Developing C# Apps for iPhone and iPad Using MonoTouch: iOS Apps Development for .NET Developers

498 Pages·2011·17.1 MB·English

by  Bryan Costanich (auth.)

Developing C# Apps for
iPhone and iPad Using
MonoTouch
iOS Apps Development for .NET
Developers

■ ■ ■
Bryan Costanich

i
Developing C# Apps for iPhone and iPad Using MonoTouch: iOS Apps Development for
.NET Developers
Copyright © 2011 by Bryan Costanich
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ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-3174-5
ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-3175-2
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Life is a beautiful mess. Laugh or cry; choose one.
Contents at a Glance
Contents .............................................................................................................. v
About the Author ............................................................................................... xiv
About the Technical Reviewer ........................................................................... xv
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................ xvi
Preface ............................................................................................................ xvii(cid:2)
■Chapter 1: Getting Started with MonoTouch ................................................... 1(cid:2)
■Chapter 2: Our First Application .................................................................... 11(cid:2)
■Chapter 3: Creating Multi-Screen Applications Using the MVC Pattern ........ 43(cid:2)
■Chapter 4: iPad and Universal (iPhone/iPad) Applications ........................... 59(cid:2)
■Chapter 5: More on Views and Controllers .................................................... 73(cid:2)
■Chapter 6: Introduction to Controls ............................................................... 93(cid:2)
■Chapter 7: Standard Controls ...................................................................... 107(cid:2)
■Chapter 8: Content Controls ........................................................................ 155(cid:2)
■Chapter 9: Working with Tables .................................................................. 193(cid:2)
■Chapter 10: Working with Keyboards .......................................................... 223(cid:2)
■Chapter 11: Multitasking ............................................................................. 233(cid:2)
■Chapter 12: Working with Touch ................................................................. 247(cid:2)
■Chapter 13: Working with Shared Resources .............................................. 271(cid:2)
■Chapter 14: User and Application Settings .................................................. 303(cid:2)
■Chapter 15: Working with CoreLocation ...................................................... 321(cid:2)
■Chapter 16: Drawing with CoreGraphics ..................................................... 331(cid:2)
■Chapter 17: Core Animation ........................................................................ 361(cid:2)
■Chapter 18: Notifications ............................................................................. 377(cid:2)
■Chapter 19: Working with Data ................................................................... 393(cid:2)
■Chapter 20: Publishing to the App Store ..................................................... 407(cid:2)
■Chapter 21: Third-Party Libraries ................................................................ 419(cid:2)
■Chapter 22: Using Objective-C Libraries and Code ...................................... 433(cid:2)
Index ............................................................................................................... 463
iv
Contents
Contents at a Glance .......................................................................................... iv(cid:2)
About the Author ............................................................................................... xiv(cid:2)
About the Technical Reviewer ........................................................................... xv(cid:2)
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................ xvi(cid:2)
Preface ............................................................................................................ xvii(cid:2)

■Chapter 1: Getting Started with MonoTouch ................................................... 1(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Developing for the iPhone and iPad ........................................................................................................................ 2
(cid:2)
Limited Multitasking .......................................................................................................................................... 2
(cid:2)
Limited System Resources ................................................................................................................................ 2
(cid:2)
Small Screen Size .............................................................................................................................................. 3
(cid:2)
Device-specific Technology ............................................................................................................................... 3
(cid:2)
Constrained Response Time .............................................................................................................................. 3
(cid:2)
Constrained Access ........................................................................................................................................... 3
(cid:2)
MonoTouch Background ......................................................................................................................................... 4
(cid:2)
iPhone vs. iPod Touch vs iPad? ......................................................................................................................... 4
(cid:2)
How Does It Work? ............................................................................................................................................. 4
(cid:2)
How Do I Build a User-Interface (UI); Can I Use Silverlight? .............................................................................. 4
(cid:2)
How Do I Distribute My Apps? ........................................................................................................................... 5
(cid:2)
What Is the Licensing Model? ............................................................................................................................ 5
(cid:2)
Are There Any Limitations of MonoTouch? ........................................................................................................ 6
(cid:2)
Getting Started ........................................................................................................................................................ 7
(cid:2)
Mac Computer Running Snow Leopard ............................................................................................................. 7
(cid:2)
Apple’s iOS SDK ................................................................................................................................................. 7
(cid:2)
Mono for OSX ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
(cid:2)
MonoTouch SDK ................................................................................................................................................. 8
(cid:2)
Text Editor or Integrated Development Environment ......................................................................................... 8
(cid:2)
Documentation ................................................................................................................................................... 8
(cid:2)
Resources .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
(cid:2)
3rd Party Libraries ............................................................................................................................................... 9
(cid:2)
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................ 9
v
■ CONTENTS
■Chapter 2: Our First Application .................................................................... 11(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Starting the Example ............................................................................................................................................ 11
(cid:2)
Create a New Solution ..................................................................................................................................... 13
(cid:2)
Examining the Code ......................................................................................................................................... 15
(cid:2)
Interface Builder ................................................................................................................................................... 16
(cid:2)
Exploring Interface Builder .............................................................................................................................. 17
(cid:2)
Building the Interface ....................................................................................................................................... 22
