How to customize ViewController template file for Xcode?

Question

I want to add some stuff to the built-in UIViewController template for new Projects (for example, keyboard dismissal methods). I found this question that explains how to go into the Xcode bundle, and modify a particular class template. However, when I make a new iOS Project, the particular template that I find in the iPhoneOS folder is slightly different from the one that is actually used, and of course, my modifications to the template don't take effect (after restarting Xcode to make sure). (FYI, I am selecting iOS / Single View template to start the Project.)

Then, of course, how do you protect the customizations you make from updates to Xcode? I assume when the .app bundle is overwritten by a download from the App Store, it will overwrite all the templates?

Answer 1

You need to create a custom Xcode project template and tell that project template to use your customized ViewController file. Creating custom project templates is a royal pain and too large a subject to cover completely in an answer here. What I can answer here is where to place your custom templates so they don't get overwritten by Xcode updates. Place your custom project templates in the following folder:

/Users/Username/Library/Developer/Xcode/Templates/Project Templates/GroupName

Where GroupName is the group name on the left side of the New Project Assistant. You can create your own group name or use one of the existing group names.

A Google search for Xcode custom project templates uncovered the following article for Xcode 7 on the first page of results:

How to Create Custom Project Templates in Xcode 7

I wrote everything I know about creating custom Xcode project templates in the following article:

Creating Custom Xcode 4 Project Templates