Mac® Application Development For Dummies®

Mac® Application Development For Dummies®

Released October 2011
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781118032220

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Book description

The App Store extends to the Mac desktop! Developers: here's how join the fun

If you love your desktop Mac and want to enjoy the fun and challenge of developing Mac apps for the App Store, here's your chance to get started. This fun, full-color guide shows you how to create killer Mac apps on, and for, a desktop Mac. The book takes you step by step through the development of two apps while you get up to speed on the Mac App SDK, Xcode 4, how a Mac app runs, cryptography, views, and much more.

  • Shows you how to download the Mac App SDK, set up Xcode 4, and how Mac apps run

  • Takes you step by step through the development of two Mac desktop apps

  • Explains views, view controllers, interface objects, gesture recognizers, cryptography, security, network awareness, and much more

The App Store for the Mac desktop is the next big thing for developers! Be ready with this book at your disposal.

Note: Apple's iOS SDK tools are only accessible on Intel-powered Mac and MacBook devices.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Title Page
  4. Introduction
  5. Part I: Getting Started on Macintosh Apps
    1. Chapter 1: Gathering What You Need to Develop Mac Apps
      1. Why Develop Macintosh Apps?
      2. Discovering Apps Like a User
      3. Tooling Up
      4. Using Your Programming Skills
      5. Understanding Macintosh Application Development Challenges
      6. Stepping into a Brave, New World of Mac Apps
    2. Chapter 2: Mac OS X Coding with Xcode
      1. Getting Familiar with Xcode
      2. Creating a Macintosh Application with Xcode
    3. Chapter 3: Giving Your App Something to Do
      1. Creating a Tip Calculator
      2. Setting Xcode to Your Preferred Preferences
    4. Chapter 4: Objective-C and Cocoa Applications
      1. Objective-C
      2. Using Cocoa Frameworks
      3. Understanding the Application Life Cycle
  6. Part II: A View to an App
    1. Chapter 5: Using Interface Builder to Lay Out Your Views
      1. Going with the Flow
      2. Touring Interface Builder
    2. Chapter 6: Controlling Your Windows and Views
      1. Opening Windows
      2. Introducing MVC
      3. Using MVC in Your App
      4. Adding a Preferences Window
    3. Chapter 7: Drawing Advanced Views
      1. Reviewing Apple’s Component Collection
      2. Understanding Cocoa’s Views
      3. Creating a Custom View
      4. Drawing
      5. Animating Views
  7. Part III: Focus on the User
    1. Chapter 8: Maintaining Your Users' Data
      1. Analyzing the Data
      2. Storing the Data
      3. Maintaining User Preferences
    2. Chapter 9: Working in the Background
      1. Understanding Basic Threads
      2. Using Threads to Schedule Events
    3. Chapter 10: Printing Your User's Data
      1. Printing with Cocoa
      2. Setting up a Page
      3. Printing a Page
      4. Printing Straight to PDF
      5. Printing with Multiple Pages
  8. Part IV: Polishing and Supporting Your App
    1. Chapter 11: Debugging Your App
      1. Understanding Where Errors Happen
      2. Using Xcode’s Debugger
      3. Using the Macintosh Logger
      4. Keeping Track of Bugs
    2. Chapter 12: Putting On the Finishing Touches
      1. Working with Application and File Icons
      2. Creating Your Own About Panel
      3. Tightening Your App’s Memory
      4. Localizing Your App
  9. Part V: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 13: Ten Useful Apple Sample Apps
      1. ToolbarSample
      2. CustomMenus
      3. ButtonMadness
      4. SimpleCocoaApp
      5. NSTableViewBinding
      6. IconCollection
      7. PictureSharing
      8. Squiggles
      9. DictionaryController
      10. ImageTransition
    2. Chapter 14: Ten Macintosh Development Tips
      1. Keep Track of Memory
      2. Read Apple’s Documentation
      3. Use Online Resources
      4. Always Remember the Parent Class
      5. Look Beyond the Current Problem
      6. Follow Interface Builder’s Guidelines
      7. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
      8. Use Keyboard Shortcuts
      9. Set Xcode to Your Preferences
      10. Stay Up to Date

Product information

  • Title: Mac® Application Development For Dummies®
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: October 2011
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781118032220