How can I load an image from Assets.car (compiled version of xcassets) within an NSBundle? (without using CocoaPods)

Question

We're getting these kind of error messages:

Could not load the "iconStatus" image referenced from a nib in the bundle with identifier "com.company.OurResourceBundle".

Basically, we put a bunch of images in the xcassets folder ( which works for non-bundle loaded cases ). The xcassets and nib files are packed into a resource bundle.

When the app launches,

1. uiimageview in the nib file cannot load any images with the above error message.
2. [UIImage imageNamed:@"OurResourceBundle.bundle/iconStatus"] returns nil

The question is related to "How can I load an image from Assets.car (compiled version of xcassets) within an NSBundle?", but we don't use CocoaPods.

Answer 1

In iOS 7 it is not possible to load images from any .car file aside from the one that Xcode compiles into the main bundle. This was confirmed by an Apple Developer at https://devforums.apple.com/message/968859#968859:

Unfortunately it is not possible to load images from any car file aside from the one that Xcode compiles into your main bundle, as +imageNamed: does not accept a bundle parameter, which is what is needed to do so (and even then it would only be able to open a single asset catalog in a single bundle).

In iOS 8 there is a new method that appears to do what you want:

+ (UIImage *)imageNamed:(NSString *)name inBundle:(NSBundle *)bundle
    compatibleWithTraitCollection:(UITraitCollection *)traitCollection