Make command-line application for jailbroken iphone - iphone

I looking for some tools to make application for jailbroken iPhone.
In my application, I need to run another application (Unix-command line with parameters).
Maybe, somebody can advice me some developer tools or libraries, because I think, that XCode is not very useful tool for these purposes.
Thanks.

you could check out iOS Open Dev
or start reading iphonedevwiki
but, you can certainly write apps with XCode (and maybe some scripts to postprocess your app ... fake code sign and install with dpkg), that issue system() calls.
you may need privilege escalation depending on what you're trying to do

Related

Killing an app on a jailbroken iPhone

I am currently trying to build an app that will kill other apps on my jailbroken iPhone. I would like my app to be able to kill apps even when my app is in the background. I only have one problem though I can not find a kill command to do this. I am a newer programmer so as many details as you can give would be appreciated.
Thank You
A very simple way (untested, but should work):
system("killall \"NAME-OF-EXECUTABLE\"");
Generally speaking, however, I would recommend using a branch of the exec functions instead of system to perform this task.

Is there a tool to Automate iPhone testing without Jailbreaking it ? (except UI Automation)

Is there a tool to perform functional and regression test on iPhone without jailbreaking it ?
I have worked with UI Automation (ios4) but it is not extensive. DA, Perfecto are remote and slow, plus too costly.
Squish, Fonemonkey, UISpec needs the app code to be integrated with tool which is again not feasible when i have only the app file.
So is there a way to sort this out ?
Other options include Appium, Calabash, Frank, and Zucchini.
If you have the code then you can test it with Xcode Instrumant for all kind of testing.
If you don't have any code then you can use both build file and provisioning certificate to install it in your iPhone device.
For all testing purpose i always prefer device testing rather than depending upon 3rd party tools.

Running python/ruby script on iPhone?

From the recent news from the Apple, I learned that one has to use C/C++/Objective-C for iPhone App. Accordingly, it's not possible to use MacPython or similar to make iPhone App.
But as the python/ruby interpreter itself is written in C, isn't it OK to make python/ruby interpreter for iPhone to run the scripts on iphone?
Is this possible? Does Apple support this? Or does someone implemented this? Or, the user should hack to do this?
Added
I don't distribute the python script, I just use it for my own utility. Even in this case, do I need a jailbreak? I mean, can I compile the python with Xcode to get the binary? Or, I expect someone has already done this.
Apple recently changed their policy on this and allowed a python interpreter App called Python for iOS to be put up on the App store:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/python-for-ios/id485729872?mt=8&uo=4
Full disclosure: I am the sole creator/developer of Python for iOS.
At present not at all. Apple licenses forbid to run any intepreter on it, and this is even before iPhone OS 4. You can make an intepreter by jailbreaking it but it won't be official and you won't be able to distribute it.
I don't distribute the python script, I just use it for my own utility. Even in this case, do I need a jailbreak?
No, you don't. You can compile a Python interpreter and run it on your own iPhone, as long as you have a developer license.
Maybe you can use ad-hoc distribution (according to Apple, you can distribute your app to 100 devices by yourself, outside of the app store) ?
See here

Equivalent to a Flash projector for iPhone?

Is there any equivalent to a Flash projector for iPhone? Flash projectors basically seem to package script and Flash libraries into one executable file that can be run on a PC. I'm wondering if anyone has made a similar thing for iPhone where I can take my existing code and package it with the necessary iPhone stuff to make a PC executable. Of course hardware-specific things would not be available like accelerometer/phone/gps, etc. but I don't need any of those. If not, is there anyone currently attempting this?
Thanks for the input guys, but I think everyone except Noah is misinterpreting my question. Flash was just an example, if you hate Flash just pretend I said something else. I am wondering if it is possible to make code for iPhone run on a PC in a similar way to the way a projector works for Flash.
Right now, the only way to run an iPhone app outside of an iDevice is to compile it from source for a non-iPhone target, so it depends on what you're using to compile. If you're authoring in XCode, you can target the Simulator (which is mac-only), but Apple doesn't currently have a way to compile for any other targets, or a way to compile an object file that runs on Macs without the simulator. If you're authoring in Flash CS5, of course you can just publish a projector.
Not at this time. However, Flash CS5 will create iPhone applications.
Flash is not available on the iPhone.
Furthermore, any company attempting to make a Flash runtime -- which would require doing bytecode interpretation -- would run up against Apple's developer agreement, which specifically forbids that.
I think Adobe is planning for CS5 the export to iPhone app feature. It essentially compiles flash's runtime to Apple's cocoa touch framework and produces a true iPhone app, thus circumventing the bytecode interpretation clause. Time will tell, time will tell...
--- Thanks for the clarification Myz... WTB Noah's reading skills, I thought you had typo'd the PC part due to the outrageousness of your question.
If by PC you mean a windows binary simulator interpreting .ipa files. No, such thing doesn't exist and I don't expect to see it for decades. The platform is much more harder to emulate than the old SNES/N64 and others.

