What’s New in Xcode 9

Eagerly waiting for the features of Xcode 9? Here it is. Apple has released Xcode 9, the newest version of its free integrated development environment (IDE) for building iOS application, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps.

With everything you need to create amazing apps for Apple platforms, Xcode 9 is unbelievably quick and consistently smooth while editing even the largest files. It also understands your code better than ever. Powerful new refactoring tasks happen in place, renaming symbols across Swift, Objective-C, and even user interface files without skipping a beat. And with source compatibility in Swift 4, Xcode 9 uses the same compiler to build existing Swift 3 code and updated Swift 4 code, so you can migrate at your own pace.

Brief About Xcode 9

• Xcode 9 requires a Mac running macOS 10.12.4 or later.
• Xcode 9 includes SDKs for iOS 11, watchOS 4, macOS 10.13, and tvOS 11.
• Xcode 9 supports running multiple concurrent versions of the Xcode app and of any associated tools such as Simulator. Xcode 9 can not run at the same time as earlier versions.

All New Editor

Xcode 9 has a brand new Source Editor, entirely written in Swift. In the new editor you can use the Fix interface to fix multiple issues at once. Also, when mousing around your projects, you can hold the Command key and visually see how structures in your code are organized.

The source code editor has been completely rebuilt for amazing speed. It scrolls at a constantly smooth rate, no matter the files size. And it looks better, too, with preferences that give you greater control over line spacing, multiple font styles, and even the type of cursor. Issues have been redesigned to flow nicely with your code with Fix-its that are grouped together so you can commit multiple changes in a single click.

You can now increase and decrease the source editor font using ⌘ with + and ⌘ with -. When text is selected, typing an opening delimiter adds a matching closing delimiter at the end of the selection.

Refactor and Transform

The new editor goes beyond text entry with a new built-in refactoring and transformation engine. When you select a symbol or block of code, the editor will offer powerful operations such as ‘Extract’ or ‘Rename.’

One of the most basic refactorings is to rename a class, and all references to that class in the project are renamed as well, including references in the Storyboard and the filename itself.

Xcode 9 supports the following transformations and refactorings:

• Add missing protocol requirements
• Generate missing implementation stubs
• Add missing overrides for abstract methods
• Extract to local variable
• Extract method / expression
• Expand default in switch statements to generate all applicable cases
• Convert if/else to / from switch statement
• Wrap string in NSLocalizedString macro

Project Navigator

Groups in the Project Navigator are now more closely associated with directories in the file system.

• Dragging files between groups in the Project Navigator now moves the files in the filesystem, and updates any associated SCM working copies.
• Creating, renaming, and deleting groups now performs the corresponding changes in the connected directory in the filesystem, if one is defined.
• Removing group’s connection to a directory in the filesystem can now be done in the file inspector by clicking on the clear (X) button.
• Changing an association to a file or group can now be done quickly by dragging and dropping the file or folder onto the “Location” section of the file inspector.

Source Control and GitHub

Xcode 9 now connects easily with your GitHub account making it very easy to see a list of your existing projects, clone projects, manage branches, use tags, and work with remotes.

With your GitHub account built into Xcode, the clone window shows all of your personal GitHub repositories, as well as all the repositories where you added a star. From this window, you can search all of GitHub and check out a project with just a click.

Swift 4

• Xcode 9 supports both Swift 3.2 and Swift 4.0, as controlled by the “Swift Language Version” build setting.
• The new Swift 4 compiler now understands Swift 3 code. You can easily move to Xcode 9 right away. Choose which part of your application are ready to move to Swift 4, and migrate the rest of your code later.
• Swift 4 and Swift 3 targets can be compiled together in the same project.
• Improved migrator experience that supports migrating only selected targets to Swift 4.

Debugging

• iOS devices and Apple TV can now be debugged over the network (Wireless debug). Wireless development also works in other apps, including Instruments, Accessibility Inspector, Quicktime Player, and Console.
• Simply click the ‘Connect via Network’ checkbox first time when you use a new iOS device, and that device will be available over the network from that point forward.

Faster

A new indexing engine runs as part of the build process, so Xcode understands your code automatically.

Searching large projects feels quick – up to 50 times faster. And a new build system dramatically lowers the overhead of tasks that coordinates compiler, linker, and other tools.

Simulators

• The new Simulator app is upgraded with faster launch times and a new look.
• With Xcode 9, you can run multiple simulators at the same time.
• Easily launch Simulator from the command-line, even when driving multiple instances
• In addition, each simulator being resizable, it also includes new bezel where you can simulate different hardware interactions that weren’t possible in the past.
• Simulator now provides a Share Extension. Photos and videos are imported into the device photo library. Locations or pins from Maps.app set the device’s simulated location. App bundles are installed. URLs are opened in Safari.
• Simulator.app can now attach to simulators started from the command line and detach from simulators without shutting them down. To detach when closing a device window or quitting the app, hold down Control. You will be asked whether to shut down or detach. A checkbox is provided to make whichever behavior you choose, is considered as the default.

Conclusion

With Xcode 9 and Xcode Server, we have almost everything in single place used to create apps for Apple TV, Apple Watch, iPad, iPhone, and Mac.
As we know and experienced that no softwares can be complete or can be in a finished version, there are many new great features included in this version of Xcode. So we should definitely go for it and experience it.

We, as a mobile app developer believe that using Xcode 9, development can be done faster and can be pushed ahead with the next strides.

In this article, we, 9series, have covered about what is new in Xcode 9. If you find any new features or might have experienced with existing one then feel free to share your own experience with us.