How do I create a development tool to create custom object instances for iphone os

Question

I'm setting out to create an app where it will use 7-10 instances of a custom class, lets call them "books" each class will consist of a number of pages, a title, a int of how many pages a book contains and possibly some notes of the author associated with a specific page.

My question is what is the best way of creating these objects. it seems weak to just hard-code all the books together programatically, and if there are more added after the initial release I'd almost like to have the author be able to construct them with a simple desktop app.

So I guess what I'm looking for is a way to a create a small app to create instances of a custom class on a desktop, then bring those instances into the iphone app.

I only have an iphone dev license as far as I know. Obviously you don't have to be super specific but I'm looking for ways to accomplish this type of task. Maybe if there is a good way to go about hard coding them I would like to hear about that as well.

I guess an equivalent would be a game developer making like a level editor for his game so he doesn't have to create the boards programatically.

Thanks,

Nick

Answer 1

Use SQLite. You could easily create a sqlite database editor, or use some of the free ones out there. The iPhone can read a sqlite database natively, just include the library.

Answer 2

• Provide your data in XML or JSON format (or whatever flavour of file format you prefer), this is to transfer data to/from application.
• Parse your data file (xml/json) and store in permanent storage (file,sqlite,core data) on phone. This is the data that your application will regularly use from now on.
• Offer user the option to get updates over network
• If user selects to get updates, download updated xml/jason file over network, parse and update your permanent store