Question

I’m trying to add a custom code template into Xcode. Based on my reading, this is the procedure I’ve come up with.

First, access the folder path

Application/Xcode45-DP3.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Templates/Project Templates/Application

Second, make a copy of one of the existing folders to use as a starting point.

Third, change that folder name to what I want.

The part that I’m having trouble with is that there are no files with the code that I want to modify, such as PROJECTNAME.xcodeproj, anyfilename.h, anyfilename.h, etc., there is only MainStoryBoard_iPad(and iPhone).storyboard, ViewcontrolleriPad(and iPhone).Xib, TemplateIcon.tiff and TemplateInfo.plist.

What’s the proper way to do this? What am I missing?

Answer 1

What are you trying to create? A project Template or a File Template?

• If you want to create a new File Template, you need to copy a whole "*.xctemplate" folder from "/Xcode/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Templates/File Templates" (that you will use as an example/starting point) to "~/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/File Templates".
• If you want to create a new Project Template, do the same with one "*.xctemplate" folder from "/Xcode/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Templates/Project Templates" to "~/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Project Templates"
• If the "File Templates"/"Project Templates" folder is not present in App Support, create them.

Don’t copy the template into the Xcode bundle itself as it is not intended to (and violates the sandbox concept, and will be overridden the next time you upgrade your Xcode version) but use the Application Support folder for that as it is its very purpose.

Once you have copied one .xctemplate folder from the Xcode bundle to the corresponding App Support folder, you can modify the content of the .xctemplate to fit your needs.

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Now for the fact that you don’t have any xcodeproj in the xctemplate folder, this is because the project that is created by a Project Template is not defined using a xcodeproj file, but rather with keys in the TemplateInfo.plist file.

For example, in "Project Templates/Mac/Mac Base.xctemplate/TemplateInfo.plist" you can see a key named "Project" with subkeys "Configurations", "SDK", and "SharedSettings" that defines some Build Settings for the xcodeproj to be created by the template.

Moreover, be aware that templates have some kind of “inheritance” concept, each template being able to have “ancestors” that define common keys:

• Open the "TemplateInfo.plist" file and look at the "ancestors" key
• You will find here an array of identifiers for the ancestors of the selected template. For example, the "Cocoa Application.xctemplate" template have "com.apple.dt.unit.cocoaApplicationBase" as one of its ancestor.
• Then go and find the template whose identifier is the one found in the ancestor key (in my example, it is the "Cocoa Application Base.xctemplate" template, as in its TemplateInfo.plist you can see that its "Identifier" key is the "com.apple.dt.unit.cocoaApplicationBase" we saw above).

And You can go up like that until the base template, having some kind of “inheritence” for the template definition.