Xcode 4 iOS project structuring questions

Question

I have my first iOS application under my belt (a relatively straightforward iPad app, to be released in a month or so), but now I'm moving on to something more ambitious, and could use some advice.

My next project will actually be two distinct but closely related iPad applications that will share quite a bit of core functionality and a common data format. So my instinct is to develop these two applications in conjunction with the development of a core framework shared by both, and I'd like this shared framework to use CoreData and also provide GUI elements (NIBs, view controllers) that can be used by the respective apps. My further instinct therefore is to create 3 Xcode projects: one iOS app project for app A, a second iOS app project for app B, and a third, CocoaTouch framework project for the shared framework.

Questions:

1) Is this the right way to structure my development, or is there a better way to do concurrent development of two closely related apps and a shared framework?

2) Can a framework use CoreData? (I ask this because when creating a CocoaTouch framework project in Xcode one isn't offered the option of having it use CoreData -- nor the option of having units tests -- as one is when creating an iOS app project).

3) Is there a way to "convert" an iOS app project into a framework project, or, perhaps preferably, rather to build an app project into a framework target? That would let me create the framework project with all the Xcode setup freebies (NIBs, core data, etc.), instead of adding all that stuff manually.

Thanks!

Carl

Answer 1

To answer question one, I wouldn't work this way. I would create one project with three targets, two app targets and a framework target. Maybe in the future I would move the framework to its own project when it had stabilized and if I was going to use it for even more iOS apps. Having all the targets in the same project reduce synchronization problems when working on code shared among the targets.

To answer question two, Xcode just doesn't include the template support to add Core Data and unit tests to a starter framework project. I see no reason why you can't use Core Data in a framework.

To answer question three, just add a framework target to your iOS app project, and move the appropriate portions of your iOS app to the framework.