iOS App Development For Dummies

Jesse Feiler is a developer, consultant, and author specializing in Apple technologies. He is the creator of Minutes Machine for iPad, the meeting management app, and Saranac River Trail and is heard regularly on WAMC Public Radio for the Northeast’s The Roundtable.

• Introduction 1A Bit of History 1The iPhone stands alone 2Enter the App Store 2The iPad joins the party 3The Plan for This Book 3iOS and Xcode Game Changers 4About This Book 5Conventions Used in This Book 5Icons Used in This Book 6Foolish Assumptions 7How This Book Is Organized 7Part I: Getting Started 8Part II: Building RoadTrip 8Part III: Getting Your Feet Wet: Basic Functionality 8Part IV: The Model and the App Structure 9Part V: Adding the App Content 9Part VI: The Part of Tens 9Beyond the Book 10Where to Go from Here 10Part I: Getting Started 11Chapter 1: What Makes a Great iOS App 13Figuring Out What Makes a Great iOS App 14Making your app work well 14Handling networking, social media, and location 15Designing a powerful and intuitive interface that disappears 15Using the iOS Platform to the Fullest 16Exploiting advantages of the system 16Accessing the Internet 17Knowing the location of the user 18Tracking orientation and motion 18Tracking users’ fingers on the screen 19Playing content 19Accessing information from Apple’s apps 19Copying, cutting, and pasting between apps 20Multitasking, background processing, and notifications 20Living large on the big screen 21Embracing Device Limitations 21Designing for fingers 22Balancing memory and battery life 22Why Develop iOS Apps? 23Developing with Apple’s Expectations in Mind 24Thinking About You, Apps, and Money 25Enter the Cloud 26Developing an App the Right Way Using the Example App in This Book 27What’s Next 27Chapter 2: Getting to Know the SDK 29Developing Using the SDK 29Using Xcode to Develop an App 30Creating an Xcode project 31Developing the app 31The Workspace Window 33Workspace areas 34Displaying an area’s content 36The toolbar and Tab bar 40The Organizer window 42Chapter 3: The Nuts and Bolts of an Xcode Project 45Creating Your Project 45Exploring Your Project 50The project 50The Project editor 50The Project navigator 53Setting Your Xcode Preferences 57Building and Running Your Application 59Building an app 61The iPad’s Split views 63The Log navigator 64Running in the Simulator 66Interacting with your simulated hardware 66Making gestures 67Uninstalling apps and resetting your device 68Living with the Simulator’s limitations 69Using Asset Catalogs 70Adding the Image and Sound Resources and an App Icon 74Part II: Building RoadTrip 77Chapter 4: Storyboards and the User Experience 79Introducing the Storyboard 80Telling your story 81Working with object graphs 83Defining What You Want an App to Do: The RoadTrip App 84Creating the Application Architecture 88What You Add Where 89Using Frameworks 90Using Design Patterns 91The iOS design patterns 92The Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern 92Working with Windows and Views 95Looking out the window 95Admiring the view 96The kinds of views you use 97View Controllers — the Main Storyboard Players 101What About the Model? 104It’s Not That Neat 105Taking a Look at Other Frameworks 106The Foundation framework 106The CoreGraphics framework 106Even more frameworks 107Understanding the MVC in the Project 107Chapter 5: Creating the RoadTrip User Interface 111Creating Your User Interface in the iPad Storyboard 111It’s about the view controller 112Using Interface Builder to add the user elements 113Working within the Utility Area 115Inspector and Quick Help pane 115Library pane 116Understanding iPad Navigation 117Adding a New View Controller 121Danger Will Robinson 128Adding an identifier to the view controller 129View Layout 130Adding the User Interface Objects 131Autosizing with Auto Layout 136Adding the Test Drive button 141Massaging the Template Code 144Getting Rid of Warnings 148Creating the iPhone User Interface 148Chapter 6: The Runtime, Managing Memory, and Using Properties 151Stepping Through the App Life Cycle 152UIApplicationMain 153Handling events while your application is executing 158Knowing what to do when the normal processing of your application is interrupted 160An overview of the view controller life cycle 163Working within the Managed Memory Model Design Pattern 164Understanding memory management 165Using reference counting 165Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) 167Working with variable types according to ARC 169Understanding the deadly retain cycle 170Observing Low-Memory Warnings 172The didReceiveMemoryWarning method 172The applicationDidReceiveMemoryWarning: method 172The UIApplicationDidReceiveMemoryWarningNotification: notification 173Picking the right memory-management strategy for your application 173Customizing the Behavior of Framework Classes 174Subclassing 174The Delegation pattern 175Understanding Declared Properties 176What comprises a declared property 176Using dot syntax 177Setting attributes for a declared property 178Writing your own accessors 180Accessing instance variables with accessors 181Hiding Instance Variables 181Chapter 7: Working with the Source Editor 183Navigating in the Xcode Source Editors 183Using the Jump bar 186Organizing your code using the #pragma mark statement 190Using the Xcode Source Editor 190Using Live Issues and Fix-it 192Compiler warnings 193The Issue navigator 193Accessing Documentation 195Getting Xcode help 195The Organizer window 198The Help menu 199Finding and Searching in Your Project 199Using the Find command to locate an item in a file 199Using the Search navigator to search your project or framework 200Using the Symbol navigator 201You’re Finally Ready to Write Code! 202Part III: Getting Your Feet Wet: Basic Functionality 203Chapter 8: It’s (Finally) T ime to Code 205Checking for Network Availability 205Downloading the Reachability sample 205Adding the code to check for reachability 208Exploring the Changes in iOS 7 211The dated interface 211Losing the content 212Setting the Master View Controller Title 213Understanding Autorotation 214Writing Bug-Free