Related
Team,
I created the new Project, on project folder right click open show in finder there I created "ViewControllers" Folder and again right click Add files to "ProjectName" then I added the created folder i.e., "ViewControllers" which is in blue colour "Expected yellow colour folder" that is reference to my project folder the blue colour folder is not.
In blue colour folder when i try to added new file its added an empty File.
How can i reference my added folder to the Xcode project?
how to avoid this blue colour folder class in my project?
Your inputs are highly appreciable.
If your Xcode project looks like this…
…then you've added your ViewControllers folder as folder reference.
To change this folder to a group follow these steps:
Right click on ViewControllers
Choose Delete in the context menu
Choose Remove Reference in the dialog that popped up. The folder will be removed from your Xcode project but not from the file system.
Then choose Add Files to <YourProjectName>… in the File menu
Find your ViewControllers in the file system
Before clicking Add make sure that the option Create groups is selected
Click Add
You've added your ViewControllers folder as group:
Important note regarding Xcode 8:
The option Create groups might not be visible right away. Apple moved this in Xcode 8 to the bottom of the Add Files to… dialog:
This reveals the option Create groups:
The only option that ever works for me is to drag and drop files and folders directly from Finder into the project hierarchy.
I have struggled with this simple task for ages. It's 2021 and the simple action of right clicking (or using the file menu) to "Add files to " just doesn't seem to ever work for me. It will add the files, but they will not be added as dependencies in the project. Their headers won't be found, etc. No option for adding groups or folders pops up.
The only thing that works for me is to open a Finder window, navigate to the directory that has the software I want to paste in and then drag and drop it into my project hierarchy. That is the only way I get the proper option for adding groups or folders. Having just spent 30 minutes trying to follow the advice above, I thought I'd post my solution.
Is there a way to make xcode use real folder hierarchies in the Project Navigator?
I'm finding these pseudo folders somewhat annoying because they do not reflect the project on disk.
Or at least have the xcode-made-folders a different color than the real folders?
Thanks.
Not really, although they are colored differently.
You have groups (yellow) -- which can refer to a directory, but does not update automatically to reflect what's on disk. Groups can also represent a group which has no relation to a directory or the structure of its contents.
You also have a reference (blue). This updates automatically, but its contents are not first class project items.
Personally, I just structure projects such that they can be (re)constructed from an on-disk representation easily (e.g. drop the folder), or in another IDE. Quite often, details which could (unnecessarily) be defined in Xcode are moved outside of the xcodeproject. Synchronizing the representation in the Project Navigator is about as easy as drag and drop once you work out how to structure the program/sources/targets.
Edit: I am referring to the Project Navigator. Whether what you refer to as the "project organizer" means the Project Navigator or some part of the Organizer, I am not sure.
Making a folder structure mimic your Project Navigator group structure:
For this procedure, as always, make a backup of your whole project folder before doing this (a zipped Archive in Finder does nicely).
What you want is easy to set up for new files added to or created by the project, but it can be a mess if you already have a lot of files in the groups you want, but not in the disk folders you want.
If you hilite a group in Project Navigator, move your attention over to Utilities pane > File Inspector > Identity. The key area is dealing with Paths. The popup will give you various relative paths to the default location of the group's files, and Full Path will always give you just that. In a fresh project you'll find that any groups created all have the same location assigned.
Now the key here is the little window icon button just under the popup (to the very right). If you click that you can choose a (folder) location for files in that group. If you already have files in that group they will not be moved to the new location, but will instead turn red in Project Navigator because the files on disk are not in the newly assigned path for the group, but moving them into the folder you just set up for the group should fix you back up.
(Tip: The little arrow button is a shortcut to "Reveal in Finder")
Now, when you make a "New File...", after selecting what type of file you want (Next), then configure whatever setting apply for that type (Next), you're presented with a sheet asking where to place the new file(s). If you have that group selected in Project Navigator before you begin this process, it will already be selected as the item in the "Group" popup at the bottom of the sheet, and the folder associated with that group will be selected in the file browser. If you decide you want it in a different group (I do that all the time because I won't have the proper group selected in Project Navigator before I get to this point), just change it in the Group popup at the bottom and the file browser will change to the folder associated for the group you just selected.
If you later make a sub-group of a group in Project Navigator, it will default to the path of the parent group. If a sub-group already exists when you set the path of the parent group, the paths for any existing sub-groups will not move with the parent.
