Preface

This manual, OpenStep Development Tools, describes the essential tools for developing an application using WorkShop^(TM) OpenStep^(TM) --the Project Builder, Interface Builder, Header Viewer, Icon Builder, and Edit applications. The manual also includes chapters on the Objective C language and the NSObject class.

Who Should Use This Book

If you are developing or designing OpenStep applications, this book will help you understand how to use the WorkShop OpenStep development tools to create a project and an application interface, and build and debug the project.

Before You Read This Book

This manual assumes you are familiar with the standard Solaris^(TM) OpenStep^(TM) user interface. Before attempting to develop an OpenStep application, you should be familiar with the workspace, the dock, the File Viewer, the applications supplied with Solaris OpenStep and the general look and feel of the OpenStep desktop. If you have not used Solaris OpenStep, the following end-user manuals will help you learn about it:

• Quick Start to Using the OpenStep Desktop
• Using the OpenStep Desktop

If you are developing an OpenStep application with a graphical interface you also need to be familiar with the guidelines covered in OpenStep User Interface Guidelines.

How This Book Is Organized

This manual contains the following chapters and appendices:

Chapter 1, "Introduction," provides an overview of the tools and techniques that you'll use to assemble a working application. The tools introduced in this chapter are discussed in greater detail in other chapters of this manual

Chapter 2, "Using Project Builder," describes the central control point for application development in WorkShop OpenStep. Project Builder helps you with each stage of application development, from inception to installation.

Chapter 3, "Working with Interface Builder," describes the tool that lets you assemble your application's user interface (and other parts) from predefined building blocks, and lets you create new building blocks of your own design.

Chapter 4, "Using Edit in Developer Mode," describes the OpenStep text editor you will be using to edit and debug your application's source files. This chapter emphasizes the developer mode options of Edit. The user mode of Edit and the features available in both modes are described in Using the OpenStep Desktop.

Chapter 5, "Using Icon Builder to Create Application Icons," describes a simple graphic editor for creating and editing application icons.

Chapter 6, "Navigating the OpenStep API with Header Viewer," describes an OpenStep application that you can use to browse classes, language elements, and header files, and to perform searches on header files.

Chapter 7, "The NSObject Class," briefly describes NSObject, the root class of all ordinary Objective C inheritance hierarchies.

Chapter 8, "The Objective C Language," describes the OpenStep Objective C language as well as the principles of object-oriented programming as implement in Objective C.

Chapter 9, "The Objective C Extensions," describes more advanced and less commonly used features of Objective C.

Appendix A, "Debugging an OpenStep Application," provides information on using the SPARCworks Debugger and other tools to debug an OpenStep application.

Appendix B, "Interface Builder Application Programming Interface," describes the application programming interface (API) that lets you build custom palettes, inspectors, and editors for Interface Builder.

Appendix C, "Interface Builder API Classes," describes the classes in the Interface Builder API.

Appendix D, "Interface Builder API Protocols," describes the protocols in the Interface Builder API.

Appendix E, "Interface Builder API Types and Constants," describes the types and constants in the Interface Builder API.

Related Books

For information on OpenStep classes, refer to OpenStep Programming Reference.

What Typographic Changes Mean

Table P-1 describes the typographic changes used in this book.

Table P-1

Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
AaBbCc123	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your .login file. Use ls -a to list all files. machine_name% You have mail.
AaBbCc123	What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output	machine_name%su Password:
AaBbCc123	Command-line placeholder: replace with a real name or value	To delete a file, type rm filename.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new words or terms, or words to be emphasized	Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options. You must be root to do this.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

Table P-2 shows the default system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.

Table P-2

Shell	Prompt
C shell prompt	machine_name%
C shell superuser prompt	machine_name#
Bourne shell and Korn shell prompt	$
Bourne shell and Korn shell superuser prompt	#