Note this tutorial will be updated in the near future…

  1. The code below (based from the SQLiteBooks Example) will copy the database from your bundle to the “Documents” directory. You don’t have to do this every time your app launches, so there is a check at “success” below. To check this, in the iPhone Simulator navigate to the Documents directory:

/Users/rupert/Library/Application\ Support/iPhone\ Simulator/User/Applications/unique_number_of_the_application/Documents/sample.db

// Creates a writable copy of the bundled default database in the application Documents directory.
- (void)createEditableCopyOfDatabaseIfNeeded {
    // First, test for existence.
    BOOL success;
    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    NSError *error;

	//Documents Database Path
    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
    NSString *writableDBPath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:kDatabaseName];

	success = [fileManager fileExistsAtPath:writableDBPath];
    if (success) return;

    // The writable database does not exist, so copy the default to the appropriate location.
    NSString *defaultDBPath = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:kDatabaseName];
    success = [fileManager copyItemAtPath:defaultDBPath toPath:writableDBPath error:&error];
    if (!success) {
        NSLog(@"Failed to create writable database file with message '%@'.", [error localizedDescription]);
    }
}