Companion BOOKS FOR PROFESSIONALS BY PROFESSIONALS® eBook Available Learn everything you need to know to program Learn iOS 7 App Development is both a rapid tutorial and a useful reference. You’ll quickly get up to speed with Objective-C, Cocoa Touch, and the iOS 7 SDK. It’s an iPhone and iPad Apps all-in-one getting started guide to building your first iPhone or iPad app. You’ll learn best practices that ensure your code will be efficient and perform well, earning positive reviews on the iTunes App Store, and driving better search results and more revenue. L e The iOS 7 SDK offers powerful new features, and this book is the fastest path to mastering a them—and the rest of the iOS SDK—for programmers with some experience who are r new to iPhone and iPad app development. Many books introduce the iOS SDK, but n few explain how to develop apps optimally and soundly. This book teaches both core Objective-C language concepts and how to exploit design patterns and logic with the iOS SDK, based on Objective-C and the Cocoa Touch framework. i O Why spend months or years discovering the best ways to design and code iPhone and iPad apps when this book will show you how to do things the right way from the start? S Learn how to create apps for any model of iPhone, the iPod Touch, the iPad, or build univer- sal apps that run on all of them. After reading this book, you’ll be creating professional qual- 7 ity apps, ready to upload to the app store, making you the prestige and the money you seek! You’ll Learn How To: A • Develop simple to moderately complex iOS apps • p Add sound and iPod music playback, the camera, and photos to your app • Connect your app to the world through internet services, peer-to-peer p networking, social networking, and cloud synchronization • Plug into the latest mobile technologies: maps, GPS, accelerometer, D gyroscope, and compass • Polish your apps with elegant animation and effortless navigation e • Improve your app’s quality with core design patterns and best programming practices v Learn e l o iOS 7 App p m e Development n t B u c a n e James Bucanek COMPANION eBOOK k ISBN 978-1-4302-5062-3 US $39.99 53999 Shelve in Mobile Computing SOURCE CODE ONLINE User level: www.apress.com Beginning-Intermediate 9 781430 250623 For your convenience Apress has placed some of the front matter material after the index. Please use the Bookmarks and Contents at a Glance links to access them. Contents at a Glance About the Author ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxv About the Technical Reviewer ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxvii Acknowledgments �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxix Introduction ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxxi ■ Chapter 1: Got Tools? ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1 ■ Chapter 2: Boom! App �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������17 ■ Chapter 3: Spin a Web �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������57 ■ Chapter 4: Coming Events �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������97 ■ Chapter 5: Table Manners ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������137 ■ Chapter 6: Object Lesson �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������177 ■ Chapter 7: Smile! �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������189 ■ Chapter 8: Model Citizen �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������217 ■ Chapter 9: Sweet, Sweet Music �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������255 ■ Chapter 10: Got Views? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������291 ■ Chapter 11: Draw Me a Picture �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������321 ■ Chapter 12: There and Back Again ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������367 ■ Chapter 13: Networking, the Social Kind �����������������������������������������������������������������������411 v vi Contents at a Glance ■ Chapter 14: Networking, The Nerdy Kind ����������������������������������������������������������������������429 ■ Chapter 15: If You Build It ��� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������485 ■ Chapter 16: Apps with Attitude �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������507 ■ Chapter 17: Where Are You? ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������529 ■ Chapter 18: Remember Me? ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������551 ■ Chapter 19: Doc, You Meant Storage �����������������������������������������������������������������������������581 ■ Chapter 20: Being Objective ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������617 ■ Chapter 21: The Elephant in the Room ��������������������������������������������������������������������������653 ■ Chapter 22: Êtes-vous Polyglotte? ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������671 ■ Chapter 23: Faster, Faster ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������691 ■ Chapter 24: Twice As Nice ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������713 Index ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������735 Introduction I’m standing on a street corner in San Francisco, a city I visit far too infrequently. In my hand I hold an electronic device. The device is receiving status updates about the city’s public transportation system in real-time. It is telling me that the F-line rail will arrive at the Market & 5th Street station in 7 minutes. It displays a map of the city and, by timing radio waves it receives from outer space, triangulates and displays my exact location on that map. A magnetometer determines which direction I’m holding the device and uses that information to indicate the direction I should walk to meet the rail car in time to board it. My friends call me, wondering when I will arrive. A tiny video camera and microphone share my image and voice with them as I walk. I’m meeting them at a gallery opening. It’s an exhibition of new artwork, by artists from all over the world, created entirely using devices similar to the one I hold in my hand. When I arrive, I use my device to create an interactive virtual reality of the gathering, share my experiences with friends and family back home, exchange contact information with people I meet, and look up restaurant suggestions for where we might eat later. This is a true story. A couple of decades ago, it would have been science fiction. We live in a time in which personal electronics are literally changing how we work, travel, communicate, and experience the world. A day doesn’t go by without someone discovering another novel use for them. And while I’m sure you enjoy benefiting from this new technology, you’re reading this book because you want to participate in this revolution. You want to create apps. You’ve come to the right place. Who is This Book For? This book is for anyone who wants to learn the basic tools and techniques for creating exciting, dynamic, applications for Apple products that run the iOS operating system. As of this writing, that includes the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. This book assumes you are new to developing iOS apps and that you have limited programming experience. If you’ve been learning Objective-C, that’s perfect. If you know C, Java, C#, or C++ you shouldn’t have too much trouble following along, and there’s an Objective-C primer chapter that you’ll want to read. If you are completely new to programming computers, I suggest getting a basic xxxi xxxii Introduction Objective-C programming book—say, Objective-C for Absolute Beginners, by Gary Bennett, Mitchell Fisher, and Brad Lees—and read that first, or in parallel. All iOS app development is done using the Objective-C language. This book will explain the fundamentals of how iOS apps are designed, built, and deployed. You’ll pick up some good design habits, get some core programming skills, and learn your way around the development tools used to create apps. This book is not an in-depth treatise on any one technology. It’s designed to stimulate your imagination by giving you a head start in building apps that use a variety of device capabilities, such as finding your location on a map, using the accelerometer, taking pictures with the built-in camera, communicating in real-time with other devices, participating in social networks, and storing information in the cloud. From there, you can leap beyond these examples to create the next great iOS app! Old School vs� Too Cool for School I’m an Old School programmer. I learned programming from the bit up (literally). The first program I wrote was on a 4-bit micro-controller using toggle switches to input the machine instructions. So I pretty much knew everything there was to know about machine code before I started to program in “high-level” languages like BASIC and C. I knew C backwards and forwards before I dipped my toe into C++, and I was an expert in C++ before I wrote my first graphical user interface (GUI) application for the (revolutionary) Macintosh computer. While I value this accumulated knowledge, and much of it is still useful, I realize that a “ground up” approach isn’t necessary to develop great apps for iOS today. Many of the advances in software development over the past few decades have been in insulating the developer—that’s you—from the nitty-gritty details of CPU instructions, hardware interfaces, and software design. This frees you to concentrate on harnessing these technologies to turn your idea into reality, rather than spending all of your time worrying about register allocations and memory management. So the exciting news is that you can jump right in and create full-featured iOS apps with only a minimal knowledge of computer programming or the underlying technologies that make them possible. And that’s what this book is going to do in the first couple of chapters—show you how to create an iOS app without any traditional programming whatsoever. That’s not to say you don’t need these skills in order to master iOS development. On the contrary; the more skilled you are in programming, the more proficient you’re going to be. What’s changed is that these skills aren’t the prerequisites that they once were. Now, you can learn them in parallel while you explore new avenues of iOS development. How to Use this Book This book embraces an “explore as go” approach. Some chapters will walk you through the process of creating an iOS app that uses the camera or plays music. These chapters may gloss over many of the finer details. In between, you’ll find chapters on basic software development skills. There are chapters on good software design, memory management, and the Objective C