Hidden Features of Xcode 4

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

• 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?)

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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.