working on an iphone app and separate framework.
the separate framework is for an API that i'm building for use in multiple future apps.
this api now needs to reference resources (images). what i would like to do is keep the resources WITH the API framework as local set of resources.
i followed the instructions from http://www.clintharris.net/2009/iphone-app-shared-libraries/ to setup my app's project to use the headers from the separate API framework.
what i can't seem to figure out is how to automatically load the framework's resources into the app's xcode environment so they can be linked in at app compile time.
sure, i can drag the resources across from the framework into the main app's set of resources. but that seems kinda ugly and another step that possibly can be automated (??) anyone know of a better way? it would be great if any changes from the framework would be automatically available in the main app (due to the project 'link-age').
thanks for any help/tips/suggestions...
You can't make your own frameworks and have the apps made with that framework get accepted into the iTunes store... Apple doesn't allow other frameworks in the App Store.
Related
iOS8:
I'm trying to create a Database framework (DBKit) that will be used amongst our apps. DBKit requires Couchbase (ObjC) and Alamofire (Swift) frameworks.
I'm trying to avoid using Umbrella framework as it's discouraged by Apple.
Questions:
When creating a framework, how do I tell the framework to use Couchbase and Alamofire within the Demo Project?
Is using Cocoa Pods to manage frameworks inside a framework a good idea?
Believe you should be linking to the respective external libraries from within your application and NOT your own framework.
For Couchbase, you can simply drag in the frameworks to the 'Supporting Files' folder within your iOS project.
I have created a static library for my application. Now, my application uses sources like plists & images which I am referring in my application.
How can I bundle those images and deliver them with the static library and also what changes do I need to do in my source loading code to load it from that bundle.
Right now I using [UIImage imageNamed:"my.png"] to load the image.
A library cannot have "resources". A library will just provide some algorithm or logic to get the things done. So you cannot include any resources with in your library. Along with your library, you have to distribute the resources also. Or else the app that is using the library must have the resources with the same name that you hard coded.
That is exactly the reason to create a Framework - in a Framework you have:
A static library (with binaries for
simulator and phone melded together)
Include files a user of the framework
needs
Resources the framework needs, which
can be anything including .plist
files, images or xib.
Edit:
Removed link that was dead. You no longer need to know how to construct frameworks for iOS, because starting with iOS8 you can have Xcode create an iOS framework project.
In fact this is a great approach also, because frameworks can easily be imported into Playgrounds to call.
Is it possible to create an own obj-C Cocoa Touch framework which can be used by other developers? And furthermore can you protect this framework?
I've created templates for Xcode 4 that allow you to build universal iOS frameworks (which work in both device and simulator).
Once the templates are installed, you simply select "Static iOS Framework" when creating a new project and it does the rest. It also works with unit tests.
https://github.com/kstenerud/iOS-Universal-Framework
You can create a static library. There is an option in the XCode project chooser to do this. You'll have to distribute the compiled static library file and the header files to users of your library. Your actual implementation files (.m) do not need to be distributed.
GHUnit does a good job of this - packaging up the libraries for both simulator and device - so I recommend looking at this project. (I also recommend using this library for unit testing :-)
The frameworks in Objective C are typically just C / ObjC code and a bunch of classes, nothing amazingly special. As such, you can create your own if you'd like, and then just include that in your project when you build it. The iPhone doesn't care about the difference, it just knows to put all that code into your app, along with everything else.
Have a look at the Framework Programming Guide on Apple's website. It will get you started. Essentially what you'll do is create a Framework project in XCode and then go from there.
As for "protecting" your framework, I assume you mean making your code unreadable. I'm not sure if and how you can do this, but perhaps Apple's guide will say something about it.
Yes you can create frameworks for use with Cocoa Touch.
However there are these caveats:
has to be a statically linked libary, no dynamic loading (dyld) for us
should be a combined (lipo) library for i386 (simulator), arm6 and arm7
you need to hack a bundle project into a framework
you should embed (small and few) images into the library so that the developer does not have to mess around with resources but just drags/drops it into his project
... or if you have large and many images build a bundle with these
I have guides for these things on my site.
1+2 = http://www.drobnik.com/touch/2010/04/universal-static-libraries/
The other links you have to google because this site does not let me post more than one URL.
You could make a static library available as binary (i.e. rudimentary "protection") to third parties, but not a dynamic one, as Apple's App Store policy prevents dynamic linking.
Take a look at a worked example for static libraries given at
this site
If you're going to do it, in my opinion JSON.framework is a great example to follow. To hide/obfuscate the source code is a different story, and a different question entirely,
When creating a new project, navigate to iOS > Framework & Library > Cocoa Touch Framework, it's as simple as that. When you are successfully compile, .framework will be created under Products folder in XCode. Right click to show in Finder, and you can find the output.
It's unlikely this will work the way you want it to because the other developers won't be able to use your framework. This StackOverflow Question explains why.
I would like to develop a reusable UI control for iPhone. How should I go about doing this? When I say reusable I mean it's packaged in a dll (or whatever is used on iPhone platform) so it can be reused on multiple projects.
While dynamic libraries are not allowed to be used in iPhone applications that are to be sold on the iPhone App Store, here's a tutorial on building static libraries with the iPhone SDK. (assuming you don't want to release source code)
You have two options:
Supply the full source code. Other developers can then add it directly to their app.
Distribute the compiled version of your code as a static library.
As you're planning to develop a UI control, I suggest you also develop an IB plugin and ship that with it too.
You probably want to provide custom Interface Builder objects, or maybe source code libraries.
Well, the Xcode way would be to bundle your code into a Framework and link to that. However, under the iPhone you can't link to non Apple approved frameworks (even if they are your own)
So you would probably have to link in the source to the reusable code. A good article here
The error I'm getting:
in /Users/robert/Documents/funWithFrameworks/build/Debug-iphonesimulator/funWithFrameworks.framework/funWithFrameworks, can't link with a main executable
Cliff notes:
trying to include framework
doesn't want to link
More detail:
I'm developing for a mobile device... hint, hint using Xcode and I'm trying to make my
own custom framework which I can include from another application. So far, I've done the following:
Create a new project; an iPhone OS window based app.
Go to target info-> under packaging, change the wrapper extension from app to framework
Go to Action->new build phase -> copy headers. Change roles of headers to 'public'
From my application, I add the framework to the frameworks group.
Apple clearly said that you can not use dynamic libraries on their mobiles. And a private framework is just this.
You can, however, use static libraries.
Egil, that's usually considered as one of the implications of section 3.3.2 of the iPhone developer agreement, which (in part) forbids plug-in architectures or other frameworks. The fact that they don't provide an Xcode project template for an iPhone-compatible framework tends to reinforce the idea, though of course it could just be an oversight or something they're discouraging without actually forbidding.
Whether this is the intended meaning of that section is something you'd have to ask Apple about, and possibly consult a lawyer, but this is where the oft-stated "no frameworks" idea comes from.
For those who have framework code they'd like to use in an iPhone app, an alternative approach is to use the framework code to build a static library. That then gets compiled into the application instead of getting dynamically loaded at run time. The fact that it's part of the application executable avoids any potential concerns about this part of the agreement.
Though dynamic libraries are not allowed, you CAN create a framework (using static libraries and lipo).
Check out: http://accu.org/index.php/journals/1594
I haven't tried it for so called mobile device, but I would guess its very similar to the method for a regular Cocoa application. Check out this tutorial:
Embedded Cocoa Frameworks