Spotlight Importer for Mac document based app

I'd like to create a spotlight importer to make the contents of my Mac app's JSON based documents visible to spotlight.


https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/MDImporters/Concepts/WritingAnImp.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001275-CJBEJBHH


The instructions on building a Spotlight importer indicate that "Xcode provides a project template", however it seems to be missing from Xcode 10. Can someone help me with a sample project?

Replies

The instructions on building a Spotlight importer indicate that "Xcode provides a project template", however it seems to be missing from Xcode 10.

Indeed. Creating a new Spotlight importer is tricky because they are based on

CFPlugIn
, and
CFPlugIn
is… well, how to say this diplomatically?… super ugly )-: One option here is to use Xcode 9 to create your plug-in based on the old template. Honestly though, I don’t recommend that because the old template… again, diplomatically… well, let’s just say that the old template lets the true nature of
CFPlugIn
shine through! (-:

I have some techniques that really help but, alas, they’re insufficiently polished to share here. Please drop me a line via email.

Alternatively, if you open a DTS tech support incident I will be able to provide detailed help on a one-to-one basis.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"