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Customizing Xcode to Your Liking

Xcode gives you options galore; you won't change any of them until you have a bit more programming experience under your belt, but a few options are actually worth thinking about now.

  1. With Xcode open, choose Xcode → Preferences from the main menu.
  2. Click the Debugging tab to display the Debugging pane.
    The Xcode Preferences window refreshes to show the Debugging pane.
  3. Open the On Start pop-up menu and choose Show Console. Then click Apply. This step automatically opens the Console after you build your app, so you won't have to take the extra step of opening the Console to see your app's output.
  4. Click the Building tab to show the Building pane.
  5. In the Build Results Window section of the Building pane, choose either the On Errors option or the Always option from the Open During Builds pop-up menu. Then click Apply. The On Errors choice opens the Build Results window whenever an error occurs. The Always choice opens the window and keeps it open. (Some people find that having the Build Results window onscreen all the time makes it easier to find and fix errors.)
  6. Click the Documentation tab.
    You may have to scroll the tabs horizontally to see the Documentation tab.
  7. Select the Check for and Install Updates Automatically check box and then click the Check and Install Now button.
    This step ensures that the documentation remains up-to-date and also allows you to load and access other documentation.
  8. Click OK to close the Xcode Preferences window.

Tip: Set the tab width and other formatting options in the Indentation pane of the Preferences window.

You can also have the Text Editor show line numbers. If you click Text Editing in the Xcode Preferences toolbar to show the Text Editing pane, you can select the Show Line Numbers check box under Display Options.

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