I want to build a framework regarding some common aspects used in xcode like that of UIKit, Foundation etc. Is it possible for us to create our own framework which could be reused later ? If so, could you tell us a step by step procedure of how to do it?
This is now possible, see:
https://github.com/kstenerud/iOS-Universal-Framework
It's not currently possible to create a framework using the iPhone SDK. The closest you can come is bundling the logic you want to have shareable into a static library.
This is a good writeup on how to go about doing that for the iPhone SDK:
http://blog.stormyprods.com/2008/11/using-static-libraries-with-iphone-sdk.html
Related
I want use nsjsonserialiazation class in xcode 4.1....How can I use it? Should I have to download some framework? If yes then where can I download it?
It's native and available as of iOS 5.0 and all you need to do to use it is to invoke it.
No need to download extra frameworks. It's actually part of the Foundation framework that makes up the very basis of Objective C applications.
You can find the documentation on Apple's web site.
This question comes from this other one I asked earlier: Calling custom Objective-C from a pyobjc application?
I want to re-use a small part of the app logic from my iPhone app in its server-side component, which runs on OSX. Based on what I was told in the other question, it looks like I need to compile a "framework" for both iOS and OSX from this little piece of app logic.
If we assume that I am able to isolate all the code that is to be in this framework into a single .h/.m pair of files that has no other non-Cocoa dependencies, what would be the easiest way in XCode to build this framework for each architecture and avoid double-coding all this logic on the server?
I tried adding a new OSX framework build target to my iPhone project, but this doesn't get very far and XCode bails out pretty quickly with:
target specifies product type 'com.apple.product-type.framework', but there's no such product type for the 'iphonesimulator' platform
Any help much appreciated, as I am currently dupe-implementing to keep things moving forward, but this is pretty obviously becoming a huge waste of time and source of errors when the implementations become slightly out-of-sync.
Depends on what you used in your custom class. If you did not use anything from UIKit / AppKit then the class is probably going to live well on either platform, otherwise, you’d have to use target conditionals and include separate code specially written for both platforms.
You can have multiple targets in one Xcode project, their Base SDK set separately for the Mac / iDevices.
Adam's comment to my original question answers this question. Although still interested to see if there is a way to do it all from a single XCode project, the solution I have now is plenty good enough for what I wanted to achieve.
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