UIApplication sharedApplication keyWindow - iOS App Widget

I have a simple app and widget for iOS 8. I am making use of the UIImage+ImageEffects source files. One of the functions in that library is called "convertViewToImage" which contains the following code:

+ (UIImage *)convertViewToImage
{
    UIWindow *keyWindow = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow];
    CGRect rect = [keyWindow bounds];
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(rect.size, YES, 0.0f);
    CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
    [keyWindow.layer renderInContext:context];
    UIImage *capturedScreen = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    return capturedScreen;
}

However, the first line of that method comes us with an error when compiling in an app extension.

UIWindow *keyWindow = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow];

Comes up with the following error:

sharedApplicaion is unavailable: not available on iOS (App Extension) - Use view controller based solutions where appropriate instead.

Does anyone know how I can go about fixing this issue?

Thanks, Dan.

So you cant access the Shared application in an extension. So here are some different ways to achieve what you want.

try using the snapshotVieAfterScreenUpdates method

[self.myViewToConvertToImage snapshotViewAfterScreenUpdates:YES];

This returns a UIView that is a snapshot of the complex view.

alternatively if your after a UIImage to do some processing with

try

- (UIImage *)imageFromView:(UIView *)view
{
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(view.bounds.size, YES, 0.0);
    [view drawViewHierarchyInRect:view.bounds afterScreenUpdates:NO];
    UIImage *newImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    return newImage;
}