Podcast - The best bits of Xcode 14?
Season 4 Episode 12
- 25% Faster builds.
- 30% smaller download, this is most likely due to lack of included SDK’s and simulators. You can manage these after install easily.
- Notorization is 4 times faster.
- SwiftUI Canvas now runs in live preview mode by default. See updates without having to run the preview.
- A new feature called Swift Package Plugins allows you to create plugins that can be accessed directly in the project navigator and opens up options for new user created functionality in Xcode.
- As you scroll through the code editor there are now sticky headers that show scopes to remind you where you are working. So you no longer have to scroll to remember which function, class, or struct you are workin in. This is a nice improvement for those longer code files that can get rather deep in structure.
- A big improvement to the run destination selector is a recently used option that shows the most used simulators and devices. This saves hunting through the list when changing devices.
- Another improvement to the destination selector is a search filter box at the top of the list to easily filter down to what you want to see.
- You can command click on a function in the editor to view a list of callers and easily navigate to them.
- Light/Dark mode, device orientation and dynamic text can be easily changed using the new control in the live canvas view. No more coding or jumping to menus for alternate views.
- Build logs have a new view that shows you the build timeline. This can help identify bottlenecks and areas of slow build times for you to inspect and potentially improve.
- There is now the option to have one build target that supports multiple platforms. Instead of a target for each, you only have to specify the differences between the platform targets. I’ll go more into this in the future.
- Feedback reports from TestFlight can be viewed directly in Xcode along with the tester’s details making it easier to reach out to them directly with questions and conversation.
- There is a hang report that will show the biggest offenders from AppStore versions of your apps. This enables an easy view into the problems users are having including a backtrace and the ability to jump straight to the offending code.
- Generating different sized icons for the asset manager has always been a pain, now Xcode makes it a lot easier and much more automated. You can use a single image and select an option called ‘Single Size’ in the inspector to have Xcode generate the other icon sizes for you.
Affiliate Links mentioned
SetApp
Digital Ocean