Question

I have a file called “0.ballpoint” that all I want to do is store some coordinates with (don’t really want to use Core Data because it seem a little excessive). I placed it in my project but when I try doing this:

if ( access("0.ballpoint", F_OK) != -1) {
    printf("file exists\n");
}
else {
    printf("doesn't exist\n");
}

It says it “doesn’t exist”. Do I need to put the full path name? And if I do what do I do when I place it on the actual iPhone/iPod Touch?

Answer 1

CoreData is not meant for File access. There are other file API’s available for iPhone.
Please go through NSFileManager and NSStream documentation.

For example, if your intention is to check if file exists at certain path,you may use
(add your file to resources)

NSString *filePath =  [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource: @"0" ofType: @"ballpoint"];
BOOL fileExists = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:filePath];

Prefer not to use low level stuff (C File handles) unless you have a valid reason to do so. Paths are to be carefully chosen (as you cant make assumptions on certain path, which might cease to exist in future).

Having said that, if you prefer to work with C file handling ,

NSString *filePath =  [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource: @"0" ofType: @"ballpoint"];
FILE *fileHandle = fopen([filePath cStringUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding],"r");