使用.Net开发iphone应用程序(Create iPhone apps with .NET)

Create iPhone apps with .NET

By Patrick Meader, Contributor
16 Sep 2009 | SearchWinDevelopment.com

 

From: http://searchwindevelopment.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid8_gci1368415,00.html?track=NL-150&ad=726659&asrc=EM_USC_9275684&uid=8520188

 

.NETdevelopers can now target both the iPhone and the Apple App Store. OnSeptember 14, Novell announced the availability of MonoTouch 1.0, asoftware-developer kit (SDK) that enables developers to create iPhone-and iPod Touch-based apps that leverage the Mono versions of .NET.

According to Novell, MonoTouch is a static compiler that turns .NETexecutables and libraries into native iPhone applications. Note thatyour MonoTouch iPhone apps do not ship with a JIT or interpreter, butas native code. This adheres to the requirements of the Apple iPhoneDeveloper program, which proscribes developers from distributingscripting engines or JIT compilers. In addition to Mono's core BaseClass Libraries, MonoTouch also ships with bindings for various iPhoneAPIs to allow developers to create native iPhone applications withMono. Another significant feature: XCode integration enables developersto test their applications on a device or in Apple's iPhone Simulator.It also enables developers to send applications to the Apple Apps Storefor distribution.

One of the key advantages of MonoTouch is that it lets you use C#instead of C or Objective-C, simplifying the effort required to createapps for the iPhone platform, especially for those already familiarwith the .NET Framework.

You should be aware of one important caveat: You cannot create appsfor the iPhone on Windows-based machines. Instead, MonoTouch requires aMac and Apple's iPhone SDK to test on its emulator and deploy on thedevice. Also, deploying iPhone apps requires that you sign up for aniPhone Developer account. You can sign up for a free Apple iPhone Developer account. Apple's site notes that you must be using an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X Leopard.

You can find more information on MonoTouch, including articles about the product and sample code. You can learn more about the Mono Project, which Novell sponsors. Finally, you can read up on what .NET features MonoTouch supports; you can also read up on what .NET features aren't supported in MonoTouch.

MonoTouch comes in two editions: Personal and Enterprise. Asingle-developer Enterprise license retails for $999, and it includes aone-year subscription that includes maintenance and updates. You canalso purchase a five-developer Enterprise Edition license for $3999 peryear. Finally, if you are interested only in developing iPhone or iPodTouch apps for distribution on the Apple App Store, you can purchase anon-transferable Personal license for $399. The personal license alsocomes with one year of MonoTouch updates and the ability to distributeapps built with MonoTouch on the Apple App Store. You can acquire either edition or learn more about both.