Localization and unused files in XCode - c++

I have an XCode project which is a game made with Cocos2dx game engine (C++) and native classes for Facebook etc. I recently started localizing it for a second language and I have two copies of a lot assets in two languages (Images etc.). The implementation in my code for switching between languages is perfectly fine using pre-processor directives and compiler doesn't even see (I assume) the assets in one language when it compiles the other.
However, I was wondering if XCode is going to include all the assets and resources, even the ones that are not used into the final file that I upload to app store? Is there anyway to tell XCode not include them, which is as easy as one on/off switch?

Related

Porting a C++ project into an iOS app?

project compiles fine, how do I export it as an iOS app though
I have a large C++ project that I'd like to turn into an iOS app... any tips on how I might go about doing this? What I've done so far is to use CMake to generate an XCode project. I've been able to subsequently build (and archive -- but I can't find the archives in the organizer) my project in XCode, but to my understanding this is merely using XCode as an IDE...
Is there an easy way to remedy this situation? Or do I need to reconstruct the project all over again iOS style. If so, any guides you might recommend?
.mm files compile to objective-c++.
This is how you will get c++ code to talk to all the IOS libraries, which unfortunately are only generally easily available in objective-c and swift.
So create c++ interfaces in .h or .hpp files, and back them up with an objective-c++ impl that then talks to the objective-c runtime.
To get cmake to work nicely with iOS, you'll need a toolchain file.
There is a nice collection that you can use as a starting point here:
https://github.com/ruslo/polly

Link c++ object during runtime?

I'm trying to write my first game in c++, and I want it to dynamically load everything from files. This includes the enemies, and I was wondering if there was a way to dynamically include their code at runtime, instead of linking the on compile, so that the levels are easily interchangeable. Lua might be an option but I have no clue where to start, and dll seems to be Windows-only (and I wouldn't know where to start there anyway). Can anyone help with this?
tl;dr I want to link in code to my c++ game at runtime.
For the Lua approach you first need to choose the version first. Right now there is the major version 5.1 and 5.2. My previous work was using 5.1 and for my new project I decided to update to 5.2, however I found that my favorite script wrapping tool (SWIG) does not work with 5.2. Just something to decide at the beginning, because you do not want to get a version working and then have to change it.
Lua comes with makefile build environment. My first experience of trying to build on Windows was a bit of a nightmare, did not appear to just run out-of-the-box, so I opted to create my own Visual Studio project at the time, and just include all the .C files in the project. There are two files which need to selectively included/excluded depending on how you intend to compile: lua.c and luac.c. If you are planning to embed Lua in your app, then exclude both of these files; they both contain a main() function and are designed to build console apps. Include all the rest of the C files in your project.
You should be able to compile easy from this point.
When you include the headers of Lua, keep in mind that the functions are C functions so if you are including them from C++ you need to wrap the file inclusion inside of: extern "C" {} - example: C++ Lua 5.1 Issue
Wrapping your interfaces in another topic and there are lots of resources available. My favorite is SWIG but there are lots of options, including hand coding the conversion of your C/C++ -> LUA -> C/C++ code. Would recommend just focusing on getting the first part working first, get the interpreter embedded so that you can run a "hello, world!" script from Lua inside your app.
So going by your requirement of crossplatform use and dynamic linking, what you're probably looking for is an environment like QT which has QLibrary: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9675063/453673
But https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/88685/why-arent-more-desktop-apps-written-with-qt
MingW is the open-source equivalent for Visual C++, so it can help you writing code for Windows (though if I had a choice, I'd directly use Visual C++). The way dll's are loaded in Windows is somewhat similar to the way they're loaded in Linux, so you'll be able to write code with #ifdef's to do conditional compilation. I've written one such program a couple of years back.
To load a shared library(always with .so as suffix) under Linux, you could use dlopen(), dlsym() and dlclose()

To what extent can I make my C++/OpenGL project work on both iPad and PC?

