I'm working on an iOS app where I use third party libraries. I want to migrate my project to use ARC, but the third party libraries are still using the old memory management. So I want to separate third party code and put it in a separate project without ARC, and then somehow link that project into my iOS-app project, so that they will be built together using the same configuration.
Is this possible to do in a very simple way, or am i better of just turning off ARC for the individual files? (seems very tedious..)
Can I use a workspace? Where one project is my iOS app and the other just contains third party code?
I've played around a bit and googled a lot, but there just doesn't seem to be any simple soultion, or am I wrong?
So I figured it out myself, with a lot of help from different blogs. Something this basic should be more trivial and well documented... But here we go, this is what I did to get a library for AsiHttpRequest:
Create a new iOS project. Select the 'Cocoa Touch Static Library' template. Call it whatever you like. You don't want to tick 'Use automatic reference counting', since AsiHttpRequest does not support it.
Select a location for your library project (will matter later on).
Delete the default .h- and .m-file created by Xcode.
Drag and drop the AsiHttpRequest files into the project
You can add the frameworks that AsiHttpRequest is dependent of, but you will have to add them to your main project anyway, so it is not necessary.
Try to build the project, it should do so without errors.
Open your main project
From finder, drag your library .proj-file into your main project (in Xcode, so that it 'lands' onto the main project file)
The library project should now appear under your main project (still in XCode). It should be expandable and you should be able to see the library project files as well. If it doesn't, try closing all open projects and reopen the main project.
Select the main project, and select target. Under Build Phases - Link Binary With Libraries, click the +-sign.
In the list of frameworks you should see your library project (called something like libname.a). Select that file
The newly added file might appear red in the list of frameworks, don't worry, it works anyway. Guess it's a bug.
Still under target, go to Build Settings
Under Header Search Paths add the relative search path to where the library .h-files are. This is relative to your main projects .proj-file. (For example ../some folder/libproject/)
Hopefully your main project will build without errors and the library project will be built at the same time, using the same configuration as the main project.
I have no idea if this is a good approach or if there is some easier way to do it. However, I like this, since I can use the library project in several projects. And if I want to update the library project, I only have to do it in one place, and the other projects will be updated as well, since they all reference the same project.
Edit1:
I had some problems with library projects using objective c categories. I received unrecognized selector sent to instance errors in runtime when trying to call those methods. This problem was solved by following the answer given here.
Go to build settings of the target in the main project and add -ObjC to the entry called Other Linker Flags
Edit2:
I found this template for creating Universal frameworks. I haven't tried it, but I guess something like this would work as well.
Related
I have my own framework which I've made. I use this framework in another project I made. That is, after building my framework, Dragged the Product, .framework to Embedded Binaries of project.
However, I've to continuously make changes to the framework. So the process of dragging and dropping again and again is a lot of work. How to conquer this ?
Can someone tell the exact steps even if it means including the project as well ?
Copy the framework Project to your project folder.
Open your Project in xcode.
Right click on the Project File on left side of xcode and click on option "Add file to Project Name" and then select the framework project here.
Delete the Product .framework available in the embedded libraries and add the framework product properly.
So your goal is to 'deploy' changes made to .framework to all the projects you've already embedded it in previously. Here is one approach to it.
Create [myFramework]Targets.txt file where you'll be putting all the locations (directories) of your framework in different projects, line by line. It will have something like this:
~/Path/to/project/A/Frameworks
~/Path/to/project/B/Frameworks
~/Path/to/project/C/Frameworks
Create deploy_framework.sh file with script that will replace your framework everywhere you need. I'm definitely not the one you can call a Bash expert, by here is what it probably looks like:
for destination in $(<[myFramework]Targets.txt); do /bin/cp -rf /Path/to/updated/[myFramework].framework "$destination"; done
Now, whenever you're done with your framework changes, just run deploy_framework.sh from Terminal. Assuming your Xcode projects have existing reference to .framework and you didn't change its name, it should work.
NOTE: You might still need to do Clean+Build for your projects to compile with updated framework. I believe you can also tweak project settings to 'cache' builds less aggressively.
Let me know if it works for you, we might need to adjust script a bit, since I never tested it.
I know this is a very simple - maybe obvious - question, but I've been struggling with it for a while. I'm working on a SpriteKit project in XCode (using Swift) and I'm trying to add this SKEasing Framework from GitHub.
I've already downloaded and extracted the zip file, and I did everything that 孙博弘 answered including the bridging header (which I made the with the help of this site);
However, the framework doesn't seem to be working. I can't use any of the actions provided by this library. Is there something I'm missing? What am I doing wrong?
You don't add the project to your project.
