I have created one project using third party SDK.
I have done some changes in SDK and improves it more.
I want to separate out SDK in such a way that any one can use my SDK in there project.
just as same I have taken it before from somewhere else and used in my project
Is there any standard way to separate out SDK from App?
Probably you took it on a github, if not - let's anyway take github as an example.
First, when you did improves some code of third party library / sdk - i hope you still holding all the code in the same classes or at least connected classes, other way it will hard to work for that code. So, you should just take the code you improved and to contribute. Go over link it will describe you the process of how to support projects with your code.
Related
My goal is to build a swift iOS framework which uses two other frameworks (included as separate projects) and which shouldn't reveal the source code after built.
Is there some text/guide/documentation which would explain and navigate me through the process of building such a framework properly and correctly?
I built framework with aggregate target adding and linking frameworks on which my custom framework is dependent using run script as indicated here. I was able to add built of my custom framework to my custom app, together with other two dependencies (again as a separate projects), and run it on the device. However, I am not convinced by the correctness of my custom framework built.
Moreover, I was not able to upload the archive to the Appstore due to the various errors of "Unsupported architectures...", "CFBundleIdentifier Collision...", "Invalid Bundle...", "Invalid Binary" and so on. After sorting these errors out according to the various stackoverflow answers and installing the app from the TestFlight, the app crashed after launch and wasn't working at all.
I was checking various blog posts, stackoverflow questions/answers and Apple Framework Programming Guide but nothing gave me comprehensive understanding on building custom framework under conditions described above.
Everything I did was just following step-by-step tutorials without explanation of the purpose of the steps. I am sure I am missing the basics. Could you please help me and give me some guides?
I can understand you frustration. I, a while ago too searched probably for many documents on how to write a framework correctly but like you I also didn't find anything really that satisfying. From my own experiences I can give a couple of advices.
NO External Libraries
In my opinion DO NOT use external libraries in your own framework. I don't really know what your frameworks purpose is but most of the stuff you want to do can be done without using external libraries. Depending on other libraries is not a good idea especially if its a framework you are working on. Anytime these libraries get updated or even worse if they don't you will have to wait for them to be updated or find another library.So rather than this happening later on I think its better if you do it from the start. So loose the external libraries.
Universal Framework Binary
Second one is pretty easy. Generating a universal framework. I suggest you don't use a script. Most of the scripts I found were either outdated or they didn't work at all. Later on I found out that actually it was pretty easy to generate one on your own. You can do this by building your project once for a real device and one for the simulator.Then you can generate a universal binary by using the command lipo -create "Your simulator executable path" "your iOS device executable path" -output "your framework name". What this does is that it combines your two executable files and generates a universal one. Then you can just go and copy your simulator documents from the modules file and paste them in you iphoneos modules file. I am going to share a link were you can go through the walkthrough yourself. https://medium.com/wireless-registry-engineering/create-a-universal-fat-swift-framework-b7409bbfa18f
Use Objective-C(If you can)
This one is bit of a tricky one unless you know objective-c. What I would recommend is that you implement your framework using Objective-C and writing a swift wrapper around it. I would not have said this if you were creating an iOS app but in case of a framework I still think you should go for objective-c. This is because Objective-c has been around for over 30 years and most of the very old apps are in objective-c. If you want your framework to easily be used by older apps coded in objective-c I recommend you go with it. I have read tons of posts on how people have problems trying to use frameworks written in swift in their objective-c apps. Swift will be the first and probably only choice in the near future but not just yet. On the plus side if you still haven't you will have learnt Objective-C which will give definitely give you a better understanding on how things work. It will be challenging but I promise you it will be worth your while .I have a good read on this which you can checkout yourself. https://academy.realm.io/posts/altconf-conrad-kramer-writing-iOS-sdk/
Naming Conventions
This is a pretty straight forward one. I suggest you stick to apples naming conventions. This is because you will be sharing your code this time and people will look for familiarity when trying to integrate your framework. This will make your code easier to understand. You can check out these two links for more info.https://github.com/raywenderlich/objective-c-style-guide (obj-c) https://github.com/raywenderlich/swift-style-guide (swift)
Access Control
This in my opinion is an important one. When working on you framework think before you implement a class or a function. Consider if you would like someone else to be able to use that part of your code. You may want to limit the user while they use your framework and correct access control is the way to do it. You can easily guide the users so the users do exactly what you want them to do with your framework.
