Transfer file to physical iOS device - ios

Question

I have set up a provisioning profile to debug my app (through Xcode) on a connected physical device.
The problem is this app requires certain supporting files. With the simulators on Mac, I simply navigate to the Documents directory for the app under the simulator directory and place the files there.
Is there a way to get these same files on to the physical device?

Answer 1

Place the files within your project files structure.
So they are copied to your App Bundle and will be available through the documents directory.
To add files to your iOS Project correctly:
Right click on the project icon at the top of the file list on the left.
Select Add files to <YourProjectName>
Select the folder/file you want to include and click Add.
Don't forget to select the correct target by selecting it from the given list. Refer to the screenshot please.
If your resource is not a single file but directory structure and you want all the directory tree copied, then remember to select the Added folders: Create groups
The files adding pop up window would seem like the following in XCode 6.x:
When the target is built, open up the bundle and your directory structure will exist inside fully intact. Not only that, these files may be accessible through iOS SDK as following.
So you may have to copy them to documents/library directory within the App as you may want to access them within the app.
Use the following code to do copy them.
// Check if the file has already been saved to the users phone, if not then copy it over
BOOL success;
NSString *fileName = #"test.jpg";
NSString *LIBRARY_DIR_PATH = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSLibraryDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filePath = [LIBRARY_DIR_PATH stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
NSLog(#"%#",filePath);
// Create a FileManager object, we will use this to check the status
// of the file and to copy it over if required
NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
// Check if the file has already been created in the users filesystem
success = [fileManager fileExistsAtPath:filePath];
// If the file already exists then return without doing anything
if(success) return;
// Else,
NSLog(#"FILE WASN'T THERE! SO GONNA COPY IT!");
// then proceed to copy the file from the application to the users filesystem
// Get the path to the files in the application package
NSString *filePathFromApp = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
// Copy the file from the package to the users filesystem
[fileManager copyItemAtPath:filePathFromApp toPath:filePath error:nil];
Hope the above code sample is clear for you.
So whenever you want to access that file within your App, you can get reference to that file by getting it's path as follows:
NSString *sqliteDB = [LIBRARY_DIR_PATH stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
Note: In any case if you require the files to be copied to the Documents directory within users app installed location, Replace the LIBRARY_DIR_PATH with the following:
NSString *DOCUMENTS_DIR_PATH = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
Hope this answer is helpful to you!
Cheers!