Introduction Introduction IN THIS INTRODUCTION What Xcode Is What''s New in Xcode 3 Obtaining Xcode Installing Xcode From the moment it first published Mac OS X, Apple, Inc., has made a complete suite of application development tools available to every user of the Macintosh. Since Mac OS X version 10.3, those tools have been led by Xcode, the integrated development environment Apple''s own engineers use to develop system software and applications such as Safari, iTunes, Mail, and iChat. If you own a Mac, these same tools are in your hands today. What''s New in Xcode 3 In October 2007, with the introduction of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), Apple introduced version 3 of the Xcode developer tools suite. Among the changes were Extensive improvements to the Xcode integrated development environment (IDE), including Support for Objective-C 2.
0, the first major revision to the language, with commands for converting existing code to the new language. Improved syntax coloring, now including distinctive colors for symbols like instance variables and method names. Code Focus, a ribbon beside the editor text that lets you see how blocks of code are organized, and allows you to fold long blocks down to the height of a single line. The projectwide Find command now works through the Spotlight text-searching engine, yielding better results faster. A debugger bar, offering simple debugging controls in any editor window. Datatips, allowing you to inspect the values of program variables during debugging, just by hovering the cursor over them in the code. A mini-debugger, injected into the programs you run, permitting debugging during mouse-down events and other "volatile" situations. Automatic access to the debugger whenever a program you run from Xcode crashes.
Improved compile-time error reporting, interleaving compiler messages with the code they relate to. Automated refactoring, helping you rename classes, methods, and functions, shift methods from class to class, and even create new super classes, in an Objective-C project. Much improved support for source code management tools such as Subversion, CVS, and Perforce. Much improved support for using UNIX scripting languages to create and edit text. The Organizer, a window to hold references to frequently used files and projects. Among the command-line tools, the new xed tool enables you to open text files in Xcode, when a shell script or tool demands an interactive editor. A major upgrade to the documentation system, using RSS feeds for live updates, and permitting developers to add their own documentation to the system. A Research Assistant window that documents API symbols and build variables in real time, as they are selected.
A completely revamped Interface Builder, with better tools for crafting nonvisual parts of the human interface, such as controller objects. Integration between IB and Xcode is even tighter than before. A new tool, Instruments, for profiling the resource usage (memory, I/O, graphics, threading) of a program, in real time, on a timeline so that you can see how each element of the performance picture relates to all the others. Xcode 3 is a ground-up rebuild of the Mac OS X developer tools, and it has been well worth the wait. Obtaining Xcode If you have an installation DVD for Mac OS X 10.5 or a new Mac on which Leopard has come installed, you already have Xcode. On the DVD, an installation package can be found in the Xcode Tools folder inside the Optional Installs folder. On new Macs, you''ll find a disk image file for Xcode Tools in the Additional Installations folder at the root of your hard drive; double-click the disk image to mount it, and you''ll find the installation packages inside.
However, Apple does not always coordinate the latest version of its developer tools with its Mac OS X distributions. Even if you have an installation package on your Mac, or on your distribution disk, it pays to check for a newer version at the Apple Developer Connection (ADC). Downloading Xcode You must join ADC to download Xcode. Point your web browser to http://developer.apple.com/, and click the link that offers a membership (at the time of this writing, it was the Sign Up link at the top of the page). You will be offered a handful of options, some expensive. All you need is an Online membership--it''s free.
Fill out the forms offered to you; they will take contact information and ask you to consent to terms and conditions. There may be marketing questions and offers of mailings. When you have completed the signup process, go to http://connect.apple.com. Fill in the username and password you chose. You will then be presented with a few options, among these being Downloads . This is what you want; click it.
Depending on your membership level, and how active Apple has been lately in releasing new software, you might not be able to find Xcode on this page. If you don''t see it, click Developer Tools in the Downloads column at the right of the page. Scroll down to the first Xcode 3.x download you find (earlier releases may appear lower in the list, and versions of Xcode 2.5 may appear higher). It will be a disk image a bit over 1GB in size. This will comprise the full set of Xcode tools; there is no updater you can apply to a copy you may already have. Click to download.
Installing Xcode Now that you have the latest Xcode package, it''s time to install it. Installation packages can be run straight from a DVD, a mounted disk image file, or your hard disk. There''s no difference. In the Xcode Tools folder, you will find three installation packages: XcodeTools.mpkg, which is the installation package for Xcode and the other tools needed for Mac OS X development. Dashcode.mpkg provides the Dashcode IDE for producing Dashboard widgets. Dashcode is also included in the standard install from XcodeTools.
mpkg; this package is for those who are interested only in developing widgets. WebObjects.mpkg installs Apple''s excellent WebObjects frameworks and tools, for developing sophisticated database-centered websites in Java. WebObjects is also available as an optional install from within the Xcode Tools Installer. You will also find a folder named Packages, containing installation packages for components of the Xcode tools, like the CHUD performance-measuring suite, software development kits (SDKs) for X Window and earlier versions of Mac OS X, and version 3.3 of the gcc compiler suite (for PowerPC Macs only). All these are available as options (or within options) in the Xcode Tools Installer, but are here in case you omit them from the original installation and want to add them later. If you''ve ever done an installation under Mac OS X, the Xcode tools install is familiar (see Figure I.
1). Start by double-clicking the XcodeTools.mpkg installation package. A Welcome screen appears, at which you will press Continue . Next, the installer displays the license for Xcode and its related software; click Continue , and if you accede to the license, click Agree in the ensuing sheet. Figure I.1 The Welcome panel for the Xcode Tools Installation package should be familiar to any experienced Mac user. You are now at the Standard Install panel, but we will vary from the standard line.
Click the Customize button to reveal the Custom Install panel. This panel (see Figure I.2) contains a table listing the components of the Xcode Tools installation. The single mandatory component is checked and grayed out; the optional components are active, and you can check or uncheck them to include or exclude them from the installation: Developer Tools Essentials. This is Xcode itself, and the graphical and command-line programs that complement it, plus SDKs for developing Mac OS X software for versions 10.4 and later. This is a mandatory component; it doesn''t make sense to install the developer tools without installing Xcode and the tools needed for it to run. Figure I.
2 The Custom Install panel for the Xcode Tools Installer. The top entry in the package list is for the core Xcode tools, and is not optional. In the Location column is a pop-up menu from which you can select where the developer tools are to go; the default is the Developer folder of your boot disk. Developer Tools System Components. These are the CHUD tools for investigating application performance, plus facilities for distributing application builds over more than one computer. You should install this package. Note - CHUD, gcc 3.3, and WebObjects are not flexible about where they are installed.
They will be installed into /Developer no matter what location you choose for the Xcode tools. UNIX Development Support. The "essentials" installation of Xcode installs components such as compilers and their support files in a usr subdire.