Hidden Features of Xcode 4

Now that Xcode 4 is officially released it's time for a follow up to my previous question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/146297/hidden-features-of-xcode

So what are they? What are those hidden little Xcode 4 hints & tips that you can't live without?

Please limit your tips to those that are new and specific to Xcode 4!

If you like your code to look as good as it runs, you've undoubtedly used #pragma mark - and #pragma mark <name> to provide a nice visual grouping in the Xcode class dropdown list. Xcode 4 now combines these into a single #pragma mark - <name>.

More on pragma mark.

• shift-cmd-opt click on a symbol lets you tell Xcode exactly where in the UI you want the navigated-to file to open.

• cmd-ret makes the version editor / assistant (the right hand pane) go away

• shift-cmd-Y to hide the debugger

• cmd-0 to hide the navigator (left pane)

• cmd-[1..n] switch between navigators on left

• cmd-opt-[1..n] switch between utilities (thing generally on right)

• ctrl-[1..n] switch between various related files in the editor

Overall, Xcode 4 tries to keep things consistent w/the hot keys. Cmd is for mainline commands. Adding modifiers is for analogous commands focused on one particular sub-feature.

(These are just the four that come to mind as the my most pounded upon shortcuts that I'm using constantly! I'm sure it'll change over time as my workflow is refactored into the new hotness.)

Xcode 4 adds a new "Code Snippets" feature, accessible via View > Utilities > Code Snippet Library. To add a new code snippet, select some text in the editor view and drag it into the snippet library. You can either drag a snippet out and drop it in your code to use it, or, much more conveniently, assign a completion shortcut to it.

When you type in that series of letters, it will automatically show up in the code completion pop-up menu as you type your code. For example, among many others, I have a snippet set up so that typing "svk" will expand to setValue:<#value#> forKey:<#key#>. This can save a lot of typing and/or fishing around in the autocompletion menu for the methods and other code expressions you use the most. Xcode ships with a bunch of built-in snippets that come in very handy as well.

New shortcut I use most often: triple-finger swipe (up or down) to swap counterparts (between the interface and implementation files). No more hand acrobatics!

Thanks to https://twitter.com/xctotd/status/48148271759241216

shift-option-click on a file in the Groups and Files list Project Navigator, or hold shift-option while choosing a file from the Jump Bar.

You'll get a pop-over from which to pick where to open the file. New or existing tab, new or existing split (Assistant) editor, new window—every possible option is there.

Tabs in Xcode 4 are awesome. Each one maintains its own separate layout, so you can have multiple tabs with different things in them and have each one lain out appropriately.

I've been setting up my projects with three layouts—one for the project object, one for each nib (showing the owner's class's sources), and one for each class.

There is one bug here: As of 4.0, Xcode will reset the state (turning off any Assistants) of the active tab when you reopen the project. The workaround is to switch to a tab with no Assistants for Xcode to close before you close the project. I have filed this as Radar number 9178441.

• ctrl-6 pops down within-file segment of jump bar (enables keyboard-controlled jump to methods)

• cmd-{/} select previous / next tab

• cmd-J navigate to any editor (but why oh why doesn't TAB then cycle between them?)

Editor ShortCuts

• Cmd + Ctrl + up/down Jump between .h & .m Files.
• Cmd + Ctrl + Left/Right Jump between Previous Edited Files/Next Edited files.

Layout Shortcuts

• Cmd + 0 hide or show navigators
• Cmd + opt + 0 hide or show inspectors
• Cmd + Shift + Y hide or show debugger console.

Navigators Shortcuts

• Cmd + 1 Project
• Cmd + 2 Symbol
• Cmd + 3 Search
• Cmd + 4 Issue
• Cmd + 5 Debug
• Cmd + 6 BreakPoint
• Cmd + 7 Log

Tab Switching & Jumping

• Cmd + { Previous Tab
• Cmd + } Next Tab
• Cmd + j Select location to jump
• Shift + Option + ClickFile Select location to open file
• Cmd + Alt + Option + Click Select location to open Method

Inspectors

• Cmd + Opt + 1 File Inspector
• Cmd + Opt + 2 Quick Help
• Cmd + Opt + 3 Identity Inspector
• Cmd + Opt + 4 Attribute Inspector
• Cmd + Opt + 5 Size inspector
• Cmd + Opt + 6 Connection Inspector

Build Related

• Cmd + B Build
• Cmd + Shift + K Clean
• Cmd + . top

Code Folding

• Cmd + Alt + Left Minimize Current Method/Class/Interface
• Cmd + Alt + Right Expand Current Method/Class/Interface
• Cmd + Alt + Shift + Left Minimize All Method/Class/Interface
• Cmd + Alt + Shift + Right Expand All Method/Class/Interface

Here's the first. Tabs! Xcode 4 has replaced Xcode 3's useful but rarely used "favorites bar" with persistent tabs. This means you can keep a working set of commonly used documents in your tab bar.

Not exactly a hidden feature as such - but the fact that the tabs are persistent is perhaps easily missed.

Some useful hotkeys for working on smaller screens are:

• cmd-shift-y - Hide and show the console/debug area

• cmd-0 - Hide and show the file navigation

If you're having any sort of trouble with the indexing of your project (e.g. symbols not showing up in autocompletion), open the Organizer window, click the Projects tab, and use the "Delete" button to delete the derived data for your project. This will force a rebuild of the project's index, as well as tossing out any built products.

