Developing C# Apps for iphone and ipad Using MonoTouch

Transcription

1 Developing C# Apps for iphone and ipad Using MonoTouch ios Apps Development for.net Developers Bryan Costanich i

2 Developing C# Apps for iphone and ipad Using MonoTouch: ios Apps Development for.net Developers Copyright 2011 by Bryan Costanich All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. ISBN-13 (pbk): ISBN-13 (electronic): Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. President and Publisher: Paul Manning Lead Editor: Steve Anglin Development Editor: Matthew Moodie Technical Reviewer: Geoff Norton Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Matthew Moodie, Jeff Olson, Jeffrey Pepper, Frank Pohlmann, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh Coordinating Editor: Adam Heath Copy Editor: Tracy Brown Compositor: MacPS, LLC Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Artist: April Milne Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC., 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY Phone SPRINGER, fax (201) , orders-ny@springer-sbm.com, or visit For information on translations, please rights@apress.com, or visit Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. ebook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special Bulk Sales ebook Licensing web page at The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work. The source code for this book is available to readers at You will need to answer questions pertaining to this book in order to successfully download the code.

3 Life is a beautiful mess. Laugh or cry; choose one.

4 Contents at a Glance Contents... v About the Author... xiv About the Technical Reviewer... xv Acknowledgments... xvi Preface... xvii Chapter 1: Getting Started with MonoTouch... 1 Chapter 2: Our First Application Chapter 3: Creating Multi-Screen Applications Using the MVC Pattern Chapter 4: ipad and Universal (iphone/ipad) Applications Chapter 5: More on Views and Controllers Chapter 6: Introduction to Controls Chapter 7: Standard Controls Chapter 8: Content Controls Chapter 9: Working with Tables Chapter 10: Working with Keyboards Chapter 11: Multitasking Chapter 12: Working with Touch Chapter 13: Working with Shared Resources Chapter 14: User and Application Settings Chapter 15: Working with CoreLocation Chapter 16: Drawing with CoreGraphics Chapter 17: Core Animation Chapter 18: Notifications Chapter 19: Working with Data Chapter 20: Publishing to the App Store Chapter 21: Third-Party Libraries Chapter 22: Using Objective-C Libraries and Code Index iv

5 Contents Contents at a Glance... iv About the Author... xiv About the Technical Reviewer... xv Acknowledgments... xvi Preface... xvii Chapter 1: Getting Started with MonoTouch... 1 Developing for the iphone and ipad... 2 Limited Multitasking... 2 Limited System Resources... 2 Small Screen Size... 3 Device-specific Technology... 3 Constrained Response Time... 3 Constrained Access... 3 MonoTouch Background... 4 iphone vs. ipod Touch vs ipad?... 4 How Does It Work?... 4 How Do I Build a User-Interface (UI); Can I Use Silverlight?... 4 How Do I Distribute My Apps?... 5 What Is the Licensing Model?... 5 Are There Any Limitations of MonoTouch?... 6 Getting Started... 7 Mac Computer Running Snow Leopard... 7 Apple s ios SDK... 7 Mono for OSX... 7 MonoTouch SDK... 8 Text Editor or Integrated Development Environment... 8 Documentation... 8 Resources rd Party Libraries... 9 Summary... 9 v

6 CONTENTS vi Chapter 2: Our First Application Starting the Example Create a New Solution Examining the Code Interface Builder Exploring Interface Builder Building the Interface Outlets Outlets Exposed to Code Running the Application Actions Adding an Action Actions in Code Choosing Which Device to Simulate Application Name and Icons Application Name Application Icons Summary Chapter 3: Creating Multi-Screen Applications Using the MVC Pattern Model-View-Controller (MVC) Pattern Model View Controller Benefits of the MVC Pattern Views and View Controllers in MonoTouch Sample Application Adding the Navigation Controller to the Main Screen HelloWorld and HelloUniverse Screens Showing Different Screens Summary Chapter 4: ipad and Universal (iphone/ipad) Applications A Note About Resolution on the iphone Creating an ipad-only Application Changing Common Settings in MonoDevelop ipad Screens in Interface Builder Creating a Universal iphone/ipad Application Method 1: Universal Project Template Method 2: Programmatic Device Detection Summary Chapter 5: More on Views and Controllers Custom UIViewController and UIView Implementations Default UIView Constructor for a View Defined in a xib file Manually Loading a UIView Defined in a.xib File UIViewController Event Lifecycle UIView Event Lifecycle Managing More than One View in a Controller Switching Views... 78

