HWIFileDownload

HWIFileDownload simplifies file download integration on iOS. It is based on NSURLSession so it offers system background operation even when the app is not running. HWIFileDownload is backwards compatible down to iOS 6 (where NSURLConnection is used instead of NSURLSession).

Features

HWIFileDownload uses a download identifier for starting a download, retrieving progress information, and for handling download completion. The download identifier is a string that must be unique for each individual file download.

To start a download, the app client calls the method startDownloadWithDownloadIdentifier:fromRemoteURL: of the HWIFileDownloader.

The app client should maintain a custom download store to manage the downloads and the persistent store. The app download store needs to implement the protocol HWIFileDownloadDelegate to be called on significant download events.

The delegate is called on download completion. Additional calls are used to control the visibility of the network activity indicator. Optionally the delegate can be called on download progress change for each download item. To control the local name of the downloaded file, the delegate can implement the method localFileURLForIdentifier:remoteURL:.

@protocol HWIFileDownloadDelegate

- (void)downloadDidCompleteWithIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier
	                         localFileURL:(NSURL *)aLocalFileURL;

- (void)downloadFailedWithIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier
	                           error:(NSError *)anError
    	                  resumeData:(NSData *)aResumeData;

- (void)incrementNetworkActivityIndicatorActivityCount;
- (void)decrementNetworkActivityIndicatorActivityCount;

@optional

- (void)downloadProgressChangedForIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier;
- (NSURL *)localFileURLForIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier remoteURL:(NSURL *)aRemoteURL;

@end

The app needs to hold an instance of the HWIFileDownloader that manages the download process. The HWIDownloader provides methods for querying and controlling individual download processes.

- (void)startDownloadWithDownloadIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier
          	                  fromRemoteURL:(NSURL *)aRemoteURL;
          	                  
- (void)startDownloadWithDownloadIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier
                            usingResumeData:(NSData *)aResumeData;

- (BOOL)isDownloadingIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier;

- (void)cancelDownloadWithIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier;

- (HWIFileDownloadProgress *)downloadProgressForIdentifier:(NSString *)aDownloadIdentifier;

HWIFileDownloadProgress exposes these properties:

@property (nonatomic, assign, readonly) float downloadProgress;
@property (nonatomic, assign, readonly) int64_t expectedFileSize;
@property (nonatomic, assign, readonly) int64_t receivedFileSize;
@property (nonatomic, assign, readonly) NSTimeInterval estimatedRemainingTime;
@property (nonatomic, assign, readonly) NSUInteger bytesPerSecondSpeed;

Demo App

The demo app shows a sample setup and integration of HWIFileDownload.

The app download store is implemented with the custom sample class DownloadStore.

The app delegate of the demo app holds an instance of the DownloadStore and an instance of the HWIFileDownloader.

Workflows and Scenarios

Start and Restart

On app start, a list of all downloads is collected. All items are downloaded that are not downloaded yet.

Cancel

On "Cancel", all running downloads are cancelled. On iOS 7 (and later) incompletely downloaded data is passed asynchronously as resume data.

Crash

On "Crash", the app crashes. On iOS 7 (and later) started downloads continue in the background even though the app is not running anymore. On iOS 6 download does not continue.

Force Quit

After the app has been killed by the user, downloads do not continue in the background. On iOS 7 (and later) resume data is passed back.

Refresh

By pulling down the table view, the contents are refreshed. All items with no completed download are downloaded again.

Background

When running in the background, all running downloads continue on iOS 7 (and later). On iOS 6 all running downloads continue as background task for about 10 minutes.

Network Interruption

When loosing network connection, all running downloads pause after timeout. On iOS 7 (and later) the downloads resume when network becomes available again. On iOS 6 downloads are stopped after timeout; they start again with the next app start.

Integration

Source Code Files

HWIFileDownload consists of these files:

• HWIBackgroundSessionCompletionHandlerBlock.h
• HWIFileDownloadDelegate.h
• HWIFileDownloader.h
• HWIFileDownloader.m
• HWIFileDownloadItem.h
• HWIFileDownloadItem.m
• HWIFileDownloadProgress.h
• HWIFileDownloadProgress.m

The files need to be added to the app project.

App Delegate

See the sample code for advice on source code integration with the app delegate.