Xcode 7 Essentials - Second Edition

Table of Contents

Xcode 7 Essentials Second Edition

Credits

About the Authors

About the Reviewer

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Introduction to Xcode

Requirements and getting Xcode

Features of Xcode

What's new in Xcode 7?

Sideloading

Swift 2

Playgrounds

Testing

Crash logs

Summary

2. A tour of Xcode

Starting Xcode

Creating a new project

Choosing a template

Choosing the project options

Setting the project properties

Xcode overview

The toolbar area

The navigator area

The editor area

The Standard editor

The Assistant editor

The comparison editor

The utilities area

The debug area

Development languages

Summary

3. Playgrounds

Before we start

The storyboard workspace

Learning Swift

Working with constants and variables

Value types

Working with strings

Working with numbers

Working with Booleans

Adding different types

Collection types

Array type

Creating arrays

Accessing items

Modifying arrays

Loops and iteration

Dictionary type

Creating dictionaries

Accessing items

Modifying items

Loops and iteration

Set type

Creating sets

Accessing, modifying, and iterating through a set

Set operations

The Any and AnyObject types

Optionals

Unwrapping optionals

if let

guard let

Unwrapping multiple optionals

Optional chaining

Tuples

Accessing items

Conditional statements

The if statement

The switch statement

The guard statement

Loops

For and for in

While and repeat-while

Breaking or continuing

Functions and closures

Returns

Parameters

Closures

Classes and structures

Classes versus structures

Extending classes and structures

Enumerations

Error handling

Propagating errors

Handling errors, do-catch and try?

do catch

Try?

Asserting errors

Defer statements

Summary

4. Interface Builder

Model View Controller

Understanding Interface Builder

Views and View Controllers

Adding elements to your view

Adaptive UI

Size Classes

Auto Layout

Debugging Auto Layout

Tweaking values

Pinning

Relative positioning

Adding more views

Navigation controllers

Connecting views and controllers

Subclassing UIViewController

Understanding subclassing

Creating connections, outlets and actions

Different elements in different Size Classes

Layout previews

Managing connections

Adding gesture recognizers

Summary

5. Table, Collection, and Stack Views

Plain views versus Table, Collection, and Stack views

Static table views

Dynamic table views

Data sources

Delegates

Bringing it all together

Collection views

Starting the example

Creating a custom UICollectionViewCell

Stack views

What about OS X?

Summary

6. Custom Controls

Introducing Custom Controls

The basics

Starting an example project

Creating a framework

Creating a class

Properties

IBDesignable and IBInspectable

Advanced drawing with CALayer

Debugging Custom Controls

Summary

7. Debugging

Breakpoints

Listing breakpoints

The debug area

The variables view

The console area

The debug navigator

Quick Look

Debugging the view hierarchy

Dealing with crashes

Summary

8. Testing Your Code

Test-diven development

Testing in Xcode

The test navigator

Test classes

Test methods

A simple calculator example

Assertions

Writing our first real functional unit test

Performance tests

UI tests

Running tests and collecting results

Code coverage

Summary

9. Sideloading, Optimizing, and Submitting Your App

iOS simulators

Simulating different devices

Simulator limitations

Sideloading

Getting an Apple ID

Using an Apple ID with Xcode

Registering a device

The last steps

Optimizing your app

App thinning

Slicing

Bytecode

On-demand resources

Submitting your app to the App Store

iTunes Connect

Uploading a build

Submitting your app for review

App review

App rejection

Approval — ready for sale

Summary

A. Everything Else

TestFlight

Beta App review?

Submitting your app

Installing TestFlight builds

Submitting for final sale

Crash logs

Storyboard references

Creating a new Storyboard

Refactoring existing views

Summary

Index

Xcode 7 Essentials Second Edition

Xcode 7 Essentials Second Edition

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: January 2015

Second edition: February 2016

Production reference: 1020216

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78588-901-1

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Authors

Brett Ohland

Jayant Varma

Reviewer

Jeffrey Huang

Commissioning Editor

Wilson D'souza

Acquisition Editor

Sonali Vernekar

Content Development Editor

Kirti Patil

Technical Editor

Naveenkumar Jain

Copy Editor

Vikrant Phadke

Project Coordinator

Nidhi Joshi

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

Hemangini Bari

Production Coordinator

Shantanu N. Zagade

Cover Work

Shantanu N. Zagade

About the Authors

Brett Ohland develops software, likes to tinker and fix things (especially bikes), and keeps himself and others caffeinated. He has well over a decade of experience of converting keystrokes and staring at the ceiling into functional applications for clients.

He started his career by building Flash websites when those were still an amazing thing, transitioned to web development when everyone was loving JavaScript, and then moved on to iOS development so that he could build his dream photography app. Throughout this period, Brett has worked for major advertising agencies, consultancies of all sizes, a stock photo agency, two guys in a basement, and himself for a while. Several teaching opportunities have allowed him to share his knowledge at start-up incubators and even a university.

