Get the MacOS Application Support folder in Delphi

Question

Apple says to place files that store the application state in the "Application Support" folder and to "use the Application Support directory constant NSApplicationSupportDirectory"

https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/FileSystemProgrammingGuide/AccessingFilesandDirectories/AccessingFilesandDirectories.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40010672-CH3-SW11

Delphi's class methods for TPath have all kinds of TPath.GetXXXX (including TPath.GetLibraryPath but I cannot find one that returns the Application support folder.

How can I get the Application Support folder in a Firemonkey app?

Does this help you? docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/Tokyo/en/… . Also if you need to store user settings look at docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/Tokyo/en/… — Alberto Miola
@AlbertoMiola Not sure what that has to do with OP's question, the Documents folder is nowhere close to the Application Support folder. — Jerry Dodge

Dave Olson Dave Olson · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-10T17:23:34

Hard-coded approach (which you probably have tried); since the Application Support folder is under the Library folder:

uses System.IOUtils;

function GetApplicationSupportDir : string;

begin
   Result := TPath.Combine(TPath.GetLibraryPath,'Application Support');
end;

Or, retrieving it directly from iOS or OSX: (For Delphi XE8 and higher)

uses
     Macapi.Helpers,
     {$IFDEF iOS}
     iOSapi.Foundation,
     {$ENDIF}
     {$IFDEF OSX}
     Macapi.Foundation,
     {$ENDIF}

     System.IOUtils;

function GetApplicationSupportDir : string;

var
   Paths : NSArray;
   Dir : NSString;

begin
   // For "Application Support" under the User's Library directory:
   Paths := TNSArray.Wrap(NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSApplicationSupportDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, True));

   // For "Application Support" under the System Library directory:
   //Paths := TNSArray.Wrap(NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSApplicationSupportDirectory, NSSystemDomainMask, True));


   Dir := TNSString.Wrap(Paths.objectAtIndex(0));

   Result := NSStrToStr(Dir);
end;

For XE7, this may work:

uses
     Macapi.Helpers,
     {$IFDEF iOS}
     iOSapi.Foundation,
     {$ENDIF}
     {$IFDEF OSX}
     Macapi.Foundation,
     {$ENDIF}

     System.IOUtils;

///////////////////////////// Added since XE7:

const
   _PU = '_';
   libFoundation = '/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Foundation';

type
   NSUInteger = LongWord;
   NSSearchPathDirectory = NSUInteger;
   NSSearchPathDomainMask = NSUInteger;

function NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(directory: NSSearchPathDirectory; domainMask: NSSearchPathDomainMask;
  expandTilde: Boolean): Pointer {NSArray}; cdecl;
  external libFoundation name _PU + 'NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains';

/////////////////////////////

function GetApplicationSupportDir : string;

var
   Paths : NSArray;
   Dir : NSString;

begin
   // For "Application Support" under the User's Library directory:
   Paths := TNSArray.Wrap(NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSApplicationSupportDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, True));

   // For "Application Support" under the System Library directory:
   //Paths := TNSArray.Wrap(NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSApplicationSupportDirectory, NSSystemDomainMask, True));

   Dir := TNSString.Wrap(Paths.objectAtIndex(0));

   Result := NSStrToStr(Dir);
end;

Get the MacOS Application Support folder in Delphi

1 Answers