Document Your Code
This is a must if you want your framework be a professional one. You should be documenting every function and variable the user will use. Documenting and explaining what your code does makes a lot of peoples lives easy. You don't one anyone trying to understand what your code does for half an hour while you could have easily written a small explanation for what the parameters do and one that function or variable should be used for.
Test Your Code
Last but not least do write tests for your code. This does take some time but it assures you that your code works the way it should.
Look at other good frameworks
You should definitely checkout other open source libraries and look at what they have done. Usually there is no point in reinventing the wheel unless you are doing something absolutely different but even then there are very familiar ways to do things. I can suggest you check out the mantle sdk(https://github.com/Mantle/Mantle). Another one is the very popular Alamofire sdk(https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire) and also the Realm sdk(https://github.com/realm/realm-cocoa). These are good examples of frameworks. Take a look at them. Look how they have done things. It will give you an insight on how your framework should look like.
I know all of these points may also be valid if you were writing an app but what makes these a must is the fact that you will be sharing your code with others. You may manage by not doing some of these while implementing an app but for a framework things do change a little bit. It is always a pleasure to work with easy to use frameworks which make coding a pleasure. These types of small things will make your framework preferable. Happy coding.
We've a classic iOS application which was developed using objective-c and it has lot of features. The same features has been used for other similar apps as well.
Now we've plan to rewamp the entite application. One of the approach to reduce the development work, we've plan to modularize features as framework re-using the same objective-c code, so that all applicaiton can use the framework and compile time will be less.
Also as part of rewamp, we will be using iOS 10 and swift3.
Please kindly share me your ideas/feedback, what are issues will be popup or any limitaion to do this approach.
Appreciate your help!
Thanks,
Srini
Just pack it as cocoapods and deploy into your company git is the fastest way i suppose, packing into framework is also fine but it have many boilerplate thing like cant run on either device or simulator, and if using fat framework then need to extract the simulator part out when you archive, or have to use embed framework if they are depent on each other,.... its just pretty annoying
I want to know which is the best and most reliable method. i have looked on here for an answer but didn't come across any.
I Want to use multiple API'S in my project so please keep that in mind when answering. Any advice about the best way of doing this and most reliable method will really be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Isit possible to download multiple SDK's into an iOS application through Xcode?
Pros of SDK:
Can be used offline
Most SDKs are small in file size
All of the functioning code is visible to you, the SDK developer can't keep many secrets
Cons of SDK:
Larger binary
More clutter in your Xcode project
Pros of API:
Smaller binary
Less 3rd party frameworks cluttering your Xcode project
Cons of API:
Can't be used offline
Tends to be a blackbox
App will need to be updated every time the API is updated
In terms of reliability, the SDK will always be functional assuming
It worked in the first place
It doesn't rely on an API in the background
You can integrate SDK using Cocoapods library.CocoaPods is a ruby gem that downloads all the third party libraries that you want for your project.
Getting a specific version of a pod is done by specifying the version number, and CocoaPods downloads that specific version for you saving you from searching through commits for it.
With CocoaPods, updating your dependancies is easily done with the pod update command.
CocoaPods also provides a central place where third party libraries can be found. This improves discoverability of open source libraries that you can use in your projects. You can use the search engine at cocoapods.org to search for pods.
