How to Build a Notes App with Xcode and AI

Welcome to this beginner-friendly tutorial on how to build a fully functional Notes app using Xcode and Alex, an AI assistant for iOS development. We will go step by step through the process, from project setup to the final polish. So, let's get started!

1. Overview

What we're building: We will build a simple Notes app where users can create, read, update, and delete notes. The notes will persist locally on the device.

Prerequisites: You will need the following tools:

Xcode: Download here
Alex: Start a Free Trial

2. Implementation Steps

Project Setup & Planning

Step 1: Creating a New Xcode Project

Start Xcode and click on "Create a new Xcode project". Once the project is created, we can begin by defining our data models and basic UI.

Step 2: Planning App Features & Outlining Basic UI/UX

We'll need:

A list view for all notes
A detail view to create/edit notes
A model to represent each note

Start manually by creating a simple data model:

struct Note: Identifiable, Codable {
  let id: UUID
  var title: String
  var content: String
}

If you're unsure about what to include, you can describe your model in natural language to Alex. For example: “Create a Swift struct for Note with title and content as Strings and a UUID identifier.”

Core Features

Step 3: Building UI with SwiftUI

Now it's time to build our user interface. We'll need a screen for listing the notes and another for creating/editing them.

List(notes) { note in
  Text(note.title)
}

Alex can quickly generate a basic layout for us. For example, you can say, "Generate a List view with each row showing the note's title".

Next, add a view for creating and editing notes:

struct NoteEditorView: View {
  @Binding var note: Note
 
  var body: some View {
    Form {
      TextField("Title", text: $note.title)
      TextEditor(text: $note.content)
    }
  }
}

You can build this manually, and then ask Alex to help you make it more beatiful, or simply ask Alex to help you set up the basic UI.

Step 4: Wiring up logic and user interactions

We need to implement the logic that will allow the user to create, update, or delete notes. With Alex, you can quickly generate this logic. For example, "Create a function to add a new Note to the array".

Data & Storage

Step 5: Persisting Data Locally

Our app needs to save notes so they're still there when the user closes and reopens the app. We can use UserDefaults and Codable for this. If you're unsure how to set this up, ask Alex, "How do I save my notes array to UserDefaults using Codable?" Use UserDefaults and Codable to persist notes:

func saveNotes(_ notes: [Note]) {
  if let data = try? JSONEncoder().encode(notes) {
    UserDefaults.standard.set(data, forKey: "savedNotes")
  }
}
 
func loadNotes() -> [Note] {
  if let data = UserDefaults.standard.data(forKey: "savedNotes"),
     let savedNotes = try? JSONDecoder().decode([Note].self, from: data) {
    return savedNotes
  }
  return []
}

Step 6: Managing state and updates

We will use @State and @ObservedObject to manage our app's state and updates.

Step 7: Adding animations and handling states

Add some animations to improve user experience and handle loading and error states. Feel free to ask Alex for advice on improving your code structure or optimizing redundant logic.

3. Next Steps

Now that you've built a basic notes app, consider adding more features like tagging, searching, or note sorting. Check out Apple's SwiftUI Tutorials or Alex's Documentation for more learning resources.

4. Conclusion

Congratulations! You've built a functioning Notes app using Xcode and Alex. This tutorial showed you how Alex can streamline the development process, from setting up the project to refining the final product. Give it a try yourself at Alex with a free trial. Happy coding!