reading an objective C encoded object into a java class

Question

I am writing a client server iPhone app. The server is J2EE based. I need to communicate the state of my client object (objective C) to the server. It is possible (and feasible) to say encode the objective C object, send the bytes to the J2EE server through a socket and create a Java object out of this stream. If so, can you kindly point me to a starting point.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Anything is possible, but that does not make it feasible. Except the technical difficulties these interfaces tend over time to create a lot of management headaches, example when one or both sides perform an upgrade.

I would seriously consider using some encoding to some platform neutral format like protobuf, thrift, JSON, XML or similar.

Answer 2

It sounds like it would be easier to serialize the Objective-C object to XML, JSON, or another text-based representation and ingest and unmarshal that in Java. To return it, reverse the process.

Answer 3

There are myriad ways to skin this cat. If you are using J2EE, you might even consider using a standard means of communication rather than rolling your own. For example, you could use a webservice, REST, etc. Objectice-C has good support for HTTP connections and it is fairly trivial to create an XML or JSON payload. SudzC is a great tool for creating a client proxy from WSDL.

Here are a few tools on the Objective-C side:

json-framework
SudzC