CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iosobjective-cxcodec-preprocessorplist
Ben Packard
Ben Packard

Reputation: 26476

Loading a different plist depending on the target

I thought it would be interesting to attempt building multiple apps using the same code base, where the only differentiating data is held in a few plists. For example, one plist holds some theme info - a few key/values to drive the color scheme used in the app. I'll call the original version of this theme.plist.

I soon learned that I should create multiple targets in my project, and have been able to add these successfully. Each one, via it's own appname-info.plist, has a different name and bundle id - it's neat seeing all three on my home screen without any real extra work.

But right now they are all identical. I haven't figured out how to use a different set of data for each one.

My first thought was to have some folder for each target - each with its own theme plist named theme.plist - and somehow distribute each target with a different folder. But researching that idea doesn't get me much google juice.

So what about multiple theme files? Ok, so far that looks better - I can create an app1-theme.plist and 'app2-theme.plist' with different values for the same keys in each. And Xcode even lets me use some flags to say which targets should include each resource.

But I don't know how to load the appropriate plist at runtime. I need to examine something (the bundle ID?) and then assign the appropriate name of the theme plist to something (what)?

It seems like this might have something to with #ifdef, whatever that might be...?

Can someone explain how I should be looking to accomplish this? Am I on the right track? I'm happy to put some reading time in but I don't even know what to look up yet.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1875

Answers (2)

CRD
CRD

Reputation: 53000

You are just about there. Xcode supports having multiple files with the same name in a project, one way you can do this by storing them in different folders within your project folder.

Unfortunately at this point Xcode won't give you a lot of help, so open your project in the Finder, create one subfolder for each of your apps, in those folders place a copy of the plist. Now add each copy in turn to your project, making sure you add each to just one of your targets.

You might want to create a group in Xcode called, say, "Theme files", to keep them altogether.

HTH

Upvotes: 2

Duncan C
Duncan C

Reputation: 131418

What you are trying to do is trivial. If you select a file from your project, and bring up the "File Inspector" in the utilities area (Press Command option 1) you should see a section "Target membership". Each target in your project will be listed, with a checkbox next to it. If you check the checkbox for a file and target, that file is built into that target. Un-check the checkbox for a file and target and that file is not copied over to the specified target (you may need to run a clean, and delete the app from the target device, to get rid of files that used to be included but that you have un-checked. Xcode generally won't automatically remove things that used to be included.

You could create a directory in your bundle and teach your app to scan that directory for plist files. Then include a different set of files in that directory for each target and each target app's behavior will change.

Upvotes: 0

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