iOS SDK

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From your usual projects directory:

1. Download the LoopBack guide application to your local machine from GitHub: 

   $ git clone git@github.com:strongloop/loopback-ios-getting-started.git
   

2. Open the Xcode project downloaded as a part of the Guide Application’s Git repository. 

   $ cd loopback-ios-getting-started\LoopBackGuideApplication
   $ open LoopBackGuideApplication.xcodeproj
   

3. Run the application from Xcode (Command-R by default) and follow the instructions on each tab. Popup dialogs in the application will ask you to uncomment various code blocks in each ViewController illustrating how to use the LoopBack SDK to interact with models stored on the server.

Getting Started with the iOS SDK

If you are creating a new iOS application or want to integrate an existing application with LoopBack, use the LoopBack SDK directly (LoopBack.framework), independent of the guide application.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Xcode project you want to use with LoopBack, or create a new one.

2. Drag the entire LoopBack.framework folder from the new Finder window into your Xcode project.

   </figure>

   Important: Make sure to select “Copy items into destination group’s folder”. This places a copy of the SDK within your application’s project folder.

   </figure>  

3. Verify LoopBack is included in the list of iOS Frameworks to link against your binary. In your Project settings, check the ‘Link with Binaries’ section under the ‘Build Phases’ tab. If it’s missing, add it directly by clicking the ‘-‘ button and selecting LoopBack.framework.

   Important:

   If LoopBack.framework isn’t displayed in the list, try the previous step again; Xcode didn’t create the copy it was supposed to create.

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<figure><img class="docimage" src="/images/9830432.png" alt=""  /></figure>

1. Import the LoopBack.h header into your application just as you would Foundation/Foundation.h. Type this line:

   #import <LoopBack/LoopBack.h>

2. You need an Adapter to tell the SDK where to find the server. Enter this code:

   LBRESTAdapter *adapter = [LBRESTAdapter adapterWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://example.com"]];

   This LBRESTAdapter provides the starting point for all our interactions with the running and anxiously waiting server.

   Once we have access to adapter (for the sake of example, we’ll assume the Adapter is available through our AppDelegate), we can create basic LBModel and LBModelRepository objects. Assuming we’ve previously created a model named “product”: 

   LBRESTAdapter *adapter = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate].adapter;
   LBModelRepository *productReposiory = [adapter repositoryWithModelName:@"products"];
   LBModel *pen = [Product modelWithDictionary:@{ "name": "Awesome Pen" }];
   

   All the normal LBModel and LBModelRepository methods (for example, create, destroy, and findById) are now available through Product and pen!

3. Go forth and develop! Check out the API docs or create more models with the command-line tool.

Creating a sub-class of LBModel

Creating a subclass of LBModel enables you to get the benefits of an Objective-C class (for example, compile-time type checking).

Model interface and properties

As with any Objective-C class, the first step is to build your interface. If we leave any custom behavior for later, then it’s just a few @property declarations and we’re ready for the implementation.

/** * A widget for sale. */
@interface Widget : LBModel // This is a subclass, after all.

// Being for sale, each widget has a way to be identified and an amount of
// currency to be exchanged for it. Identifying the currency to be exchanged is
// left as an uninteresting exercise for any financial programmers reading this.
@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *name;
@property (nonatomic) NSNumber *price;

@end

Model implementation

Since we’ve left custom behavior for later, just leave this here.

@implementation Widget
@end

Repository interface

The LBModelRepository is the LoopBack iOS SDK’s placeholder for what in Node is a JavaScript prototype representing a specific “type” of Model on the server. In our example, this would be the model exposed as “widget” (or similar) on the server:

var Widget = app.model('widget', {
  dataSource: "db",
  properties: {
    name: String,
    price: Number
  }
});

Because of this the repository class name ('widget', above) needs to match the name that model was given on the server. 

Use this to make creating Models easier. Match the name or create your own.

Since LBModelRepository provides a basic implementation, we only need to override its constructor to provide the appropriate name.

@interface WidgetRepository : LBModelRepository

- (instancetype)repository;

@end

Repository implementation

Remember to use the right name:

@implementation WidgetRepository

- (instancetype)repository {
    return [self repositoryWithClassName:@"widget"];
}

@end

A little glue

Just as you did in Getting started, you’ll need an LBRESTAdapter instance to connect to our server:

LBRESTAdapter *adapter = [LBRESTAdapter adapterWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://myserver:3000"]];

Remember: Replace "http://myserver:3000" with the complete URL to your server.

Once you have that adapter, you can create a repository instance.

WidgetRepository *repository = (WidgetRepository *)[adapter repositoryWithModelClass:[WidgetRepository class]];

Using the repository instance

Now that you have a WidgetRepository instance, you can create, save, find, and delete widgets, as illustrated below.

Create a Widget:

Widget *pencil = (Widget *)[repository modelWithDictionary:@{ @"name": @"Pencil", @"price": @1.50 }];

Save a Widget:

[pencil saveWithSuccess:^{
                    // Pencil now exists on the server!
                }
                failure:^(NSError *error) {
                    NSLog("An error occurred: %@", error);
                }];

Find another Widget:

[repository findWithId:@2
              success:^(LBModel *model) {
                  Widget *pen = (Widget *)model;
              }
              failure:^(NSError *error) {
                  NSLog("An error occurred: %@", error);
              }];

Remove a Widget:

[pencil destroyWithSuccess:^{
                       // No more pencil. Long live Pen!
                   }
                   failure:^(NSError *error) {
                       NSLog("An error occurred: %@", error);
                   }];