Debugging your Xcode plugin

Today I discovered how to use Xcode to debug itself, and therefore also, my plugins!

In some of my other articles I talked about how to build and deploy your Xcode plugin by pressing ⌘-B, restarting Xcode, and watching /var/log/system.log. That works, but is very slow and tedious.

However, I discovered today that you can edit the Run phase of your plugin’s scheme to start a new copy of Xcode that has your plugin in it. To do this, edit your scheme:

and in the Run phase, set the Executable to Xcode.app.

Now, when you press ⌘-R (or click on the play icon for your plugin), a new copy of Xcode will be launched and will stop on breakpoints within your plugin.

How exciting!

All articles in this series

• Creating an Xcode4 plugin
• Common Plugin Techniques
• Introducing XcodeExplorer
• Checking out the Xcode controls
• Debugging your Xcode plugin