swiftphassetphphotolibrary

How to access photos in Photos app on macOS

I'm trying to access photos stored in macOS Photos app and have this code in ViewController class.

import Cocoa
import Photos

class vcSecond: NSViewController {

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    let fetchOptions = PHFetchOptions()
    fetchOptions.sortDescriptors = [NSSortDescriptor(key: "creationDate", ascending: true)]
    let identifiers = PHPhotoLibrary.localIdentifiers(PHPhotoLibrary())
    let assets = PHAsset.fetchAssets(withLocalIdentifiers: identifiers, options: fetchOptions)
    print(assets.count)
}
}

and I'm struggled with getting of localIdentifiers for fetchAssets method. XCode gives me error "Cannot convert value of type '([PHCloudIdentifier]) -> [String]' to expected argument type '[String]'". There are many code samples availbale for iOS but much lees for macOS. Is anyone willing to share some codes and/or provide any hints? Thanks.

Solution

  • Well if all you are trying to do is access the photos then to open the Photo app just add this code snippet to your controller

    override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    NSWorkspace.shared.open(URL(fileURLWithPath: "/Applications/Photos.app"))
}

    Also, see this thread: How to get all PHAssets from MacOS's Photo Library