Code: https://github.com/everettjf/XBookmark

Effect

Usage

First, install the plugin manager Alcatraz, search for XBookmark and install it. After restarting Xcode, you can find the following features in the Edit menu.

- For the corresponding code line, press F3 to add/remove bookmark
- Shift+F3, show bookmark list
- Command+F3, next bookmark
- Shift+Ctrl+F3, previous bookmark

Background

As a beginner in iOS development, I found that the bookmark feature I commonly used in Visual Studio doesn’t exist in Xcode. After searching online, there are roughly the following alternatives:

- Use breakpoints (Disabled Breakpoint)
- Use plugin XToDo, add tag BOOKMARK, and add comment BOOKMARK on the code line where you want to add a bookmark
- Use plugin XcodeBookmark (not the XBookmark mentioned in this article), but this plugin doesn't seem to support Xcode 7, and the principle is still to assist in adding breakpoints.

I found these 3 methods, but none of them felt ideal. You can’t quickly switch to previous/next bookmark, and you can’t add bookmark comments. So, I wanted to develop one myself, let’s call it XBookmark.

Reference Articles

During development, I roughly read the following articles.

Xcode plugin articles:

http://studentdeng.github.io/blog/2014/02/21/xcode-plugin-fun/ http://www.poboke.com/study/write-a-xcode-plugin-to-auto-select-all-targets.html http://www.onevcat.com/2013/02/xcode-plugin/

Mac development articles:

http://www.raywenderlich.com/17811/how-to-make-a-simple-mac-app-on-os-x-10-7-tutorial-part-13

I also looked at several plugin source codes.

Brief Summary of Development Steps

Install Template, Create Project

Search for Xcode Plugin in Templates in Alcatraz. After installation, create project from this template.

XcodePluginTemplate XcodePluginCreate

NSMenuItem *menuItem = [[NSApp mainMenu] itemWithTitle:@"Edit"];
if (menuItem) {
    [[menuItem submenu] addItem:[NSMenuItem separatorItem]];
    
    {
        NSMenuItem *actionMenuItem = [[NSMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Toggle Bookmark" action:@selector(toggleBookmark) keyEquivalent:f3];
        [actionMenuItem setKeyEquivalentModifierMask:0];
        [actionMenuItem setTarget:self];
        [[menuItem submenu] addItem:actionMenuItem];
    }
    //...

Get Bookmark Position

IDESourceCodeEditor* editor = [XcodeUtil currentEditor];
NSTextView* textView = editor.textView;
if (nil == textView)
    return;

NSRange range = [textView.selectedRanges[0] rangeValue];
NSUInteger lineNumber = [[[textView string]substringToIndex:range.location]componentsSeparatedByString:@"\n"].count;

// length of "file://" is 7
NSString *sourcePath = [[editor.sourceCodeDocument.fileURL absoluteString] substringFromIndex:7];

XBookmarkEntity *bookmark = [[XBookmarkEntity alloc]initWithSourcePath:sourcePath withLineNumber:lineNumber];
[[XBookmarkModel sharedModel]toggleBookmark:bookmark];

//...

Add Bookmark List

XBookmarkList

Publish to Alcatraz

Pretty simple, modify the configuration file and create a Pull Request. See README at https://github.com/supermarin/alcatraz-packages.

Conclusion

Currently only basic functionality is completed, there are still several areas that need optimization and improvement.

Locate code line. (Code from XToDo, but in some cases positioning is slow. Need to find the cause and fix it)
Bookmark indicator. Display bookmark symbol in front of code line, like a checkmark.
Comment functionality. (Add bookmark comment feature)
Mnemonic bookmarks. (Imitate IntelliJ series)

Update October 31, 2015

Thanks to a netizen who provided the JumpMarks plugin (if I had known about this plugin, I might not have developed XBookmark), this plugin implements quick code line positioning and adding markers in front of code lines. But it doesn’t provide a bookmark list (fortunately XBookmark has some differences).

After learning from JumpMarks’ code, XBookmark recently released two versions (0.2 and 0.3), thanks to JumpMarks author.

Version 0.2, implemented quick code line positioning.
Version 0.3, added shortcut key customization and indicators in front of code lines.

The process of developing XBookmark was very enjoyable, first time merging a Pull Request (thanks to https://github.com/langyapojun for solving the Xcode 7 support issue), never developed public tools before (head-down development, 5 years passed in a blink), this year trying to change, contributing some code to open source.

Regarding the Xcode 7 support issue, I’m quite puzzled. I’ve been developing with Xcode 7 all along (upgraded from Xcode 6 to Xcode 7), why can it work normally without that id? I need to research this…

Update January 24, 2017

Now supports Xcode 8. Imitates XVim’s installation method (resign Xcode, then make).

Xcode Bookmark Plugin XBookmark Notes