Avoid duplicate files: If you want to move existing files into another group (that already has a path assigned to it) and also move the files into the group's folder on disk, you have a choice at this point. You can go ahead and delete them from Project Navigator, making sure you only delete the reference to them and move on to the next step, or as an option, you can actually move them in Project Navigator to the group you want them in (this doesn't change disk location of the files -- the folder associated with the group only applies to new files for the group) and use them as a guide for what still needs to be dragged in from the Finder. This can come in handy if you are going to be moving a lot of existing files around, as you'll see in a moment.
Now, in Finder, manually move some files into the folder that they should end up in (the folder associated with the new group). If you moved them over in Project Navigator (instead of removing them), they will turn red because the actual files are not at the place they were, but this can be a guide (especially if you're moving a lot of files around) for what still needs to be set properly.
Now, you can drag and drop them from Finder onto the group that's associated with the folder where you put the files. In the dialog that comes up, it doesn't matter if the checkbox is checked or not for copy (if necessary), since they are already in place, but it IS important to make sure you have the "Add to targets" checkbox(es) checked.
If you deleted the files (remove reference only) from the old group you can go into the old group's folder in Finder and drag the files from there to the new group in Project Navigator, you will need to make sure Copy if necessary is checked, but this is where end up with duplicate files on disk… In both the old group's folder and the new group's folder. This is why you want to move them to the new location first in Finder before dragging them into the new group in Project Navigator.
If you left the red files in Project Navigator sitting in the proper group, after you add the same files onto the group (copy to group not necessary since they're already in the proper location) you will end up with new (black) references to the files as well as red broken references to the same files. At this point you can just delete the red files from the group without being asked if you want to delete the files or just the reference. Leaving the red files in the new group until you have the proper (black) files showing up alongside them in Project Navigator can help to make sure that you get all of your files back into the Project Navigator.
If you're only shuffling around a couple/few files, then once you have the files moved in both the Project Navigator and in Finder to the proper locations, you can select each red reference in Project Navigator and choose the path for that particular file (in the same manner as you assigned a folder to a group). But, if you're moving around a bunch of files, this can take a long time (you can only assign one at a time), so it's better to just drop them in from Finder.
One more gotcha to look out for… It's best to just leave everything alone that sits in the "Supporting Files" group, as well as MainMenu.xib, since these are all expected to be in specific locations according to the Build Settings.
Remember: Always make sure you have a backup first (things can get out of hand if you are shuffling a LOT of files around)... Just having a snapshot probably won't help since reverting to a snapshot won't move your files on disk back to where the originally were.
I know how to rename the project in Xcode 4, but how do you rename the source folder? The thing is that renaming the project in Xcode, does only rename within Xcode (Though it is progress compared to previous) - but why Xcode is not renaming the folder in the filesystem I don't know.
You can do this from within Xcode without resorting to hand editing the pbxproj file in a text editor!
Here's how:
Rename your source folder in the Finder. This will break the project initially because Xcode doesn't automatically detect when the real folders that the virtual (yellow) project folders point to are changed, so all the files inside that folder will turn red in Xcode. Don't worry about that, we'll fix it in step 3.
In Xcode, click on the (now broken) virtual folder in the left-hand sidebar and rename it to match the name in the Finder (you can actually call it anything you want, or not rename it at all, but that would be insane). That won't fix the red files inside the folder, but that's OK.
In the right-hand sidebar in Xcode, click the icon shown in the screenshot below to bring up a file dialog. Select the folder that you previously renamed. This will re-associate the virtual folder with the real folder on disk, and will automatically fix the links to all the files inside.
In your build settings, search for the old folder name and manually rename any occurrences you find. There will typically be two of them, oldfolder/prefix.pch and oldfolder/info.plist, but there may be others.
All done!
EDIT: this option is still there in Xcode 5, but is helpfully hidden by default. To show it, click the thin "Identity and Type" header in the inspector above the "Text Settings" panel to expand it.
I've done it dozens of times:
Rename the Project by clicking then editing the Title in your Xcode Project Navigator.
Close Xcode.
Rename the source folder.
From the Finder, open the .pbxproj file inside project bundle (context menu "Show Package Contents") with any text editor.
Search and replace any occurrence of the original folder name with the new folder name.
Save the file.
Open Xcode project.
Task:
Rename "Play" to "Play2" both in Xcode and in Finder
Change this:
To this:
STEPS:
// Before anything, please backup the project in Finder!