programming language. Introduction xxxiii So instead of the “traditional” order of first learning all of the basic skills and then building apps using those skills, this book starts out building apps, and then explores the details of how that happened. You can read the chapters in any order, skipping or returning to chapters, as you need. If you really want to know more about objects in an earlier chapter, jump ahead and read the chapter on objects. If you’ve already learned about Objective-C memory management, skip that chapter when you get to it. Treat this book as a collection of skills to learn, not a series of lessons that have to be taken in order. Here’s a preview of the chapters ahead: nnGot Tools? shows you how to download and install the Xcode development tools. You’ll need those. nnBoom! App will walk you through the core steps in creating an iOS app—no programming needed. nnSpin a Web creates an app that leverages the power of iOS’s built-in web browser. nnComing Events discusses how events (touches, gestures, movement) get from the device into your app, and how you use them to make your app respond to the user. nnTable Manners shows you how data gets displayed in an app, and how it gets edited. nnObject Lesson dishes the straight dope on objects and object oriented programming. nnSmile! shows you how to integrate the camera and photo library into your app. nnModel Citizen explains the magic incantation that software engineers call “Model-View-Controller.” nnSweet, Sweet Music will jazz up your mix by showing you how to add music and iTunes to your apps. nnGot Tools? takes you on a brief survey of the tools (views, controls, and objects) available in the Cocoa Touch framework. So when you need a tool, you’ll know how to find it. nnDraw Me a Picture will show you how to create custom views, unlocking the power to draw just about anything in an iOS app. nnThere and Back Again lays out the basics of app navigation: how your users get from one screen to another, and back again. nnNetworking, the Social Kind will get your app plugged into Facebook, Twitter, email, and more. nnNetworking, the Nerdy Kind demonstrates real-time communications between multiple iOS devices using Game Kit. nnIf You Build It... explains some of the magic behind Interface Builder. xxxiv Introduction nnApps With Attitude shakes up your apps with the accelerometer and compass. nnWhere Are You? will draw you a map—literally. nnRemember Me? shows you how user preferences are set and saved, and how to share them with other iOS devices using iCloud. nnDoc, You Meant Storage explains how app documents are stored, exchanged, and synchronized. nnBeing Objective is a crash course in the Objective C programming language. nnThe Elephant in the Room explores the technology, techniques, and traps of memory management. nnÊtes-vous polyglotte? will show you how to create apps that speak multiple languages. nnFaster, Faster! will explain the basics of performance analysis and optimization, so your apps will run like bunnies. nnTwice as Nice will up your game with multi-tasking, showing your how your app can do two, or three, or four things at the same time. 1 Chapter Got Tools? If you want to build something, you are probably going to need some tools: hammer, nails, laser, crane, and one of those IKEA hex wrenches. Building iOS apps requires a collection of tools called Xcode. This chapter will show you how to get and install Xcode, and give you a brief tour of it, so you’ll know your way around. If you’ve already installed and used Xcode, check the Requirements section to make sure you have everything you need, but you can probably skip most of this chapter. Requirements In this book, you will create apps that run on iOS version 7. Creating an app for iOS 7 requires Xcode version 5. Xcode 5 requires OS X version 10.8 (a.k.a. Mountain Lion), which requires an Intel-based Mac. Did you get all of that? Here’s your complete checklist: Intel-based Mac OS X 10.8 (or later) A few gigabytes of free disk space An Internet connection At least one iOS device (iPad Touch, iPhone, or iPad) running iOS 7.0 (or later) Make sure you have an Intel-based Mac computer with OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), or later, installed, enough disk space, and an Internet connection. You can do all of your initial app development right on your Mac, but at some point you’ll want to run your apps on a real iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad), and for that you’ll need one. 1 2 CHAPTER 1: Got Tools? Note As a general rule, later versions are better. The examples in this book were developed for iOS 7.0, built using Xcode 5.0, running on OS X 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion). By the time you read this there will probably be a newer version of all of these, and that’s OK. Installing Xcode Apple has made installing Xcode as easy as possible. On your Mac, launch the App Store application and search for Xcode, as shown in Figure 1-1. Figure 1-1. Xcode in the App Store Click the install button to start downloading Xcode. This will take a while (see Figure 1-2). You can monitor its progress from the Purchases tab of the App Store. Be patient. Xcode is huge and, even with a fast Internet connection, it will take some time to download.
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