iPhone
Installing Xcode and iPhone SDK
April 5, 2009
0

Some people are asking where to get the iPhone SDK?  First of all, you need:

  • a machine running Mac OS X Leopard.
  • Xcode IDE (this is Apple’s development tool).
  • the iPhone SDK

You do not necessarily need an actual iPhone for development because the iPhone SDK comes with an iPhone simulator which can run iPhone apps.  However, eventually you do need an iPhone if you plan to test your application and sell on the Apple store.

Do you really need a Mac to run Mac OS X Leopard?  I have read that you can turn some netbooks to run Mac OS X Leopard.  I didn’t go this route, and in fact, I don’t know if I would recommend this route, especially for someone new to Mac.  Here are some references about using  Mac OS X on Netbooks, if you’re feeling brave:

Where To Get Xcode?

On my MacBook Pro, Xcode comes on the second Mac OS X Leopard install disk 2.   It is not installed by default when you install Mac OS X Leopard, so you may need to is to install it from the disk.

Check if it’s already installed.  It is usually at Macintosh HD::Developer::Application.  If you don’t have that folder, you can also search for Xcode using the Finder.  The icon currently looks like below:

xcodeicon

If you find it, run it because it may not be the latest one and/or it may not contain the iPhone SDK.  Do  File->New Project.  If you see this screen, then you have an older version of Xcode, and no iPhone SDK.
XcodeNewProject.jpg

If you see this, then you already have the iPhone SDK:

newprojectiphone

I Have Xcode But Not iPhone SDK

Go to Getting The Latest Xcode from Apple section below.

I Don’t Have Xcode

There are two options to get it: install it from the disk, or download it from Apple.  I recommend the second option (described below) because there’s a good chance the disc does not contain the latest one.  But you do need to download a pretty huge file (1.5+ GB) and you must also be registered as a developer in the Apple Developer Network, but they have several levels of membership and one of them is a free membership (you cannot sell in iPhone store with the free membership).

Installing from the Mac OS X Install Disc 2

Unless you have really slow connection, I suggest just skip to Getting The Latest Xcode from Apple.

Insert the disc.

screenshot_01.png

Inside, you should see Xcode Tools folder.
installXCode1.jpg

Select the Xcode Tools to run the Xcode installer.
installXCode2.jpg
Follow the on-screen instruction.

installXCode3.jpg

(During install, the dialog may say something ridiculous like “1 more hour to install” because apparently, the progress indicator isn’t that good (hello “Windows,” did you infect Mac as well?). Don’t go out and walk the dog, because it took about 15 minutes on my MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz, despite it saying it need 1+ hour at some point.

Getting The Latest Xcode from Apple

Instead of using the disk, you can just download Xcode from Apple at http://developer.apple.com/technology/Xcode.html.

For downloading, you must be registered as either:
1) A registered person in the Apple Developer Network.  They have several levels of membership and one of them is a free membership (you cannot sell in iPhone store with the free membership – see http://developer.apple.com/products/membership.html), or
2) A registered iPhone Developer – see http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/.  There’s no free option for this program.
Option 1 is not bad for starter, then upgrade when you’re ready.

Once you’re ready to get serious, then get the paid version.

Since you want to develop for iPhone, download the Xcode for iPhone and Mac Development version, not the Xcode only version.   The link looks like below:

xcodeandiphonedev

After download is finished, run the installer.  You’ll need to select some options.  Here’s what I selected:

iphonesdkinstall

During install, the dialog may say something ridiculous like “1 more hour to install,”  but it took about 15 minutes on my MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz, despite it saying it need 1+ hour at some point.

installXCode3.jpg

After installation, run Xcode, select File->New Project.  You should see the iPhone OS selection, like below:newprojectiphone

Congratulations, XCode and iPhone SDK is installed.

Updated notes for iPhone SDK 3: https://permadi.com/blog/?p=1452

In the next guide, we will look for a Hello World sample application.