I have a macOS app that I wrote years ago; it has been working well on my Mac. Recently I thought it would be nice to have that same app on my iPhone so I added an iOS target to my Xcode project. I have never built for iOS before so I'm on new ground here.Anyway, when I built for iOS, I got an error message: "Cocoa is not available when building for iOS." In Apple's "Cocoa Fundamentals Guide" there is a prominent statement: "Cocoa is a set of object-oriented frameworks that provides a runtime environment for applications running in OS X and iOS."Does that mean I can run an app that uses Cocoa but not build one? I'm at a loss; I have no idea how to get past this one. Can an iOS app be built without Cocoa? How would I even go about doing that? Any suggestions at all will be welcome. I'm running Xcode 12.5 on macOS Big Sur 11.4. My app's UI is written in Objective-C and its muscle is in plain C. Also, my app is only for my own use, not for publication.
Anyway, when I built for iOS, I got an error message: "Cocoa is not available when building for iOS." In Apple's "Cocoa Fundamentals Guide" there is a prominent statement: "Cocoa is a set of object-oriented frameworks that provides a runtime environment for applications running in OS X and iOS."
That's somewhat confusing wording. iOS uses a variation on the Cocoa theme called Cocoa Touch. More specifically, the user interface framework on macOS is called AppKit while the iOS user interface framework is UIKit. If you're comfortable with AppKit, it's not hard to learn enough UIKit to get things done. Other frameworks (Foundation, Core Graphics, Core Data, etc.) are pretty much the same on both platforms.
Does that mean I can run an app that uses Cocoa but not build one?
No. You're going to have to rewrite at least the user interface parts of your app before it'll run on iOS. iOS devices obviously use a somewhat different user interaction model: there's no hardware keyboard, no mouse, a touch screen that can handle multiple simultaneous touches, a much smaller screen, and a variety of sensors that don't exist on the Mac, so a different approach to interacting with the user is different. If you were careful to separate the business logic (model) from the user interface (views) in your Mac app, you'll likely be able to reuse most of that unchanged.
Try to rewrite your code using Cocoa touch or UIKit. I am not good at iOS coding, by the way as I know Cocoa framework is for Mac OS, the framework for touch devices is Cocoa touch.
I would like to use some lib file (.a) in my app.
I got the files from a 3rd party, to use an IP camera they developed.
As i understand there is no way to open this files, so i will use them as is.
The problem is the files requires real device architecture, so i can't run (or build) them
on the iOS Simulator.
What will be the Implications for developing iOS app on real device only ?
(Besides a slower build and run time and discomfort..)
Also, is there a way to change this requirement so it could run on the simulator ?
Thank you
You should write your own mock library, that exposes the exact same API the vendor provides, and test against that in your simulator. The functionality your mock library provides can be as boring or as exciting as you desire.
My team has developed a big social networking app. Now i want to publish it to app store. But the app is not written in Objective C. What is the way to get it published in app store? Or least how can i open in in Xcode simulator for testing and enhancement?
My guess is that you created an app in android and now want to port it to iOS. Unfortunately Xcode isn't able to transform Java to Objective-C and iOS cannot run Java apps, so you will not be able yo submit your app as-is to the App Store.
You will have to do it the hard way and rewrite the entire app in Objective-C. Luckily Google recently launched a translator that might help with part of the work: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com.br/2012/09/j2objc-java-to-ios-objective-c.html
You cannot. Sorry.
I recently worked on an app for iOS and Android launch and we settled for parallel development.
Your Java code is incompatible with iOS and Xcode has no process to convert it to Obj-c.
The only options for cross-platform development that I am aware of are:
1) Heavy use of c/c++ based libraries; these can be utilised in both Android applications and iOS applications (this is what we used). But the entire front end of the apps must be re-implemented.
2) A cross-platform framework such as PhoneGap or Appcelerator, but this would require significant redevelopment from your current code-base.
3) A 'translator' such as the one Breno Gazzola suggested (another option is XMLVM) but these only do some of the work for you, and they're far from perfect.
It's very hard to judge without knowing your code, but if I were you I'd look at combining options 1 and 3 as much as possible, but budget for a complete re-write.
We have a fairly simple mobile application, completed for iPhone and Android that does the following:
queries a web service to verify the user's account information
display an animation to show that the user, in fact, has a valid account
We got the application working very quickly on a PlayBook by using the Android version.
Now the customer has asked us to explore getting it to work on other BlackBerry devices.
None of us know that much about BlackBerry, and the main source for our question returned from google searches (http://us.blackberry.com/developers/choosingtargetos.jsp) comes up as 404 page.
According to this chart there is still a wide variety of devices in use. Which ones does it make sense to target?
Thanks
I had posted an answer last year about this here on stackoverflow, but as you noted, that link has recently broken.
The only thing I've found that's similar is this BlackBerry developer page. It shows, for example, that paid apps are being purchased by devices that are about 97% on OS 5.0 and above.
