I have a swift iOS application that uses different secp256k1 pods as well as Array, Data and other extensions.
If I build the module on its own and test everything works.
The moment I bring the module/pod into my project the tests fail.
Is there a good way to find out if the module/pod is calling the wrong Data extension? How can I tell? Is there a hierarchy I can look at?
I don't really have code as I'm not sure where the issue is and the project is very big.
So for an example, if I had a Data extension in my project, and a Data extension in a pod, which Data extension is used and how can I verify?
Thank You
EDIT:
It seems to be an issue with secp256k1, UnsafeMutablePointer and my getPointer() function.
In the module/pod its retiring a different pointer than in the application.
Any Ideas?
I've been the last week trying to serialise all of the classes of one iOS project (Objective-C).
Due to I use to do it in Android projects with Avro (Apache) library, I've been trying to do the same in the iOS project, however, the first thing that I noticed is that there is not too much information about Avro in iOS.
First thing I tried:
Implement the library ObjectiveAvro using CocoaPods but some classes in the library Avro C were not found when imported.
Second thing I tried:
Remove and do again the previous process but this time only with the Avro C library but the same error appeared.
Third thing I tried:
Implement BlueSteel framework using Carthage. This is a swift library but I wanted to try if I could use it somehow in an Objective-C project. I couldn't.
I just need to serialise and deserialise data providing a schema as you can do with Avro (Android) in an Objective-C project and the last thing that I want to do is convert the whole project to Swift.
So do you know what's the current way to do that in Objective-C?
I could figure it out how to do the Third thing I tried:
Basically, it's necessary to import the library through Carthage, then create a new Swift class which is the one that is going to "talk" with the Swift library, due to we are in an Objective-C project. XCode will ask you to add a "header-class" and press "yes".
Then it's as simple as using the Swift to call the library methods and call the Swift class from the current classes. Swift class in Objective-C project
Finally just to inform that the BlueSteel framework is a nightmare due to is really limited and really poor documented therefore I still don't know a real alternative.
However, if you're going to use it, have in mind that the classes are not autogenerated so you need to do manually the conversion to Avro and sign results.
I have 2 frameworks created by me that use (both of them) a library also created by me.
The first framework initialize the library and makes all its workflow. After finishing the first framework, the second one must start.
But when the second one is going to start, after initializing the library, the app using both frameworks crashes with a exc_bad_access error.
Apparently the library is created correctly, but if i comment the line of code to initialize the library in the second framework, the workflow continues (it crashes later because it has no library initialization).
Is there anything I'm doing wrong? Should I use two separate libraries instead?
EDIT:
Imagine the situation:
Framework A has this methods: start, stop. And while it works it delegate to the methods: infoFromA,frameworkAFinished.
Framework B has this methods: start, stop. And while it works it delegate to the methods: infoFromB,frameworkBFinished.
Both start methods initialize the static library mentioned (lets call it problematicLibrary).
Both frameworks present some views to make its functionality. So lets make an example of the app workflow.
At the app view viewWillAppear method, I start the Framework A just using:
[FrameworkA start]; , this will initialize the library and present a view. With this view (using my problematicLibrary) some info will be delegated to the infoFromA delegated method. And after all the info is delegated, it will delegate to frameworkAFinished.
When the FrameworkA has delegated to the frameworkAFinished I start the next Framework: [FrameworkB start]. As the other Framework, it will initialize the library and present a view. While debugging, all the initialization of the library is done (create the instances of the needed objects and a new instance of the library is created) and while its presenting the view it goes through the viewDidLoad method and then it throws an exc_bad_access error at the problematicLibrary initialization line (which has been done before and continued to present the view!!) without going into any other method from the view.
I have checked if the initialization is doing well, and all the variables were at null value before the initialization, and a new memory address is given to the library object.
This sounds strongly like a symbol conflict to me. I'm just surprised the linker didn't catch it, but I assume that's because you're using a static library in both your frameworks instead of simply yet another framework.
Generally speaking, I'd warn that "this is a bad idea™". What you're trying to introduce into your design is basically dependency management. Like a lot of blog articles and specifically this SO answer suggest, you should avoid packaging frameworks (and by extension libraries) into frameworks.
