Planning to Write an iOS Application? Check these Points

As we all know following a procedure can be very boring, hectic and time-consuming in the development process. Most of the developers working in an iPhone app development company in USA have the tendency to jump directly into the coding because of all the effects and fun there.

According to our experience in application development, it is very helpful to follow some practices before jumping into the coding part. It always helps in reducing complexity, increasing the readability, easier to maintain, avoiding redundancy, etc. Also, it is helpful to other team members to understand the concept and the flow of the application if working in a team.

So, let us check and dig the topics one-by-one which will be helpful to create a proper architecture of the application and also be helpful for the entire team in the future.

1. Define Coding Style

Coding Style is the most important aspect that should be defined before you start writing any application, especially while working in a team.

It includes the below points:

• A) Variable Declaration Pattern
  Variable declaration pattern should be same for all the team members and may not lead other team members to the confusion for recognizing the type of the variable. Ideally, there is nothing wrong for declaring them as you want but it should make sense for all the team members (i.e array should be defined as arrName, same for dictionary dicName, for outlets of label lblName etc.). You can make your own pattern for this as well.
• B) Function Names and Declaration
  Same as the variable declarations, function names and definitions should also have a particular pattern for name and declaration to avoid confusion and ambiguity.
• C) Use of Extensions
  It is always good to use extensions to divide and differentiate the code forever components and process in the class. Extensions make your code neat and easily readable. Also, it is very helpful in copying the code for the same kind of implementations.
• For example, you should create different extensions for the different process like all the actions of buttons should be defined in separate extension, all tableView/collectionView delegate and data sources should be in separate extension, textfield delegates should be in different extensions etc.
• D) Use of Globals and Constants
  All the app levels globals and constants should be in the different file which is accessible through the project and can be easily gettable. The benefit of this is to avoid redundancy of constants as well as changes at one place will apply everywhere it is used.
• E) Avoid inline use of Strings
  It is advisable to avoid inline strings while setting text in labels, text fields, textviews, alerts etc. It makes the code lengthy, increase repetitive contents as well as complex in case of changes and performing localization. Instead of that, you should define all the strings in one file which is accessible through the project.
• These are only the highlights of coding style but you can follow/define many more things in this part depending on project and complexity. Also, there are some open source coding guidelines available which you can follow for your projects.
• Below are some reference to the coding style guidelines.https://github.com/linkedin/swift-style-guidehttps://github.com/raywenderlich/swift-style-guide

2. Define Architecture for The Application

It is necessary to decide the architecture for the app before diving into the code. Choice of suitable architecture will make the app more testable, easier to understand and reduce its maintenance cost. You can choose any architecture from traditional MVC to recent or fancier MVVM. There are so many resources available on the web from which you can understand and decide architecture for the application.

Below is some reference for the design pattern.
https://www.raywenderlich.com/132662/mvc-in-ios-a-modern-approach

3. Setup Folder Structure

Instead of keeping all the files in a single directory, it is a good idea to follow some folder structure for the project. It will make the files well organized and easily findable, you can use the following:

Although this may look negligible at the first sight but for the big projects, it is certainly more helpful, well structured and easier to understand for every team member working in the project.

4. Manage Your Dependencies

It is very certain that everyone is using some third party libraries in their application. So for that, you should use one of the dependency managers from the ones that are already available. We usually prefer CocoaPods which has the vast collection of libraries and easy integration facilities, you can use any of below depending on the requirements.

5. Setup Certificates and Profiles for Code Signing

Most annoying and painful task of the application development is creating certificates and provisioning profile. This process includes creating application id (Unique identifier for the device), adding devices to developer account, creating certificates (development certificate for debug the application and distribution certificate for releasing the application.), creating provisioning profiles (same as certificates), also creating APNS certificates if your application is willing to get the push notifications from the server, providing .pem file to PHP developers or .p12 file to .NET developers.

6. Continuous Integration

This is very much advisable either working in a team or individual. This will keep track of your development process and at any point of time, you can check the updates for the particular date or time period. You can use either git or SVN whichever is suitable for you for the continuous integration. This will help all the team members to pull the latest updates done by the other member as well as push the new changes to the other team members. The main benefit of this is you will have all your code on the server and you will be able to access it from anywhere.

7. Setting Application Icon and Splash Screen

Though this is not a mandatory task and not that much important for the initial stage but setting it initially make your application first impression good. Application icon carries a variety of sizes of the single image so instead of forcing designer for all size images you can just ask of 1024*1024 size icon with some background and you will be able to get all the required size images from some online or online tools. Splash screen set up is also carry 2 ways either you set the launch images or you can use the launch screen for setting up the splash screen.

In this article, we have covered the major points about defining the iOS Application development Architecture. Though list can be expanded more with more topics like how code style should be applied, commenting guide, etc. You can also add your own topics, thoughts, etc. and feel free to share with us.

We hope that these tips will be helpful for you to define and start the application with the best style.

Happy Coding! and feel free to share your own experience on “[email protected]”.