Appendix A. iPhone OS class reference
After this book, your main resource for learning more about the iPhone should be the references at developer.apple.com. To help you find documents that might interest you, this appendix lists the major classes in the UIKit and Foundation hierarchies that you might want to know more about, excluding classes that only appear as a part of another class.
A.1 UIKit framework classes
The UIKit framework contains those classes most tightly connected to the iPhone, including all of the graphical classes you use to make up pages. A partial listing appears as table A.1. It’s current as of iPhone OS 2.1, and will probably be mostly correct when you read this, but the UIKit does sometimes change between releases.
Table A.1. A listing of the most important User Interface classes
|
Class |
Parent |
Summary |
|---|---|---|
|
UIActionSheet |
UIView |
A pop-up window that includes options; similar to a UIAlertView |
|
UIActivityIndicatorView |
UIView |
An indeterminate progress display |
|
UIAlertView |
UIView |
A pop-up window that includes options; similar to a UIActionSheet |
|
UIApplication |
UIResponder |
The main source for application information and control |
|
UIButton |
UIControl |
A push button |
|
UIColor |
NSObject |
A color output class |
|
UIView |
An abstract class that is parent to many user controls |
|
|
UIDatePicker |
UIControl |
A wheeled date-selection device |
|
UIDevice |
NSObject |
A class that holds info about the iPhone itself |
|
UIEvent |
NSObject |
A container for touches; part of the event model |
|
UIFont |
NSObject |
A font output class |
|
UIImage |
NSObject |
A non-displaying image holder |
|
UIImagePickerController |
UINavigationController |
A modal controller for image selection |
|
UIImageView |
UIView |
An image display that holds one or more UIImage objects |
|
UILabel |
UIView |
A small, non-editable text display |
|
UINavigationController |
UIViewController |
A hierarchical controller; often linked with a UITableView-Controller to produce hierarchical menus |
|
UIPageControl |
UIControl |
A toolbar for navigating among pages using dots |
|
UIPickerView |
UIView |
A wheel-based selection mechanism |
|
UIProgressView |
UIView |
A determinate progress display |
|
UIResponder |
NSObject |
An abstract class that defines all classes that can receive and respond to events |
|
UIScreen |
NSObject |
A class containing an iPhone’s entire screen |
|
UIScrollView |
UIView |
A parent class for views with multiple pages of content |
|
UISearchBar |
UIView |
A text-input mechanism specialized for searches |
|
UISegmentedControl |
UIControl |
A control for making one of several choices |
|
UISlider |
UIControl |
A control for setting discrete values |
|
UIControl |
A control for selecting binary values |
|
|
UITabBarController |
UIViewController |
A controller for moving among multiple screens |
|
UITableViewController |
UIViewController |
A controller for displaying tables of content; often linked with a UINavigationController |
|
UITextField |
UIControl |
A control for inputting short text |
|
UITextView |
UIScrollView |
A display for text of any size |
|
UITouch |
NSObject |
An individual touch on the iPhone’s screen |
|
UIView |
UIResponder |
The abstract class that lies at the core of most UIKit objects |
|
UIViewController |
UIResponder |
A simple view controller |
|
UIWebView |
UIView |
A Safari-like web browser |
|
UIWindow |
UIView |
The root for the view hierarchy |
A.2 Foundation framework classes
Foundation framework classes, whose names begin with NS, are almost as important as the UI classes because they represent foundational variable types, like strings and numbers. table A.2 only lists the major classes that have some relevance to the sort of work you’ve done in this book; for more, look at Apple’s developer site under “Core Services” frameworks.
Table A.2. A listing of the most important Foundation classes
|
Class |
Parent |
Summary |
|---|---|---|
|
NSArray |
NSObject |
An array |
|
NSAutoreleasePool |
NSObject |
A memory-management class |
|
NSBundle |
NSObject |
A pointer toward a project’s file system home |
|
NSCharacterSet |
NSObject |
Methods for managing characters |
|
NSCountedSet |
NSMutableSet |
An unordered collection of elements |
|
NSData |
NSObject |
A wrapper for a byte buffer |
|
NSDictionary |
NSObject |
An associative array |
|
NSError |
NSObject |
Encapsulated error information |
|
NSObject |
A methodology for controlling files |
|
|
NSFileManager |
NSObject |
A manager for file system work |
|
NSIndexPath |
NSObject |
A node path |
|
NSLog |
NSObject |
A very important object for debugging; logs a formatted string to the system log |
|
NSMutableArray |
NSArray |
An array that can be changed |
|
NSMutableCharacterSet |
NSCharacterSet |
A character set that can be changed |
|
NSMutableData |
NSData |
Data that can be changed |
|
NSMutableDictionary |
NSDictionary |
A dictionary that can be changed |
|
NSMutableSet |
NSSet |
A set that can be changed |
|
NSMutableString |
NSString |
A string that can be changed |
|
NSMutableURLRequest |
NSURLRequest |
A URL request that can be changed |
|
NSNotificationCenter |
NSObject |
A notification manager |
|
NSNumber |
NSValue |
A way to encapsulate many types of numbers |
|
NSObject |
N/A |
The root class for Cocoa Touch |
|
NSString |
NSObject |
A class for various sorts of string storage and manipulation |
|
NSURL |
NSObject |
A simple URL object |
|
NSURLRequest |
NSObject |
A URL plus a cache policy |
|
NSValue |
NSObject |
A simple container for data |
|
NSXMLParser |
NSObject |
An XML parser |
A.3 Other classes
The UI and NS classes should contain most of the objects you use when programming.
We’ve also covered several other frameworks throughout this book, including the Address Book framework (chapter 16), the Address Book UI framework (chapter 16), the Core Location framework (chapter 17), the Core Audio framework (chapter 18), the Media Player framework (chapter 18), the Core Graphics framework (chapters 18 and 19), the Quartz Core framework (chapter 19), the OpenGL ES framework (chapter 19), and the CFNetwork framework (chapter 20). Finally, you may wish to pay some attention to the Core Foundation framework, which we’ve used (as infrequently as possible) throughout part 4 of this book.