Sorry if these questions are basic/dumb. I haven't had to do any framework setup stuff in the past. I've just contributed to projects in the past. I want to distribute different parts of an SDK with Cocoapods and Carthage. For example,
github "MyOrg/Core" -> Has interfaces I want to use in SmallerModule.
github "MyOrg/SmallerModule" -> Has third party dependencies I do not own
Are there general rules on how to set this up? My Core project would have interfaces that SmallerModule needs access to. Should SmallerModule be a part of the Core project or should they be separate Xcode projects?
Secondly, if it is a separate project, how does SmallerModule have access to the interfaces in Core? Do I need to include it as a dependency in SmallerModule? If so, wouldn't Core be duplicated if someone tried to pull in both Core and SmallerModule since Core is a dependency for SmallerModule?
Should SmallerModule be a part of the Core project or should they be separate Xcode projects
I guess it depends by the granularity of what you need to be exposed. SmallerModule might be separated or merged inside Core, remember that once you expose it, it's quite complicate coming back, eg: you might generate dependencies to other projects.
Secondly, if it is a separate project, how does SmallerModule have access to the interfaces in Core?
If you split the projects, SmallerModule will easily have the access to the interfaces of the Core dynamic framework, the thing you must do first is generate such framework.
Do I need to include it as a dependency in SmallerModule
eg: if you use Carthage as dependency manager, you should create a Cartfile inside the project SmallerModule containing this line:
github "MyOrg/Core"
then on SmallerModule “Build Phases” settings tab, click the “+” icon and choose “New Run Script Phase”, add the following contents to the script area below the shell:
/usr/local/bin/carthage copy-frameworks
Add the paths to the frameworks you want to use under “Input Files”, e.g.:
$(SRCROOT)/Carthage/Build/iOS/Core.framework
Add the paths to the copied frameworks to the “Output Files”, e.g.:
$(BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR)/$(FRAMEWORKS_FOLDER_PATH)/Core.framework
then after resolving the dependency:
carthage update
You will find Core.framework inside the folder ./Carthage/build/iOS/ so you may drag and drop such framework inside your SmallerModule to be able to compile it.
wouldn't Core be duplicated if someone tried to pull in both Core and SmallerModule since Core is a dependency for SmallerModule
Since you'll be using a dependency manager (eg: Carthage), it won't be a problem. All the dependencies will be resolved (if they link the same version eg: tag x.y.z) by the dependency manager itself during the resolution process (carthage update).
Note that if SuperSmallerModule has to bind your SmallerModule, then assuming everything is fine, must create a Cartfile with:
github "MyOrg/SmallerModule"
and follow the same process, also explained here.
Related
I have a app which historically has grown a lot and to be a bit cleaner and to have the option to give out code to third party developers in the future, I was thinking about splitting my project into multiple projects which I then could export as a framework.
Currently everything is in one big project. I have:
4 App targets
Shared view controllers
Shared web services
Shared model classes
Shared utility classes
Shared extensions
Shared protocols
The thing is that not every web service is used in every app. Not every protocoll is used in every app. Not every extension is used in every app and so on.
Now correct me if I'm wrong but can't I put, for example, the web services in their own framework and then use the framework in the project where I have my app targets?
Can I do the same for a "core" which contains all utilities, extension, protocolls and models?
Can I then use the "core" in the webs service framework as well as in the app targets?
What would such a structure look like? I already tried creating two framework projects and then use one framework inside the other but I cant build it. Is it because I would need to use Cocoapods inside each of the framework projects? Is that possible?
The web services for example would need "RxSwift" and "Moya" but the "Core" would also need "RxSwift".
Do I have a wrong thinking here? Shall I only use one Core framework and put everything in there which is shared? I'm confused and probably lack the deeper understanding of how the frameworks work.
I'm using CocoaPods and have separate from main app web service and core frameworks. This way it looks in the project:
Lets start with core because even web service depends on it. I call it Common instead of core and it is available on GitHub. It contains multiple subfolders which represent frameworks they extend. And there are two podspecs.
