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App Store Compliant IPhone Development Comes To Windows
By Bryan Young
Expert Author
Article Date: 2010-06-08
When Apple decided that all iPhone apps would be created using Objective-C, I was excited. I knew that from years of C and C++ development, learning another C-based language would take no time at all.
Then I heard the rest of the story. Apps can only be developed using Xcode, which can only be run on a Mac. Not just any Mac, but an Intel-based Mac, so my sister's 6 year old Power Mac G4 wouldn't make the cut. Owning an XP PC and an Ubuntu laptop, my dreams of iPhone app creation were smashed on the rocks. But no longer, as Zimusoft Inc. has finally released a solution in the form of the DragonFireSDK.
Apple refuses to allow cross-compilers or 3rd party software layers in their apps, so how does the DragonFireSDK resolve this problem? By compiling your code on a Mac! What you are purchasing from Zimusoft is a C/C++ library accessible from Microsoft Visual Studio or MSVS Express. The functions in this library call native functions in the iPhone SDK, so no Apple rules are broken. Once your app is complete, you send your code to Zimusoft and they compile it on a Mac. From there you can either join the Apple iPhone Developer Program and submit your app yourself, or Zimusoft will send it to the App Store for approval. Your first app is included in the purchase price, and additional apps are priced at $10.
Also included when you download the DragonFireSDK is an iPhone simulator integrated into the MSVS experience. Simply run your code as you would any other program and the simulator pops up and displays your app. Another testing option, only included in the Ultimate version, is to build an executable which can be synced to your iPhone through iTunes.
The DragonFireSDK sells for $99.95 for the Ultimate version (includes 10 test builds) or $49.95 for the starter kit. While the 1.0 version currently available is primarily for game design, there are plans in the works for an enterprise version with database connectivity and other functionality for more advanced apps.
About the Author:
Bryan Young is a staff writer for WebProNews.
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