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I have a lot of jpeg+png+html files to add to my app, and of course when i "build" it all my resources files are added/included in myApp mainBundle folder.

I'd like to be able to modify via code, in run time, some of my resources, but:

1) we cannot "write" files via code in run-time in mainBundle

2) we can do it just in "documents" folder (or temp, or...)

3) we can copy files in "Documents" folder just via code in run-time

4) we cannot delete the mainBundle files after coping them in "Documents"

but that means that we will have doubled-sized our app, and in big apps (it's my case) this should be a non-sense, we'll have a lot of big files never used again in the mainBundle...

so i wondered if there was a work-around for this problem (is it just me thinking it's a non-sense?) to add files directly in the "Documents" folder in the "build" phase via xCode, or other similar solutions...

ps

one could be to download all files the first time a user use my app via server/internet directly in "Documents" folder, so my app won't be heavy to download via iTunesStore, but of course this will get a lot of time the first time for end-users, and it could be not well accepted, of course...

meronix
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2 Answers2

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Well you can't, since the document directory is created on installing the app. There is no way to do what you want on compile time. Neither you can do it at the install.

Since you needed the file you have to include them in your bundle, i've even included 10MB sqlite database that I copy to to the document direct on first launch. That is just the way it is.

meronix
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rckoenes
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  • yes, i know it's the way it is... but knowing that our iPhone/iPod disk are not so big and HD space is so important when users chose to download our app, and considering that it would be so easy for apple allowing an "elastic" way for this problem... well... i just find this situation a bit "absurd"... – meronix Jul 20 '11 at 07:12
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Doesn't work for apps

Copying files to the documents directory during compile time requires you to know that directory in advance. You generally can't know this as the documents directory might not have been created before your app is installed.

Can work for unit tests on the simulator

However, the location of the documents directory depends on the target platform and the kind of bundle you are building. For unit tests based on SenTestingKit executed on the iOS simulator, you can determine the documents directory at compile time by just doing this inside a "Run Script" build phase:

~/Library/Application Support/iPhone\ Simulator/$IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET/Documents

Note that this really only works for unit test bundles as those are not executed in a dedicated app directory and thus access a "shared" documents directory on the simulator platform.

starbugs
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