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Xcode 3 had a very good feature of horizontal and vertical split screen wherein you could have worked on multiple files in the same window. xCode 4 has a split screen feature in the Editor but I think there are two things lacking:

  1. Inability to switch files in the second window through project navigator (left pane).
  2. Cannot split the main screen horizontally.

Any ideas on how this can be achieved? The split feature

Thanks, Raj

Keith Smiley
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Raj Pawan Gumdal
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4 Answers4

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First, you can change the layout/placement of the Assistant under the View > Assistant Layout menu. This includes placing all assistant windows in the same "column" as the main editor.

Second, you cannot split the main editor. That's what the assistant is for in Xcode 4.

Third, Assistant windows aren't controlled by the main editor unless they're in one of the automatic modes that base their selection upon the main editor's. The only way to navigate them independently is to use their Jump Bar at the top of each assistant panel.

Update

One tip I just remembered: Option-click a file in navigator to open a file in the assistant; Opt-Shift-Click to be prompted in a popup window where to open the new file (double-click an area to choose it or double-click the + sign to add a new area).

Joshua Nozzi
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    That answers my question, basically I was not sure if main editor could be split or not! Navigation in assistant window is really difficult in big projects and this fact sucks! Hope Apple eases this pain in 4.1 perhaps? – Raj Pawan Gumdal Apr 01 '11 at 06:26
  • This is unlikely to change. In addition to the assistant, the main source editor could be split in earlier beta versions. I think it was removed and the Assistant expanded in DP 6. Just updated with a tip I remembered. – Joshua Nozzi Apr 01 '11 at 11:22
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    option + click, thats helpful, Thanks! – Raj Pawan Gumdal Apr 06 '11 at 07:00
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    I just discovered another one from this: If you use Cmd+shift+o for "open quickly" and then hold the option key before selecting the file you want, it automatically creates the split view and opens the second file in it! – Lou Zell Nov 20 '11 at 00:32
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    Have a look at the latest (v5) betas in the Navigation preferences pane. Great new feature that makes the above answer not so bad to deal with. – Joshua Nozzi Sep 12 '13 at 17:40
  • XCode 5: by default, Option-Click on a filename in the Project pane replaces the contents of the Assistant Editor (the pane on the right). Navigation Preferences allow Option-Click to split the right pane horizontally and display the contents there. Keyboard shortcut Cmd-Opt-. does the same for the Main editor contents when focussed. – Brent Faust Apr 25 '14 at 20:20
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A bit late in the game, but here is a cool way to open your files in different placement configurations (e.g. new window split, new tab, etc.):

Key-combination:

Shift + Command + Option + ,

The above allows you to choose between multiple layouts. Click on the + signs to extend the layout shown on the screen.

Milad M
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There is an option for which editor Navigation uses. It is in the general tab of the preferences dialog, and is called Navigation. It can be either "Use Primary Editor" or "Use Focused Editor" So you can open the assistant editor to get a split screen and then have any file in either split. Not exactly split screen but close.

John
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@Joshua Nozzi

In case you haven't discovered this yet. In 4.2 if you look at the top of the right scroll bar in edit mode you will see a small square icon. Click on it to get a split view horizontally.

hodji
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