Beginning iOS Programming

Nick Harris is an Independent Software Developer at Clifton Garage Mobile LLC. He began developing for iPhone using iPhone OS 2.0 and has created and released over a half dozen apps using every version of iOS though iOS 7. Along with his accomplishments as a developer, Nick has twice been a speaker at the 360iDev Developer Conference sharing his experience developing iOS apps for both individuals and corporate enterprises.

Introduction xix


Chapter 1: Building a Real–World iOS App: Bands 1


Introducing Bands 2


Getting Started 3


Scoping the App 4


Defining the Features 5


Creating a Development Plan 6


Summary 6


Chapter 2: Introduction to Objective–C 9


Exploring the History of Objective–C 9


Explaining the Basics 10


Learning About Objects and Classes 12


Instantiating Objects 16


Managing Memory 22


Introducing Automatic Reference Counting 26


Adding Properties to a Class 27


Explaining Strings 32


Using Basic Data Structures 35


Discussing Advanced Concepts 39


Explaining the Model–View–Controller Design Pattern 39


Learning About Protocols and Delegates 41


Using Blocks 44


Handling Errors 44


Summary 47


Chapter 3: Starting a New App 51


Creating a New App in Xcode 51


Discussing Xcode Templates 54


Learning About Bundle Identifiers 54


Exploring the Xcode Project Layout 55


Discussing the UIKit Framework 56


Discussing the Main Storyboard 56


Adding a Label to a Storyboard 56


Exploring Interface Builder 57


Setting Attributes 58


Exploring the Inspectors 59


Aligning UI Objects 59


Running in the Simulator 59


Choosing a Device 60


Learning to Test on All Device Sizes 61


Learning About Auto Layout 62


Discussing Auto Layout Basics 64


Testing Rotation 64


Exploring Application Settings 66


Setting Version and Build Numbers 66


Setting Supported Rotation Orientations 67


Setting the App Icon 68


Setting Launch Images 70


Running on a Device 71


Summary 72


Chapter 4: Creating a User Input Form 75


Introducing the Band Model Object 75


Creating the Band Model Object 76


Creating Enumerations 77


Adding Properties to the Band Model Object 78


Building an Interactive User Interface 79


Learning About IBOutlet 79


Using UITextField and UITextFieldDelegate 81


Using UITextView and UITextViewDelegate 84


Using UIButton and IBAction 85


Using UIStepper 87


Using UISegmentedControl 89


Using UISwitch 90


Saving and Retrieving Data 91


Implementing the NSCoding Protocol 91


Saving Data 93


Retrieving Saved Data 95


Deleting Saved Data 97


Summary 100


Chapter 5: Using Table Views 103


Exploring Table Views 104


Learning About Tables 104


Learning About Cells 107


Implementing the Bands Data Source 110


Creating the Band Storage 110


Adding Bands 113


Displaying Bands 119


Implementing Sections and Index 121


Adding Section Headers 122


Showing the Section Index 122


Editing Table Data 123


Enabling Edit Mode 124


Deleting Cells and Data 125


Modifying Data 126


Summary 130


Chapter 6: Integrating the Camera and Photo Library in iOS Apps 133


Adding an Image View and Gesture Recognizer 134


Enabling User Interactions with a UIImageView 134


Learning About Gesture Recognizers 136


Selecting a Picture from the Photo Library 139


Learning About UIImagePickerController 140


Determining Device Capabilities 140


Allowing Picture Editing 141


Saving Band Images 143


Deleting Band Images 145


Taking a Picture with the Camera 147


Summary 150


Chapter 7: Integrating Social Media 153


Sending E–mails and Text Messages 154


Using the E–mail Composer 154


Using the Message Composer 160


Simplifying Social Network Integration 163


Introducing the Activity View Controller 164


Learning About Twitter Integration 167


Learning About Facebook Integration 168


Learning About Flickr Integration 169


Limiting Sharing Options 170


Summary 172


Chapter 8: Using Web Views 175


Learning About Web Views 175


Loading a URL 180


Loading a URL That Contains Special Characters 182


Showing User Feedback 183


Adding Navigation 186


Creating a Toolbar 186


Opening Safari 191


Summary 193


Chapter 9: Exploring Maps and Local Search 195


Learning About Map Views 196


Getting the User s Location 198


Changing the Map Type 201


Performing a Local Search 203


Animating Annotations 209


Interacting with Annotations 211


Summary 215


Chapter 10: Getting Started with Web Services 219


Learning About Web Services 220


Exploring the iTunes Search API 220


Discussing JSON 221


Adding the Search View 223


Introducing NSURLSession 227


Creating and Scheduling a Data Task 227


Parsing JSON 231


Displaying Search Results 233


Previewing Tracks 236


Showing Tracks in iTunes 239


Summary 240


Chapter 11: Creating a Universal App 243


Transitioning to a Universal App 244


Supporting Rotation Using Auto Layout 249


Learning About Popovers 250


Presenting Action Sheets in Popovers 250


Using the UIPopoverController 252


Finishing the iPad Implementation 258


Summary 265


Chapter 12: Deploying Your iOS App 267


Deploying the App to Beta Testers 268


Registering Beta Devices 269


Generating Digital Certificates 271


Creating an App ID and Ad Hoc Provisioning Profile 274


Signing and Deploying an Ad Hoc Build 276


Submitting the App to Apple 280


Exploring iTunes Connect 280


Creating an App Store Provisioning Profile 283


Validating and Submitting an App 284


Summary 285


Appendix: Answers to Exercises 287


Index 293