Resource files in subdirectory are copied to root directory of the app bundle

Question

I am not sure whether this is expected or it is bug. I am trying to create the same folder structure in disk as that in XCode. I use the following steps to add resource files to my project:

1. Create a Resources folder under the root folder of the project.
2. Drag the Resources folder to XCode, which creates a Group for the folder.
3. Drag my resource files from Finder to the Resources folder in XCode.

And now I can see all the resource files are listed in Build Phrases->Copy Bundle Resources.

The weird thing is that [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"book" ofType:@"epub"] returns a file path that can be located, while [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"book" ofType:@"epub" inDirectory:@"Resources"] returns (null).

From the Build Results window, I notice this line:

CpResource MBookReader/Resources/book.epub /Users/neevek/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/workspace-fykuaikryknuhxgevcdtspkspptj/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/MBookReader.app/book.epub cd /Users/neevek/workspace/xcode_projects/MBookReader setenv PATH "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/usr/bin:/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin" builtin-copy -exclude .DS_Store -exclude CVS -exclude .svn -exclude .git -exclude .hg -resolve-src-symlinks -strip-tool /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/strip /Users/neevek/workspace/xcode_projects/MBookReader/MBookReader/Resources/book.epub /Users/neevek/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/workspace-fykuaikryknuhxgevcdtspkspptj/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/MBookReader.app 

which shows that Resources/book.epub file is indeed copied to MBookReader.app/(the root directory of the app bundle).

Now Resources is a real folder in disk, why the folder itself is not copied?

PS. I am using XCode 4.3.2.

Answer 1

When adding your Resources folder to Xcode, choose "Create folder references" instead of "Create groups for any added folders" in the sliding window.

That is, replace the 3 steps in your question with the following ones.

1. Create a Resources directory under the root directory of the project. Organize your directory structure inside the Resources directory the way you want it to be.
2. Drag the Resources directory to XCode and select the Create folder references option.

You're done. Xcode will copy the contents of your Resources directory recursively into the bundle.

You might have trouble further down the road when Xcode doesn't copy a modified file somewhere inside the Resources directory. A clean build usually fixes this. Alternatively, you can remove the .app file before building. This will not cause unmodified source files to rebuild, but will force Xcode to copy all of the resources anew.