Rename project in Xcode Project navigator // Click project name then hit enter
Rename group in Xcode Project navigator // not affecting folder name in Finder
Close Xcode
Rename outer folder (left column in image) in Finder
// All above steps are straight-forward and without side effects
//
// Now comes the tricky part: rename the inner folder (middle column in image) in Finder (the one at the same level with .xcodeproj)
Rename the inner folder in Finder while keeping Xcode closed
Right click .xcodeproj, select "Show Package Contents"
Open .pbxproj file with Mac TextEdit
Search and replace all "Play" with "Play2". To guarantee everything goes right, click the arrow on the left end of the search bar and modify the search attribute. Change "Contains" to "Full word", and uncheck "Ignore case"
Save .pbxproj file
Open Xcode project and Run
Here is how to rename a project effectively in XCode4 (INCLUDING THE FILES FOLDER):
Close all open projects completely in XCode to prevent any issues
Copy the Project in question to a new Folder (IMPORTANT: KEEP A BACKUP OF YOUR OLD PROJECT)
Open the Project
Rename the Project itself in XCode4 (double click on the project name), change the name and follow the steps (yes to everything)
Go to product, manage schemes and rename the scheme (double click on the scheme name)
Close your project (make sure is completely closed otherwise the next steps will not work)
In Finder go to the Project folder and right click on the .xcodeproj file, then select the option "Show Package Contents"
Then right click on the .pbxproj file and open it with TextEdit
Replace all occurrences of the Folder Name where the projects used to live (The old project name for the new project name)
Save the file
Open the Project again and Build it!
First of - dont rename an Xcode project!!!
If you have to, the beneath could be it - I never got it to work, ended up creating a new project and started all over copying in the existing files. Xcode is so ahh.... It has so many non productive things, like also try renaming a file from "Name" to "name". Well, well have fun.
I found the answer or how to work around this: Open the pbxproj file by right clicking "Show Package Content" and in there you edit a project.pbxproj file - you have to rename a reference called path and some other stuff - just search for the folder name added "/".
That is it.
Hope it helps some one.
Here is another issue that you should be aware of while replacing values in your *.pbxproj file. If your old folder name was FooBar you will have an entry in your *.pbxproj file that looks like this:
path = FooBar
Suppose your new folder name is Foo Bar. That is, you are introducing a space. Then, this line should become
path = "Foo Bar"
If you just do a simple find and replace, the result will be a *.pbxproj file that Xcode can't parse. If your new folder name has a space and the old name didn't have a space, be sure to include the double quotes.
I am summing up for myself, after examining various answers above and trying myself.
Let's assume the current project name is ProjAbc and you want to rename it to ProjDef:
Exit Xcode of that project.
In Finder, Duplicate the folder ABOVE ProjAbc.xcodeproj for backup.
In Finder, Rename freely the folder ABOVE ProjAbc.xcodeproj if you feel you need it to suit new project name.
In Finder, Rename the source files folder parallel to ProjAbc.xcodeproj from ProjAbc to ProjDef
Open Xcode for ProjAbc.xcodeproj (in Project Navigator, all files in virtual source folder ProjAbc will be in Red color).
In Xcode, click on the (now broken) virtual folder in the Project Navigator in the left-hand sidebar and rename it to match the name in Finder - ProjDef. That won't yet fix the red files inside the folder, but that's OK.
In Xcode, (still selecting the virtual folder in the left-hand sidebar) in the right-hand sidebar, in the File inspector, click the icon shown in the screenshot below to bring up a file dialog. In the file dialog, select the folder that you previously renamed (ProjDef). This will re-associate the virtual folder with the real folder on disk, and will automatically fix the links to all the files inside.
In Xcode, in Project Navigator, click on the ProjAbc project name, and rename it to ProjDef.
You will be prompted: "Rename project content items?". Click "Rename" button.
You will be prompted: "Would you like Xcode to take automatic snapshots before Project Rename and similar operations?". Click either "Disable" or "Enable". It does not matter.
In Xcode, now open "Build Settings" inside ProjDef target (inside project ProjDef in Project Navigator). Rename both foldername and filename of both *-Info.plist and *-Prefix.pch files to contain ProjDef instead of ProjAbc.
In Xcode, in Project Navigator, in ProjDef virtual sources folder, in "Supporting Files", also rename again both *-Info.plist and *-Prefix.pch files to contain ProjDef instead of ProjAbc
In Xcode Menu, press Product/Scheme/Manage Schemes... (or click "ProjAbc"> Scheme name in Scheme Bar at left top of Xcode, and press "Manage Schemes...") and in the dialog box rename Scheme from ProjAbc to ProjDef, then press "OK" button. If Project name is composed of single word, you may run it just now!
