Xcode 4 Tips and Tricks for Xcode 3 Users

Question

Like most of you, Xcode 4 is probably officially released today. Now I know that a lot of developers there used preview versions, and it would be great if people could publish any useful tips, tricks or keyboard shortcuts that they learned using this version, now they are no longer under the NDA. This may Be especially useful for those upgrading from Xcode 3 (like me, downloading right now).

Note. Apple has released a migration guide that has a lot of things involved getting from version 3 to version 4, but I'm sure there are a lot of great tricks people found out there that aren't there.

Answer 1

I liked reading this blog: Pilky.me - Xcode 4: A super mega awesome review .

This is a good comparison, I especially liked his conclusion near the end.

Answer 2

Currently, I have only one tip for Xcode 3 users - do not use xcode 4 unless you have free time to start training again and / or are ready to report a lot of errors . Wait at least until 4.1. There are many more errors that are not resolved. Nothing is stable. Xcode 4 also advertises as having a single ui window, which is good, but unstable like U238. Also - this is probably the only thing that is good regarding the new Xcode 4. So, here are some of my headaches right now:

• Unable to complete the entire project (except for individually selected modified files);
• Unable to click (if SMC git). At least I did not find this;
• Since character indexing is broken, you cannot:
  • see normal syntax highlighting;
  • Go to specific character definitions

The jump bar is just one big misunderstanding:

• Previously, the convenient keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 2 from Xcode 3, which lists the names of methods and pragma tags, now became a hit of the finger Ctrl + 6 (emacs user rejoice </flamewar>).
• There is no direct button to switch between the interface and implementation files.

If you have a 13.3 "macbook [pro] - do not even try to use navigators with utilities (inspectors or libraries).

The transition guide for Xcode 4 is also used, in which it is far from.

Update 1:

There is no such thing as Build and Run. Only build, build for work, build for testing, build for profiling, build for archiving. Then just run without assembly and run without profiling. AFAIK, this should be simpler, so summa generalum - 8 actions instead of 1. Go figure.

So these are just some of my instantly detected crashes for Xcode 4.

PS will probably be updating this in the next few days.

Answer 3

Xcode 4 has many exciting new features. I would advise you to adapt to it by watching WWDC2010 video last year - they devoted a lot of time to getting through some of the new things.

• I like the new helper mode - it really makes it easier to navigate your interface / implementation files. This mode also allows you to create user interfaces along with your controller classes, which makes development easier and more efficient than running it in two completely different programs!

• The jump bar (found at the top of the source code) is a really quick way to jump over your project, which makes it very easy to get exactly the place you are interested in.

• Version Viewer makes it easy to track changes. Now I use SVN for all my projects, even those that I work on alone, because it really makes it possible to understand how the project has evolved over time.

• There are settings for adjusting how your layout changes and what is displayed during creation, when you start, when you finish a run, etc. etc., which I also find very useful, because you want to see different things when you are debugging, when you return to your code. Very pleased that Xcode helps you easily arrange your layout exactly the way you want it for different scenarios.

• Code templates (which can be found on the toolbar on the right side to the right) are also very useful, and you can create your own to quickly get the code that you often write down.

Some more subtle things that I like:

• The Fix It feature works great for quickly replacing typos. I believe that I do not even need to read the fix. Corrected. This will be done because the correction is so natural.

• Shortcut i for re-entering code. This is really useful if you add a new pair of curly braces around your code and want to reformat it quickly. I do not think that in Xcode 3 there was a good shortcut for this.

• Pressing the evacuation key to raise autocomplete suggestions seems to bring up much more useful suggestions in C ++, and looks a lot prettier around!

For reliability, I used a combination of Xcode 4 and Xcode 3 since Xcode 4 first entered beta. Whenever Xcode 4 was packed into me or did not allow me to continue what I wanted to do, I simply switched to Xcode 3, as they are fully compatible. I had a very good transition period, and now I fully use the latest build (the first week of March), so I consider it very stable.

For people who don't like the changes, this update will be difficult. This will be especially difficult since many keyboard shortcuts have changed to create new features for many new features. The most obvious difference people will make is the new all-in-one window layout. I’m sure that people will get used to it over time and will understand that this way of viewing everything related to your project is much more effective both in real estate and in navigation.

