iOS App Development Portable Genius

Building Applications

As you learned in Chapter 2, Xcode is primarily a tool for converting source files—code, media files, design templates (nib files), and other components—into an app package.

Experienced developers can customize the build process almost indefinitely. But newcomers should postpone exploring the more advanced features until they’ve mastered the basics of development. This is easy to do because the essentials of the build process are very simple: Just click the Run button in the main toolbar, and wait a while.

There are some minor details to master, even at the beginner level. Let’s explore them now by creating a very simple app. This app does nothing; it’s a dummy app shell with no working features, but it demonstrates how to convert source files into a working app, and how to run that app in the Simulator.

Creating a new project

To create a new project, follow these steps:

1. Launch Xcode, if it isn’t running already.

2. Select File→New→Project from the main menu.

3. Click the Application item under the iOS header at the top left, as shown in Figure 3.1.

4. Click the Single View Application item near the top right to highlight it. This step selects one of the Application Templates—ready-made starting points for various types of apps. You’ll find more about the templates later in this chapter.

5. Click Next.

6. Type a product name. This name appears under the app when it’s installed on an iOS Device. It’s also used by Xcode as the project name, and it automatically ...