Open Radar

 
UIDocumentPickerController always returns file URLs for doc import.

This is not always desirable, sometimes a remote http URL is preferable if possible. iCloud and Dropbox can both provide those, if they have a way to know it's preferred.

One of the keynote features for iOS 8 Mail is that when a large file is attached to a message, what's really attached is a URL that points at iCloud's server.

My app, http://understudyapp.com, is in a similar boat. We do FaceTime-like videochat, with a whiteboard. We support dumping a file into the chat as an attachment, so both participants can see it and mark it up. 

We need to get the file to both people. Prior to iOS 8, we just had direct Dropbox integration. Dropbox's file picker gives you back an http URL pointing at their servers _always_, which works great for us! We can send the URL to our remote participant, and both people download it from Dropbox's servers.

If we get a file URL instead, we will have to upload it from one participant to another. Typically upload bandwidth is much more constrained than download, and we're already uploading streaming video for the chat, so that's going to be a regression for us.

See also rdar://problem/17429230

Version:
iOS 8 2nd seed, 12A44297e