Question

I want to associate a text-based custom file type with my app on iOS.

When I open a link to the file which is behind some php script, Safari shows the “open in” option with my app in it, which is OK.

However when I open a link which points directly to my file (running a web server for test purposes), Safari decides that it can read the file itself and displays the content by itself. Which is definitely not OK.

On the side note, if I substitute any binary file (zip, …) and use my extension, file associating will still work.

The code in plist-info:

<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleTypeIconFiles</key>
        <array>
            <string>320.png</string>
            <string>64.png</string>
        </array>
        <key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
        <string>My File</string>
        <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
        <string>Viewer</string>
        <key>LSHandlerRank</key>
        <string>Owner</string>
        <key>LSItemContentTypes</key>
        <array>
            <string>com.Company.Product.ext</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</array>
<key>UTExportedTypeDeclarations</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
        <array>
            <string>public.data</string>
            <string>public.content</string>
            <string>public.text</string>
            <string>public.plain-text</string>
            <string>public.utf16-plain-text</string>
            <string>public.utf16-external-plain-text</string>
            <string>public.utf8-plain-text</string>
        </array>
        <key>UTTypeDescription</key>
        <string>My File</string>
        <key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
        <string>com.Company.Product.ext</string>
        <key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
        <dict>
            <key>public.filename-extension</key>
            <string>ext</string>
            <key>public.mime-type</key>
            <string>application/octet-stream</string>
        </dict>
    </dict>
</array>

My question is: how to persuade Safari to NOT open the file itself? It it even possible? Do I have to use some mime type other than “application/octet-stream”?

Answer 1

Define a custom MIME type (i.e. application/x-my.custom.type) for your files, and have PHP or your web server serve them. This should help.