Cordova iOS

CordovaLib is a static library that enables users to include Cordova in their iOS application projects easily, and also create new Cordova based iOS application projects through a Xcode project template.

Pre-requisites

Make sure you have installed the latest iOS SDK. Download it at http://developer.apple.com/ios

Build and install the Installer Package

You don't need to do this if you downloaded the installer from http://incubator.apache.org/cordova/, this is only for developers that need to compile the source.

1. Launch "Terminal.app"
2. Navigate to the folder where the Makefile is
3. Type in "make" then press Enter

The installer should build "CordovaInstaller.dmg" into the dist folder, mount the .dmg, then:

1. Quit Xcode
2. Launch "CordovaInstaller.pkg" from the mounted .dmg, to install CordovaLib, the Cordova framework and the Cordova Xcode Templates.

Create a Cordova project (Xcode 4)

1. Launch Xcode, then under the File menu, select "New Project...".
2. Navigate to the "iOS" section, under "Applications" - then in the right pane, select "Cordova-based Application"
3. Select the "Next" button, name your project and company idenfifier, then select the "Next" button again.
4. Choose the location where you want the new project to be.
5. Run the project at least once to create the "www" folder in your project folder.

• If you get compilation errors complaining about "NSAutoreleasePool", make sure to change project's Build Settings in Xcode for the "Compiler for C/C++/Objective-C" to "Apple LLVM Compiler 3.0"

6. Drag and drop this "www" folder into your project in Xcode, and add it as a folder reference (BLUE folder).
7. Modify the contents of the "www" directory to add your HTML, CSS and Javascript.

Uninstalling CordovaLib, Cordova.framework and the Xcode Templates

Use the "Uninstall Cordova" app included in the Cordova iOS DMG file, OR:

1. Launch "Terminal.app"
2. Navigate to the folder where Makefile is (this folder)
3. Type in "make uninstall" then press Enter

NOTE:

It will ask you to confirm whether you want to delete the installed CordovaLib directory (just in case you made changes there) as well as the Cordova framework. It will not ask for confirmation in deleting the installed Xcode templates.

Unit Tests

1. Create a new Cordova-based Application project
2. Download the code from the mobile-spec and put all of it in the root of your www folder
3. Modify cordova.js to point to your correct cordova-X.X.X.js version
4. Run the project

Installer Notes

This installer will only install items under your home folder (signified by ~)

Items that will be installed:

1. Xcode global var in _~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Xcode.plist _ (which will be listed under Xcode Preferences -> Source Trees)
2. CordovaLib Xcode static library project under ~/Documents/CordovaLib
3. Xcode project template in ~/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Project Templates/Cordova
4. Xcode 4 project template in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Templates/Project Templates/Application
5. Cordova Xcode static framework under /Users/Shared/Cordova/Frameworks/Cordova.framework (may change in future updates)
6. Symlink to the framework in (5) under ~/Library/Frameworks

To uninstall:

Delete the files listed above, or use the "Uninstall Cordova" app included in the Cordova iOS DMG file.

FAQ

1. In Xcode 4, I get an error that "The Start Page 'www/index.html' was not found."?

This is a known issue with the Xcode 4 Template - we can't specify a folder reference. You need to build the project at least once, then go to the folder where your project is in, and drag and drop in the www folder, then add it as a folder reference (will end up as a blue folder, not yellow), then run the project again. Check your project warnings as well for clues.

2. When I run the Installer, the installation fails?

Usually it's a folder permissions issue with the templates folder, changed by other third-party installers. You can trouble-shoot using the instructions here.

3. When I add Plugins, they are not found or won't compile?

Check your Xcode Console Log for clues.

This can be because of:

1. You did not add the plugin mapping in Cordova.plist/Plugins (contact the plugin creator for the proper mapping). The key is the service name used in the JavaScript interface and the value is the classname used in the Objective-C interface. Often the key and value are the same.
2. You did not add the plugin code as a "group" (yellow folder) but added it as a "folder reference" (blue folder)
3. You are having #import problems - see the "Cordova Upgrade Guide" document included in the distribution's "Guides" folder.

