How do I properly add existing source code files to my Xcode project?

Posted by BeachRunnerJoe on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by BeachRunnerJoe
Published on 2010-05-21T15:42:20Z Indexed on 2010/05/21 17:10 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 326

Filed under:
|

I'm new to iPhone development and I'm still getting familiar with the Mac dev environment, including Xcode. I want to add some 3rd party code to my iPhone project, but when I add the "existing files" to my Xcode project, I'm presented with a dialog box that has far too many options that I don't understand and, as such, my project isn't working. When I #import headerfilename.h, I get a build error that reads headerfilename.h: No such file or directory.

alt text

  1. Can anyone explain to me what all these options mean or give me a link to some documentation that can? I'm having a hard time finding anything in Apple's docs.
  2. Which options do I want to choose to add existing source code files to my Xcode project? I should note that the source code files that I'm trying to add are located in my project/Classes/frameworkname/ directory.
  3. After they're added, do I need to reference this new code directory in my project settings anywhere (i.e. some kind of header file directory variable)?

Thanks so much!

Update: I found the following answers/responses on the apple dev forums that were very useful and helped me fix my issue...

To make it simple : - if you do not check the copy option, the file stay where it is. - if you check it, it is copied in your project folders In the first case (what it seems you are doing) you need to tell the compiler that the header files are in another directory : - project info -> build -> search paths -> User Header Search Path : add the directory from where you took the header file Hope this will help


You have discovered the most confusing dialog box that ever came out of Cupertino. Six years of Xcode, and this thing still is partly a mystery to me. To even get that far, I had to make many test projects to try and reverse-engineer what this thing does. The "Copy" box means that it will copy the files as they are right now, into the project. If this box is not checked, then it just references those files during a build and copies them as they are at THAT time. For source code, you want the Copy box checked.
The "relative to" is a total mystery to me and I can't help you with that. I usually leave it however it is already set. Does it mean relative to where they are on disk, or the arrangement in Xcode, or in the bundle? Who knows. The last 2 radio buttons SEEM to mean that it will either re-create the folder structure of the folder you are adding, or just put "fake" folders in Xcode that point to the real folders. This is probably your problem - you are adding source code that is not all at the top level, and when it goes to find it, it does not re-create the hierarchy. Others can supply a better way, hopefully, but what I would do is put all of the source in one folder and add that, using the Copy box. Then in Xcode you can make whatever bogus folders you want and put the source file names in those fake folders.

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about xcode

Related posts about iphone