How do you create a basic TemplateInfo.plist file with Ancestors and specific frameworks? - xcode

Question

Whenever I create a new project I add my own class files -often the same ones. It has become tedious to manually create these over and over. I want an automatic way to do this. I discovered custom Project Templates and I'm not sure if they are well documented by Apple.
I can create a cocos2D project with my custom classes and it works wonders. The problem is when I create a basic empty application with my custom classes.
Basically okay I'll give a little context. See my TemplateInfo.plist: This works. Note the "Ancestors" part. Here's how I interpret it: this inherits from cocos2d templates and does things like:
add necessary frameworks
adds cocos2D things like the splash image
other project-specific things
Now I don't know where these ancestor templates are or what format they are in, so I can't yet break down the individual things and say "OK I want the frameworks they include but not the launch image," but that's essentially what I want to do. I want to start with the most basic template and build from there manually.
I discovered that I can add specific frameworks in the "Targets" area. But before tackling that, I have a question: What Ancestors do I use, so that it does not use the Cocos2D base templates? I want the most basic thing.
1) Try removing all Ancestors and create a new Project and Xcode won't let you name the project and it crashes.
2) Try including only the Ancestors for the Default Empty Application: com.apple.dt.unit.cocoaTouchApplication
And it adds the correct frameworks:
Foundation
CoreGraphics
UIKit
XCTest
which is cool. However I noticed it overrides my Prefix.pch with a [Project-Name]-Prefix.pch and my project does not compile because I include a Debug Logger statement in my custom Prefix.ch like this:
#ifdef DEBUG
#define DLog(...) NSLog(__VA_ARGS__)
I figure this is the "com.apple.dt.unit.cocoaTouchApplication" ancestor doing its thing, and I want custom behavior that's different.
Is there a list of Ancestors somewhere that I can look at? Or is there a way I can look at the specific settings defined in "com.apple.dt.unit.cocoaTouchApplication" (if that even makes sense)?
Has anyone else run into this? What techniques do you use? Does anyone wish for an easier way to do this? Or is it better to create files manually every time?
I'm spinning wheels and any insight would be helpful. Thanks.

Answer 1

I figured it out. Searching through Xcode's default templates, I found one that uses basic ancestors. I used the following two:
And in Targets you can easily add the frameworks you want to include:
There are many little quirks like how to include an Info.plist file and Prefix.pch file and how to get it to rename properly (and replace the default one placed by the template). I am creating a video tutorial to show all these things in detail.
Creating your own custom templates is quite satisfying. Saves a lot of time and hassle when beginning new projects.