4. I get this error in my Xcode Console Log - 'ERROR whitelist rejection: url='http://<MYHOSTNAME>/'

This error occurs because of the new white-list feature in version 1.1.

You will have to add any hosts your app uses or connects to (hostnames/IP addresses only, without the protocol nor the path) in Cordova.plist/ExternalHosts. Wildcards are supported.

This includes external http/https/ftp/ftps links in:

1. HTML anchor tags
2. connections in JavaScript (i.e through XMLHttpRequest)
3. connections through Objective-C plugins

5. How do I effectively upgrade my project?

Starting with Cordova 1.4, follow the instructions in the "Cordova Upgrade Guide" document that is included with the distribution.

6. I've got 'symbol not found' errors during runtime? Usually it's because I'm deploying to an iOS 3.x device.

With version 0.9.6, we implemented the W3C Media Capture API, which requires use of some iOS 4 APIs and frameworks. If you are deploying to an iOS 3.x device, you will need to "weak/optional" link three frameworks: UIKit, CoreMedia, and AVFoundation.

If you get a "Symbol not found: NSConcreteGlobalBlock", you will have to weak link libSystem through a command-line option.

This is because the LLVM compiler strong links NSConcreteGlobalBlock, but gcc weak links (correctly). Add a linker flag in "Other Linker Flags" in your project target: "-weak-lSystem"

Starting with version 1.1, when creating a new project, the weak-linking is added through a linker flag so you will not need to do this manually.

7. How do I override the location of the start page www/index.html?

Starting with Cordova 1.4, you can set this directly in the function application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: in your project's AppDelegate.m file.

Modify these lines appropriately:

1. self.viewController.wwwFolderName = @"www";
2. self.viewController.startPage = @"index.html";

8. What's the difference between the two templates?

The CordovaLib static library is only used by the older subproject-based template. The Xcode 4 template uses Cordova.framework (a static framework) because of Xcode 4's template limitations. Both are based off the same code, just packaged differently.

You can still create projects using the command line if you want to use sub-project based Template in Xcode 4. This is particularly useful for developers debugging the Cordova core.

Link:

1. https://raw.github.com/apache/incubator-cordova-ios/1.0.0/create_project.sh

Next, you will have to replace all references of "PhoneGap" to "Cordova" from this line.

9. In the sub-project based template, I want to have a project-specific copy of CordovaLib for my project, not a global one. How do I do this?

In your project, there should be a CordovaBuildSettings.xcconfig file. Modify the CORDOVALIB variable in the file to point to your project specific CordovaLib folder. You can use relative paths, off $(PROJECT_DIR).

10. In Xcode 4, I want to have a project-specific copy of Cordova.framework for my project, not a global one. How do I do this?

A. Remove the existing Cordova.framework from your project, and drag and drop your own Cordova.framework in, that's all there is to it. To compile your own version of Cordova.framework, go to ~/Documents/CordovaLib and run the Xcode project with the UniversalFramework target. You might need to modify the USER_FRAMEWORK_SEARCH_PATHS in your project as well.

11. I've got other Cordova-specific issues not covered here?

A. Do a search in the Apache JIRA Issue Tracker Apache JIRA or the Wiki.

12. On an iOS 3.2 iPad, and launching an iPhone only app, when I use the Media Capture API, the user interface shown is iPad sized, not iPhone sized?

A. You must delete the *~ipad.png images from Capture.bundle if they want to build an iPhone only app and have captureAudio() display properly on an iPad. This additional fix is just for iPad running iOS 3.2 - if the requested *~ipad.png is not available it returns the iPhone sized image.

13. I get this linker error: "ld: warning: ignoring file libCordova.a, file was built for archive which is not the architecture being linked (armv7)"

A. In your project's Build Settings, set "Build for Active Architecture Only" to NO. This has been fixed in Cordova 1.2 for newly created projects. This is usually because Xcode 4 will only build for armv7 by default, and not armv6.

BUGS?

File them at the Cordova Issue Tracker

MORE INFO

• http://incubator.apache.org/cordova/