I'm developing a little game on Linux at the moment but I'd like to try making an iPad app out of it.
I've been looking over tutorials and it seems like I'll be able to make the my core C++ code compile on XCode without modification (it has no dependencies outside the standard library), and if I use OpenGL with SDL for the UI then the bulk of that code should be portable as well.
I assume that a certain amount of code will have to be different between the build processes, obviously I'd like to minimise that. I've never done any XCode development before, so can someone please advise on the following:
Will I be able to make the XCode project point to the core library source tree and compile it without dicking around with it, inserting project files etc? In other words, can I keep all XCode-specific files somewhere completely different? I use CMake on Linux and like would like to keep the out-of-tree build approach.
What at the SDL layer will have to be done differently for the iOS build? In other words, if I have a slave libgraphics library which is SDL and can paint the core state into a context provided by its master application, how do I create this context differently on iOS as compared to Linux?
At the moment I know nothing about the particulars of window creation and user input on iOS, or any Apple product caveats (e.g. how do I respond to the iPad going to sleep). I'd appreciate any pointers about all of this but the real question here is how do I structure the project so as to be maximally cross-platform?

Packaging a modified Qt class

Heads up, this is going to be confusing:
I customized 9 files from Qt5.2: qquicktextdocument.cpp qquicktextdocument.h qquicktextedit.cpp qquicktextedit_p.h qquicktextedit_p_p.h qquicktextnode.cpp qquicktextnodeengine.cpp qquicktextnodeengine_p.h qquicktextnode_p.h
Each file is simply prefixed with a letter and still inside /qtdeclarative/src/quick/items/. I am 100% happy with the modifications I made being put under GPL etc. I somewhat want my end application (discussed below) to be Apache or MIT, but, I'm flexible.
My modifications work fine. When I modify a few additional files I am able to compile them along with the rest of Qt (at the same time, using the same make command). But these modifications are going into another Qt application that I am making which I want other people to be able to use, and requiring general consumers to have a custom compiled version of Qt would be obviously absurd.
I want to package/compile/do something, that will enable me to include the modifications in my final project as a shared library, or something.
As a web developer writing C++ and Qt, I am very confused about linking shared libraries, header files, etc.
To recap, I modified Qt 5.2 and made a custom compilation of it for an application I am building, and I want people to be able to run that application without having to have a custom compilation of Qt. I need a way to decouple my Qt modifications from Qt.
I realize this might be a big topic, I'm not expecting a step by step guide, just some general guidance. So far I have tried compiling my modified files as a library, then including that library in my actual project, but I am getting undefined references and missing files all over the place. (I don't know if I did anything right)
I am also currently looking at subclassing the classes I want but I'm unsure about this. It might require copy pasting some code, which could have licensing issues?
end goal: be able to have a wavy underline (in qml) for incorrectly spelt words.
Thank You.
My 5 cents.
If your changes can be useful (in general) to other people you can try to push them to upstream via codereview.
If you want your application to run only in windows everything become obvious: in windows it is normal to provide your application with shared libraries (to avoid DLL HELL). Btw, have you heard about static linking?
Qt has some plugin mechanism. You can compile your code into shared object (dynamic library) and install it with your application. For example, QML FolderListModel do this. You can look at code in $qt5_src/qtdeclarative/src/imports/folderlistmodel.

How to make your own SDK from code files?

I have programmed a game with lots of C++ code and it started to take more time then ever to compile my code.
So I thought maybe I can split the game's rendering code as it's own binary SDK.
I have used many SDKs and APIs before, But I don't know how to make my own SDK and how does it all hold up together.
Does any one know a good online tutorial or book about how to make a SDK. thanks.
You need to read about creating libraries. You then compile your game's rendering code as it's own library file.
Here is an example of how do create and use a static library using Visual C++ : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235627.aspx
PS: As for increasing compilation times, consider using pre-compiled headers on your platform.