In Xcode, edit the top comment line in Supporting Files/*-Prefix.pch file, and replace ProjAbc by ProjDef (2 times). Of course correcting this comment is optional.
Exit Xcode.
In Finder, point to ProjDef.xcodeproj and open it in text editor. (Either open it in TextWrangler.app , or, mouse right-click and in the pop-up menu press "Show Package Contents" then edit file project.pbxproj in TextEdit.app)
In the Text Editor, search "ProjAbc" (Entire Word, Match Case) which should appear once (in paragraph: /* Begin PBXNativeTarget section */ in line: productName = ProjAbc;) and replace it by "ProjDef". Indeed, project could run anyway!, so this step is optional.
if project name is composed of 2 or more separate words, like "ProjDef Geh", then you MUST do next steps: Search for the reference to the Finder folder of the virtual source files folder -
Search for the line: path = ProjDef Geh;
It will appear once, in paragraph /* ProjDef Geh */
Replace it by the line: path = "ProjDef Geh";
Save from text editor, and exit the Text Editor.
That's it. As written above, if project name is composed of single word, you can run right at end of step 11.
I found the above answers really useful, especially Nick Lockwood's answer.
I just renamed a couple of folders in Xcode 8 and encountered two more issues:
A) "missing from working copy errors"
B) Core Data crashes.
How to resolve these two issues:
A) "missing from working copy errors"
I found the below answer very useful: Swift 3 / Xcode 8 Upgrade - 100's of DerivedData files missing from working copy errors
Basically Xcode 8 has rigorous source control, which can lead to the above errors. You have to:
Clean Xcode derived data.
Go to Source Control and click Refresh Status.
Go to Source Control and click Commit; select all the files on the left sidebar of the commit menu when committing (right click -> Select All).
You'll probably get an error.
Close the Commit menu.
Refresh Status.
Close your project by quitting Xcode.
Reopen your project, refresh status, commit again.
This time the commit should work.
Click Project -> Clean.
I'm assuming that you have already enabled Source Control. If you haven't, or if you get stuck following my instructions, just follow the more detailed instructions in the link provided.
B) Core Data crashes
Renaming folders will sometimes screw up Core Data. There are several possible reasons why this is so, and below are some fixes I can suggest:
Incorrect AppDelegate model name. This was the case in my situation. Go to your AppDelegate and find let container = NSPersistentContainer(name: "YOUR CORE DATA MODEL NAME"). Make sure that the name is correct.
In the future (several years after this post, when Apple changes Core Data again) or if you're using an older version of Core Data, take a careful look at AppDelegate. There's probably something funky there that's messing with your Core Data.
Incorrect model name in xcdatamodeld. Go to Finder and open your .xcdatamodeld in a text editor.
Check the following:
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>_XCCurrentVersionName</key>
<string>YOUR CORE DATA MODEL NAME.xcdatamodel</string> <-- Make sure this is correct.
</dict>
</plist>
More detail here: Core Data model files does not load on rename
If the two things above don't work, try to 1) delete your entity and then add another entity that's identical or 2) delete your xcdatamodeld and then add another data model that's identical (and make sure that the name of the new xcdatamodeld matches what is in your AppDelegate and the rest of your code). Never do this with a live App - or if you do this, make sure to properly migrate your Core Data whilst doing so.
If you are have old reference of source project into your project, When dublicate the project (every change made affect to both proejct)
here the solution
Dublicate Project from source project
Rename source folder of source project that break reference issue.
In dublicate proejct everything goes red choose your current folder of project. (screenshot is shows in green tick answer of stackoverflow)
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Have been inputting and testing some sample code and everything seems to be ok. Just that suddenly I am running into this very frustrating problem of trying to add an icon to the project. Have downloaded an icon file (extension : icns) to my desktop and dragged it to the "Resources" group in xCode. Then a dialogue comes up from xCode where I checked the 2 options : "Copy items into destination group's folder (if needed)" and "Recursively create groups for any added folders". But when I press the "Add" button, an "Alert" message box would come up. It says "Could not copy the icon to ...". Hope that someone knowledgable in this area would give me some hints...
This failure message usually results from attempting to add a file (that is outside the project folder), when a file with that name already exists in the target location within the project folder.
For example, let's say your project folder is ~/Developer/CoolProject/, and the Xcode project is at ~/Developer/CoolProject/CoolProject.xcodeproj. If you drag an image, coolImage.png, from your Desktop to Xcode with the options set as you described, Xcode will copy the image file to ~/Developer/CoolProject/coolImage.png. If you then repeat this same procedure, it will fail the second time with that error message.
