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Creating the Currency Converter Project

Every Cocoa application starts life as a project. A project is a repository for all the elements that go into the application, such as source code files, frameworks, libraries, the application’s user interface, sounds, and images. You use the Xcode application to create and manage your project.

The following sections cover the steps necessary to create the Currency Converter project.

In this section:

Open Xcode
Choose the New Project Command
Choose a Project Type

Open Xcode

To open Xcode:

1. In the Finder, go to /Developer/Applications.

2. Double-click the icon, shown in Figure 1-1.

The first time you start Xcode, it asks you a few setup questions. The default values should work for the majority of users.

Choose the New Project Command

When Xcode is launched, only its menu bar appears. To create a project, choose New Project from the File menu. The New Project Assistant appears.

Choose a Project Type

Xcode can build several types of applications, including everything from Carbon and Cocoa applications to Mac OS X kernel extensions and Mac OS X frameworks. For this tutorial, select Cocoa-Java Application and click Next, as shown in Figure 1-2.

1. Type Currency Converter in the Project Name field, as shown in Figure 1-3.

   
   

   Figure 1-3  Entering a project’s name and choosing its location in Xcode New Project Assistant

   

2. Click Choose to navigate to the directory where you want your project to be stored. The drop-down menu next to the Project Directory text field eventually fills up with your frequently used directories. Use this to save time in the future.

3. Click Finish.

When you click Finish, Xcode creates the project’s files and displays the project window, shown in Figure 1-4.

The Groups & Files list is comprised of all the source files, images, and other resources that make up a project. These files are grouped in the project group, the first item in the Groups & Files list; this group is named after the project. The project’s files are grouped into subgroups, such as Classes, Other Sources, Resources, and so on, as shown in Figure 1-4. These groups are very flexible in that they do not necessarily reflect either the on-disk layout of the project or the way the build system handles it. They are purely for organizing your project. The groups created by Xcode should be suitable for most developers, but you can rearrange them however you like.

These are the groups Xcode sets up for Cocoa-Java applications:

• Classes. This group is empty at first. However, you can place in it the classes required by your application.

• Other Sources. This group contains the main.m file, which implements the main routine. This routine starts the application. (You shouldn’t have to modify this file.) This group also contains Currency Converter_Prefix.h. This “prefix header” helps Xcode reduce the compilation time of C-based source files. This is not important for this tutorial.

• Resources. This group contains the nib files and other resources that specify the application’s user interface. “What Is a Nib File?” describes nib files.

• Frameworks. This group contains the frameworks (which are similar to packages) that the application uses.

• Products. This group contains the results of project builds and is automatically populated with references to the products created by each target in the project.

Below the project group are other groups, including smart groups. Smart groups—identified by the purple folders on the left side of the column—allow you to sort the project’s files using custom rules in a way similar to using smart playlists in iTunes.

These are some of the other groups in the Groups & Files list:

• Targets. Lists all the end results of your builds. This group usually contains one target, such as an application or a framework, but it can consist of multiple items.

• Executables. Contains all the the executable products your project creates.

• Errors and Warnings. Displays the errors and warnings encountered in your project when you perform a build.

Curious folks might want to look in the project directory to see what kind of files it contains. Among the project files are:

English.lproj

A directory containing resources localized to the English language. In this directory are nib files automatically created for the project. You may find other directories containing localized resources, such as Dutch.lproj.

main.m

An Objective-C file, generated for each project, that contains the entry-point code for the application.

Currency Converter.xcodeproj

This file contains information that defines the project. It should not be modified directly. You can open your project by double-clicking this file in the Finder.

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