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Possible Duplicate:
iPhone development on Windows

We are about to begin our first med-tech app experience utilizing iOS. We toyed with the idea a year ago but it is a reality now. The problem we face is that some of the team does not have Mac/Apple products and I was thus wondering the following:

  1. Can you use Xcode on an Ipad? If so then two of our programmers are good to go.

  2. Is there and iOS development solution yet for windows?

  3. If we wanted to try using Flash / Flex for windows based solution for the other two programmers on the team...

    1. Is objective-c and a-script compatible, or would you just stick with objective-c;
    2. Is Adobe going to keep supporting iOS development, or is all of that dead now that they are canceling Flash?

Thanks for the help and I apologize a priori for the naivety of the question.

-Tim

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Tim Maguire
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  • There are passable options for Windows if you just want to get something done with effective, B+ results. But if you're serious about harnessing the iOS platform specifically, use Apple technology. Mac Mini desktops start at $600. – Janardan Yri Apr 06 '12 at 15:27

2 Answers2

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In short:

  1. Unfortunately no. Only Mac.

  2. Yes, you can have a Mac OS on a normal PC, but it's against Apple's EULA. It's called hackintosh.

  3. Sorry. I don't have enough information to answer that.

A) Can you please clarify what you really mean?

B) Only Adobe itself can confirm that. But I never heard that they're cancelling it.

TheNavigat
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You have lots of questions, I can't answer all of them, but I'll do my best to address what I can:

Can you use Xcode on an Ipad?

As @theNavigator stated; the Xcode tools are Mac only.

Is there and iOS development solution yet for windows?

Generally, you can do every step on Windows except uploading your finished app (ipa) to the Apple App Store. I do not believe you can use Apple development tools on Windows, so you'll have to use alternate cross-platform tools, such as Adobe AIR (if you already know ActionScript/Flex), or Sencha Touch.

The final step of submitting to the store must be done on a OSX. You can run OSX in windows using virtualization; but it is a tricky legal subject. I'm not sure I'd recommend that approach for a business.

A) Is objective-c and a-script compatible, or would you just stick with objective-c;

I would say, that no Objective-C and ActionSCript3 are not compatible. They are different languages for different purposes. However, there is no reason you can't write in ActionScript 3 (with or without Flex) and cross compile it to a native iOS application with the Adobe AIR SDK. 

B) Is Adobe going to keep supporting iOS development, or is all of that dead now that they are canceling Flash?

Adobe is not abandoning Flash. Please read Adobe's Flash Runtime Roadmap for more details. They are abandoning the mobile browser plugin for Flash Player. However, they are continuing to invest in Adobe AIR for mobile deployment.

Most of the Touch Tools from the Adobe Creative Cloud are built using ActionScript and Adobe AIR. That includes Photoshop Touch. I take that as a commitment to the platform.

JeffryHouser
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  • Thank you so much. One last question (you're right I do have a lot). What would the best solution be then if we have a team developing on both Mac and PC? If we can write in objective-c (or in Air) then we potentially develop on both platforms. Though if I understand you correctly, Air is AS3 only. In that case we can just break out Air on both the PC and Mac. – Tim Maguire Apr 06 '12 at 15:28
  • @TimMaguire Yes, AIR has the advantage that you can use the same codebase (or at least the vast majority of it) for PC and Mac (or for iOS and Android). The disadvantage is that it is not as tightly integrated with the OS. For instance you may have to tweak a lot to make it look like a native iOS app. You win some, you lose some. You just have to know what's most important to you. – RIAstar Apr 06 '12 at 15:49
  • @TimMaguire In addition to what RIAStar said; AIR won't support Objective-C directly, but you can use AIR Native Extensions to execute Objective C Code on a iOS Device. This provides a way to extend the functionality of your AIR application to access APIs not exposed through AIR. – JeffryHouser Apr 06 '12 at 17:36