You can now associate groups in the Project Navigator with folders on disk. It always bugged me before that the Xcode 3 file view may not represent the actual structure of the project on disk.

Create a new group, then with the new group highlighted, open the File Inspector. In the identity section on the right just below the 'Path' is a small icon, click this to open the file browser dialog allowing you to select the directory for this group.

If you hold the FN key then you can scan through your document with the cursorkeys, without moving the cursor

Jump bar:

if your write outside function:

// FIXME: A Bug
// TODO: Later
// ???: ???
// !!!: !!!
// MARK: This a mark

Will like:

Also you can search:

Click with Option(With Shift at the same time, you can choice another window), you can see a dialog letting you specify where the file should open:

Source control:

If you use svn or git, discard change is easy:

Interface buidler

In xcode 4.2, you can jump to interface builder here:

Click a ui object with Shift, it will show a list of all objects under the point.

Try this: Select a ui object, hold Option, then move mouse over other objects. It will like:

Other

Hotkey: Shift+Command+O Open Quickly

Try:

#error message
#warning message

And read: Writing and Editing Source Code

Text Editor:

• Cmd-clicking on a class name will take you to the implementation (or header) file of that class, cmd-clicking on an object will take you to where the object is declared.
• Alt-clicking will open a documenation popup for the object you clicked on.

Adding frameworks: You cannot simply do this by right-clicking on the project or a group (like in Xcode 3). You need to go to the project view, select your target and go to "Build Phases" tab. Frameworks can be managed under the "Link Binary with Libraries" section.

Setting target dependencies: Similar to the above, in the "Target Dependencies" section of the "Build Phases" tab.

Keep your archives safe -prior to installing Xcode 4 (from 3). You will lose them (most likely) and with them lose your ability to symbolicate your crash logs.

Delete action-BEWARE: "Delete" (instead of "Remove Reference Only") directly erases the file from your drive. It doesn't go into the Trash, so you cannot recover it.

cmd-J jumps to the editor, but if you have more than one editor open you get an overlay that has all of the open editors. you can use cmd-→ and cmd-← to switch between the open editors.

Also, if you are having a hard time finding an option or property for anything the utilites window is probably your best bet:

hide and show utilities: cmd-opt-0

Things that are commonly hidden here that aren't intuitive:

• data model entity properties.
• data model properties
• xib properties

• You don't need to declare IBAction - methods in .h File. & You can directly connect it in Interface Builder.

Example:

-(IBAction)btnLogInTapped:(id)sender {
    // place following method in .m file of your code. save file. Open the
    // .xib file of viewController
    // click on files owner
    // click on connection-inspector.
    // you can view your methods under "received actions"
}

• You don't need to declare variables, if you are creating property for it.

Example:

// a property declared in .h File of your view controller.
@property (nonatomic, retain) LogInVCtr *nxtLogInVCtr;

// synthesize above property in .m File
@synthesize nxtLogInVCtr;
// or
@synthesize nxtLogInVCtr = _nxtLogInVCtr;
// and you are done, you don't need to declare variable for it.

One of my favorites is the "Open Tab" behavior preference. If you go to "Behaviors" in Preferences, you can set it to go to a specific tab whenever a run starts. You can name the tab, something like "Debug" and Xcode4 will create it for you if it doesn't exist, and take you there when you start debugging. You can configure this tab just how you like it for debugging sessions, and it will stick that way after you close it, so whenever you do a run Xcode4 will be set up just how you want it, in a separate tab. You can even tear this tab off to a separate window, in which case Xcode4 will open a new specially configured "Debug" window each time you start a run! This feature is great because it keeps your regular code editing tab or window uncluttered with the log and debugger panes. Simply close the "Debug" window when you're done running and you can be back to your clean screen of code.

In XCode3, There was an option for "Rename the Project". Now, you just need to click twice ( second click slowly ) to rename the project & Its done.

To Limit the Number of Concurrent Build Operations

This is a (somewhat) hidden preference which allows you to define the number of concurrent compile tasks:

defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode IDEBuildOperationMaxNumberOfConcurrentCompileTasks 4

To Disable Indexing in the IDE

This one disables code sense indexing, which can save a lot of resources in large projects:

defaults write com.apple.dt.XCode IDEIndexDisable 1

to reenable:

defaults delete com.apple.dt.XCode IDEIndexDisable

Note that you should quit Xcode, set the preference values as desired, changes take effect when you restart Xcode.

If you prefer using vim/emacs running on, say, Terminal, or any other external editor, you can just create your xcode project, add files and whatnot and then switch to editing said files using whichever edit suits you best; whenever you switch focus to an xcode4 window, the modified files will be reloaded( was also the case with Xcode3 ) and you can build / run your application.

Two kinds of Build location specification using XCode4 Preferences.

1. Location Specified By Targets - 'Build' Directory is located within your project directory.
2. Location in Derived Data ( Recommended by XCode, as you can see in screen shot ) - 'Build' Directory is located under DerivedData location specified ( e.g. here in my case, /Users/digicorp/Library/Developer/XCode/DerivedData )

Please look at following screen shots.

QUICK HELP

Ctrl + Option / Alt + f

Find the Quick help. For example,

@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *strQuery;

My Text cursor is at NSString & if I press Ctrl + Option + f then It will show a quick documentation in the inspector/utilities.