Binding Third-Party Objective-C Libraries

Want to learn how to use Objective-C controls, libraries, and SDKs in your Xamarin.iOS app? Look no further! Discover how to bind Objective-C code using Xamarin's new Objective Sharpie tool that reduces the need to know Objective-C in order to bind libraries!

Transcript

1. Binding Objective-C Libraries Pierce Boggan Xamarin Support Engineer pierce.boggan@xamarin.com pierce@pierceboggan.com
2. Why? •  Time •  Money •  Creativity •  “Great artists steal”
3. Potential Obstacles •  Complicated •  Just another thing to learn •  No Objective-C knowledge •  No knowledge of the process
4. Simplicity •  No Objective-C knowledge is required (for most simple libraries) •  Tools that cut down time to bind •  Very mechanical, repeatable process
5. Binding vs. Converting Binding •  Little-to-no Objective-C knowledge required •  Quick and straightforward •  Less customization and extensibility Converting •  Objective-C knowledge is a must •  Quite tedious •  More customization and extensibility
6. Expectations WON’T: •  Be a bindings expert •  Be able to bind complex libraries WILL: •  Be able to bind simple libraries with no Objective-C knowledge •  Have a solid foundation moving forward
7. Finding & Downloading Libraries WHAT: •  UI Controls •  SDKs •  Helper Libraries WHERE: •  CocoaControls •  Github •  Twitter
8. First Time Downloads •  Objective Sharpie •  Xcode Command Line Tools •  Other SDKs to bind against
9. DEMO
10. QBFlatButton •  Open-sourced on Github •  Text version
11. Process Review 1.  Identify & Download Library 2.  Create an Objective-C Static Library 3.  Generate Bindings with Objective Sharpie 4.  Create iOS Binding Project in Xamarin Studio
12. Process Review: Optional 1.  Create Demo Project 2.  Open-source on Github 3.  Submit to the Xamarin Component Store
13. Moving Forward: Reading Up •  Programming with Objective-C (Apple) •  Binding Objective-C Libraries (Xamarin) •  Binding Types Reference (Xamarin) •  .NET Framework Design Guidelines (Microsoft)
14. Moving Forward: Practice •  Remember: Practice makes perfect! •  Examine other bindings in the mono/monotouch-bindings repository •  Make small additions/fixes to existing bindings •  Bind progressively larger libraries on your own
15. Q&A
16. THANK YOU