(cid:2)
Outlets ................................................................................................................................................................... 23
(cid:2)
Outlets Exposed to Code .................................................................................................................................. 27
(cid:2)
Running the Application ................................................................................................................................... 30
(cid:2)
Actions .................................................................................................................................................................. 32
(cid:2)
Adding an Action .............................................................................................................................................. 32
(cid:2)
Actions in Code ................................................................................................................................................ 34
(cid:2)
Choosing Which Device to Simulate ..................................................................................................................... 35
(cid:2)
Application Name and Icons ................................................................................................................................. 37
(cid:2)
Application Name ............................................................................................................................................. 38
(cid:2)
Application Icons .............................................................................................................................................. 39
(cid:2)
Summary .............................................................................................................................................................. 42
■Chapter 3: Creating Multi-Screen Applications Using the MVC Pattern ........ 43(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Model-View-Controller (MVC) Pattern ................................................................................................................... 43
(cid:2)
Model ............................................................................................................................................................... 44
(cid:2)
View ................................................................................................................................................................. 44
(cid:2)
Controller ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
(cid:2)
Benefits of the MVC Pattern .................................................................................................................................. 45
(cid:2)
Views and View Controllers in MonoTouch ........................................................................................................... 45
(cid:2)
Sample Application ............................................................................................................................................... 47
(cid:2)
Adding the Navigation Controller to the Main Screen ...................................................................................... 48
(cid:2)
HelloWorld and HelloUniverse Screens ............................................................................................................ 51
(cid:2)
Showing Different Screens .............................................................................................................................. 53
(cid:2)
Summary .............................................................................................................................................................. 57
■Chapter 4: iPad and Universal (iPhone/iPad) Applications ........................... 59(cid:2)
(cid:2)
A Note About Resolution on the iPhone ................................................................................................................ 60
(cid:2)
Creating an iPad-Only Application ........................................................................................................................ 60
(cid:2)
Changing Common Settings in MonoDevelop .................................................................................................. 61
(cid:2)
iPad Screens in Interface Builder .................................................................................................................... 62
(cid:2)
Creating a Universal iPhone/iPad Application ....................................................................................................... 64
(cid:2)
Method 1: Universal Project Template ............................................................................................................. 65
(cid:2)
Method 2: Programmatic Device Detection ..................................................................................................... 67
(cid:2)
Summary .............................................................................................................................................................. 72
■Chapter 5: More on Views and Controllers .................................................... 73(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Custom UIViewController and UIView Implementations ........................................................................................ 73
(cid:2)
Default UIView Constructor for a View Defined in a xib file ............................................................................. 74
(cid:2)
Manually Loading a UIView Defined in a .xib File ............................................................................................ 75
(cid:2)
UIViewController Event Lifecycle ..................................................................................................................... 75
(cid:2)
UIView Event Lifecycle ..................................................................................................................................... 77
(cid:2)
Managing More than One View in a Controller ..................................................................................................... 78
(cid:2)
Switching Views .............................................................................................................................................. 78
vi
■ CONTENTS
(cid:2)
Animating the Transition .................................................................................................................................. 80
(cid:2)
Handling Rotation ................................................................................................................................................. 80
(cid:2)
Rotation Lifecycle Events in UIViewController ................................................................................................. 83
(cid:2)
General Approaches to Rotation ...................................................................................................................... 84
(cid:2)
Rotation Review ............................................................................................................................................... 91
(cid:2)
Summary .............................................................................................................................................................. 91
■Chapter 6: Introduction to Controls ............................................................... 93(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Coordinate System ................................................................................................................................................ 93
(cid:2)
Frame ............................................................................................................................................................... 95
(cid:2)
Autosizing ............................................................................................................................................................. 95
(cid:2)
Working with Fonts ............................................................................................................................................... 96
(cid:2)
Font Sizes ........................................................................................................................................................ 97
(cid:2)
Enumerating Fonts ........................................................................................................................................... 97
(cid:2)
Tags ...................................................................................................................................................................... 98
(cid:2)
Control States ....................................................................................................................................................... 98
(cid:2)
Working with Images ............................................................................................................................................ 99
(cid:2)
FromFile vs. FromBundle ............................................................................................................................... 100
