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.

Pre-requisites

Make sure you have installed the latest released iOS SDK which comes with Xcode 4. Download it at http://developer.apple.com/downloads or the Mac App Store.

Install CordovaLib

1. Download the source
2. Extract to their final location
3. There is no step 3

NOTE: For 2.x and greater, the use of Xcode Templates has been removed. If you don't plan on using older Cordova versions, you should run the uninstaller first - "make uninstall".

Create a Cordova project

1. Launch Terminal.app
2. Go to the location where you installed Cordova, in the bin sub-folder
3. Follow the instructions in the Command-Line Usage section of http://docs.cordova.io

The docs should also have been included in the distribution.

Note that in version 2.2.0, by default when you create a new project, the CordovaLib sub-project is copied into your project folder, it is not shared.

To use a shared CordovaLib, add as the first parameter "--shared" to the bin/create command.

Updating a CordovaLib subproject reference in your project

Beginning with Cordova 2.1.0, we are not using the CORDOVALIB Xcode variable anymore when referencing where CordovaLib resides, the reference is an absolute file reference now.

When you update to a new Cordova version, you may need to update the CordovaLib reference in an existing project. Cordova comes with a script that will help you to do this.

1. Launch Terminal.app
2. Go to the location where you installed Cordova, in the bin sub-folder
3. Run "update_cordova_subproject [path/to/your/project/xcodeproj]" where the first parameter is the path to your project's .xcodeproj file

Note that in version 2.2.0, by default when you create a new project, the CordovaLib sub-project is copied into your project folder, it is not shared.

Uninstalling CordovaLib, Cordova.framework and the Xcode Templates

NOTE: For 2.x, the use of Xcode Templates has been removed. If you don't plan on using older Cordova versions, you should run the uninstaller first.

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

To uninstall:

Delete the CORDOVALIB variable in Xcode Preferences ->Source Trees.

FAQ

1. In Xcode 4 (for Cordova versions lesser than 2.0.0) , 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 Upgrading Cordova iOS document

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 "Upgrading Cordova iOS" document.

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?

Note that Xcode template support has been removed in 2.0.0.

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.

Staring with 2.0.0, you must create projects using the command line:

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

Select the CordovaLib subproject in your Project Navigator, and in the File Inspector, choose the new location of the subproject, or see the "Updating a CordovaLib subproject reference in your project" section above.

10. In a .framework based Cordova project (only supported in Cordova versions lesser than 2.0.0), I want to have a project-specific copy of Cordova.framework for my project, not a global one. How do I do this?

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?

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?

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)"

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.

14. I get this runtime error/crash: "dyld: Symbol not found: _NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey"

A. Older iOS versions than 5.1 do not have this symbol defined. You need to add the constant value and weak link the CoreFoundation framework:

1. Add this line to your AppDelegate.m:

   extern NSString * const NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey _attribute_((weak_import));
   

2. Add a new value for "Other Linker Flags" in your project's Build Settings:

    -weak_framework CoreFoundation
   

BUGS?

File them at the Cordova Issue Tracker

MORE INFO

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