CommonExtended contains functions that are not available in app extensions (for example in Today Extension) and depends on Common. So, splitting core into two separate frameworks provide a way to use it in both main app and app extensions. Although Common is available on GitHub, I download and use it locally (but it can be downloaded from remote whenever you update your pods, you just need to specify remote address)
web service is a local folder which is called Api and its podspec looks this way:
As you can see, it has such dependencies as RxSwift, Moya and Common (the desired behavior from your question - framework contains framework).
So, whenever I need to use any of the frameworks in an app or its extensions - I just specify what kind of framework is required as dependency:
Then just import your frameworks and use them:
import Api
import Common
import CommonExtended
P.S. This is just an experiment, I'm not a CocoaPods professional. But it works for me.
Edit. Local pods are easy to update. You just make changes and see them in your project (as I remember Cmd+B on main project makes the changes to be visible). But this only works with files in local pod which already exist. If you need to add new file to a local pod - run pod install to make this file visible.
All the local pods are 100% local and they live in the same repository as main project. But Common is a remote repository which is downloaded locally. Why? Because it is used in different projects. So, on each machine you have to write its own path to Common in podfile. This link provides a way to define a path to Common on each machine and never change podfile again. Don't forget to commit Common changes to the remote. Other local pods will be committed with the project automatically.
I have this project that is designed to be used as a Dynamic Framework, named ProjectA.framework.
However, ProjectA depends on other dynamic frameworks, such as Alamofire, Realm, and a couple smaller ones. I want to generate a single .framework file that contains all the frameworks embedded, but I'm not sure if it's possible.
Now I have ProjectB, that will use ProjectA as a dynamic framework, and ideally I would like to drag only the ProjectA as a dependency. I'm using Carthage, and it automatically fetches and builds all dependencies, but I'm dragging only ProjectA.framework into the Linked Frameworks and Libraries section.
The projects builds, but gets a runtime error, complaining that one of the third party dependencies was not found.
It is possible to achieve what I am trying to do?
Is this a limitation of carthage or a wrong setup on my side?
I've separated some functionality in an app I'm working on into a self-contained framework. Both the framework and the app are included in a workspace. How do I include this framework in my build in a machine-agnostic manner?
What I've been doing is adding the framework to the embedded binaries of my client app, as suggested on a number of posts here on SO. This works nicely until you start work on another machine, at which point the randomly generated 'DerivedData' directory the framework resides in can't be found, and you have to re-create the link. This will become a really tiresome process.
I was considering using CocoaPods for this purpose, but unless I'm reading it wrong, you can't just reference local projects with a podspec; the project needs to reside on a known source / repo.
So basically I'd like to know how people here have forged a multi-project build process that isn't linked to the directory structure of a particular development machine.
So I've found a solution that works. The issue was that my client app project referred to the framework file relative to the project itself.
The minimal steps I took to refer to (and embed) my framework were significantly fewer than some of the solutions I've seen.
In my client app's target (on the General tab), add the framework to the 'Embedded Libraries' section. This will also add a reference to the framework to the Project navigator.
Select the reference added to the Project navigator in step 1, and change it's location to be 'Relative to Built Products'. Optionally move the framework to the 'Frameworks' folder of the client app's project, where the rest of the frameworks live.
This second step ensures the build looks for the framework relative to the build products, rather than relative to something else, whose location may vary between machines / copies of the source.
Actually, you can indeed have private Pods. Most tutorials on how to do this usually keep these private Pods within private repos on GitHub, but you can also host them on another Git (non-GitHub) server.
As for the DerivedData directory issue, it sounds like you are including the framework via a build setting (i.e. something like "-framework ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/MyFramework-$$##$###$#/MyFramework.framework").
You should be able to simply click on the "Build Phases" section of your app's target settings and then the "add" (or "+") button and you'll see your (built via the same workspace) framework or library in that list that you can add. More information can be seen in this Apple documentation.
During my work with development of iOS applications, i noticed that almost every application has some parts that are repeated. For example every application has user management logic, Login, Sign Up, Forgot password.
And every time, i find my self trying to manually import already developed logic (View controllers, nibs, storyboards).
My question is how can i implement these common features in separate component, so i can simply reuse them every time i start new project. Also notice that there should be possibility for small customisations, for example all apps have login screen, but UI design varies for every app.