What I would do is, in the Finder, check inside your project folder to see if the icns file has already been copied into the project folder. If there's a copy of the icns file already in the project folder, and that icns file isn't listed in the Groups & Files list in Xcode, you can resolve the problem by dragging the existing copy (that's inside the project folder) into the Xcode project window to bring up the Add File dialog. You can keep the same options as before, and this time, Xcode won't need to copy the image and so you'll avoid the error.
[UPDATED] OK, so what you'll want to do, based on the comment above, is go in the Finder and remove the existing .icns file from your project (in other words, move it to the Trash). Then you can re-add an icon with the same name (from a location outside your project folder) without getting the error. Also, in the future, remember that you might want to consider using the Also Move to Trash option when deleting files from within Xcode, if you no longer want the unused items inside your project folder.
Also, you may want to double-check to make sure the file in question is included as part of the Active Target. For example, if you add a file to your project, but the "include in active target" checkbox for the file is unchecked (like the ReadMe.rtfd file in the image below), then the file won't be copied into your application bundle at build time or be available at runtime.
(To add that Active Target checkbox column to the Groups & Files list, Control-click on the table column header view and choose Target Membership from the menu).
When I started my project I was happy to use Groups in Xcode rather than literal folders: Since I'm using the browser in Xcode to access everything, stuff was nicely organized and I was happy.
However, now that the project is about to be shared for version control, the project folder itself is a horror show for those trying to scan it via a terminal, about 300 files, over half of which are graphics.
I'm trying to now reorganize things, creating real folders and importing them into Xcode. Unfortunately Xcode doesn't let me work with them the way it does with groups. For example, if I right-click on an actual added folder (blue, not yellow) and choose to add existing files, it doesn't actually put them in that folder, it puts them in its root.
Similarly, I can't move a file from a faux-folder (a group) into a real folder: Xcode doesn't consider the real folders to be valid places to move stuff to.
What am I missing? How can I convince Xcode to let me use the folders the way I use groups? There's an answer here to a somewhat similar question, but it doesn't actually solve my problem since I'm working with existing files.
A modern (and dead simple!) approach for 2017 (Xcode 6, 7, 8, and sometimes 9, since it does it automagically some of the time):
If you're moving a bunch of files into a new folder and are keeping the child hierarchy, it's actually a lot easier than moving each file individually:
Create new groups in the Xcode folder tree and organize your files into them however you like.
Create a matching physical folder tree in Finder and organize your physical files into them to match what you did in step 1.
All the references in Xcode should now be red (that's OK!).
From the Identity and Type manager, select the Group in Xcode that you want to relocate, then click the folder icon from the info pane:
In the Finder selection dialog, locate the equivalent new folder you created for this group in step 2. All the files inside that group will now be automagically rediscovered!
Isn't that nice? At most you'll have to repeat these 5 steps once for each new group you've created (which beats relocating each file individually!)
Bonus Points!
Say you accidentally screwed up the move and now a bunch of your files are red and can't be found: select multiple files that are broken, and using the same folder icon in the screenshot from step 4, find the correct folder that contains these files and they'll automatically resolve the missing paths.
FURTHER EDITED JUNE 2017: Xcode 9 does this automatically, no special effort required. This answer and Brandon's only apply to Xcode 8 and earlier.
EDITED DECEMBER 2016: Brandon's answer below is a better solution now. Back when this answer was created in 2010 this was the only option I could find. I now suggest Brandon's answer, below.
It turns out that moving files into real folders is certainly possible, though not as simple as it should be.
I got the basic information from a question here, Xcode organising files and folders (core data model objects - iPhone), but learned important things along the way.
##The Process
Moving the files is a two-step process with multiple sub-steps:
Tell Xcode where you want the files to be:
Right/Control-click on the file or file group that you'd like to move and choose Get Info from the contextual menu that appears. The Group Info or File Info window appears.
Click the Choose button on the far right side of the window in the Path area. A dialog box appears.
Navigate to the folder you want the files to be moved to. Create a New Folder if needed. Click the Choose button in the bottom-right corner of the dialog box, then close the Group Info/File Info window.
The names of the file/files in the group will turn red to indicate that Xcode can't find them in the place you specified.
Move the actual files
In the Finder (or Git) move the files you selected in step 1 into the actual folders you want them in.
Switch back to Xcode. The files/groups should all have turned black again. If any are still red then you've missed moving something to the right folder.
