In Apple Numbers and similar apps, a user can save a document to iCloud Drive, and collaborate with other users. From what I can gather, it seems to use two mechanisms: the document as a whole is synced via iCloud Drive, but when a collaboration is started, it seems to use CloudKit records to do live updates. I am working on a similar app, that saves documents to iCloud Drive (on Mac, iPad, and iPhone). Currently it only syncs via iCloud Drive, re-reading the entire (often large) document when a remote change occurs. This can lead to a delay of several seconds (up to a minute) for the document to be saved, synced to the server, synced from the server, and re-read. I'm working on adding a "live sync", i.e. the ability to see changes in as near to real-time as feasible, like in Apple's apps. The document as a whole will remain syncing via iCloud Drive. My thought is to add a CloudKit CKRecord-based sync when two or more users are collaborating on a document, recording only the diffs for quick updates. The app would no longer re-read the entire document when iCloud Drive updates it while in use, and would instead read the CloudKit records and apply those changes. This should be much faster. Is my understanding of how Apple does it correct? Does my proposed approach seem sensible? Has anyone else implemented something like this, with iCloud Drive-based documents and a CloudKit live sync? In terms of technologies, I see that Apple now has a Shared with You framework, with the ability to use a NSItemProvider to start the collaboration. Which raises the question, should I use the iCloud Drive document for the collaboration (as I do now), or the CloudKit CKShare diff? I think I'd have to use the document as a whole, both so it works with the Send Copy option, and so a user that doesn't have the document gets it when using Collaborate. Once the collaboration is underway, I'd want to start the CloudKit channel. So I guess I'd save the CKShare to the server, get its URL, and save that in the document, so another user can read that URL as part of their initial load of the document from iCloud Drive? Once two (or more) users have the document via iCloud Drive, and the CKShare via the embedded URL, I should be able to do further live-sync updates via CloudKit. If a user closes the document and re-opens it, they'd get the updates via iCloud Drive, so no need to apply any updates from before the document was opened. Does all this sound reasonable, or am I overlooking some gotcha? I'd appreciate any advice from people who have experience with this kind of syncing.

I am trying to add a custom JSON DataStore and DataStoreConfiguration for SwiftData. Apple kindly provided some sample code in the WWDC24 session, "Create a custom data store with SwiftData", and (once updated for API changes since WWDC) that works fine. However, when I try to add a relationship between two classes, it fails. Has anyone successfully made a JSONDataStore with a relationship? Here's my code; firstly the cleaned up code from the WWDC session: import SwiftData final class JSONStoreConfiguration: DataStoreConfiguration { typealias Store = JSONStore var name: String var schema: Schema? var fileURL: URL init(name: String, schema: Schema? = nil, fileURL: URL) { self.name = name self.schema = schema self.fileURL = fileURL } static func == (lhs: JSONStoreConfiguration, rhs: JSONStoreConfiguration) -> Bool { return lhs.name == rhs.name } func hash(into hasher: inout Hasher) { hasher.combine(name) } } final class JSONStore: DataStore { typealias Configuration = JSONStoreConfiguration typealias Snapshot = DefaultSnapshot var configuration: JSONStoreConfiguration var name: String var schema: Schema var identifier: String init(_ configuration: JSONStoreConfiguration, migrationPlan: (any SchemaMigrationPlan.Type)?) throws { self.configuration = configuration self.name = configuration.name self.schema = configuration.schema! self.identifier = configuration.fileURL.lastPathComponent } func save(_ request: DataStoreSaveChangesRequest<DefaultSnapshot>) throws -> DataStoreSaveChangesResult<DefaultSnapshot> { var remappedIdentifiers = [PersistentIdentifier: PersistentIdentifier]() var serializedData = try read() for snapshot in request.inserted { let permanentIdentifier = try PersistentIdentifier.identifier(for: identifier, entityName: snapshot.persistentIdentifier.entityName, primaryKey: UUID()) let permanentSnapshot = snapshot.copy(persistentIdentifier: permanentIdentifier) serializedData[permanentIdentifier] = permanentSnapshot remappedIdentifiers[snapshot.persistentIdentifier] = permanentIdentifier } for snapshot in request.updated { serializedData[snapshot.persistentIdentifier] = snapshot } for snapshot in request.deleted { serializedData[snapshot.persistentIdentifier] = nil } try write(serializedData) return DataStoreSaveChangesResult<DefaultSnapshot>(for: self.identifier, remappedIdentifiers: remappedIdentifiers) } func fetch<T>(_ request: DataStoreFetchRequest<T>) throws -> DataStoreFetchResult<T, DefaultSnapshot> where T : PersistentModel { if request.descriptor.predicate != nil { throw DataStoreError.preferInMemoryFilter } else if request.descriptor.sortBy.count > 0 { throw DataStoreError.preferInMemorySort } let objs = try read() let snapshots = objs.values.map({ $0 }) return DataStoreFetchResult(descriptor: request.descriptor, fetchedSnapshots: snapshots, relatedSnapshots: objs) } func read() throws -> [PersistentIdentifier : DefaultSnapshot] { if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: configuration.fileURL.path(percentEncoded: false)) { let decoder = JSONDecoder() decoder.dateDecodingStrategy = .iso8601 let data = try decoder.decode([DefaultSnapshot].self, from: try Data(contentsOf: configuration.fileURL)) var result = [PersistentIdentifier: DefaultSnapshot]() data.forEach { s in result[s.persistentIdentifier] = s } return result } else { return [:] } } func write(_ data: [PersistentIdentifier : DefaultSnapshot]) throws { let encoder = JSONEncoder() encoder.dateEncodingStrategy = .iso8601 encoder.outputFormatting = [.prettyPrinted, .sortedKeys] let jsonData = try encoder.encode(data.values.map({ $0 })) try jsonData.write(to: configuration.fileURL) } } The data model classes: import SwiftData @Model class Settings { private(set) var version = 1 @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade) var hack: Hack? = Hack() init() { } } @Model class Hack { var foo = "Foo" var bar = 42 init() { } } Container: lazy var mainContainer: ModelContainer = { do { let url = // URL to file let configuration = JSONStoreConfiguration(name: "Settings", schema: Schema([Settings.self, Hack.self]), fileURL: url) return try ModelContainer(for: Settings.self, Hack.self, configurations: configuration) } catch { fatalError("Container error: \(error.localizedDescription)") } }() Load function, that saves a new Settings JSON file if there isn't an existing one: @MainActor func loadSettings() { let mainContext = mainContainer.mainContext let descriptor = FetchDescriptor<Settings>() let settingsArray = try? mainContext.fetch(descriptor) print("\(settingsArray?.count ?? 0) settings found") if let settingsArray, let settings = settingsArray.last { print("Loaded") } else { let settings = Settings() mainContext.insert(settings) do { try mainContext.save() } catch { print("Error saving settings: \(error)") } } } The save operation creates a JSON file, which while it isn't a format I would choose, is acceptable, though I notice that the "hack" property (the relationship) doesn't have the correct identifier. When I run the app again to load the data, I get an error (that there wasn't room to include in this post). Even if I change Apple's code to not assign a new identifier, so the relationship property and its pointee have the same identifier, it still doesn't load. Am I doing something obviously wrong, or are relationships not supported in custom data stores?