(cid:2)
Which One? .................................................................................................................................................... 102
(cid:2)
Subclassing (Creating Custom Controls) ............................................................................................................. 102
(cid:2)
Necessary Constructors ................................................................................................................................. 102
(cid:2)
Registering Your Controls .............................................................................................................................. 102
(cid:2)
Using Your Controls in Interface Builder ........................................................................................................ 103
(cid:2)
Prototypes vs. Delegates vs. Events, What? ....................................................................................................... 103
(cid:2)
Protocols ........................................................................................................................................................ 104
(cid:2)
Delegates ....................................................................................................................................................... 104
(cid:2)
Weak-Delegates ............................................................................................................................................. 105
(cid:2)
Updating Your Controls from the UI Thread ........................................................................................................ 105
(cid:2)
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 106
■Chapter 7: Standard Controls ...................................................................... 107(cid:2)
(cid:2)
UILabel ................................................................................................................................................................ 108
(cid:2)
Text Wrapping Options ................................................................................................................................... 109
(cid:2)
UITextField ..................................................................................................................................................... 109
(cid:2)
Borders .......................................................................................................................................................... 110
(cid:2)
Text Value ...................................................................................................................................................... 111
(cid:2)
Default Placeholder Text ................................................................................................................................ 111
(cid:2)
Keyboards ...................................................................................................................................................... 111
(cid:2)
UIButton .............................................................................................................................................................. 111
(cid:2)
Handling ‘Clicks’ ............................................................................................................................................ 111
(cid:2)
Different Types of Buttons ............................................................................................................................. 112
(cid:2)
Button Text ..................................................................................................................................................... 113
(cid:2)
UIImage ............................................................................................................................................................... 113
(cid:2)
Animating an Image View .............................................................................................................................. 115
(cid:2)
UIScrollView ........................................................................................................................................................ 115
(cid:2)
Zooming ......................................................................................................................................................... 116
(cid:2)
Implementing Tap-to-Zoom ........................................................................................................................... 117
(cid:2)
Scroll Paging .................................................................................................................................................. 117
(cid:2)
UISegmentedControl ........................................................................................................................................... 118
vii
■ CONTENTS
(cid:2)
Configuring the Segmented Control ............................................................................................................... 119
(cid:2)
Specifying Segment Sizes ............................................................................................................................. 119
(cid:2)
Handling Button Presses ................................................................................................................................ 120
(cid:2)
UISwitch .............................................................................................................................................................. 120
(cid:2)
UISlider ............................................................................................................................................................... 121
(cid:2)
Images ........................................................................................................................................................... 122
(cid:2)
Accessing the Value ....................................................................................................................................... 122
(cid:2)
UIActivityIndicatorView ....................................................................................................................................... 122
(cid:2)
UIProgressView ................................................................................................................................................... 124
(cid:2)
Setting the Progress Value ............................................................................................................................ 125
(cid:2)
UIPagerControl .................................................................................................................................................... 125
(cid:2)
Page Changes via the Pager Control .............................................................................................................. 126
(cid:2)
Updating the Pager Control When the Page is Scrolled to Via a Scroll View ................................................. 127
(cid:2)
UIAlertView ......................................................................................................................................................... 128
(cid:2)
Alerts and Garbage Collection ........................................................................................................................ 129
(cid:2)
Working with Buttons .................................................................................................................................... 129
(cid:2)
Alert Delegate ................................................................................................................................................ 131
(cid:2)
Customizing the Alert View Even Further ....................................................................................................... 132
(cid:2)
UIActionSheet ..................................................................................................................................................... 134
(cid:2)
Creating a Simple Action Sheet ..................................................................................................................... 136
(cid:2)
Button Types .................................................................................................................................................. 137
(cid:2)
Adding Custom Buttons ................................................................................................................................. 137
(cid:2)
Displaying an Action Sheet ............................................................................................................................ 138
(cid:2)
Subclassing ................................................................................................................................................... 138
(cid:2)
UIDatePicker ....................................................................................................................................................... 138
(cid:2)
Configuration ................................................................................................................................................. 140
