How to bookmark code in XCode 4?

Question

I couldn't find a way to put a bookmark inside the code in XCode 4. I know about the #pragma mark thing but it's not what I'm looking for. What I need is something that I can put and remove with a mouse click and navigate amongst with next and previous, like in VS.

Is there anything that I'm missing?

Answer 1

2023 Update

Xcode 15 has a new Bookmark Navigator and associated bookmark features including task-like management and inline source annotations!

Old Answer

Bookmarks seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur in Xcode 4. This wouldn't have been so bad had the jump-to-bookmark popup above the editor in previous versions not also disappeared. The best replacement currently seems to be to use breakpoints (disabled individually, of course) and navigate with the Breakpoint Navigator.

Shortcut to breakpoints is Cmd + 8. Once there use arrow keys

File a bug report at http://bugreporter.apple.com if you feel something like this should be brought back.

Answer 2

You can install an Xcode plugin called "XBookmark".

This plugin provide features below :

• Toggle Bookmark
• Show Bookmarks
• Next Bookmark
• Previous Bookmark

How to install XBookmark:

1. Install Alcatraz.
2. Search XBookmark from Window->Package Manager and click Install.
3. Restart Xcode.

Now, you can see menus about bookmarks in the Edit Menu.

PS : This plugin is open source.

Answer 3

The simplest technique is to use a comment prepended by // TODO and then search, which allows you to jump through the issues from the navigator. Pretty hard to beat that technique.

I personally don't like using break points for bookmarks because it is not easy to enter notes. I use breakpoints as breakpoints, and prefer not to mix them up with bookmarks.

Anyhow, if you want to get a bit fancier you could get xcode to generate warnings // TODO: some message or // FIXME: some message that can be navigated in the issue navigator. I took the instructions below from this site:

Instructions

Head over to your project's item in the Project Navigator (usually at the very top) Find your target in the list of targets on the left, select it Head over to the "Build Phases" tab. Click the "Add Build Phase" in the bottom right of this screen. In the editor that appears insert the bash script shown below. Now just build and you'll see all your //TODO: and //FIXME: comments have become warnings. I love this technique, it might not be right for everyone, but hope it helps someone. Bash Script For "Run Script" Build Phase

KEYWORDS="TODO:|FIXME:|\?\?\?:|!!!:" find "${SRCROOT}" ( -name ".h" -or -name ".m" ) -print0 | xargs -0 egrep --with-filename --line-number --only-matching "($KEYWORDS).*\$" | perl -p -e "s/($KEYWORDS)/ warning: \$1/" You'll also be able to click on each of the warnings in the issue navigator to go right to the file and point in your code where you left the original //TODO: or //FIXME: Extra pro tip: Make sure you're using phrases to describe your //TODO: comments like //TODO: Handle this error gracefully, and things like that. The phrases will show up in the issues list beside each warning. Credit for the little tidbit should go to "Tim" on the Cocos2D forums, (found after Googling for a bit), I believe his solution originally was intended for Xcode 3 and didn't work if you had spaces in your path name, my script here doesn't have those restrictions, still he should get full credit here's his original post.

Answer 4

My method:

type in grammar error code in the previous line.....

After changing something in other place, I can go back to the previous place because the grammer error line will show a red line in the right side scroll bar. It indicate the place.

It is not elegant but unless there is a bookmark feature, this is the way i am using at the moment

Answer 5

In Xcode 4.4, if you leave a comment with this format:

// TODO: Your text here

it will be added as a listing in the jump bar alongside the list of methods in your current file, and then you can jump straight to that comment from that menu.

Answer 6

Write below comment in your source file that you want bookmarked.

 //<##>

And you can navigate to next / previous with: '^/' or '^?'

1. <##> means "placeholder of code snippet"
2. ^/ means "jump to next placeholder"
3. ^? means "jump to previous placeholder"

thanks

Answer 7

Another option, if anyone is still interested. The following directives will both produce a compiler warning that you can use as a bookmark:

#pragma message "<# message #>"

or

#warning <# message #>

If you want to place bookmarks using your mouse: create a code snippet with one of the 2 directives above. Drag & drop it to the line in your source file that you want bookmarked.

Navigate to next/previous with: Cmd-' and Cmd-Shift-'

Answer 8

Like npellow's answer to this question of mine, appCode by JetBrains has also made this possible. So, this may be another reason to use appCode instead of Xcode4, except that it won't be free later in time.