Currently, he writes about his technological discoveries and interests at ampersandsoftworks.com when he isn't riding his bike, chasing his toddler around the house, or pulling a shot of espresso.

Jayant Varma is a technophile with a career spanning more than two decades and was introduced to computing in the days of 8-bit computers and Z80 chips. While managing the IT and telecom department at BMW's dealerships in India and Oman, and Nissan in Qatar, he worked extensively on Windows, AS/400, and Unix. His love for traveling inspired him to work and travel to several countries. He is currently based in Australia.

Jayant's technological journey began as a Microsoft technologies developer and then diversified. His focus is now on Apple and mobile technologies. He has a master's degree in business administration and IT from James Cook University, Australia. He also lectured at James Cook University and coordinated the onshore and off-shore teaching of Linux/Unix administration. Jayant has worked closely with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and Apple University Consortium (AUC) on workshops and projects.

He authored the book Learn Lua for iOS Game Development, Apress, and has also been a technical reviewer on several titles. As a founder, consultant, and developer at OZApps (www.oz-apps.com), he helps organizations and individuals integrate technology into their businesses and strategies. He also conducts training sessions and workshops, and writes blogs to share his knowledge with the community.

About the Reviewer

Jeffrey Huang is an iOS developer and App maker. He has one published app on the iOS app store. He also has a YouTube channel that teaches iOS and electronics (https://www.youtube.com/user/JeffreyApp). Recently, Jeffrey also spearheaded a new initiative, Chicago Technology for Kids, to promote fun technology learning among kids.

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Preface

Welcome to Xcode 7 Essentials. Developing apps for desktop and mobile computers has never been easier for anyone to do. The technical and commuting requirements are such that practically anyone can make and release an app to millions of users. With well over a billion iOS devices and nearly half a billion Macs in people's homes and businesses, there is a real market for any piece of software, no matter how specialized. Apple has fostered this market by continually updating Xcode, their free development tool, to keep it modern, easy to use, and powerful.

This book will be covering Xcode 7, the current version of the app, as well as the Swift programming language. The book starts with a basic tour of Xcode, takes you through many of the features of making the app, and ends with how to submit your app to the app store of your choice using a combination of theory and step-by-step guides.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction to Xcode, introduces Xcode and shows you how to find, install, and set it up for use.

Chapter 2, Tour of Xcode, takes a deeper look at the tool itself. Here, you become familiar with the interface and its features.

Chapter 3, Playgrounds, introduces Playgrounds, an interactive environment for learning and experimenting with the Swift programming language. This chapter will then walk you through many of Swift's features and its syntax to help you express yourself in code.

Chapter 4, Interface Builder, covers Interface Builder and Storyboards, Xcode's tools for creating user interfaces by dragging and dropping elements on a screen.

Chapter 5, Table, Collection, and Stack Views, uses the knowledge gained in the previous chapters and shows you how three advanced view types will let you build complicated-looking layouts quickly and easily.

Chapter 6, Custom Controls, shows you how you can create custom, live-updating controls for your applications, and how to easily share them across projects as a framework.

Chapter 7, Debugging, shows you the tools that Xcode provides to help you become a great detective and exterminator of bugs and crashes in your code.

Chapter 8, Testing Your Code, introduces the concepts behind test-driven development and the unit test and UI testing tools that Xcode provides to help you write great code.

Chapter 9, Sideloading, Optimizing, and Submitting Your App, shows you how to run your app on a physical device, how it can be optimized, and the steps necessary to submit it to the app store of your choice.

Appendix, Everything Else, covers more advanced topics. These include distributing beta versions of your app using TestFlight, collecting and reading crash reports submitted to you by those testers, and how to simplify your user interfaces with Soryboard references.

What you need for this book

To be able to run the code and work through the chapters step by step, you will need the following:

An Apple computer running OS X 10.10.5 or higher

Xcode 7.x installed on this Apple computer

Who this book is for

This book is aimed at a novice programmer who is familiar with the concepts of object-oriented programming, but has little to no knowledge of Swift, Xcode, or Apple's Cocoa APIs. Starting with an introduction to the basics of Xcode and the Swift programming language, they will learn all the skills that are essential for building an app and submitting it to the app store.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: UILabel can be used to show text on the screen.

A block of code is set as follows:

let name: String = XCodeEsentials

let version: Int = 1.0

let title = \(name) - ver (\version)

print(The book is \(title))

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

var width: Int = 200

var height: Int = 200

@IBInspectabletheColor: UIColor = UIColor.redColor()

var title: String = Untitled

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

po UIScreen().bounds

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: Reinstalling the app is as simple as pressing the GET button again anytime in the future.

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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