iPhone : Get the file path which is within subfolder of Resource folder

Question

I am new to iPhone programming. I want to read the content of a text file located in a subfolder of the Resource folder.

The Resource folder structure is the following:

Resource

1. Folder1---->Data.txt
2. Folder2---->Data.txt
3. Folder3---->Folder1---->Data.txt

There are multiple files named "Data.txt", so how can I access the files in each folder? I know how to read the text file, but if the Resource structure is similar to the above structure then how can I get the path?

For example, if I want to access the "Data.txt" file from Folder3, how can I get the file path?

Please suggest.

Answer 1

Your "resource folder" is actually the contents of your main bundle, also know as the application bundle. You use pathForResource:ofType: or pathForResource:ofType:inDirectory: to get the full path for a resource.

Loading the contents of a file as a string is done with the stringWithContentsOfFile:encoding:error: method for an autoreleased string of with initWithContentsOfFile:encoding:error: if you want a retained string.

NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Data" 
                                                     ofType:@"txt"
                                                inDirectory:@"Folder1"];
if (filePath != nil) {
  theContents = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath
                                          encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding
                                             error:NULL];
  // Do stuff to theContents
}

This is almost the same answer as given by Shirkrin previously, but with the slight difference that it works on target. This is because initWithContentsOfFile: is deprecated on Mac OS X, and not available at all iPhone OS.

Answer 2

To continue psychotiks answer a full example would look like this:

NSBundle *thisBundle = [NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]];
NSString *filePath = nil;

if (filePath = [thisBundle pathForResource:@"Data" ofType:@"txt" inDirectory:@"Folder1"])  {

    theContents = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath];

    // when completed, it is the developer's responsibility to release theContents

}

Notice that you can use -pathForResource:ofType:inDirectory to access ressources in sub directories.

Answer 3

Shirkrin's answer and PeyloW's answer above were both useful, and I managed to use pathForResource:ofType:inDirectory: to access files with the same name in different folders in my app bundle.

I also found an alternative solution here that suited my requirements slightly better, so I thought I'd share it. In particular, see this link.

For example, say I have the following Folder References (blue icons, Groups are yellow):

Then I can access the image files like this:

NSString * filePath = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"pin_images/1/2.jpg"];
UIImage * image = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:filePath];

As a side note, the pathForResource:ofType:inDirectory: equivalent looks like this:

NSString * filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"2" ofType:@"jpg" inDirectory:@"pin_images/1/"];