XCode Version 4.x Python/Cocoa Template

A "re-imagining" of an original template set provided by Apple during the XCode 3 days. It's been so long since I had my hands on the original Apple provided templates that I cannot remember how much of this came from Apple's templates and how much was (re-)created from scratch with no obvious references. Safe to say it is a mix of sorts.

###XCode 5 Support Available### XCode 5 support is now available although not terribly well tested. Please checkout the xcode5 branch for a version of the templates that is compatible with XCode 5.

##Introduction## PyObjc is a development library that bridges the Objective-C object model on to the Python object model thus allowing Python classes to subclass NSObject (and ancestors of NSObject of course) and call objc methods almost as though they were native Python objects (a few minor caveats are necessary due to fundamental differences between the two) as well as allowing Python code to access some of the native "Cocoa" primitives as though they were Python primitives (NSString -> unicode, NSDictionary -> dict, NSArray -> list, NSSet -> set, etc). Additionally, glue is included for the common Apple frameworks such as AppKit and Foundation, but it's also quite trivial to reference just about any type of Objective-C object at runtime, even those without pre-determined signatures.

This tool makes it possible to write OSX applications natively in Python, which is something commonly done (these days) with py2app, however what py2app lacks is the ability to use Python for rapid prototyping of (ultimately) native OSX apps. This is where the template comes in, it allows exactly this, i.e. writing applications using XCode, just as most would in a completely native environment.

Apple originally provided template(s) very much like this in the XCode 3 days, but they were pulled as of XCode 4 for unknown reasons. Some time after this happened I stumbled upon the need to port something using the original templates to XCode 4 and thus this project was born, however some of it I had to do from memory and this is why I dub it a "re-imagining" above.

##Installation## Installation on XCode 4 is simple (sorry, prior versions of XCode are not supported for obvious reasons):

1. Unzip into your personal Library/Developer folder, creating Developer if it doesn't exist. Unzipping into the system /Library folder is not advised.

2. Start XCode and create a new project. You should see a new section and project type representing the template. Click this and everything will be layed out including an empty application delegate python object with a method for awakeFromNib.

###New Objects### A file template is also included which will establish a new python file representing a class which inherits NSObject (by default). This aligns well with the general OSX/IOS development philosophy of "one source file per class", although it isn't strictly required by any means.