Code 215Working in the Debug area and Debug navigator 216Managing breakpoints 218What you’ll find in the Debug area 222What you’ll find in the Debug navigator 223Displaying variables in the Source editor 224Tiptoeing through your program 225Chapter 9: Adding Outlets and Actions to Your RoadTrip Code 227Using Custom View Controllers 228Adding the custom view controller 228Setting up the TestDriveController in the MainStoryboard for iPad 229Understanding Outlets 231Adding Outlets 232Opening the Assistant editor 232Creating the outlet 234The Connections inspector 237Working with the Target-Action Design Pattern 239Using the Target-Action pattern: It’s about controls 239Adding an action 241How Outlets and Actions Work 244Update the iPhone storyboard file 244Chapter 10: Adding Animation and Sound to Your App 247Understanding iOS Animation 248View geometry and coordinate systems 248Points versus pixels 248A view’s size and position 249Working with data structures 250Coordinating Auto Layout, Frames, and Constraints 250Animating a View 251Finally, More Code 252Implementing the testDrive Method 252Understanding Block Objects 256Rotating the Object 259Working with Audio 261Tracking Touches 269Animating a Series of Images “In Place” 272iPhone versus iPad 273Part IV: The Model and the App Structure 275Chapter 11: The Trip Model 277What the Model Contains 277Adding the Model Data 278Using property lists 278Adding a property list to your project 280Adding the First Two Model Classes 290Understanding the Trip Interface 292Implementing the Trip Class 294Initializing objects 296Invoking the superclass’s init method 297Initializing instance variables 298Returning self 299Initializing the Destination Class 300Creating the Trip Object 303More Debugger Stuff 305Chapter 12: Implementing the Master View Controller 309Setting Up a Custom View Controller for the iPad 309Adding a Background Image and Title 319Updating the iPhone Storyboard File 321Chapter 13: Working with Split View Controllers and the Master View 323The Problem with Using a Navigation Controller in Detail View 323Using a Navigation Controller in the Master View 326Adding a Gesture Recognizer 330The Split View Controller 333The UISplitViewController delegate 335Localization 340Back to the main feature 340Adding the Toolbar 346Adding the button when the view controller is replaced 350A Few More Tweaks to the MasterViewController 354And (a Little Extra) One More Thing 355Don’t Forget the iPhone 356Chapter 14: Finishing the Basic App Structure 357Extending the iPad Storyboard to Add More Functionality to Your App 358Adding the Weather view controller 358Adding the Events controller 364Adding the remaining controllers 367Changing the Split View Controller to a Detail View Controller Relationship 368Repeat for iPhone 372Part V: Adding the App Content 373Chapter 15: How’s the Weather? Working with Web Views 375The Plan 375The iPad storyboard 376The iPhone storyboard 377Setting Up the Weather Controller 379Adding the custom view controller 379Setting Up WeatherController in the Main_iPad.storyboard file 380The Weather Controller 385Managing links in a Web view 388More Opportunities to Use the Debugger 392Unrecognized selector sent to instance 392Repeat for the iPhone Storyboard 393Adding the WeatherController to the iPhone storyboard file 393Test in the iPhone Simulator 394Chapter 16: Displaying Events Using a Page View Controller 395The Plan 396Setting Up the EventsController 397Adding the custom view controller 397Setting up the EventsController in the MainStoryboard 398Adding and setting up the EventPageController in the MainStoryboard 399Extending the Trip Model 401Adding the Events Class 403The EventsController and Its PageViewController 406Data sources and delegates 406Data source 407Delegate 407The EventsController 407The EventPageController 412Adding Events Support to the iPhone Storyboard 415Chapter 17: Finding Your Way 417The Plan 418Setting Up the Map Controller 419Adding the custom view controller 420Setting up the MapController in the Main_iPad.Storyboard 420Test 426Putting MapKit through Its Paces 428MKMapView 428Enhancing the map 429Changing the Map Type 435Adding Annotations 437Creating the annotation 437Displaying the map title and annotations 441Going to the Current Location 446Fixing the Status Bar 451Update the iPhone Storyboard 454Chapter 18: Geocoding 455Understanding Geocoding on the iPad 455Reverse Geocoding 458Chapter 19: Finding a Location 465Setting Up the Find Controller 465Adding the custom view controller 466Setting up FindControllerin the Main_iPad File 466Implementing the Find Controller 469Adding the Map View 469Getting the text 470Disabling cell highlighting 477Finding the Location 477Making the Map Title the Found Location 484Adding the FindController to the iPhone Storyboard 485Chapter 20: Selecting a Destination 487The Plan 487Setting Up the DestinationController for the iPad Storyboard 488Adding the custom view controller 488Setting up the DestinationController in the Main_iPad.storyboard 489Adding a Modal View 494Implementing a Table View 497Creating the Table View 498Adding sections 499Displaying the cell 501Working with user selections 503Saving the Destination Choice and Selecting a Destination 511Displaying the Destination table 516Testing 517Adding Destination Support to the iPhone Storyboard 518A Word about Adding Settings 519What’s Next? 519Part VI: The Part of Tens 521Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Be Successful with Apps 523Make a Million Dollars in a Week 523Build a Portfolio 524Build App Icons 524Design User Interfaces 524Build Back Ends 525Socialize with Apps 525Talk About Apps with People Who Want Them 525Promote Apps 525Provide Support to Users 526Fix Bugs 526Chapter 22: Ten Ways to Be a Happy Developer 527Keep Things Loosely Coupled 527Remember Memory 528Don’t Reinvent the Wheel 528Understand State Transitions 529Do the Right Thing at the Right Time 530Avoid Mistakes in Error Handling 530Use Storyboards 531Remember the User 531Keep in Mind That the Software Isn’t Finished Until the Last User Is Dead 531Keep It Fun 531Index 533