7 CONTENTS Animating the Transition Handling Rotation Rotation Lifecycle Events in UIViewController General Approaches to Rotation Rotation Review Summary Chapter 6: Introduction to Controls Coordinate System Frame Autosizing Working with Fonts Font Sizes Enumerating Fonts Tags Control States Working with Images FromFile vs. FromBundle Which One? Subclassing (Creating Custom Controls) Necessary Constructors Registering Your Controls Using Your Controls in Interface Builder Prototypes vs. Delegates vs. Events, What? Protocols Delegates Weak-Delegates Updating Your Controls from the UI Thread Summary Chapter 7: Standard Controls UILabel Text Wrapping Options UITextField Borders Text Value Default Placeholder Text Keyboards UIButton Handling Clicks Different Types of Buttons Button Text UIImage Animating an Image View UIScrollView Zooming Implementing Tap-to-Zoom Scroll Paging UISegmentedControl vii

8 CONTENTS viii Configuring the Segmented Control Specifying Segment Sizes Handling Button Presses UISwitch UISlider Images Accessing the Value UIActivityIndicatorView UIProgressView Setting the Progress Value UIPagerControl Page Changes via the Pager Control Updating the Pager Control When the Page is Scrolled to Via a Scroll View UIAlertView Alerts and Garbage Collection Working with Buttons Alert Delegate Customizing the Alert View Even Further UIActionSheet Creating a Simple Action Sheet Button Types Adding Custom Buttons Displaying an Action Sheet Subclassing UIDatePicker Configuration Showing Dynamically UIPickerView Populating the Picker UIPickerViewModel UIToolbar Item Types Toolbars in Interface Builder Programmatic Creation Sizing Handling Clicks Summary Chapter 8: Content Controls Navigation Controller Parts of the Navigation Controller Using the Navigation Controller Modifying the Navigation Bar Navigation Toolbar Tab Bar Controller Creating a Tab Bar Controller Split View Controller Using the Split View Web View

9 CONTENTS Using the Web View Loading Local Content Interacting with Page Content Loading Non-Web Documents Map View Using the Map View Using Device Location Annotating the Map User Overlays Search Bar Summary Chapter 9: Working with Tables Parts of the UITableView Populating a Table UITableViewSource Responding to User Interaction UITableViewController Refreshing the Table When Data Changes Customizing the Appearance of a Table View Table Styles Providing a Table Index Cell Styles Custom Cells Editable Tables Editing Methods Deleting Items Advanced Table Editing Table Performance Considerations Cell Reuse Cache the Row Height Cache Images Avoid Transparency Manually Draw the Cell Avoid Complex Graphical Computations Create Your Cell in Code Further Optimizations Summary Chapter 10: Working with Keyboards Keyboard/Input Properties Capitalization Correction Keyboard Return Key Languages Hiding the Keyboard Making Input Fields Visible When the Keyboard Covers Them Summary ix

10 CONTENTS x Chapter 11: Multitasking Application States Understanding Background Tasks Checking for Multitasking Capability Application Delegate Methods Multitasking Guidelines and Requirements Asking the ios for Time to Complete a Task Task Execution Expiration Time Task Completion Patterns Registering Your Application to be Allowed to Perform a Particular Background Task Category Audio Applications Location Applications VoIP Applications VoIP Socket Handling VoIP Keep-alive Summary Chapter 12: Working with Touch When to Use Which? Enabling Touch Touch Events The UITouch Class Using Touch Events Gesture Recognizers Using Gesture Recognizers Retrieving Gesture Information Example Using the Tap Gesture Example Using the Pan Gesture to Drag an Object Allowing Gestures and Touch Events Simultaneously Creating a Custom Gesture Summary Chapter 13: Working with Shared Resources File System Case-Sensitivity Application Sandbox Application Directories Backup/Restore Application Updates Device Battery Battery Level Battery State Getting Battery Change Notifications Address Book/Contacts Address Book Controllers Working Directly with the Address Book Photos and Camera UIImagePickerController AV Foundation Framework