From what you've told me, I don't know that your app is going to be that different on different devices, aside from maybe the obvious smartphone vs. Playbook difference. Different devices certainly have different screen sizes, so you'll need to make sure your UI is coded to handle that gracefully.
If you guys are new to BlackBerry, you might want to stay away from OS < 5.0. There are some things in prior OS versions (e.g. location services / maps, browser, and networking) that are a little tough to work with, and with such a small percentage of paying customers still on OS < 5.0, it probably isn't worth it to you.
So, I guess I'm recommending that you target specific OS levels (e.g. 5.0+). That will be a bigger driver for how you build your app, than a specific set of devices. This is because each OS version adds more and better APIs to use.
Once you've decided which OS to target, then you should download the SDK for each major OS. For example, if you use the Eclipse BlackBerry plug-in, you can install the 5.0 SDK (aka component pack), the 6.0 SDK, the 7.0 and 7.1 SDK.
Once you have those SDKs installed, you'll then have a bunch of simulators (each SDK has a simulator folder). Run your app on all those simulators, and that'll probably be a good start.
Of course, there's no substitute for running on real hardware, too, but if your app does mostly standard things (not interacting with hardware sensors, just displaying web pages, and making HTTP requests), the simulators should give you a pretty good test environment. They certainly will give you all the screen size configurations.
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I've heard that you need to get a Mac if you want to develop iPhone apps. Is this true?
Is it possible to develop iPhone apps using Linux? If yes, what do I need and where do I download the necessary tools?
To provide a differing response, I'm running OS X and Xcode on a virtualised (VMware) machine on Linux. CPU is a Core2Quad (Q8800), and it is perfectly fast. I found a prebuilt VM online (I'll leave it to you to find)
Xcode/iPhone development works perfectly, as does debugging via USB to the phone itself.
It actually surprised me a lot - but I've had no issues at all.
The answer to this really depends on whether or not you want to develop apps that are then distributed through the iPhone store. If you don't, and don't mind developing for the "jailbroken" iPhone crowd - then it's possible to develop from Linux.
Check this chap's page for a comprehensive (if a little complex) guide on what to do :
http://www.saurik.com/id/4
It seems to be true so far. The only SDK available from Apple only targets the macOS environment. I've been upset about that, but I'm looking into buying a mac now, just to do iPhone development. I really dislike what they are doing, and I hope a good SDK come out for other environments, such as Linux and Windows.
Obstacles regarding the SDK:
The iPhone SDK and free software: not a match
Apple's recently released a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone, but if you were hoping to port or develop original open source software with it, the news isn't good. Code signing and nondisclosure conditions make free software a no-go.
The SDK itself is a free download, with which you can write programs and run them on a software simulator. But in order to actually release software you've written, you must enroll in the iPhone Developer Program -- a step separate from downloading the SDK, and one that requires Apple's approval.
I think it's rather elitist for them to think only macOS users are good enough to write programs for their phone, and the fact you need to buy a $100 license if you want to publish your stuff, really makes it more difficult for the hobbyist programmer. Though, if that's what you need to do, I'm planning on jumping through their hoops; I'd really like to get some stuff developed on my iPhone.
There used to be a project dedicated to solve this defect: iphone-dev
The goal of the iphone-dev project is to create a free, portable, high quality toolchain to enable development for the Apple iPhone and other embedded devices based on the ARM/Darwin platform.
Regarding the alternative tool chain, Saurik's site is useful but for latest firmware development he indicates building on the iPhone itself and stays clear of indicating that you may need to copy necessary iPhone firmware files to your Linux environment. It's not impossible, but just requires additional work, especially for signing the code (there are open alternative solutions out there as well).
Also, take a look at other guides (for the same tool chain) that approach it more methodically.
I'd suggest to still do the final build and code signing and packaging in XCode (which may mean borrowing someone's Mac) in case you run into problems when submitting the application to Apple. Using the alternative tool chain opens up (at least on the Mac) the possibility of using other IDEs other than XCode for developing the application and again resorting to XCode for the deployment and testing with the simulator.
Of course if you do get the code signing / certificate generation working from the command line outside of XCode then you can install a certificate on your actual iPhone and test there (installing the app via iTunes w/your certificate).
The only way I know of doing development in Linux for the iPhone would be to install Vmware and work on getting OS X running in a virtual machine. With that said there are some "legal" concerns in doing that. It is reported that OS X Server can be virtualized but as far as the development story on that I don't know.
If you are truly serious, that's the what I'd investigate.
Good luck.
You can use Tersus (open source), and it lets you export the app as an Xcode project.
You might be able to write code on a Linux box that will eventually find itself on an iPhone or iPad, but ultimately you would need a Mac to test or deploy the code to the iPhone or to submit it to the App store. So ultimately you need a Mac, so you might as well do the work on the Mac too, with all the tools that Apple provide. There are alternatives to Xcode & Objective-C, such as Monotouch - but these utilize the Apple tools too.
