Common iOS mobile app development process

IOS application development will undoubtedly remain popular in the future. Therefore, it is necessary for developers and enterprise managers to learn more or less about some application development processes, most of the content involved in this article is not limited to iOS applications, but also applicable to Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and other Mobile platforms.

Preparations before development

The development of iPhone applications is not a simple process. We recommend that you consider the following steps one by one:

1) A strange discovery is that many enterprises and developers do not have a global understanding of the iPhone applications they are about to develop, or even lack the necessary technical knowledge. Generally, they only treat the iPhone application as a simple application, but seldom consider the storage of supported servers and user data. Therefore, it is necessary to remind you that if you want to develop an authentication/login or custom application, you must first have a server to store data.

2) in addition to a server, a channel is also required for communication between the iPhone and the server. Because there is no standard or omnipotent communication channel, you need to customize it according to the specific circumstances of the application. This is a bit similar to creating a set of your own language, except for talking to both sides, do not want others to understand. This is how to create an API. Because the language must be defined before communication, you must create an API before the iPhone application is officially developed.

3) how to create an API? First, you must pay attention to it. After an API is created, the entire application development process is half completed. Creating an API is similar to creating a complete website. First, you need to define the data model, business rules, input parameters, and the interaction between data models. Simply put, the results are equivalent to a fully functional website, but only the text is displayed on the page without graphical results.

After the definition is complete, the iPhone sends the account name and password to the preset API (login page) in the required format, and then returns the result page.

At this stage, you need to make multiple choices, such as how to select a server, how to select a language, and how to select a data storage location to minimize communication latency.

4) it is best for the same developer to create an API and develop an application. In this way, the developer can better understand the API to be called and the global development of the application. If the API creation and application development are not the same person, it is recommended that the application developer communicate with the back-end team responsible for API creation. In many cases, he needs to call the API to support the entire mobile application.

Application Development

After you are ready, you can formally consider the application itself. In general, there are many strict restrictions on the iOS platform. Before coding, developers must have a complete definition of the scope and have a clear plan for the design.

Interface Design:Whether using standard interface components or custom components, You must select the correct one from the beginning, because the entire application structure depends on the interface design. For example, in the tab bar at the bottom of the interface, if you want to use an icon of another color to replace the blue color, make a lot of changes in the Code.

Code:When designing a website, you can easily add a new page and create a link for it. However, you cannot do this in iOS apps. All elements must be determined from the very beginning, any minor changes may cause unexpected consequences. The structure of iOS code is like a complicated panel. Although it can still be modified in some places, the entire panel may crash once it is corrected.

Expand compatibility with iPhone applications:It is not recommended to expand the additional features of the iPhone application to support the iPad at the same time, because the iPad application is not an additional feature of the iPhone application, but a more complex thing than the iPhone application, generally, the interface and interaction mechanisms are completely different from those of iPhone applications. Converting an iPhone app into an iPad app is just like converting an electric bicycle into a motorcycle. Although it is not completely impossible, it is not a simple task. In addition, the underlying APIs and user experience of iPhone and iPad applications are completely different.

Leiphone via KN