Programming iOS 6, 3rd Edition

New Project

Even before you’ve written any code, an Xcode project is quite elaborate. To see this, let’s make a new, essentially “empty” project; you’ll see instantly that it isn’t empty at all.

1. Start up Xcode and choose File → New → Project.

2. The “Choose a template” dialog appears. The template is your project’s initial set of files and settings. When you pick a template, you’re really picking an existing folder full of files; basically, it will be one of the folders inside /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Templates/Project Templates/Application. This template folder will essentially be copied, and a few values will be filled in, in order to create your project.

   So, in this case, on the left, under iOS (not Mac OS X!), choose Application. On the right, select Single View Application. Click Next.

3. You are now asked to provide a name for your project (Product Name). Let’s call our new project Empty Window.

   In a real project, you should give some thought to the project’s name, as you’re going to be living in close quarters with it. As Xcode copies the template folder, it’s going to use the project’s name to “fill in the blank” in several places, including some filenames and some settings, such as the name of the app. Thus, whatever you type at this moment is something you’ll be seeing in a lot of places throughout your project. I’ll talk at the end of this chapter about how to change an existing project’s name.

   It’s fine to use spaces in a project name. ...