What is the workflow template for these presenters?

Question

Brief introduction

Working on my first commercial iOS app, Xcode 3.2, turned out to be much more complex for the environment than I expected. Opportunities that I love in other environments (like Eclipse for Java or FDT for ActionScript) are hard to find, if not impossible, in Xcode. Xcode 4 seems to affect many of my injuries, so I am not complaining, but I have to adhere to 3.2 for beta reasons, at least to develop this current application.

Developer Video - Templates

Firstly, I refused to search for convenient code templates and went with TextMacros inaccessible texts: by typing short code fragments, pressing escape to open the completion sentences and select one. Then I started watching a video with the development of http://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2010/ . To my surprise, there were several presenters who seemed to “magically” insert code snippets without typing anything or by clicking something with the mouse.

Examples

Example 1: In session 104 “Designing applications with a scroll list”, the Eliza block (starts after 9 minutes) continues to add ready-made code fragments to its demo, effectively working on the dangers of real coding.

Example 2: In session 123 “Creating Animated Interfaces”, Tyler Hawkings (starting in 25 minutes) uses some kind of template to add animation code to his presentation.

They are not...

• ... typing in any TextMacro, that's for sure.
• ... using an equalizer copy and cardboard, as Xcode does not lose focus for a moment.
• ... clicking on the on-screen application because the mouse does not leave the screen.

Questions

I have two questions for you:

• What these presenters use to accomplish this feat in their presentations.
• Is this used in the context of daily coding instead of just representing?

Cheers, Eric Paul.

Answer 1

Josh Schaffer, an Apple developer and co-chair of Eliza at WWDC, was kind enough to answer my question via Twitter. He wrote the following: “This is a small application that inserts a predefined list of snippets of text. It only helps with coding if you have already written your application”

EDIT: Thank goodness for Twitter. Josh Schaffer confirmed that the tool they used was DemoMonkey .

Answer 2

I think they use predefined text blocks with the CopyPastePro tool. For using snippets of code in everyday encoding, this is very useful because you can assign snippets to predefined keys, but I also like http://www.snippetsapp.com/ where you can manage all of your snippets.

Cheers, Meinhard