iOS for C# Developer - part 1: Classes and creating objects

Date: September 3, 2014

In this series I would like to present an overview of differences and similarities in developing iOS and C# apps.

First part is about Object-Oriented features. If you are C# developer and you are starting with Objective-C, Object-Oriented terminology might be confusing.

Interface

In Objective-C, interface is a class declaration (not existing in C#). It is like header file in C++. It has even the same extension: .h. This is sample interface:

@interface Example

+ (void)someStaticMethod;

- (NSInteger)someInstanceMethod:(BOOL)param1 calledWith:(NSInteger)num;

@end

Static (class) methods are distinguished by + sign. Instance method starts with - sign. Return types are in brackets. Parameters (brackets and name) are preceded by custom name. In class implementation only parameter name matters.

Implementation

In addition to interface (equivalent of class declaration), Objective-C classes have also implementation files with .m extension (equivalent of .cpp files in C++). Example implementation for previous interface (class declaration) can look like that:

@implementation Example

+ (void)someStaticMethod
{
  // implementation
}

- (NSInteger)someInstanceMethod:(BOOL)param1 calledWith:(NSInteger)num
{
  if(param1) {
    return num*2;
  } else {
    return num;
  }
}

@end

Protocols

Protocol is equivalent of interface in C#. This is sample protocol definition:

@protocol SampleProtocol
- (void)protocolMethod1;
- (void)protocolMethod2;
@end

To take advantage of this protocol in some class, it has to be stated in angled brackets, in the interface definition:

@interface Example : NSObject <sampleprotocol>
+ (void)someStaticMethod;
- (NSInteger)someInstanceMethod:(BOOL)param1 calledWith:(NSInteger)num;
@end
</sampleprotocol>

Then, its methods have to be implemented in the implementation file:

@implementation Example 

+ (void)someStaticMethod 
{ 
  // implementation 
} 

- (NSInteger)someInstanceMethod:(BOOL)param1 calledWith:(NSInteger)num 
{ 
  if(param1) { 
    return num*2; 
  } else { 
    return num; 
  } 
} 

- (void)protocolMethod1 
{ 
  // implementation 
} 

- (void)protocolMethod2 
{ 
  // implementation 
} 

@end

There are two types of methods in protocol:

required (default)
optional

In previous protocol, both methods are required, because it is a default mode. This means, both has to be implemented in the class that use the protocol. In order to make second method optional, keyword @optional has to be used:

@protocol SampleProtocol

- (void)protocolMethod1;

@optional
- (void)protocolMethod2;

@end

All methods declared after @optional keyword are optional. In order to declare required method after that, @required keyword has to be used:

@protocol SampleProtocol

- (void)protocolMethod1;  // required method

@optional
- (void)protocolMethod2;  // optional method
- (void)protocolMethod3;  // optional method

@required
- (void)protocolMethod4;  // required method

@end

Instantiating objects

Creating instance of object has two steps: allocation and initialization. To create instance of Example class defined above, message passing syntax is used:

Example *obj = [[Example alloc] init];

Shortcut for above object creation:

Example *obj = [Example new];

When the class has a constructor with parameters, e.g.:

@interface Example : NSObject {
  NSInteger *sampleProperty;
}
- (id) initWithParam:param;
@end

@implementation Example

- (id) initWithParam:(NSInteger)param
{
  self = [super init];
  if (self) {
    self.sampleProperty = param;
  }
  return self;
}
@end

Initialization looks as follows:

Example *obj = [Example initWithParam:25];

Summary

Interface - class declaration
Implementation - class body (implementation of declared methods in class interface)
Protocol - the same construct as interface in C#
Object creation: Example *obj = [[Example alloc] init];

Tags: programming