TIMAppLocator is a tiny Cocoa class for getting the file paths of all instances of an application identified by its bundle identifier that exist on your local system. It needs Spotlight to be enabled in order to work (which it is by default) and at least Xcode 4.4 and OS X 10.7.
TIMAppLocator uses a file system metadata query to find all instances of an application, identified by its bundle identifier, which are installed on your local system. It does so in a way very similar to typing
mdfind "kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier == 'com.apple.Safari'"
at the command line.
Drop the class and the protocol declaration into your project and use the TIMAppLocator object like this:
TIMAppLocator *appLocator = [[TimAppLocator alloc] init];
[self.appLocator setDelegate:self];
[self.appLocator locateAppWithBundleIdentifier:@"com.apple.Safari"];
Don’t forget to include the protocol in your class definition, e.g. like this:
@interface AppDelegate : NSObject <NSApplicationDelegate, TIMAppLocatorProtocol>
The TIMAppLocator instance will call its delegate once it has finished gathering the locations of the application associated with the bundle identifier, passing them on in an array of NSString instances containing the file paths:
-(void)appLocations:(NSArray*)locations;
If something goes wrong while initializing the object, the locateAppWithBundleIdentifier method will return NO. If no installation of the application associated with the bundle identifier was found, the appLocations method will pass on nil instead of an array.
Copyright (c) 2013 Tim Schröder
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