How to copy a build phase to another target in Xcode?

Question

I have a Copy Bundle Resources build phase which contains 200 resources. And now I have to make a new target as different kind. (app -> static lib) So unfortunately, I can't just duplicate the target :(

Anyway it's nonsense adding each resources one-by-one by hand. I tried to duplicate them at once but all I did failed. I made a new window and tried to drag them into the new target's phase, but it didn't worked.

How can I copy the Copy Bundle Resources build phase to another target? The target is in same project, so there is no file referencing problem.

Have you tried duplicating the target and then setting NewTarget->Build Settings->Linking->Mach-O Type to Static Library and NewTarget->Build Settings->Deployment->SkipInstall to NO? — Michał Zygar
I tried the above approach, but Xcode complains that I've set the type incorrectly (i.e. static library). There are also a variety of other settings I tried to convert on my duplicated target, but nothing has seemed to do the trick. — Michael
I'd have a crack at comparing the binary of project file and see if you can copy and paste it in. try one first and see if you can replicate it. — johndpope
Eonil: If you ever solved this, maybe you could ANSWER your own question. Unanswered questions are less helpful. If you've found a solution, please share it! — Warren P
@WarrenP I didn't tried this after 2012, so I don't know working answer. As far as I remember, the last partially working workaround was selecting the files and using Reveal in Project Navigator menu on the context menu of file list of the phase. This sometimes worked, but easily fails if I have a lot of files. — eonil

wsgeorge wsgeorge · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-06T12:50:41

I solved this by opening my .pbxproj file in a text editor and doing some hunting for the right lines related to my target.

It's tricky, because Xcode uses a system of ids to populate the project file (ps. I did this while migrating from Cocoapods to Carthage, so I'm not using that setup)

It takes a little work finding the id of your target, but in Xcode 9, you should have something similar to

targets = ( EDBC6D6D1E0150850033868B /* target 1 */, EDF960C71E1963E0001A29CE /* fancy target */, EDF960D71E196DF3001A29CE /* Service Extension */, );

in the /* Begin PBXProject section */ section that describes the project. Search the .pbxproj file for your id to find the similarly structured buildPhases that lists ids for your targets build phases.

buildPhases = ( 47120FBF1F4343A900C27821 /* Sources */, 4712100B1F4343A900C27821 /* Frameworks */, 4712100D1F4343A900C27821 /* Resources */, 471210251F4343A900C27821 /* ShellScript */, 476673451F5F1ACD00567450 /* Embed App Extensions */, );

Now, find where the required id (in OPs case, Resources) and you'll find the list of resources. You can compare these to the list of your source target and copy and paste.

How to copy a build phase to another target in Xcode?

2 Answers