Learning WatchKit Programming: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Apple Watch Applications

by Wei-Meng Lee

Overview

Create Breakthrough Apple Watch Apps with the WatchKit Framework

 

With its Apple Watch and WatchKit framework, Apple is challenging developers to build exciting and innovative apps for Apple Watch. iOS developers who master Apple Watch programming now will have the same huge “early mover” advantage that early iPhone developers enjoyed. Learning WatchKit Programming is a complete, hands-on tutorial for all iOS developers who are ready to design and build tomorrow’s hottest new wearable apps.

 

Leading iOS development trainer and author Wei-Meng Lee covers all of the fundamentals of Apple Watch development and the WatchKit API, from application architecture and design to navigation, notification, and glances. Using practical Swift code examples designed for clarity and simplicity, Lee guides you through building apps from the ground up and shows you how to integrate those apps with the iPhone for expanded capabilities.

 

The perfect companion to other mobile development books in the Learning Series, this guide helps you extend your iOS skills to a whole new environment, build apps that solve a new set of problems, and reach millions of people in the new Apple Watch marketplace

 

Coverage includes

• Getting started quickly with WatchKit and Apple Watch development
• Storyboarding apps and testing them on the Apple Watch Simulator
• Mastering Apple Watch’s multiple-screen navigation
• Building highly efficient interfaces with Apple Watch UI controls
• Customizing each screen’s look and feel, and passing data between them
• Responding to user interactions via buttons, switches, sliders, or Force Touch
• Displaying information via labels, images, or tables
• Communicating between an Apple Watch app and its containing iOS app
• Calling web services from Apple Watch
• Displaying short- and long-look notifications
• Customizing notifications to display your message’s essence more quickly
• Implementing glances to give users a faster way to gather information
• Localizing your Apple Watch apps

All of this book’s sample Swift code is available for download at informit.com/title/9780134195445.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780134195544
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	06/12/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Wei-Meng Lee is a technologist and founder of Developer Learning Solutions ( www.learn2develop.net), a technology company specializing in hands-on training on the latest Web and mobile technologies. Wei-Meng speaks regularly at international conferences and has authored and co-authored numerous books on .NET, XML, Android, and iOS technologies. He writes extensively for InformIt.com and Mobiforge.com.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

About the Author xix

 

Chapter 1: Getting Started with WatchKit Programming 1

Specifications of the Apple Watch 1

Getting the Tools for Development 2

Understanding the WatchKit App Architecture 3

Types of Apple Watch Applications 6

Hello, World! 6

Summary 16

 

Chapter 2: Apple Watch Interface Navigation 17

Interface Controllers and Storyboard 17

Navigating between Interface Controllers 22

Summary 43

 

Chapter 3: Apple Watch User Interface 45

Responding to User Interactions 45

Displaying Information 65

Gathering Information 82

Laying Out the Controls 86

Force Touch 91

Summary 98

 

Chapter 4: Interfacing with iOS Apps 99

Localization 99

Communicating between the WatchKit App and the Extension 113

Summary 148

 

Chapter 5: Displaying Notifications 149

What Is a Notification? 149

Types of Notifications on the Apple Watch 152

Summary 178

 

Chapter 6: Displaying Glances 179

What Is a Glance? 179

Making the App Useful 186

Updating the Glance 192

Summary 194

 

Index 195