Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The pane with the folder-like icons at the left of Xcode is known as the Project navigator. It
does not show
a
standard directory listing.
In earlier versions of Xcode 3, the items listed in this pane were similar to web links; they looked like a direct-
ory and folder listing, but in fact they were loose symbolic links to items on disk. They were so loose you could
rename them without changing the files on disk.
This created almost limitless confusion, especially when the links became broken—which they often did. So in
later versions of Xcode 3 the relationship was simplified. If you renamed an item in this pane, it was also re-
named on disk. If you deleted an item, you could choose to move it to the trash or to remove it from the project
but leave the file on disk. Xcode 4 uses the same system.
The folder-like icons remain entirely abstract. They're included to help you keep related files together in the
Project navigator, but they don't exist on disk.
FIGURE 3.7
The new files as they appear on disk. Although the arrangement of files and folders is different, you don't usually
need to access this folder directly; typically, you can use the more abstract view available in Xcode without worry-
ing about the differences.
