Working with Builds, Schemes, and Workspaces - Xcode 4 - page 297

Build: Builds one or more targets—in other words, creates their products, but doesn't launch, process, or
use them in any other way. This action is the master action. It's an essential first step and is performed auto-
matically by all other actions. You also can run it manually with the Project⇒Build option in the main Xcode
menu.
Run: Builds and runs the app in the debugger. This is the default action, triggered when you click the big
Run button in the main Xcode toolbar.
Test: Builds and runs the unit testing features described in Chapter 17. If the project doesn't include a
unit testing target, this action does nothing.
Profile: Builds, launches the Instruments profiling and testing application described in Chapter 16, and
loads the app into it.
Analyze: Builds and runs the code analyzer described in Chapter 15. Although a full build may not be
necessary for code analysis, Xcode runs the Build action anyway.
Archive: Builds and packages an app ready for distribution, adding it to the Archive list in the Organizer
(introduced in Chapter 10). This option is accessible only through the Product menu and isn't included in
the toolbar pop-up.
The easy way to get started with schemes is to click and hold the master Build button at the top left of the
Xcode toolbar. You see four of the actions in the pop-up list, as shown in Figure 12.11. You can select from the
full list of actions under the Product header in the main Xcode menu.
You can use these build actions without changing them, but you also can customize them. At the very least, you
should be familiar with the action options, because they interact with Xcode's main menu, build configurations,
and build settings in ways that aren't obvious.
NOTE
You can't easily create your own custom build actions. The standard actions are hardwired into Xcode, and you
can't extend or modify the list directly. Expert developers can create their own customized build scripts and run
them from the command line, but this takes them out of the Xcode environment.
FIGURE 12.11
Selecting a build action from the toolbar