currently I'm considering the iOS application like below,
Application:
Using the lightning USB3 camera adapter, by MSC(Mass Storage Class) or MTP(Media Transfer Protocol),
browse and copy files from devices which have USB connector to iPhone.
Lightning USB3 camera adapter
http://www.apple.com/jp/shop/product/MK0W2AM/A/lightning-usb-3カメラアダプタ
I asked Apple, with TSI(Technical Support Incident) for creating such iOS application, and they said iOS SDK doesn't support MSC / MTP.
By using Apple's USB Host Adapter(Lightning USB3 Camera Adapter), is there any way to create application to browse files in connected device by USB cable with MSC or MTP ?
I'd appreciate if you would answer the questions or give me some information.
Thank you.
Related
Is it possible to send an ASCII code on an external device through USB port using IOS API? I assume that it is possible through bluetooth connection, but I'm not sure through USB connector. Any thoughts?
I would appreciate if someone could put me in the right direction.
Thanking you in advance
That largely depends on the level of sophistication of this "external device". If this external device is just a bare metal embedded device without some sort of operating system you definitely need MFI.
Otherwise, you can run a usbmuxd server (e.g. on Raspberry PI with Linux) to establish a connection via USB. Usbmuxd is basically the technology that Apple uses to communicate between iOS devices and Desktop apps such as iTunes or Xcode. And yes, it is App Store compliant, e.g., Duet Display uses this approach to make an iPad a secondary display for your Desktop via USB.
There are several open source libraries that provide a high level API, e.g., PeerTalk or DarkLightning.
All,
We are developing a iPhone app, It has feature to generate a txt/pdf file and copy it to a USB flash drive for future purpose. I know we need to have MFI license to have a USB device. Are there any providers who can provide the device and SDK, so that we can integrate to our own app. Or
If we have any USB drive can we use iOS SDK to write the files?
Please let me know if any thing is possible.
I want bidirectional USB communication between an iOS device and a digital camera using gPhoto2. gPhoto2 "abstracts communication ports and camera protocol, to allow a complete modularity."
Issues I've found:
Apple's strict requirements for apps interfacing with the iOS hardware layer will enviably lead to rejection in the App Store approval process. MFi may mediate this issue.
Getting full access to the lightning/30-pin doc connector to send/receive USB packets may require a private iOS library such as IOKit, and that will get my binary rejected from the App Store.
Connecting a camera via lightning/30-pin launches a PTPCamera-like task to allow the photo app to take over to import photos. That task must be killed get full USB access on OSX, so I'm guessing it's similar on iOS, and killing a task from an app's sandbox seems impossible.
Compiling gPhoto2 for iOS is inherently difficult since I can't dynamically link the gphoto2 library, and thus I must compile it as a static library.
Those are some of the issues I've run into. Is this project worth pursuing? Do you think it's even possible?
Yes, I know there are other solutions, such as using a wifi router or a custom built bluetooth module plugged into the camera to shuttle USB packets to and from the iOS device.
I'm looking into the iOS sdk for examples of the ExternalAccessory framework to use the iphone/ipad as an USB device that can be plugged into a PC or Mac and present as external device (like a midi controller or something else)
The App i want to create requires connecting to a host (PC or Mac) the iphone via USB or bluetooth and present to the host a functionality. How can i implement this?
You'll probably have an easier time connecting via WiFi. You need to be part of the Apple Made for iPhone program, which is not easy to get into, to use Bluetooth or the dock connector to talk to peripherals. There's no such restriction on the use of WiFi. Also, you'll find a lot more helpful examples of connecting via WiFi on the web.
CoreMIDI is the appropriate API for emulating a MIDI device, which may be possible over USB using Apples Camera Connection kit.
Does iOS SDK provide a way to let iOS app talk to app running in OSX/Windows via usb cable connection?
Or, socket is the only option?
If you want to interact with an OS X program from iOS via USB, the PeerTalk lib seems to provide a convenient way to do so (without having to join the MFi program).
According to the github page, PeerTalk
Provides you with USB device attach/detach events and attached device's info
Can connect to TCP services on supported attached devices (e.g. an iPhone), bridging the communication over USB transport
Offers a higher-level API (PTChannel and PTProtocol) for convenient implementations.
[is] Tested and designed for libdispatch (aka Grand Central Dispatch).
It also
has successfully been released on both the iOS and OS X app store.
A great example is Duet Display which is a fantastic piece of software allowing you to use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac using the Lightning or 30-pin cable. [...]
Communication via USB cable is possible but everything is under strict MFi NDA.
One link that might interest you:
Microchip: 3-step Approach to Develop iPod®, iPhone® and iPad® Accessories
Some more information on Apple MFi program
There are no fees to enter the program but you will have to fill out some 'paperwork'.