially I am going to save the files without using any randomization. Later I will implement the random naming.

The full path name to use comprises the name that I was given by -exportManagerWillbeginExportToPath: (and saved in _exportBasePath) with the file name given in the path variable in -exportManagerShouldWriteImageData:relativeToPath:forImageAtIndex:

And this works. I'm using the file names given to me by Aperture which means either the master file name or the version name depending on the user's selection on the dialog.

After some experimentation I discovered that Aperture always gives the plug-in a filename that can be written successfully. If a file already exists with the name of the image to be written, Aperture appends (1) or (2), etc. to the end of the name and gives that to the plug-in. So instead of trying to handle all the cases that Aperture is already handling for me regarding the naming, the strategy for generating random names should be to let Aperture do all the file writing with its own names and then rename the files myself when it is done. This actually makes randomizing the names easier because I will be in possession of all the information about all the files at the same time and won't have to maintain any state between naming image files.

To rename all the files at once I will have to make a copy of all the paths as I am given them. Once the exports are all done, I will generate a list of random names, and then use NSFilemanager -movePath:toPath:handler: to do the rename.

To store the names I create an NSMutableArray called _origFileNames and initialize it in the initWithAPIManager: method. Then in -exportManagerShouldWiteImageData: I add each file name to the array:

And in -exportManagerDidFinishExport I iterate through the stored filenames and do the rename:

For now I am just using a sequence of numbers 0001, 0002, etc. And I am being careful to keep the same file extension. My code is a little sloppy here with memory usage (what if this code is run with a huge number of files?) and I am not checking a lot of possible error conditions, such as existing files with the same numbered names. I will have to tackle problems like that when I write my final randomizing code.

The other parts of this series can be found via the Cocoa page.

Tags: Aperture, Plug-ins, Cocoa, Random Wok, Images, Saving