(cid:2)
Showing Dynamically ..................................................................................................................................... 140
(cid:2)
UIPickerView ....................................................................................................................................................... 144
(cid:2)
Populating the Picker ..................................................................................................................................... 144
(cid:2)
UIPickerViewModel ........................................................................................................................................ 145
(cid:2)
UIToolbar ............................................................................................................................................................. 147
(cid:2)
Item Types ..................................................................................................................................................... 148
(cid:2)
Toolbars in Interface Builder .......................................................................................................................... 149
(cid:2)
Programmatic Creation .................................................................................................................................. 153
(cid:2)
Sizing ............................................................................................................................................................. 153
(cid:2)
Handling Clicks .............................................................................................................................................. 154
(cid:2)
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 154
■Chapter 8: Content Controls ........................................................................ 155(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Navigation Controller .......................................................................................................................................... 155
(cid:2)
Parts of the Navigation Controller .................................................................................................................. 156
(cid:2)
Using the Navigation Controller ..................................................................................................................... 158
(cid:2)
Modifying the Navigation Bar ......................................................................................................................... 159
(cid:2)
Navigation Toolbar ......................................................................................................................................... 162
(cid:2)
Tab Bar Controller ............................................................................................................................................... 163
(cid:2)
Creating a Tab Bar Controller ......................................................................................................................... 165
(cid:2)
Split View Controller ........................................................................................................................................... 168
(cid:2)
Using the Split View ....................................................................................................................................... 170
(cid:2)
Web View ............................................................................................................................................................ 172
viii
■ CONTENTS
(cid:2)
Using the Web View ....................................................................................................................................... 173
(cid:2)
Loading Local Content ................................................................................................................................... 176
(cid:2)
Interacting with Page Content ....................................................................................................................... 176
(cid:2)
Loading Non-Web Documents ....................................................................................................................... 178
(cid:2)
Map View ............................................................................................................................................................ 178
(cid:2)
Using the Map View ....................................................................................................................................... 179
(cid:2)
Using Device Location .................................................................................................................................... 181
(cid:2)
Annotating the Map ........................................................................................................................................ 182
(cid:2)
User Overlays ................................................................................................................................................. 188
(cid:2)
Search Bar .......................................................................................................................................................... 191
(cid:2)
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 192
■Chapter 9: Working with Tables .................................................................. 193(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Parts of the UITableView ..................................................................................................................................... 193
(cid:2)
Populating a Table .............................................................................................................................................. 194
(cid:2)
UITableViewSource ........................................................................................................................................ 195
(cid:2)
Responding to User Interaction ........................................................................................................................... 198
(cid:2)
UITableViewController ......................................................................................................................................... 199
(cid:2)
Refreshing the Table When Data Changes .......................................................................................................... 200
(cid:2)
Customizing the Appearance of a Table View ..................................................................................................... 200
(cid:2)
Table Styles ................................................................................................................................................... 200
(cid:2)
Providing a Table Index .................................................................................................................................. 202
(cid:2)
Cell Styles ...................................................................................................................................................... 204
(cid:2)
Custom Cells .................................................................................................................................................. 206
(cid:2)
Editable Tables ................................................................................................................................................... 212
(cid:2)
Editing Methods ............................................................................................................................................. 213
(cid:2)
Deleting Items ................................................................................................................................................ 215
(cid:2)
Advanced Table Editing ................................................................................................................................. 216
(cid:2)
Table Performance Considerations ..................................................................................................................... 218
(cid:2)
Cell Reuse ...................................................................................................................................................... 219
(cid:2)
Cache the Row Height .................................................................................................................................... 219
(cid:2)
Cache Images ................................................................................................................................................ 219
(cid:2)
Avoid Transparency ....................................................................................................................................... 220
(cid:2)
Manually Draw the Cell .................................................................................................................................. 220
(cid:2)
Avoid Complex Graphical Computations ........................................................................................................ 220
(cid:2)
