UIDocumentInteractionController: "Open In" visible on iPhone but not on iPad - why?

Question

For testing purposes I wrote two apps:

• First one plays an MP3 file using UIDocumentInteractionController
• Second one does nothing but registers for the file type "public.mp3"

If I deploy the apps to the iPhone Simulator, my MP3 player app shows a button on top "Open in 'MP3Test'". If I deploy to the iPad Simulator however, there is no button and no "Open In" menu either.

This has been tested with iOS5.

Can somebody explain if this is a bug or a feature and what the reason is behind it?

Answer 1

Depends upon where you are presenting it from.

If you are presenting it from somewhere around the middle of the screen or below, just present from the frame of the object that you are presenting from.

if that is on the navigation bar, try this:

NSString *fileToOpen = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"License" ofType:@"pdf"];
UIDocumentInteractionController *controller = [UIDocumentInteractionController interactionControllerWithURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:fileToOpen]];
controller.delegate = self;

CGRect navRect = self.navigationController.navigationBar.frame;
navRect.size = CGSizeMake(1500.0f, 40.0f);
[controller presentOptionsMenuFromRect:navRect inView:self.view animated:YES];

Answer 2

The iPad has an affinity for popovers (see UIPopover), why it presents UIActionSheets in them. Facing a similar issue that you had, I had my UIDocumentInteractionController present itself from an UIBarButtonItem (resulting in a UIPopover presentation), rather than from the view itself (something that worked just fine on the iPhone):

1. Save a reference to the action button (I have mine in my navigation bar).

2. Use PresentOpenInMenu using the action button reference, rather than the View reference, resulting in a UIPopover-presentation.

Please note that the change does not effect the iPhone app - it behaves likes before, i.e. opens the OpenInMenu from the bottom of the screen just as it would, if you'd used the View reference to present it.

Answer 3

On iPad UIDocumentInteractionController appearing like Pop Up Try something like this

-(void)shareClick:(UIButton*)sender {
   /*some code*/
   CGRect rectFor appearing = [sender.superview convertRect:sender.frame toView:self.view];
   [interactionController presentOptionsMenuFromRect:rect inView:self.view animated:YES];
}