What are some of the less-known and interesting public APIs and frameworks that I can use for iPhone?

Question

What are some of the less-known and interesting public APIs and frameworks that I can use for iPhone? In OS 3.0 they're supposed to be 1000 new APIs more than in 2.2, so which one of these are the most interesting and not so well-known?

Answer 1

There is the UIDataDetectors API. Not much documentation. But you asked for obscure ;-)

There is an API for the copy, cut and paste too. Not seen too many apps use this yet.

To be honest, I've tinkered with most of the new APIs. While they state a 1000 new APIs it's more like they've added 1000 new methods distributed across fewer what we'd call APIs.

Answer 2

There is the screen capture function that the newly approved streaming video iPhone apps are using. Though, normally its use would be prohibited (private API policy), Apple changed its stance on this one in particular.

CGImageRef UIGetScreenImage();

Link to devforums.apple.com

Answer 3

There is the ExternalAccessory API. Not widely used as you need, well, external accessories. Maybe you can have some fun with this API and video goggles.

Answer 4

All the big ones I'm sure you already know about. CoreData is the biggest one for me. But the highlight for me in 3.0 were the huge number of small changes:

• [UIApplication canOpenURL:] is great, as it means that you can only offer options if certain applications are loaded
• Methods such as [UIViewController willAnimateRotationToInterfaceOrientation:duration:] make certain animations significantly easier
• It's easier to work with toolbars (now part of UIViewController)
• [UIViewController viewDidUnload] make certain memory management tasks simpler
• Changes to table views and cells... it's not so much a single method as how they all interact that makes it much easier to work with than in OS 2.x
• The copy/paste functionality is nice, though not terribly well documented

Since my main app still needs to build for OS 2.x I've not used all of these in anger.

Answer 5

Although PDFKit is not available on iPhone, much of the Core Graphics level CGPDF stuff is. You can draw PDFs with a CGPDFContext, or parse existing PDFs with a CGPDFDocument.