Accessing Local file using NSURL

I am trying to access an XML file store in the resources directory. I am using NSURL to access this file using NSURLConnection( this file is going to be swapped out for a remote service in the future).

NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL 
URLWithString:@"file:///XMLTest.xml"] 
cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy timeoutInterval:60.0];

NSURLConnection *connection=[[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
if (connection) {
    // Create the NSMutableData to hold the received data.
    // receivedData is an instance variable declared elsewhere.
    response = [[NSMutableData data] retain];
} else {
    NSLog(@"Could not create connection");
}

The class that starts the connection implements the NSURLConnection methods:

connection:willCacheResponse: 
connection:didReceiveData: 
connectionDidFinishLoading: 
connectionDidFinishLoading:

Once I launch this the simulator dies, no messages are printed to the console so I am at a loss for where to look. Any ideas, or am I just doing this completely wrong?

Trying to load anything from the filesystem root is wrong, wrong, wrong. Definitely wrong on the device, and probably wrong on the simulator. The resources directory should be accessed via the NSBundle class.

For example, to get a URL for a file called "Data.txt" in the resources, use the following:

NSURL *MyURL = [[NSBundle mainBundle]
    URLForResource: @"Data" withExtension:@"txt"];

If you want to get a URL from a path (say, because you created a file in NSTemporaryDirectory() and you need to get that as a URL) you can easily do so by using NSURL's fileURLWithPath method:

NSString* tempPath = NSTemporaryDirectory();
NSString* tempFile = [tempPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
NSURL* URL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:tempFile];

Much easier than +URLWithString: and other methods.

This would also work:

Obj-C

NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"XMLTest" ofType:@"xml"];

Swift 5

let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "XMLTest", withExtension: "xml")!

Hope this helps!

You can try this

    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"file://localhost/Users/userName/Desktop/XMLTest.xml"]];

here assuming file is in desktop.

Swift 3:

    let myFileName = "somefilename"
    let myURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: myFileName, withExtension: "png")