TCBlobDownload

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If you are developing for iOS 7+, please consider using TCBlobDownloadSwift.

However, TCBlobDownload is still maintained and relevant for iOS 5+ projects.

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TCBlobDownload uses NSOperations to download large files (typically videos, music… well: BLOBs) using NSURLConnection in background threads.

Tested with files from ~150MB to ~1.2GB, mostly videos.

I’ve implemented TCBlobDownloader which extends NSOperation and use TCBlobDownloadManager to execute it. You can set a delegate or use blocks for each download to update your views etc…

Requires iOS 5.0 or later and ARC.

• Features
• Documentation
• Installation
• Examples
• Roadmap

Features

1. Download files in background threads
2. Blocks or delegate style
3. Pause and resume a download
4. Set a maximum number of concurrent downloads
5. Custom download path
6. Download speed and remaining time
7. Download cancellation
8. Download dependencies

Documentation 📚

Browse the documentation on Cocoadocs or add it directly to Xcode by downloading the docset and placing it into ~/Library/Developer/Shared/Documentation/DocSets/. (or use Dash)

Installation

CocoaPods

Add the following to your Podfile and run $ pod install:

pod 'TCBlobDownload'

If you don’t have CocoaPods installed or integrated into your project, you can learn how to do so here.

(Also be sure the $(inherited) flag is set in your Project's Target -> Build Settings -> Other Linker Flags)

Import as a static library

1. Drag and drop TCBlobDownload.xcodeproj from Finder to your opened project.
2. Project’s Target -> Build Phases -> Target Dependencies -> add TCBlobDownload. Then, click Link binary with libraries and add libTCBlobDownload.a (no worries if it’s red).
3. Go to build settings, switch “always search user paths” to YES and add $(PROJECT_TEMP_DIR)/../UninstalledProducts/include to “User Header Search Paths”.
4. Project’s Target -> Build Settings -> Other Linker Flags -> Add -ObjC
5. Import the lib. (no worries if no autocomplete)

#import <TCBlobDownload/TCBlobDownload.h>

Examples 👓

1. Blocks

To immediately start a download in the default TCBlobDownloadManager directory (tmp/ by default):

TCBlobDownloadManager *sharedManager = [TCBlobDownloadManager sharedInstance];

TCBlobDownloader *downloader = [sharedManager startDownloadWithURL:@"http://give.me/abigfile.avi"
                downloadPath:nil
               firstResponse:^(NSURLResponse *response) {

               }
               progress:^(uint64_t receivedLength, uint64_t totalLength, NSInteger remainingTime, float progress) {
                 // downloader.remainingTime
                 // downloader.speedRate
               }
               error:^(NSError *error) {

               }
               complete:^(BOOL downloadFinished, NSString *pathToFile) {

               }];

If you set a custom path:

NSString *customPath = [NSTemporaryDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"My/Custom/Path/"];

TCBlobDownloader *downloader = [sharedManager startDownloadWithURL:@"http://give.me/abigfile.avi"
                                                        customPath:customPath // here we set the path
                                                       andDelegate:nil];

This will create the given path if needed and download the file in the Path/ directory. Please note that during the download process you have no control over the file name as explained with reasons why in the documentation. Remember that you should follow the iOS Data Storage Guidelines.

2. Delegate

You can either set a delegate which can implement those optional methods if delegates have your preference over blocks:

- (void)download:(TCBlobDownloader *)download didReceiveFirstResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
{

}

- (void)download:(TCBlobDownloader *)download didReceiveData:(uint64_t)received onTotal:(uint64_t)total
{
  // download.remainingTime
  // download.speedRate
}

- (void)download:(TCBlobDownloader *)download didStopWithError:(NSError *)error
{

}

- (void)download:(TCBlobDownloader *)download didFinishWithSucces:(BOOL)downloadFinished atPath:(NSString *)pathToFile
{

}

3. Other features

• If a download has been stopped and the local file has not been deleted, when you will restart the download to the same local path, the download will start where it has stopped using the HTTP Range header (14.35).

• You can also set dependencies in your downloads using the addDependentDownload: method from TCBlobDownloader.

See documentation for more details.

Roadmap 🚀

If you have any idea or request, please suggest it! 😃

• Multi segmented downloads
• Dash XML feed for documentation versioning