Try the following code on macOS, and you'll see the marker is added in the wrong place, as the conversion from screen coordinates to map coordinates doesn't work correctly. The screenCoord value is correct, but reader.convert(screenCoord, from: .local) offsets the resulting coordinate by the height of the content above the map, despite the .local parameter. struct TestMapView: View { @State var placeAPin = false @State var pinLocation :CLLocationCoordinate2D? = nil @State private var cameraProsition: MapCameraPosition = .camera( MapCamera( centerCoordinate: .denver, distance: 3729, heading: 92, pitch: 70 ) ) var body: some View { VStack { Text("This is a bug demo.") Text("If there are other views above the map, the MapProxy doesn't convert the coordinates correctly.") MapReader { reader in Map( position: $cameraProsition, interactionModes: .all ) { if let pl = pinLocation { Marker("(\(pl.latitude), \(pl.longitude))", coordinate: pl) } } .onTapGesture(perform: { screenCoord in pinLocation = reader.convert(screenCoord, from: .local) placeAPin = false if let pinLocation { print("tap: screen \(screenCoord), location \(pinLocation)") } }) .mapControls{ MapCompass() MapScaleView() MapPitchToggle() } .mapStyle(.standard(elevation: .automatic)) } } } } extension CLLocationCoordinate2D { static var denver = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: 39.742043, longitude: -104.991531) } (FB13135770)

When I add a MapUserLocationButton to the SwiftUI Map, it does not work unless I have previously requested location access. Since this is a SwiftUI control that the user explicitly clicks to display their location in the map, I don’t think the app should need to request location access. The user is expressing an explicit intent by clicking the button. Maybe the button should display the request prompt automatically if not already granted when the control is used, rather than silently failing? In my app, I had previously requested permission, and was pleased to be able to remove that when migrating to the built-in button... or so I thought! (FB13134130)

We have a macOS app, SheetPlanner, that supports sharing a document with other people for collaboration, via iCloud Drive. When someone shares a document in Apple Pages, e.g. via email, and someone else clicks the link to open the document, the panel offers to open the document "in Pages", and opens the document directly in the app: But when we do the same with a SheetPlanner document, it is missing the "in SheetPlanner" part, and instead displays the document in the Finder: What are we missing? How can we get the iCloud sharing mechanism to offer to open in the app? Here's a video that demonstrates this: https://dropbox.com/s/bh9ipmn3h9ucpfc/Pages%20V%20SheetPlanner%20Sharing%20Behaviour.mov?dl=0