Background
There are a lot of App Store released iPhone apps that require an IP based server on the desktop so that the iPhone can connect to the desktop as a client. For example, there are many programs that emulate a keyboard, touchpad, or Apple remote on the iPhone so that a desktop computer can be controlled over wifi. However, many of these applications get around writing their own server by requiring the user to install some VNC server variant.
Question
What is the best way to implement a secure (encrypted) IP server on a desktop (Mac and Windows platforms) that allows for simple two way message passing between itself and an iPhone client on a wifi network?
Sample Use Case
An event on the desktop causes the desktop to push a small image or text to the iPhone. An event on the iPhone causes a short text message to be pushed to the desktop. Any single event can happen at any time (doesn't appear synchronized to the user).
1st Follow-Up Question
Would this type of project be best handled using something like XML or JSON over HTTP? Or is there a better protocol, like BEEP or Bonjour(XMPP)?
What is the best way to implement a secure (encrypted) IP server on a desktop (Mac and Windows platforms) that allows for simple two way message passing between itself and an iPhone client on a wifi network?
Not sure if there is a "best" way, but much code is already available to do xyz-over-HTTPS (TLS/SSL). In that case, the "xyz" can be any web-based message exchange protocol, such as XML, JSON, etc. via REST or SOAP, etc.
If you want to be able to push events to a non-jailbroken iPhone you can't do it other than via Apple's Push Server which causes a notification to the client program if it is running or otherwise displays an alert of some kind to the user.
Typical architecture has those notifications handled by the client program as an indication it should go and get some data from the server - Apple insist we do not regard the notifications as trusted delivery.
I suggest a read of this article on using Bonjour and local networking, whilst it's iPhone to iPhone it should apply to desktop OS/X also.
Related
I am new to remote access programming, please dont feel bad to place this question here. I didn't get a beginning yet after a long search.
I heard iPhone can be used as remote for cars, electric devices and even accessing iPhone from another iPhone. Which library should I use for remote access? Any tutorial available?
Take a look at the External Accessory Framework. This framework allows you to communicate with "connected devices" (either through bluetooth, or via a physical connection).
If you want anything a bit more complicated you're probably going to have to set one device up as a server and the other as a client and have the two communicate as such.
Another way you could do it is to use an XMPP (aka Jabber) central server and set the two devices up as clients which can push messages to each other to control each other.
I'm looking to work on an iOS app that would need to send/receive data back and forth between the iPhone/iPod and a service that is running on Windows. Communication-wise, I will be using sockets.
The Phone will send/receive data to/from a Windows service (NOT a web service)
Sockets will be used as a means for communication
The iPhone/iPod will be connected to WiFi using a static IP address
The iPhone/iPod is intended to be as thin client as possible
The intention is to have the Windows Service listen for events from iPhone/iPod. Example:
Input needs to be taken from a UITextField and saved as a string by pressing a button. On the button press, an event must be fired and sent to the Windows Service over WiFi, which will then receive the event, perform a "server-side" action, and send the response back to the iPhone/iPod.
I'm pretty new to iOS development still and I know this is some more advanced stuff, but any help or resources that would help to accomplish this, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks!
This is standard network stuff not related to which platform you're using. On iOS you can do either:
1) use berkley sockets (standard unix stuff).
2) use the Cocoa wrapper for sockets (NSSocketPort etc).
3) use a framework such as MKNetworkKit (here).
I would use option 3 myself :)
One thing in your favour is that Windows machines and iPads are both little-endian, so you don't have to worry about byte-swapping (which you won't anyway if you're just sending strings).
EDIT: For windows to discover your device, you will need either a configuration setup with the IP address details, or to use Apple's bonjour service, or some custom solution.
Can someone please point me in the right direction to create a Mac/PC server app that runs in the background and connects to an iPad app over the local WiFi network?
No matter how I phrase a search on Google it just brings up various apps like Remote Mouse and whatnot and no tutorials or even a hint of where to start.
I just need to send simple commands from iPad to computer over local wifi. A point in the right direction and I can likely fill in the blanks.
Thank you.
Thomas
EDIT: I am using web languages for the iPad version that I will build as a native app using open source tools.
OK, then. It actually depends on what you really need. I made the assumption you need real-time and perhaps binary data transfer.
Your best bet is to write your server application using standard C or C++ so it compiles on both as simply as possible.
If you want to avoid all the burden of writing a protocol for service discovery or asking users to enter the ip address of your server you will use a mDNS implementation for your server and your iPhone app.
If I were you I would try bonjour: http://www.apple.com/support/bonjour/
on iPhone You could start here: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Networking/Conceptual/NSNetServiceProgGuide/Articles/PublishingServices.html
Once you have your sockets you will have to implement a networking protocol between your server application and your iPhone app.
You will have to be careful about byte ordering and little subtle problems with latency, disconnections and other problems inherent to networking and WiFi.
In windows you will want to register your application as a service and in Mac OS X/UNIX you'll probably want to deamonize it.
Good luck!
I want to be able to send files from an iPhone app to a computer. What would be the easiest way of doing this?
I've made simple server client programs before, but in those, the client has always needed to connect to the server before being able to receive messages from it. There is an app for the iPhone called iSimulate, where you put a server on a Mac (the iPhone simulator), and then you use the iSimulate app of an iTouch or iPhone to send touch events to the server. This app does not require you to type in an ip-address. Instead it presents a list of available computers that have this server up and running.
How exactly is this being done? Can a server broadcast a message over a network, w/o anyone being connected to the server? How does that work? How does a client listen for that broadcast?
Here's a video of the app I'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3Qpd1ycZh4
alt text http://a1.phobos.apple.com/us/r1000/051/Purple/7b/07/70/mzl.mvwjifyc.320x480-75.jpg
That app may be using Bonjour.
I've seen similar apps use a peer-to-peer Bluetooth connection to exchange files between a iPhone and a desktop.
For example, how would I write a program like senuti? Are there any libraries I can use for this? It would be ideal if I could do this in Python or .Net, but I'm open to other things as well.
There are three things you can do:
Add some code to your iPhone application which acts as some kind of server (http, SMB, etc). Then your mac/windows full client application can connect to this server over wifi. This is safe and reliable, but unfortunately the app will have to be running on the iPhone at the time of sync.
Sync to the "cloud". EG: Have your iPhone app save some data to a web server on the internet (you could use amazon EC2, windows Azure, or even just a PHP script running on a cheap hosting account), and then have your windows/mac client also connect to this web server to retrieve the data. This is the most user-friendly, but it requires you to pay for the hosting of the web server, and will be unsuitable for large amounts of data
Violate the EULA and try to reverse engineer the way iTunes communicates with the iPhone.
This is how senuti works, but I wouldn't recommend it, as they're constantly having to play catchup with apple changing the format underneath them, and they are probably exposed to some kind of legal action, if apple ever bothered to sue them.
i believe Version 3.0 will resolve this as it allows you to program apps to the USB interface. check out some of the documentation for that in the External Accessory framework.
it would still require the app to be open, so essentially would mean two syncs (or more if you have multiple apps)
There is no legal / official way of doing this. Creating a program that would sync with an iPhone would violate the EULA you agree to when using the iPhone and iTunes.
Not only is it illegal, but it's also impossible to do this reliably. Apple could break the method at any time without any notice, and it would pretty much be a cat-and-mouse game.
I only know of one application that something of the kind, and it is the iToner application which synchronizes ringtones.