Enjoy using Xcode 4, this is a really awesome improvement over the latest version, and it continues to add to that wonderful time when I write applications for Mac and iOS .: D

Answer 4

@Ohmu: a three-finger trackpad up / down / magic mouse pointer to switch between the header (.h) and implementation files (.m) still works.

Answer 5

More shortcuts than you can shake a stick here: http://cocoasamurai.blogspot.com/2011/03/xcode-4-keyboard-shortcuts-now.html

However, completeness is obscure clarity. For example, I cannot immediately see a shortcut to switch between the header file and the associated method file. so I recommend one shortcut for each answer, and the voices will filter out the best ones.

Answer 6

If you need to open plist files when you are not encoding, you should save a copy of XCode3/Applications/Utilities/Property List Editor .

The property list editor opens in no time. But Xcode4 takes a few minutes until it finally displays the plist file.

I guess Apple wants me to replace my 2008 MBPro

Answer 7

NB: Apple's official translation guide has been moved / updated (they did not update the url, sigh). Now he:

http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/Xcode4TransitionGuide/Xcode4TransitionGuide.pdf

Answer 8

The only way for me, like Xcode4, is to think that it is a different product. There is no evolution over Xcode3, there are just a lot of flaws for how I use it.

• Who changes (almost all) shortcuts between versions of the same software?
• Why do I need to learn from scratch how to use and customize my projects? Sounds like punishment, not evolution.
• How good is Xcode4 for using multiple monitors? It was clearly designed for a single monitor user, but unlike Xcode3, its user interface cannot be changed so easily (and persistently).
• Although it can be disabled (and should), the automatic code checks for errors ... So, are we back on VB6 now?

I am a BIG Apple fan, although Xcode4 lags behind developer satisfaction due to a lack of customization (compared to Xcode3).

Without using Xcode3 for comparison, this is a really good development environment.

Ruined developer, Cheers.

Answer 9

Risky Business: Switching to Xcode 4 will introduce you to a whole new level of weird behavior, bugs, and pain. For example. the presence of third-party frameworks (for example, Three20) in your application means that you will not be able to create a proper archive without jumping to different levels of hoops. Do not go to Xcode 4 if you can. If you do, there are some tips below.

Keep your archives safe: ... until installing Xcode 4 (from 3). You will lose them (most likely) and with them you will lose the ability to symbolize your failure logs.

Adding frameworks: it took me a while to figure this out and this is nowhere in the docs. You cannot just do this by right-clicking on a project or group (for example, in Xcode 3). You need to go to the project presentation, select your goal and go to the "Build phases" tab. Structures can be managed in the Linking Binary Files to Libraries section.

Setting target dependencies: similar to the above, in the "Target Dependencies" section of the "Phase Assembly" tab.

Delete action - BEWARE: “Delete” (instead of “Delete link only”) directly erases the file from your disk. It is not included in the basket, so you cannot restore it.

Text editor: here are some good ones:

• A cmd-click in the class name will lead you to the implementation file (or header) of this class, and a cmd-click on the object will lead you to where the object is declared.
• Alt-click will open a popup for the object you clicked on.

Answer 10

The track with 3 fingers to the left is the "Back" button and the transition to the previous file. A gesture to the right goes to your next file on the stack. (not sure if this was true in Xcode3)

Answer 11

http://pragmaticstudio.com/screencast-tags/xcode4

After watching these big little videos, I instantly warmed up to Xcode4

They really disassembled it in large numbers in many different places, making such conceptual changes as:

• single window = NICE
• Textwrap
• remote annoying dialogue "stop running + reerun"
• good color scheme.
• CMD SHIFT O to search for header file
• Auto-complete sorting nicely
• console console button
• search and replace NICE
• new NICE keyboard shortcuts
• Check on the fly - love!

As you can see, I took notes during the first two days of using it; every time I liked something, or every time something went wrong, I would write it down.

So far I have listed 16 problems, but these are all glitches, such as a paint system that is erroneous in certain situations, etc .... i.e. all minor things that will be fixed soon in updates.

In the event of an accidental failure, I will not return to 3.x, unless I need it.

The only thing my goat really gets is that Apple STILL refuses to support incremental updates. this is absolutely crazy, and I hope that each of them makes a lot of noise until they figure it out.

Answer 12

I wondered where the compiler flags were set for .

Spoiler: select a project, select a target, select the "Phase Assembly" tab, expand the "Compile Sources" phase and rejoice.