You can with some work run OS X in a VM on Linux. However I should point out that this will break the OSX license agreement, even if you buy the copy of OSX - as it is only licensed to run on Apple hardware.
Sorry to give you this news - the ecosystem around the iPhone/iPad is very tightly controlled.
EDIT: One major exception to this is writing a web app for the iPhone. There are some excellent web apps for the iPhone which are almost as good as user experience as a native app. However I did interpret your question to be about native app development. Web apps, although the user can create an icon for launching them - are still 'second class' citizens.
I've had success building iOS apps on linux using the iOS clang toolchain by cjacker. Basically it consists of the upstream clang and llvm tools from your linux distro, a linux port of apple's linker and some extra tools to help simplify the build process (such as converting xcode projects to Makefile format).
It does take a few steps to install, but you're a software developer so you'd be used to that. I posted an up to date howto for Debian 7 (Wheezy) online:
https://rogerkeays.com/how-to-build-an-ios-toolchain-for-linux-debian-7
Otherwise you want to go with the generic instructions which are a little older:
http://code.google.com/p/ios-toolchain-based-on-clang-for-linux/wiki/HowTo_en
Good luck.
There's a framework called Rhodes.
The concept is based on Ruby on Rails and you develop your mobile app in Ruby and HTML, and you can write your code in a Linux environment. You can then create an account at Rhohub, where you add the code (through GitHub), and it allows you to compile it for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian, all off the same code. You don't have to code in Objective-C for iPhone, nor Java for Android, etc. It does the conversions for you. All you need to do is stick to the Rules for creating an iPhone application (or the Phone's you want to develop for) so it can be accepted at iTunes (or the equivalent market).
This will allow you to add the app to iTunes as well.
I have not found any emulators, however, which means that to test your app you need to put it on an iPhone, which is a mission.
I am using this option as I want to create apps for all phones and I use Ruby on Rails already. If you just want to make an app for an iPhone, then invest in a Mac.
Hope this helps.
You're right non-jailbroken phones are limited to Apple's App store and Apple "has the right" to enforce whatever rule, it's totally nonfree territory.
However while developing, one won't have to deal with Apple at all. You can use e.g. rsync to upload the code to the device and test it.
To a certain extent, yes, it is possible. You can type Objective-C code and set up your projects. You can even test the C and C++ parts of your code with gcc.
What you cannot do:
Use Interface Builder to set up your interface, as it's Mac-only. (Not required, but recommended.)
Compile code that uses Apple's Cocoa classes - they don't exist on Linux.
Test code in the Simulator - there isn't one for Linux.
Compile code for real devices or for the App Store - all this requires tools that Apple only provides for OS X.
You need to get mac for it. There are several tool chains available (like win-chain) that actually lets you write and build i Phone applications on windows. There are several associated tutorials to build the Objective C code on Windows. But there is a problem, the apps hence developed will work on Jail broken i Phones only.
We’ve seen few hacks to get over that and make it to App Store, but as Apple keeps on updating SDKs, tool chains need regular updates. It’s a hassle to make it up all the time.If you want to get ready app you can also take help from arcapps its launches apps at a reasonable price.
iphone app development
I did an attempt to port cocos2d-iphone to GNUstep so that you can Develop game based on cocos2d. However for publishing you need a mac. cocos2d-GNUstep.
I would recommend getting a mac because the ios simulator is amazing for testing in the early stages of an app. But I do know of a small company we work with that develops using Unity so they don't need a load of macs. That way they only need one mac for the office and that's just to compile the final build. It also means it works on android but it really depends on what your building because it's a games engine. You may want to look into web apps using frameworks like Sencha Touch Mobile
Unity: http://unity3d.com/
Sencha Touch: http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/
If you value your time, buy a Mac! I don't know enough about Linux development options to offer a viable solution, but it seems the proposed methods involve some pretty roundabout work. If you plan on seriously writing and selling iPhone apps, I think you could easily recoup the cost of a Mac Mini or Macbook. :-)
You will never get your app approved by Apple if it is not developed using Xcode. Never. And if you do hack the SDK to develop on Linux and Apple finds out, don't be surprised when you are served. I am a member of the ADC and the iPhone developer program. Trust, Apple is VERY serious about this.
Don't take the risk, Buy a Macbook or Mac mini (yes a mini can run Xcode - though slowly - boost the RAM if you go with the mini). Also, while I've seen OS X hacked to run on VMware I've never seen anyone running Xcode on VM. So good luck. And I'd check the EULA before you go through the trouble.
PS: After reading the above, yes I agree If you do hack the SDK and develop on Linux at least do the final packaging on a Mac. And submit it via a Mac. Apple doesn't run through the code line by line so i doubt they'd catch that. But man, that's a lot of if's and work. Be fun to do though. :)