##Tips
I learned a couple of important things while adjusting the ~300 files in this project:
Some files refuse to move this way; that is, when you navigate to the new destination the Choose button is disabled, as is the New Folder button. The solution, though I don't know why it makes a difference, is to first use Xcode to put those files in a Group (right/control-click the files and choose Group, and give the group a name) and then move the group to the new location. After you're actually moved the files in the Finder you can remove them from the group (by dragging them into the new parent group/folder and deleting the group).
Stop and build every few minutes, after completing step 2 for a number of files. The build will tell you if you've screwed anything up so far, making it easier to go back and fix it before you've done too much damage.
If the files won't move to where you want them to — I had a devil of a time moving some files that had been created early-on in the Classes folder — you can simply drag them out of their old place in the finder to someplace handy like the desktop, delete references to them in Xcode, and then re-import them via the right/control-click Add Existing Files option.
If in the past you've used Xcode to delete references to files without also moving them to the trash in this project, you'll find files that don't have to be moved but at just sitting there. Be careful that you don't do what I did, confusing the names of a current group of files I was moving and the older, no-longer-linked files, insisting that Xcode import them because you thought it was being dense.
In Xcode 5 or Xcode 6:
Create the folders that map to your Groups in Finder
Move the files into those folders in Finder
Select each file that is red in the Xcode sidebar on the left
Click the button "Show/Hide Utilities" to reveal the right sidebar (see figure)
In "Identity and Type", click the tiny button and select the file location (see figure)
Cheers.
I've found the most reliable way to work around XCode's appalling design here is to organize ALL your files in Finder, for two reasons:
Finder doesn't make "mistakes", unlike XCode's GUI
Once things are organized in Finder, you can drag/drop entire Finder folders into XCode, and ... it does exactly what you wanted, with no effort
Even when moving existing XCode files around, it is quicker to do this:
Select the files in Finder
Create a folder in Finder for them
Drag/drop them to the folder (automatically Moves them)
Drag/drop the Finder folder into Xcode (automatically: creates the Xcode folder, adds every file in the Finder folder)
cmd-select every "red" file you now see in Xcode (because you moved them) and hit the delete key
NB: I never use the "create dragged folders with sub-groups" option, because in XCode 3 that was often hopelessly buggy and could corrupt projects. Apple clearly (IMHO) does NOT use this feature internally, otherwise it would never have been allowed to be so buggy; if Apple doesn't use a thing, it's generally not safe to use it either - they aren't good at testing :)
There is a simple to setup and use Command Line Tool - "synx"
available in github that do exactly what is needed here.
It reorganizes Xcode project folder in finder to match Xcode groups in project.
You can find it here:
https://github.com/venmo/synx
UPDATE:
XCode 9 supports this feature by default. So, no need to use other tools anymore!
Xcode 9
It seems Xcode 9 now supports it by default. When you move files from a group to another, the file will also be moved from the old folder to the new folder. This was announced in WWDC 2017.
I used the following tool to achieve it.Organize Folders in Groups Xcode
--no-default-exclusions
I'm usually move files to the directory directly in the Finder, then fix the files with red-color names in XCode in their "Get Info" dialog: click the "Choose..." button and select file's new locatoin. That's the first response when I want to move files in XCode, and it works.
As of Xcode 4.5 when you drag in a folder structure it is automatically turned into nested groups in the Project Navigator. Then, if you look on disk (e.g. right click and choose Show in Finder), the folder structure has been retained.
I found trying to fix things from an older project was just a pain. It turned out much easier to just delete these files and drag them in again.
To move a folder in xcode 4.5 I just...
Delete the files/groups from xcode and select "Remove Reference".
Go into finder and move the folder/files as needed.
Once done I go back into Xcode and choose File->Add Files to {ProjectName}.
Make sure "Copy Items into Destination Group's folder (If needed)" is checked
Make sure "Create Group for any added folder" is checked
Make sure "Add to Target" is checked for your project
Easiest technique for XCode 8....
Assuming you have files A,B,C in a logical group, but want them moved into a folder on your hard drive.
Create a destination folder via Finder
Add the folder in XCode (File -> Add Files ) using the Options pane to select a Folder Reference (not a group)
Drag files A,B,C from the (old) group to the (new) folder reference in the project navigator. XCode will move the files into the folder, both in the the project, and on disk.
Done.
On XCode 11 (I just validated this on XCode 11.6), you can select the files you would like to move under the project navigator, right click on the selected files, and click "New Group From Selection". This will create a folder on disk and move the files appropriately.