Xcode Cheat Sheet for SwiftUI – Efficiency Hack

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Master These Keyboard Shortcuts for Increased Productivity

SwiftUI is a powerful tool for building user interfaces on Apple platforms, and one of the ways to make the most of it is by using keyboard shortcuts. Increase your productivity when coding with Xcode and SwiftUI by mastering these essential keyboard shortcuts. Learn how to navigate, edit, and preview faster with this efficiency hack. Here are some of the most useful shortcuts that will help you work faster and more efficiently in SwiftUI:

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Quick documentation

Option + Click (⌥ Click)

This shortcut opens the quick documentation for the selected element.

Resume the preview / Refresh the preview

Option + Command + P (⌥ ⌘ P)

Toggle Show/hide the preview

Option + Command + return (⌥ ⌘ ↩)

Change SwiftUI preview devices/destination

Control + Shift + 0 (⌃ ⇧ 0)

Navigate to next/previous preview destination

Control + Shift + Command + [ (⌃ ⇧ ⌘ [)

Control + Shift + Command + ] (⌃ ⇧ ⌘ ])

Open SwiftUI library of controls or modifiers

This shortcut opens the SwiftUI library, which is a useful tool for finding and inserting UI elements.

Shift + Command + L (⇧ ⌘ L)

Shift + Command + [ (⇧ ⌘ [)

Shift + Command + ] (⇧ ⌘ ])

Open Quick Actions menu of an element

Command + Click (⌘ Click)

Present/Hide right side inspectors for the SwiftUI view

File inspector

Option + Command + 1 (⌥ ⌘ 1)

History inspector

Option + Command + 2 (⌥ ⌘ 2)

Quick Help inspector

Option + Command + 3 (⌥ ⌘ 3)

Attributes inspector

Option + Command + 4 (⌥ ⌘ 4)

Hide

Option + Command + 0(⌥ ⌘ 0)

Get quick access to the attribute inspector of a view

Control + Option + Click (⌃ ⌥ Click)

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By using these keyboard shortcuts, you can work more efficiently in SwiftUI, saving you valuable time and allowing you to focus on the important aspects of building your user interface. Please take a look at the general-purpose Xcode Cheat Sheet

Top tips to improve the development speed of UI in Xcode for SwiftUI

  1. Use Xcode’s Preview feature to see changes in real-time as you code, rather than building and running the app each time.
  2. Make use of the built-in UI components and modifiers in SwiftUI, rather than creating custom views.
  3. Take advantage of the declarative syntax in SwiftUI, which allows for less code and fewer bugs.
  4. Use the live preview feature in Xcode to see the changes in real-time as you code.
  5. Create a UI design system and re-use components throughout your app.
  6. Utilize the environment variable feature in SwiftUI to manage global states of the app.
  7. Use the layout system in SwiftUI to minimize the use of manual layout code.
  8. Take advantage of the property wrappers feature in SwiftUI to reduce the amount of boilerplate code.
  9. Use the power of Combine framework in SwiftUI to handle and manage data flow in a reactive way.
  10. Take advantage of the power of animation and transition in SwiftUI to improve user experience.
  11. Use the accessibility feature in SwiftUI to make your app more accessible and user-friendly.
  12. Avoid the use of third-party libraries as much as possible and try to stick to the built-in features of SwiftUI.
  13. Take advantage of the power of the new canvas feature in Xcode 12+ to debug and debug your layout with ease.
  14. Avoid using UIViewRepresentable and UIViewControllerRepresentable as much as possible, as they can slow down the development speed.
  15. Take advantage of the Xcode 12+ features that allow you to preview your design on different devices and screen sizes, in dark mode and light mode, in different languages and localizations, in different accessibility settings, in different dynamic type settings, in different accessibility sizes, in different color schemes, in different layout directions, in different aspect ratios, in different font sizes and in different text styles.


✍️ Written by Ishtiak Ahmed

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