iPad Application Development For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Navigating in the Xcode Source Editors

In previous chapters, I give you quite a bit of information about the Xcode Workspace, albeit primarily focusing on storyboards. I mention the Assistant as well, and in this chapter I want to extend that knowledge and describe most of the rest of the tasks you need to be able to do in Xcode.

As you’ve seen, most development work in Xcode is done in the Editor area, the main area that’s always visible within the Workspace window. The Editor area can also be further configured, with the Standard editor pane always shown, as well as an optional Assistant pane that shows related content. (If you select an interface [.h] header file, the Assistant pane shows the corresponding implementation [.m] code file, and vice versa; I don’t talk about the Version pane, but showing that area is also an option.) I use the term pane (Standard editor pane and Assistant pane) to refer to certain configurations, even though Apple doesn’t use that term. I do this to distinguish between the Editor area configuration (the Standard editor isn’t actually an editor at all, but simply a single pane configuration in the editor area) and the built-in editors — an editor operates in an Editor area pane. The main editors are the following:

Source editor: You use this editor to write and edit your source code, as well as to set and enable (or disable, for that matter) breakpoints ...