Quick Start

This guide will walk you through the steps to add Skygear to your iOS project via CocoaPods from scratch.

Prerequisite

• Xcode 7.0 or later
• A Skygear account. Sign up here.

Step 1: Install CocoaPods

We recommend you to install the Skygear iOS SDK via CocoaPods. Run the following command in your terminal to install it.

$ sudo gem install cocoapods

Step 2: Install the Skygear iOS SDK

1. Create a new Xcode project or use your existing one. Initiate pod if you have not.

cd your-project-directory
pod init

2. Open Podfile and add the following line to include SKYKit (Skygear iOS SDK) in your project.

pod 'SKYKit', '~> 1.1'

Note: It is not a must to specify the version number (i.e. 1.1). If you don't, your app will be using the latest SDK version automatically. Check out all the version numbers here.

3. Lastly, run pod install in your terminal.

pod install

4. The Skygear iOS SDK will have been installed.

Step 3: Configure Skygear in your app

1. In AppDelegate.m or AppDelegate.swift, import the Skygear iOS SDK.

import <SKYKit/SKYKit.h>

import SKYKit

2. Then add the following lines in the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method to configure your app.

   • For Skygear iOS SDK with version 1.6.2 or before.
   Objective-C

   SKYContainer *container = [SKYContainer defaultContainer];
   [container configAddress:@"<Your endpoint url>"];
   [container configureWithAPIKey:@"<Your api key>"];
   

   Swift

   SKYContainer.default().configAddress("<Your endpoint url>")
   SKYContainer.default().configure(withAPIKey: "<Your api key>")
   

   • For Skygear iOS SDK with version 1.6.3 or later.
   Objective-C

   SKYConfiguration *config = [[SKYConfiguration alloc] init];
   config.endPointAddress = [NSURL URLWithString:@"<Your endpoint url>"];
   config.apiKey = @"<Your api key>";
   [[SKYContainer defaultContainer] configure:config];
   

   Swift

   let config = SKYConfiguration()
   config.endPointAddress = URL.init(string: "<Your endpoint url>")!
   config.apiKey = "<Your api key>"
   SKYContainer.default().configure(config)
   

That is it. You are good to go now. You can continue with the step below to learn about basic database operations.

Step 4: Create your first record in Skygear

Now, let's create a record in the Skygear database to see if the SDK has been installed successfully.

Add the following lines in the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method and run your app in a simulator. The record will be created when you run your app.

// Every record in Skygear must be owned by a user
// For testing purpose, we have used signupAnonmously to create a record
// Visit the user authetication documentation to learn more
// https://docs.skygear.io/guides/auth/basics/ios/

SKYContainer *skygear = [SKYContainer defaultContainer];
[[skygear auth] signupAnonymouslyWithCompletionHandler:^(SKYUser *user, NSError *error) {
    if (error != nil) {
        NSLog(@"Signup Error: %@", error.localizedDescription);
        return;
    }

    // Create Record Type "test" and put "Hello world" as value of key "content"
    // Advanced: Skygear Server will create a table "test" and appropriate
    //           columns in PostgreSQL in Development mode.
    SKYRecord *test = [SKYRecord recordWithRecordType:@"test"];
    test[@"content"] = @"Hello world";

    [skygear.publicCloudDatabase saveRecord:test completion:^(SKYRecord *record, NSError *error) {
        if (error != nil) {
            NSLog(@"Failed to save a record: %@", error.localizedDescription);
            return;
        }

        NSLog(@"Record saved with ID: %@", record.recordID.recordName);
    }];
}];

// Every record in Skygear must be owned by a user
// For testing purpose, we have used signupAnonmously to create a record
// Visit the user authetication documentation to learn more
// https://docs.skygear.io/guides/auth/basics/ios/

let skygear = SKYContainer.default()
skygear.auth.signupAnonymously(completionHandler: { (user, error) in
    if error != nil {
        print("Signup Error: \(error?.localizedDescription)")
        return
    }

    // Create Record Type "test" and put "Hello world" as value of key "content"
    // Advanced: Skygear Server will create a table "test" and appropriate
    //           columns in PostgreSQL in Development mode.
    let test = SKYRecord(recordType: "test")
    test.setObject("Hello world", forKey: "content" as NSCopying!)
    skygear.publicCloudDatabase.save(test, completion: { (record, error) in
        if error != nil {
            print("Failed to save a record: \(error?.localizedDescription)")
            return
        }
        print("Record saved with ID: \(record?.recordID.recordName)")
    })
})

If the record is created successfully, you should see the record "Hello World" in your database table "test".

You can access your database using the data browser we provide. It can be found from the info page in your developer portal.

This is how your data browser will look like.

Hurray! Everything should be in the right place from here.

What's next?

Next, you may want to learn more about:

• Skygear Cloud Database basics
• Skygear User Auth Introduction
• Skygear Chat Introduction
• Other Skygear Guides