I'm completely confused and I don't know where to start asking questions. I tried googling, but the terminology is confusing and I'm not sure what either of these things do (except for Xcode). Can someone explain like I'm 5?
I'm on the cocos2d-swift website and after reading the getting started section it says "From this point onwards, using SpriteBuilder is optional.". I don't know what they mean by that.
How do each of these correlate with each other?
Also, how is an API Documentation Browser and Code Snippet Manager useful to an everyday iOS Developer?
cocos2d-swift is a framework that enables you to build things like sprite-based games quickly.
SpriteBuilder is a tool that helps you build your own multilayered sprites (images and animations grouped into a single package -- i.e. Mario, a Goomba, a Fireflower fireball, etc.).
Xcode is a developer environment in which you write your source code, compile, distribute, and test.
CocoaPods is a tool that fetches and manages framework/SDK dependancies.
You would use CocoaPods to fetch the cocos2d-swift framework so that you could build a sprite-based game in Xcode using sprites you generated in SpriteBuilder.
Not sure what Cocos2d is, but swift is the latest programming language by Apple for both OS X and iOS development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_(programming_language)
SpriteBuilder is a framework used to create games for iOS very quick. Think of it as a game engine.
http://www.spritebuilder.com/about
Xcode is the IDE (integrated development environment) that you use when writing native OS X and iOS applications. It's awesome!
CocoaPods is a way to load in third-party libraries and frameworks without having to manually install them on your own. It also makes it very easy to keep the frameworks up-to-date. Pods also allows your project to be more portable as it's much easier to install an application with multiple dependancies via Pods.
http://cocoapods.org
A documentation browser is good if you want to have access to documentation while offline. However, I almost always use Google to find what I'm looking for regardless of what technology I'm working on. Google is just the best way to search.
Finally, I'd start off with this book. I read the first edition years ago, and made things very easy for me to understand.
http://www.bignerdranch.com/we-write/ios-programming.html
Hope this helps!
Here are some basics:
XCode (A Program)- Most of your iOS development will happen here. Coding, creating the app etc.
Think of an SDK as a suite of commands or tools you can use-API's (API - Application programming interface)
Cocoas2d (An SDK) - Game engine. A software development kit for creating games. you would pull this library of code and tools into xcode to use it.
SpriteBuilder (An SDK) - Suite of tools for building games. Just like Cocoas, you would pull this into xCode to make use of it as you code.
CocoaPods - A tool for linking/loading SDK's into XCode and easily updating them.
Moral of the story: XCode is the software you will use for everything. Everything else are just additional libraries of code you can pull in.
How can I add stuff like AdSupport.framework to a Unity project?
I don't want to add them (on the Xcode side) every single time I do a build for iOS...
Using Unity 4.6.
Update, related:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/ios-plugin-how-to-link-ios-framework.156231/
http://feedback.unity3d.com/suggestions/frameworks-and-plist-on-ios-outp
https://github.com/AdColony/AdColony-Unity-SDK/wiki/Unity-and-Xcode-Project-Setup
http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/222478/how-do-i-automatically-include-a-framework-with-my.html
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/get-tired-in-dragging-frameworks-and-dependence-in-xcode-try-xuporter.190752/ - https://github.com/onevcat/XUPorter - https://github.com/josh-ruis/XUPorter
Until there is an official way of doing this within the Unity editor, I'll just answer like this:
There is no official way to do this. You have to do this every single time you build an iOS project. Does UT hate iOS?
Or you could check out some 3rd party plugins that try to address the issue. I haven't tried it myself yet but https://github.com/onevcat/XUPorter or one of its forks could do it. It appears 3rd party tools have a hard time keeping up with new Unity and Xcode versions.
Or this: https://github.com/openkit/openkit-unity
Also: Something that would work from day-to-day is to select "Append" at build time instead of replace. That way framework setup is maintained (however splash screens settings seem to be ignored, and possibly other stuff too). It won't work however of you checkout the project on another computer or similar.