11 CONTENTS Network Activity Indicator Accelerometer Summary Chapter 14: User and Application Settings Working with Settings in the ios Registering Settings with the Settings Application Creating a Settings Bundle Creating the Property List File Accessing Settings Saving Settings Initializing Settings Summary Chapter 15: Working with CoreLocation Under the Hood Usage Pattern Instantiating CLLocationManager Configuring the Location Manager Update Threshold Accuracy Listening for Updates UpdatedLocation UpdatedHeading Starting the Location Service Updates Capabilities Stopping Updates Battery Drain Summary Chapter 16: Drawing with CoreGraphics Painter s Model Performance Colors A Bit o Color Theory Alpha RGB UIColor and CGColor Drawing Context Drawing Onscreen Drawing Off-Screen CoreGraphics Coordinate System Transforming the Context Coordinate Space Transforming the Coordinates of Individual Drawing Operations Drawing Tools Paths Primitives Text Images Patterns Shadows xi

12 CONTENTS xii Transformations Hit Testing Updating the Drawing Surface in Real-time Full View Update Partial View Updates Other Features of CoreGraphics Summary Chapter 17: Core Animation View-Based Animation Framework View Animations via the Animation Blocks View Animations via Block-Based Animation Comparison of the Two Approaches What Is Animatable? Configuring Animation Behavior Animation Curves View Transitions Specifying Behavior via Methods Advanced Core Animation with Layers Layer-Based Animation Layer Animation Types Summary Chapter 18: Notifications How Notifications Work Scheduling Local Notifications Handling Notifications Push Notifications Restrictions and Limitations The Sandbox and Production Environments APNS-Sharp Identifying Devices Creating a Push Notification Certificate Creating and Installing a Provisioning Profile Sending Push Notifications Summary Chapter 19: Working with Data SQLite Limitations of SQLite Version Matrix Creating a Database Backups and Data Update Strategy Backups Application Updates Data Access Technologies ADO.NET SQLite-Net Vici CoolStorage NHibernate

13 CONTENTS Summary Chapter 20: Publishing to the App Store Review Guideline Conformity Apple Blog Building for Distribution Creating and Installing a Distribution Provisioning Profile Adding a Distribution Build Configuration Configure Distribution Bundle Signing Building Submitting Your App via itunes Connect Application Rejection Dispute Resolution Summary Chapter 21: Third-Party Libraries MonoTouch.Dialog DialogViewController RootElement, Sections, and Child Elements Using MT.D LINQ Support MonoTouch-Facebook Three Tapku MonoTouch-Controls XNATouch Summary Chapter 22: Using Objective-C Libraries and Code btouch btouch Process A Quick Objective-C Primer Files Classes Methods/Messages Properties Protocols Compiling the Objective-C Library Building the Tapku Library Creating API Definition File and Helper Code Running btouch Adding the Compiled Objective-C Library Referencing the Wrapper DLL Configuring the Build Using the Library Summary Index xiii

14 About the Author Bryan Costanich xiv

15 About the Technical Reviewer Geoff Norton is a developer for Novell, working on the Mono Project. He is the lead on the MonoTouch project and the MonoMac runtime, and is a member of the MonoDroid team. Geoff has been a Mono Project contributor since 2004, and he is also responsible for the OSX port of the Mono runtime. xv

16 Acknowledgments This book would not have been possible if it weren't for the help of Geoff Norton, the product head of MonoTouch at Novell. He served as the technical reviewer, making sure that everything in here is as accurate as can be. My sincerest thanks to him for all his hard work. I'd also like to thank my friends for sticking it out while I worked tirelessly on this book for nearly a year, barely seeing them. I'm free now, so let's hang. xvi

17 Preface Thanks for purchasing Developing C# Apps for iphone and ipad Using MonoTouch. It's been a long time in coming, but I hope you feel it's worth the wait. The goal of this book is to not only introduce MonoTouch, but to really give you a solid, thorough understanding of ios programming with it. If you go through this book, front to back, and learn the concepts and gain an understanding of the content, you should consider yourself a well-versed ios developer. xvii