Is there a simple way of accessing the cache directory path

Question

Is there a simple way of accessing the cache directory path from common kotlin code without passing it through from iOS Android I want to write some common caching logic that reads and writes from files in the cache directory

Andrei Salavei · Answer

Does expect actual implementation help you here

Sam · Answer

Yeah so I can write file writing reading logic using `expect actual` implementations easily enough it s getting hold of the directory path to write to that I m struggling with

Andrei Salavei · Answer

But you can use the same approach to implement the `expect actual` method that returns cache directory path for each platform Do you

Sam · Answer

That s my current question Is there a way of accessing those directory paths from within the common module even if that is in the `androidMain` amp `iOSMain` source sets

Sam · Answer

I think I have a solution on iOS ```val paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains NSCachesDirectory NSUserDomainMask true val cacheDirectory = paths first ```

Vidmantas Kerbelis · Answer

Well if you want to just get the path or something then `expect actual` is your friend here If you want to get a `File` and do something with it in common code So CRUD operations or w e Then you probably need something like <https github com square okio|Okio> and use `FileSystem` to open the appropriate files from the cache

Sam · Answer

As I said I know I can use expect actual to execute platform specific code the issue actually getting hold of the correct path The snippet above correctly gets the cache directory on iOS does anyone know of an android equivilent

Vidmantas Kerbelis · Answer

In most cases for Android it s just ```context cacheDir File so for the path it would be cacheDir absolutePath or relativePath ```

Sam · Answer

I m in in common code here though so don t have easy access to a context I m building a library and ideally don t want to make the user pass in the context manually on Android Context would defo be the way to go in native android

Vidmantas Kerbelis · Answer

To access the Android resource system you need to have `Context` so you must do it on the Android platform s side sadly

Sam · Answer

No probs thanks

Jeff Lockhart · Answer

has a nice way of handling the Android `Context` in common code It embeds the Android `Context` within the coroutine context which then can be used by Android actual suspend functions on file systems objects like You just need to call `withAndroidContext context ` from the Android code the calls the common code