Cannot find window-based application on XCode

Question

I am using XCode 4.2 and for some reason I cannot find the template for window-based application. Is there an extra step that I need to take here?

Answer 1

There is no longer a Window-based Application template starting from Xcode 4.2.

You have two other choices of "bare-bones" templates:

• View-based Application template, which gives you a view on a storyboard to start with. It is similar to the one found in previous versions, except the view now resides on a storyboard which Xcode 4.2 makes use of.

• Empty Application template, but you'll have to manually create and wire up a window nib file if you want to design your application in Interface Builder. It's nothing more than a trivial extra step, though.

If you can't make use of storyboards (e.g. to deploy to iOS 4 and earlier), you most likely need to go with the empty template. For the main window, just make a new Interface Builder file and assign it as your project target's Main Window.

Answer 2

Here are two very useful links:

1. The first one is a discussion on the Big Nerd Ranch forum where they discuss this issue - that the XCode 4.2 has done away with the Windows-template. They have a Template that you can use to add the "Windows-template" to your XCode installation. I have NOT tried this approach but you can try.

   http://forums.bignerdranch.com/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3336

2. As you dig through this thread - you will come on another site. This a blog post by Jeroen Trappers - on how to "manually" add the missing elements to an "Empty-application" template to make it "Window-template". I have followed these steps and they worked very well for me. In the process of going through these steps it does help you understand what is going on behind the scenes.Here is the URL to the post:

   http://www.trappers.tk/site/2011/06/16/mainwindow-xib/