Iphone SDK on Windows (alternative solutions)

Question

I know there is no official SDK for windows, which is very annoying. Is there any way to develop applications on a windows computer, other than somehow running a mac os in vmware? I know you can do it with Xcode, but that is also only for macs. Google searches have revealed absolutely nothing......

If I cannot use the SDK or Xcode, any way I can just check syntax or something and just make my code in Notepad and save it with the proper extension? I have no idea whether or not I would be able to do that, probably because I have never even tried the SDK and probably never will without buying a mac.

Answer 1

You could do what saurik of Cydia does, and write your code on a PC then build it on the iPhone itself (it is a Mac, technically!) after you jailbreak it. However, you don't get Interface Builder, so you're basically creating UIs in code by hand. It'd also be pretty tough to actually submit your app without a Mac.

Answer 2

I looked into this before buying a Mini. The answer is, essentially, no. You pretty much have to buy a Leopard Mac to do iPhone SDK development for apps that run on non-jailbroken iPhones.

Not that it's 100% impossible, but it's 99.99% unreasonable. Like changing light bulbs with your feet.

Not only do you have to be in XCode, but you have to get certificates into the Keychain manager to be able to have XCode and the iPhone communicate. And you have to set all kinds of setting in XCode just right.

Answer 3

No, you must have an Intel Mac of some sort. I went to Best Buy and got a 24" iMac with 4G RAM for $1499 using their 18 month no interest promotion. I pay a minimum payment of something like $16 a month. As long as I pay the entire thing off within 18 months - no interest. That was the only way I was getting into iPhone development.

Answer 4

Technically you can write code in a .NET language and use the Mono Framework (http://www.mono-project.com/) to run it on the iPhone. I haven't ever seen someone do this from scratch, but the folks that write the Unity Game Development platform (http://unity3d.com/) use it to make their games iPhone-compatible. The game itself is written in .NET, and then they provide an iPhone shell with the Mono frameworks that allows everything to run on the iPhone. I don't know whether they've contributed all of their modifications to Mono back to the open-source repository, but if you're serious about writing iPhone apps outside the Mac environment, it might be possible.

That said, I think you could dump weeks into getting that to work, and it might be best to invest in a Mac instead :-)

Answer 5

This really comes down to how much you value your time. As the other posters have mentioned, there are a couple of ways you can build iPhone apps without a Mac, however you are jumping through serious hoops and it'll be much more difficult and take longer than it would with the proper development chain.

You can buy a second-hand Mac Mini for a couple hundred bucks on ebay. If you're serious about doing iPhone development you'll make this back in saved time very quickly.

Answer 6

You could easily build an App using PhoneGap (http://phonegap.com/), or Appcelerators "Titanium Mobile" (appcelerator [dot] com/products/titanium-mobile/).

Both of these essentially act as a Webkit wrapper, so you can build your application with HTML/CSS/Javascript. It's a pretty portable solution, too, but you are somewhat limited in what you can make - i.e, no intensive rendering or anything. It really all depends on what you're looking to do.

Answer 7

Be careful about buying Mac Mini's on ebay if you are unaware, I found out the costly way that you need an intel based Mac to run the iPhone Simulator. I've put a tutorial on the web for getting the iPhone SDK running on windows though, have a look here

Answer 8

There are two ways: If you are patient (requires ubuntu corral pc and android sdk and some heavy terminal work to get it all set up) http://iphoneworld.codinghut.com/2009/07/using-the-3-0-sdk-without-paying-for-the-priviledge/

If you are immoral (requires OSX leopard and virtualization both only obtainable through great expense or pirating) *remove space from link htt p://iphonewo rld. codinghut.com /2009/07/using-the-3-0-sdk-without-paying-for-the-priviledge/

I use the ubuntu method myself.

Answer 9

Sorry, I included the same link twice in my last post...The ubuntu link is http://www.iphone.org.hk/cgi-bin/ch/topic_show.cgi?id=9608

Answer 10

There is another solution if you want to develop in C/C++. http://www.DragonFireSDK.com will allow you to build iPhone applications in Visual Studio on Windows. It's worth a look-see for sure.

Answer 11

Hi, hope it's not too late to suggest you another solution ;) You can try iSpectrum, if you now have a mac to develop on. It will allow you to develop and debug applications written in Java with access to the iPhone SDK simulator. You don't have to jailbreak your iPhone/iPod, and you can also publish your app on the appStore.

http://www.flexycore.com

Answer 12

Fux was gonna try iphone sdk then noticed it needs a mac. Well screw that i guess.

Answer 13

i need dragonfire sdk ultimate full version !!!

Answer 14

LOL... run hackintosh in vmware.... look at

http://[www dot]mahmood1[dot com]/Windows_Mac_Google_OS_Virtualisation.php

then you can update/install xcode and have a fun time :)