Long story short, what i need is:
How to encapsulate commonly repeated features in separate component.
How to inject the component in the newly started project.
How to make customizations at the component, without changing the component core.
I guess that here should be made some combination of Framework (Or static library) and cocoa pods, but i wanted to hear if somebody have already developed some concept about this.
Yes, exactly as you supposed, the way I opted for to reuse components is through a static library or sometimes a framework of reusable components, implementing common logic or well structured classes to inherit from in the new projects, which I make available to the new projects as a CocoaPods development pod sitting on my development machine or in a shared git repository. This way should answer your questions 1 and 2. For your question 3, you can either opt to perform customisations to the core dismissing pod updates, or to adapt the core methods to a possible override in the destination project. Hope it helps.
How to encapsulate commonly repeated features in separate component.
Whatever you choose you are going to have to factor out the code your separate component requires from your code base. This is the first step in the entire process - so think long and hard about if it makes sense to turn it into a separate component.
So now you have some code you would like to reuse...
There are a number of ways of doing this, such as Xcode's workspaces, stand alone source files, static libraries and frameworks. Cocoa pods is a package manager and will help you maintain your framework - not write it :(
Xcode's workspaces
A workspace is an Xcode document that groups projects and other
documents so you can work on them together. A workspace can contain
any number of Xcode projects, plus any other files you want to
include. In addition to organizing all the files in each Xcode
project, a workspace provides implicit and explicit relationships
among the included projects and their targets.
Static Libraries
Introduction to Using Static Libraries in iOS
Static libraries provide a convenient mechanism for sharing code among
multiple applications. On iOS, static libraries are the only supported
library type. This document explains how to extract code from your
application into a new static library and how to use that static
library in multiple applications.
Frameworks
In OS X, shared resources are packaged using standard frameworks and
umbrella frameworks. Both types of framework feature the same basic
structure and can contain resources such as a shared library, nib
files, image files, strings files, information property lists,
documentation, header files, and so on. Umbrella frameworks add minor
refinements to the standard framework structure, such as the ability
to encompass other frameworks.
Frameworks are packaged in a bundle structure. The framework bundle
directory ends with the .framework extension, and unlike most other
bundle types, a framework bundle is presented to the user as a
directory and not as a file. This openness makes it easy for
developers to browse any header files and documentation included with
the framework.
Source Files
These are the classes you have factored out of your code base. You could just include them in each project you use them - for instance a separate repo, that contains all of your shared/common code that you add to your Xcode project's workspace. Very simple, not the best to maintain.
How to inject the component in the newly started project.
Depending on how you choose to implement your common code will effect this step. For source files you just need add them to the project and set the target. For frameworks or static libraries you will have to embed them in your project
For workspaces you will add the projects containing the shared code to the main projects workspace.
How to make customizations at the component, without changing the component core.
Again you may find yourself refactoring code so that you expose the UI controls or logic functions that you want to be able to customize. As a general rule the more you expose the more complex the code gets.
I'm creating a Swift framework that is dependent on several other third party frameworks. Both these other frameworks support Carthage and Cocoapods.
Is there any way I can make my own framework support installing using both Carhage and Cocoapods? Or is just not achievable and should I just pick one?
You can definitely make your framework available with both CocoaPods and Carthage. This is the path that I would recommend to allow your users to use whatever solution they prefer. Also note that setting a framework up to work with Carthage also makes it much easier for users who want to use your library without either of these solutions.
On a high level, for CocoaPods you'll want to create a podspec that lists your dependencies there. This way CocoaPods will manage downloading and configuring them along with resolving them against other user dependencies. See more here.
For Carthage you'll want to configure your project with framework targets for the platforms you support and add your dependencies in your Cartfile. More on that here
Combining both is actually not difficult. With my framework I have started with CocoaPods template containing Example and Pod directories. In the example project I created a new Cocoa Touch Framework target, made sure this target is Shared (in Product - Schemes - Managed Schemes) and dragged content of my Pod/Classes directory to the project (with unchecked Copy items if needed and added Target Membership only to this newly created framework).
This should be enough, Carthage should find this shared scheme and use it. Just keep in mind you have to commit changes and create a new git tag before using your framework from Carthage.