Develop iPhone app without a Mac? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Closed 13 years ago.
Possible Duplicates:
How can I develop for iPhone using a Windows development machine?
I'm looking to build an iPhone app for my wife's phone, but am not interested in buying a Mac as a development platform for a one-off piece of work. The app:
should run standalone on the iPhone (i.e. without network connectivity)
would be perfectly acceptable with a GUI created using one of the iPhone Javascript libraries that are around
will do some database IO to read and update data
has no commercial value and will never be used by anyone else
Here's my thinking:
jailbreak the iPhone
install Ruby + Sinatra on the iPhone
write the app using Sinatra, hitting a database (SQLite?) on the iPhone
To access the app on the iPhone:
start the Sinatra app in the
background (is this possible?)
start a Safari browser session
navigate to the Sinatra app at e.g. http://localhost:12345
etc.
This seems like a strange approach, but I can't think of a simpler way of writing a standalone iPhone app without buying a Mac. Is there a better way of doing this?
The only reliable info I could find is at the always-excellent MetaFilter
http://ask.metafilter.com/110466/Anyway-to-develop-iPhoneiTouch-apps-without-investing-in-a-Mac
The answer is apparently no.
You absolutely need an Intel Mac of some description.
The entire iPhone build process is too deeply ingrained in XCode to build elsewhere; and the only other Objective-C compiler I know is gcc, which doesn't support any Apple's additions to the language (nor their libraries).
And, in direct opposition to what people are saying above, Objective-C is absolutely my favorite native, compiled language. Elegant, small (only a few changes from C), late-binding, dynamic, straightforward. It's what C++ should have been.
Lots of people recommend picking up a secondhand Intel (remember, must be Intel!) Mac Mini as the cheapest "port of entry".
What you have described is a viable solution, however you should consider using the open toolchain for the iphone.
You don't need a mac then, only need to jailbreak the phone to make sure your app will work.
For all those who say it can't be done, this was the only way to make Apps for the iphone before the SDK was out :)
Also if you are after a guide to using the open toolchain then I highly recomend this book
If you're considering creating a GUI using a javascript library anyway, why don't you just write a web app instead of an iPhone-native one? It seems like overkill to jailbreak the device just so that you can install a ruby + sinatra web app on it. Can't you just put the ruby web app on a server and create a Safari shortcut to it on the home screen? If you don't have a server, you could always run the website off a PC in your home...
Jailbreaking the OS and running a ruby app onto it would be technically cool, don't get me wrong - I just think it'd end up being a time sink.
Just my 2c!
Depends on what your time is worth, I guess. That seems like a terribly convoluted way to get what is otherwise a simple app on the phone to avoid the US$400 purchase of a used Mac Mini.
There is the hackintosh route, which may work on your existing hardware, but again one has to put a price on time. It's what got me started before I dropped big coin on a Macbook Pro, an MSI Wind then a home-built. It's of questionable legality (the right thing to do is fork over US$129 for Leopard regardless), but you are already talking about jailbreaking. :-)
Get someone else to do it, or rent the resources that you need.
Another option is to find nearby iPhone developer who has it all setup and either get him to write the app or do it together, he provides development environment you code the solution or code it together.
The only problem is that you wont be able to update maintain it.
I would still consider getting older gen Mac or Mac mini - all the other options sound more complicated.
If you are going to be stubborn about not using a mac, but you want an app that will work offline with the iPhone / iPod Touch and Android devices, then I would use HTML 5 to create an offline app.
You can do a lot now with HTML 5 - Google have an email client that uses HTML 5 for the iPhone now and it can work offline etc. If you do this and get the user to add a bookmark to their home screen for your app - it will be almost as good.
If I was you I'd fork out for a mac - or look to see if you could borrow one - or time-share with someone - you will not create a very good quality app without it.
You can jailbreak the phone and install Python. There are some sample applications in Cydia for it (it's called iPhone/Python. Search for Python in cydia).
Then you will have a "native" app, not a web application and you can use the entire iPhone UI library (the part of it that is accessible via py-objc anyway) and you don't need to run a web server in the background.
You can do your development on the phone itself via SSH or you can use an iPod Touch for it. Packaging is also easy (should you need it), just create your own Cydia repository and host your package(s) in there.
Look at iPhone applications in Python for more information.
Come on, just look on eBay for the cheapest intel mac mini you can find. Even a Mac laptop with a busted screen (that you could hook to an external display) would work. You're talking just a few hundred dollars probably and then you can maintain it as her phone/Touch is upgraded.
there's some special meta tags you can put in a webpage to make your web app savable and full screenable to the iphone hard drive. (so it can work offline) Here's an example : http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/125490362/glyphboard2
There's also frameworks like phonegap that let you access cocoa apis from javascript, but it sounds like you don't need that.
Does your wife enrolled in any kind of data plan? If so, you can simply write a small webapp which runs on some cheap webspace and access it via MobileSafari.
If you need a full grown iPhone application, you better look after one of the first intel-based mac minis on eBay, should be to expensive, in my opinion. And as a plus you avoid the hassle of a jailbreak.