There was a framework target in MobiVM/RoboVM for a while. But there was no any integration with Idea IDE and there was no template project available till PR253. Also this PR introduces framework support library binary that simplifies Framework development as all native code that is required to initialize VM is embedded into this library.
This Tutorial will explain what can be done with Framework target:

• Java functionality that can be wrapped into framework without writing any native support code;
• Comfortable API for Framework users – no need to use JNI/any other workarounds to use it;

What can’t be done:

There is old living bug that RoboVM doesn’t work nice in Android Studio 3.0 And it still doesn’t work nice, here few workarounds that will allow to start project.

Main effort was put provide better support for Framework target. During coding bunch of bugs have been fixed ands several improvements were done. All these changes delivered as PR253. Complete list of changes:

New OneSignal.framework pod, currently it is in testing. Meanwhile it is available from my own maven repo for intermediate results altpods: Altpods are available as repository in github, also it is deployed it to ‘oss.sonatype.org’ so it is available as maven artifact.

OneSignal is a free push notification service for mobile apps

Update: sample now includes Notification Service Extension check post for details

It is quite rare hacking as there is no problem receive certificate/provisioning profile from Apple using developer account or free provisioning. But there are moments when binary has to be signed during build time(kind of showstopper). In case when the binary is going to be shared with community it would be nice to keep personal account details not disclosed(these are included as part of signature). These cases are: binary distribution of Frameworks, plugins or application extensions. This post describes how to do self-signed provisioning and allow Xcode to use it.

Since iOS3 all system dylib/frameworks are combined into big cache file for performance reason. I needed these files to obtain export symbols from them for my future work on Windows/Linux support for RoboVM. There are several ways to get these.

New RoboPod Charts.framework, currently it is in testing. If there is an interest from community will create a pull request to MobiVM/RoboPods. Meanwhile it is available from my own maven repo for intermediate results altpods:

It was not big deal to for me binding framework with bro-gen (check tutorial) until I faced one Swift lib - Charts to be exact. It was problematic and exposed few robovm/bro-gen problems:

This post start series of technical notes that would help developers to understand changes were done to RoboVM. Table of content:

1. making RoboVM cross-platform
2. xib2nib
3. Codesign
4. Linker and tools
5. actool and
6. Pain and tears :)

Source codes for RoboVM part and toolchain has been released:

• Modified RoboVM github
• Toolchain github

Project depends on external projects that were forked and modified:

• cctools/ld64 fork github
• Microsoft/WinObjC fork github

Project that are used without changes on repo level (but patched during build):

• Facebook/Xcbuild github