macOS Duplicating a Project

Again with the file system, oy!

larswik said:

I just finished my Experience Point Calculator for gaming (with much help from this board). I want to go through and clean up code and maybe add a few things but I don't want to mess with the original project.

Whats the best way of duplicating a project? I ask because I know there is the source folder that I copy things into and I don't know if those things will get duplicated too.

Is there a standard way of making a copy of the whole project and renaming it version 2 for instance?

-Lars

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Again you're going to the file system as your default method of interacting with your data. In this case you have Xcode, think of Xcode as an umbrella that controls your data - pretend you can't see your files. Xcode unfortunately doesn't have a "duplicate project" command that I'm aware of.

But Xcode does have access to source control methods, like Git and Subversion. Both of those will do what you want. Unfortunately, learning either of those is too big of a topic for right now, although you'll want to learn one or the other at some point.

So I'm back to using the file system to duplicate the project. Find the folder that contains the (projectname).xcodeproj file. Duplicate that folder, go in and change the file name of the duplicated (projectname).xcodeproj file. Then open that new .xcodeproj in Xcode. And hope that you didn't have any indirect references to files in your original project.

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I would just like to echo PatrickCocoa's point in the middle of his post.

Get with SVN or Git earlier rather than later. Make it part of your workflow even for the simple stuff, so that when things aren't so simple you already have experience and "good habits".

B

larswik said:

I have seen "SVN or Git" but I don't even know what they are yet in my learning curve.

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SVN or Git is basically Time Machine on steroids for code projects (or pretty much anything else that is largely text files).

Both integrate in quite easily into Xcode so they integrate easily into your workflow.

EDIT: Here's some documentation from the Xcode Users Guide http://developer.apple.com/library/....html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40010215-CH7-SW12 and a link to a hosted SVN/Git provider I use myself. http://beanstalkapp.com

larswik said:

Learning C was a piece of cake compared to Object- C. Not because its easier, but because Object-C is so much bigger. I think Jim said something like you don't learn the whole thing but you can look everything up.

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I think you are referring to the anecdote I posted again recently here: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12883802/

I still think it bears repeating:

Cocoa in a Nutshell said:

It's practically impossible to know Cocoa inside and out. There was once a discussion between two programmers about Cocoa's large APIs: one was a veteran Perl programmer, the other a Cocoa programmer. The Perl programmer grumbled about the intimidating and verbose Cocoa APIs, saying there was simply too much to remember. Bemused, the Cocoa programmer retorted: “You don't remember Cocoa; you look it up!”

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All the best with your free-code and getting back into more structured work at CC in the fall.

B

larswik said:

I'm thinking of getting this book http://www.amazon.com/Cocoa-Recipes-Mac-OS-X/dp/0201878011 It seems to guide you through a large project and not small tutorials. But everything is Xcode 3 still.

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You want the 2nd edition. http://www.amazon.com/Cocoa-Recipes-Mac-OS-2nd/dp/0321670418.

I read through this book for the same reason of having one project which evolves. Although, I would take book with a grain of salt. I can't remember specifics, but I do remember deviating from what the book did, because I didn't think it was right to do it that way.