What most likely happens in your scenario is this (I admit I'm guessing a bit here): You linked the library into Framework A. Thus, the library becomes a fixed part of it. Its symbols are in it, even if you did not expose them to the app in any header files or the like. As long as you use only that, everything works smoothly. Then comes Framework B, of which the library is also a fixed part. Even though you can't see it from your app, the very same symbols are inside it. This, however, clashes with the symbols that were already loaded by Framework A, hence a crash (as said, this would usually be caught by the linker, but I guess you "tricked" it by building the frameworks beforehand and packaged the library in them). Maybe somebody else can explain this in more detail, but that quickly becomes besides the point as to how you would go for a solution. From how I see it, it just won't work this way.
So here's a suggestion for how you can solve your problem:
If you really, really need to split like this (two frameworks used in your app using the same dependency), I'd suggest removing the library from the frameworks (i.e. make them depend on it, but not package the actual .a file in them) and documenting that properly. Then add the library to your app project, just like you added the frameworks.
If you want to make this fancy and easily installable into other apps, I'd recommend setting up a private CocoaPods repository and turn your frameworks into private pods. You can then easily define the library (or rather "new Framework C") as a dependency for Framework A and Framework B. When you then pod install in your app, cocoapods figures out the dependency and adds Framework C automatically to your project. This scenario is exactly what cocoapods (or any dependency manager for that matter) was designed for. It automates and helps in the project setup, so that the final build (the app) doesn't have to figure out dynamically what it can and can't use. The end result is the same.
Trying to duplicate that "in code" quickly becomes messy. Frameworks trying to figure out things of the surrounding app/project that uses them (like "is my dependency so-and-so already linked? if not, can I load my own version of the library?") can lead to a lot of pain.
Okay, in response to your comment I'll try my hand at a more detailed How-To for the non-cocoapods setup. As a preface, though, let me say that that's kinda hard to do on top of my head, as I have no ready sample project to toy around with. Since this is one of those "set it up once and then forget aout it for a long time" I have to admit my recollection of these things is a bit fuzzy, so consider this as a sort of "rough direction". There might be things you need to configure differently than how I recall them. Other SO user are thus hereby invited to edit and correct my answer here, too. :)
First, I have to say I am not exactly sure whether you need to convert your static library into a framework or not for this, I think you don't so I'll go from here (I have never used a static library in that way).
That means you can leave the project that builds your library as is. On second thought, you probably have to do this to be able to link against the library without making it a part of the framework that uses it. I will still refer to this code as "library" in the below points, but assume that you're able to turn it into a dynamic framework as well.
The projects building Framework A and Framework B should be changed. I don't know how you have this set up (as one project with various targets, whether you have a "development application" as part of it to test the frameworks on themselves, etc.), but the important thing is that in the target that builds a framework, the library should be linked (i.e. in the "Link Binary With Libraries" build phase), but not copied (i.e. it must not be in the "Copy Bundle Ressources" build phase). It might be tricky to set up any development/test target you use to run, depending on how you did that so far. For example you might have to manually edit Library Search paths in your build settings to be able to properly compile the framework.
Lastly, you need to change your final app's project settings, obviously. The library that was originally part of Framework A and B now needs to be linked to from its project directly, and, obviously, it needs to be copied into the bundle as well. Note that any projects that include either of your frameworks (A or B or both) in the future must do so, otherwise they won't work, because these frameworks expect the library to be present (but no longer "bring it with them").
In spite of this long-ish text wall, it shouldn't be that complicated, I think, but you may still want to check out how cocoapods can support you with something like this, perhaps it's helpful in the future. The linked article expects basic knowledge on how to use a pod and write one, but the other guides on the site explain that pretty well. I am just saying this because in the end, when using cocoapods in a project to add multiple libraries/frameworks that introduce dependencies, it basically sets up your project in the way I described above. It uses some fancy shell scripts that ensure everything is copied to the correct folders and such, but overall speaking that's how it works: A pod's podspec tells cocoapods what additional pods to include in your app for it to work (a dependecy the pod expects to be there, but doesn't "bring in" by itself).
Check if they are both compiling for the same target.
Check if they have access to the same target membership.
Check build phases to see that they are both there.
I think because the first library is not 'well' referencing the second one.