First open the SKEasing project in xcode by itself. Set the build target to generic iOS device. (With the pop up in the top left corner of the xocde project window.) Then use the Build command (under Product) and when that's done run Archive. There should be a library built now under the products folder (left side of project window). Control click on the library name and select Show in Finder. This will lead you to the library. Copy this file to your project and you should be good to go.
if you use .a, you should use it as follow img.
I'm trying to create one Xcode workspace that includes 3 projects:
- 2 different iOS apps
- One dynamic framework project
The two iOS apps should use the framework.
Sounds very easy and reasonable thing to do, but I just can't seem to make it to work.
When I add the framework to the iOS app target as linked library, the build process works but when running I get an exception that the framework could not be found.
If I go to the Embed Binaries -> click add -> choose the framework from the framework project, nothing happens (the embed binaries section stays empty.
I tried to do first add the framework as linked library, then add it to the embed binaries. Now compilation doesn't work (can't find the framework).
What am I missing? Every single example in the documentation shows how to add a framework as a new target under the same project. But that's doesn't help. I want the framework to be a separate project that a team can work on separately.
Open Xcode, so you can see Xcode in the menu bar.
Then go File>New>Workspace.
I believe you just drag and drop other projects into the workspace.
I've never really used a workspace, although I have made one before.
Base on this question
Why don't iOS framework dependencies need to be explicitly linked to a static library
I read the selected answer and still don't understand so I made an example project
Test Project on Github
In the test project, I remove all framework from Link Binary With Libraries and File navigation for both main project and the static library (including Foundation.framework and UIKit.framework too), basically, both project link to 0 frameworks.
Questions are
In static library, it's including MapKit/MapKit.h without referencing the Mapkit.framework to the project, why is its still working?
In main project, I remove UIKit.framework and Foundation.framework from the project, why is it still working?
Since it's working for now, will there be any issue later?
Thank you for your comment.
P.S. By working, I mean I can run on the simulator and I can archive the main project without any error.
Edit 25/07/2014
I tried with the real app that I'm working on, it's the same.
I highlight Foundation, UIKit, CoreData and 10 another frameworks in File Navigation, well, all of them.
Uncheck the target in Utilities Panel --> Target Membership
Build : Pass, Run : Pass
Every functionality of my app is still working as expected. I don't get this.
Check your project build settings. Underneath LLVM 5.1 — Language — Modules you should see the option 'Link Frameworks Automatically'. In your case it sounds like it's set to 'YES', the default.
In that case, instead of producing an error when you reference a class that the compiler doesn't know, it'll figure out which Framework contains that class and link it. In your code it'll be MKMapView or one of the other MapKit classes that triggers the linkage.
EDIT: from the relevant 'What's New?' document:
Auto Linking is enabled for frameworks imported by code modules. When
a source file includes a header from a framework that supports
modules, the compiler generates extra information in the object file
to automatically link in that framework. The result is that, in most
cases, you will not need to specify a separate list of the frameworks
to link with your target when you use a framework API that supports
modules.
Another way of looking at it is that the compiler is smart enough to mutate #import to #import when the framework has been built appropriately. All system frameworks have been.
To elaborate #Tommy's answer, a framework that supports modules satisfies the following 2 conditions:
Under Build Settings > Packaging
Define Modules is set to YES
Module Map File exists.
So, if you're certain that the framework you're using in your code modularizes like that, you can choose to not explicitly add it in the link phase as it will be automatically added as long as in the project file, under Apple Clang - Language - Modules, The option Link Frameworks Automatically is set to YES.
I'm trying to pick up some better code organization practices. Over time, I've developed a collection of utility-type files that I import into all of my iOS projects. Rather than continuing to copy them in, I want to setup a separate "Library" project which builds these files to a static library. Then, I reference the static library in my app's project.
In Xcode 4.2 I created a new project "JTLibrary" with a static library as the target, added some files, and it builds as expected.
Now, I created a new project "LibraryTest" which should behave like any other app project I might be working on. My understanding was that I should be able to drag the JTLibrary project into this project to create a cross project reference. Once that was done, I would link LibraryTest's binary against the static library from JTLibrary.
However, when I drag the JTLibary project into the LibraryTest project, it does not appear expandable. I expected I should be able to see the files in it, etc. See screenshot below:
Can anyone offer some insight to why the project appears like this rather than expandable? Once it is expandable, I should be able to see the static library in the app's project.
Thanks!
EDIT 11/7
It's worth mentioning that I'm working with a VERY basic project now. From the new project window, select Framework & Library >> Cocoa Touch Static Library. Add one function to the default class and build.
I can copy the header and .a files into another project and use them successfully, but if I try to drag the project itself, it appears like the picture above.
To create a subproject simply drag a project node from Finder into Xcode.
DO NOT open two Xcode instances and drag the project node from one to the other (that's why the subproject is not expandable).