ios - Can I access an xcassets directory on the filesystem?

Question

I would like to dynamically load all images in an xcassets directory. The files are named StockPhoto# where # is the number in the list. If I can access my StockPhotos.xcassets at runtime to count all the files in the directory, I won't have to manually load the files each time I add new stock photos.

If there are other solutions to this problem, I'm open to that but I'm also just very curious how xcassets are handled by the file system- whether they're just reference to a set of files, or actually their own directory. Information on this is sparse.

Answer 1

If there are other solutions to this problem, I'm open to that

The problem is that there is no introspection at runtime into an asset catalog: it isn't a "thing" you can "see" as far as Objective-C and Cocoa Touch are concerned.

The usual solution to this kind of problem is to drag a folder full of images into your project at the outset, and when you do, choose "Create folder references for any added folders" in the dialog - not "Create groups for any added folders". The result is that the folder is copied into your app bundle, and now you can use ordinary file system methods to say "every file in this folder".