Also i think that you can't import a framework inside another one.
To make things easier, you can merge the two frameworks on a single one.
Also you can add a callback (using protocols or closures) that informs for the end of the first workflow, and you use this callback to initialize the second framework. This way the initialization will not be made automatically.
I'm working in a iOS project that includes a static library created by another company.
The library include an old version of AFNeworking and I don't have any source files.
Now i need to use a more recent (and less bugged) version of afneworking, but i cannot include the same class twice in the project (of course) because all the "duplicate symbols".
I understand that it's impossible replacing the version included in the library, but how can i include another version along the old one?
There is a (easy) way to refactor the entire framework before include in my project?
thanks
You'll have to repackage the static library to remove the embedded AFNetworking files.
Unpack the library with:
$ ar x libwhatever.a
And re-package it, including all files except the AFNetworking object files:
$ ar cr libwhatever.a file1.o ... fileN.o
You will then have to link your executable with the new AFNetworking static library and hope that there haven't been API changes which will break the code in libwhatever.a. If there are then I doubt there is much you can do.
I'm afraid this isn't easy to do. Very few environments allow you to link against two separate versions of the same framework at the same time, and Xcode / iOS is not one of them.
As I see it, you have three options:
1) Link against their library and use the same version of AFNetworking they use.
2) Link against their library, and manually load the newer version of AFNetworking and pull symbols from it. Be warned: this will get ugly fast and future maintainers will wonder what you were smoking.
3) Get them to update their library.
On a side note, I don't know the circumstances here, but in general they should be providing you with sources. It's a very backwards practice to provide only a static (static!) library and no way to know what it's doing inside. You'll have to sign a software license agreement and whatnot to protect their interests.
The best and most proper way of handling this would be to contact the the creator of the static library and get them to resolve the situation. They could resolve it either by updating the embedded version of AFNetworking, removing their dependence on AFNetworking, or adding a prefix for their embedded copy of AFNetworking. The last one is probably a good idea anyway when a third party library embeds a different library, because otherwise it would be impossible to use two libraries simultaneously that both include the same third party library.
You could also refactor the copy of AFNetworking that you include yourself to change the names of classes to have a prefix, although this should be unnecessary, as the static library vendor should have done this themselves already.
Lastly, you could find a different library that accomplishes the same thing as your current one but that doesn't embed AFNetworking.
I am working in a very large iOS project and it has so many classes and resources that it takes very long time to index and compile them. As it still grows more and more, I need to do something about this because I am spending too much of my time waiting for the IDE to let me work.
My first idea was to pack all the images in a custom bundle so the IDE will see it as a single file and would be faster to index and copy it, but I have seen that a bundle is nothing more than a simple folder with an extension, so I guess that the performance would still be slow. Then I read that if I used "blue folders" instead of "yellow groups" for my images, Xcode would not index them. But this way is not easy right now, as I should replace my function that looks for images to look for them in that folder (absolute paths?)
So my last approach will be saving time in both compile time and indexing. I want to modularize my code in multiple libraries so it will not be necessary to compile it "ever" again and this way Xcode won't need to index the source files neither.
I have followed some tutorials and now I know how to create a static library and include the header files in another project. But my current problem is as follows.
My application has several "independent" modules, so I want to create a static library for each one (and maybe I'll generate an image bundle for each one too...). But all of those modules use a common core, which I'd like to maintain in a static library too. So, if I do it like this, I will have to include the main core library in every module library, and I'm afraid this will not be the most optimum way, as the binary code of the core will be there several times, right?
I guess the correct solution would be to generate a dynamic library for the core and static ones for the modules, but I can't find how to generate the dynamic one... Furthermore, I'm not sure this would be the solution.
So I ask you: what options do I have? Is compiling the core several times the best approach I have?
Thank you so much for your help!
Dynamic linking is not supported in IOS, so this isn't an option. While the static libraries are added to the other libraries, it isn't embedded inside the other static library, you can see this when you do a build, the other libraries should show as a separate libraries inside the project folder, hence each static library/project will only get included once in the app build.
In the end ... I am not sure this will save you a lot of time you are expecting if you are using static libraries in the same workspace. I use static libraries in some projects and if I do a Clean on the app, then a build, the static library will get re-built also.