Create Your Cell in Code ................................................................................................................................ 220
(cid:2)
Further Optimizations .................................................................................................................................... 220
(cid:2)
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 221
■Chapter 10: Working with Keyboards .......................................................... 223(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Keyboard/Input Properties .................................................................................................................................. 223
(cid:2)
Capitalization ................................................................................................................................................. 224
(cid:2)
Correction ...................................................................................................................................................... 224
(cid:2)
Keyboard ........................................................................................................................................................ 225
(cid:2)
Return Key ..................................................................................................................................................... 226
(cid:2)
Languages ..................................................................................................................................................... 227
(cid:2)
Hiding the Keyboard ............................................................................................................................................ 227
(cid:2)
Making Input Fields Visible When the Keyboard Covers Them ........................................................................... 228
(cid:2)
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 231
ix
■ CONTENTS
■Chapter 11: Multitasking ............................................................................. 233(cid:2)
(cid:2)
Application States ............................................................................................................................................... 234
(cid:2)
Understanding Background Tasks ...................................................................................................................... 235
(cid:2)
Checking for Multitasking Capability ............................................................................................................. 236
(cid:2)
Application Delegate Methods ....................................................................................................................... 236
(cid:2)
Multitasking Guidelines and Requirements ................................................................................................... 237
(cid:2)
Asking the iOS for Time to Complete a Task ....................................................................................................... 239
(cid:2)
Task Execution Expiration Time ..................................................................................................................... 239
(cid:2)
Task Completion Patterns .............................................................................................................................. 240
(cid:2)
Registering Your Application to be Allowed to Perform a Particular Background Task Category ....................... 241
(cid:2)
Audio Applications .............................................................................................................................................. 243
(cid:2)
Location Applications .......................................................................................................................................... 243
(cid:2)
VoIP Applications ................................................................................................................................................ 244
(cid:2)
VoIP Socket Handling ..................................................................................................................................... 244
(cid:2)
VoIP Keep-alive .............................................................................................................................................. 244
(cid:2)
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 245
■Chapter 12: Working with Touch ................................................................. 247(cid:2)
(cid:2)
When to Use Which? ........................................................................................................................................... 247
(cid:2)
Enabling Touch ................................................................................................................................................... 248
(cid:2)
Touch Events ...................................................................................................................................................... 249
(cid:2)
The UITouch Class .......................................................................................................................................... 249
(cid:2)
Using Touch Events ........................................................................................................................................ 249
(cid:2)
Gesture Recognizers ........................................................................................................................................... 255
(cid:2)
Using Gesture Recognizers ............................................................................................................................ 255
(cid:2)
Retrieving Gesture Information ...................................................................................................................... 259
(cid:2)
Example Using the Tap Gesture ..................................................................................................................... 262
(cid:2)
Example Using the Pan Gesture to Drag an Object ........................................................................................ 262
(cid:2)
Allowing Gestures and Touch Events Simultaneously ................................................................................... 265
(cid:2)
Creating a Custom Gesture ............................................................................................................................ 265
(cid:2)
Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 269
■Chapter 13: Working with Shared Resources .............................................. 271(cid:2)
(cid:2)
File System ......................................................................................................................................................... 271
(cid:2)
Case-Sensitivity ............................................................................................................................................. 271
(cid:2)
Application Sandbox ...................................................................................................................................... 272
(cid:2)
Application Directories ................................................................................................................................... 272
(cid:2)
Backup/Restore ............................................................................................................................................. 273
(cid:2)
Application Updates ....................................................................................................................................... 274
(cid:2)
Device Battery ..................................................................................................................................................... 274
(cid:2)
Battery Level .................................................................................................................................................. 274
(cid:2)
Battery State .................................................................................................................................................. 275
(cid:2)
Getting Battery Change Notifications ............................................................................................................. 276
(cid:2)
Address Book/Contacts ....................................................................................................................................... 276
(cid:2)
Address Book Controllers .............................................................................................................................. 277
(cid:2)
Working Directly with the Address Book ....................................................................................................... 285
(cid:2)
Photos and Camera ............................................................................................................................................. 289
(cid:2)
UIImagePickerController ................................................................................................................................ 289
(cid:2)
AV Foundation Framework ............................................................................................................................. 295
x