Figure 1-11. Editing an Interface Builder file
At the top of the utilities area are the inspectors. These will change depending on what kind of file is being edited, and what you have selected. As with the navigators, you can switch between different inspectors by clicking onthe icons at the top of the pane, or from the View ➤ Utilities submenu
(see Figure 1-12). You can hide the utility area using the View ➤ Utilities ➤ Hide Utilities command, or by clicking on the right side of the View control in the toolbar (see Figure 1-12).
Figure 1-12. Utility view controls
At the bottom of the utility area is the library. Here you’ll find ready-made objects, resources, and code snippets that you can drag into your project.
Debug Area
The debug area is used to test your app and work out any kinks. It usually doesn’t appear until you run your app. To make it appear, or disappear, use the View ➤ Debug Area ➤ Show/Hide Debug Area command. You can alsoclick on the close drawer icon in the upper-left corner of the debug pane.
Toolbar
The toolbar contains a number of useful shortcuts and some status information, as shown in Figure 1-13.
Figure 1-13. Workspace window toolbar
You’ve already seen the Editor and View buttons on the right. On the left are buttons to run (test) and stop your app. You will use these buttons to start and stop your app during development.
Next to the Run and Stop buttons is the Scheme control. This multi-part pop-up menu lets you select how your project will be built (called a scheme) and your app’s destination (a simulator, an actual device, the AppStore, and so on).
In the middle of the toolbar is your project’s status. It will display what activities are currently happening, or have recently finished, such as building, indexing, and so on. If you’ve just installed Xcode, it is probably downloadingadditional documentation in the background, and the status will indicate that.
You can hide the toolbar, if you want, using the View ➤ Show/Hide Toolbar command. All of the buttons and controls in the toolbar are just shortcuts to menu commands, so it’s possible to live without it. This book,however, will assume that it’s visible.
If you’re interested in learning more about the workspace window, the navigators, editor, and inspectors, you will find all of that (and more) in the Xcode Overview, under the Help menu.
Running Your First App
Withyour workspace window open, click on the Scheme control and choose one of the iPhone choices from the submenu, as shown in Figure 1-14. This tells Xcode where you want this app to run when you click the Runbutton.
Figure 1-14. Choosing the scheme and target
Click the Run button. OK, there’s probably one more formality to attend to. Before you can test an application, Xcode needs to be granted some special privileges. The first time you try to run an app, Xcode will ask if this is OK(see Figure 1-15). Click Enable and supply your account name
and password.
Figure 1-15. Enabling developer mode
Once you’re past the preliminaries, Xcode will assemble your app from all of the parts in your project—a process known as a build—and then run your app using its built-in iPhone simulator, as shown on the left in Figure 1-16.
Figure 1-16. The iPhone simulator
The simulator is just what it sounds like. It’s a program that pretends—as closely as possible—to be a real iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. The simulator lets you do much of your iOS app testing right on your Mac, without everhaving to load your app into a real iOS device. It also allows you to test your app on different kinds of devices, so you don’t have to go buy one of each.
Congratulations, you just created, built, and ran an iOS app on a (simulated) iPhone! This works because Xcode project templates always create a runnable project; what’s missing is the functionality that makes your app dosomething wonderful. That’s what the rest of this book is about.
While you’re here, feel free to play around with the iPhone simulator. Although the app you created doesn’t have any functionality—beyond that of a lame “flashlight” app—you’ll notice that you can simulate pressing the home button using the Hardware ➤ Home command and return to the springboard (the middle and right in Figure 1-16). There you’ll find your app, the Settings app, Game Center, and more, just as if this were a real iPhone. Sorry, itwon’t make telephone calls.
When you’re finished, switch back to the workspace window and click on the Stop button in the toolbar.
Summary
You now have all of the tools you need to develop and run iOS apps. You’ve learned a little about how Xcode is organized, and how to run your app in the simulator.
The next step is to add some content to your app.
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