Functions In External File

[slaterjohn]

In an app im developing i intend to have a very large function that will build a series of arrays. Because of its size i want to be able to store this function in an external file.

Similar to PHP's include file where you can "include" a file at a specific point in an application and the code would be executed as if it was local to the main file.

I noticed there is a #include available but i'm not sure it does what i expect.

I may be looking to do something impossible here or overlooking something very obvious so any help would be much appreciated.

Regards, John

[shadowJohnny]

Hi!

What I do to solve this problem:
1. Create a new file with a class (.h and .m).
2. Create a method within this class that has the + modifier:

+(void)doSomething

3. Call the function by this:

[ClassName doSomething];

Maybe this helps.

[slaterjohn]

It does thanks. But how would i go ahead and pull values from that array afterwards. I get errors saying they are not defined etc.

[shadowJohnny]

I think the only way to do that is parameters and return values:

+(NSArray *)doSomething:(NSArray *)input

I don't know if there is a way to simulate the real PHP include function, but I doubt it.

[Duncan C]

Originally Posted by slaterjohn

In an app im developing i intend to have a very large function that will build a series of arrays. Because of its size i want to be able to store this function in an external file.

Similar to PHP's include file where you can "include" a file at a specific point in an application and the code would be executed as if it was local to the main file.

I noticed there is a #include available but i'm not sure it does what i expect.

I may be looking to do something impossible here or overlooking something very obvious so any help would be much appreciated.

Regards, John

Are you trying to include multiple source files at compile-time, or are you trying to invoke a compiled code library at run-time? Those are two very different things.

In C, you can use #include or #import to include one source file in another. #import is better, because it is smart about not including the same file more than once.

#import/#include has exactly the same effect as if you copied the entire contents of the included file and pasted in at the location of the #include statement.

Normally you use #import to include the header (.h) files of your project, but you can also #include the body of a method if you want to.

[slaterjohn]

Originally Posted by Duncan C

Are you trying to include multiple source files at compile-time, or are you trying to invoke a compiled code library at run-time? Those are two very different things.

In C, you can use #include or #import to include one source file in another. #import is better, because it is smart about not including the same file more than once.

#import/#include has exactly the same effect as if you copied the entire contents of the included file and pasted in at the location of the #include statement.

Normally you use #import to include the header (.h) files of your project, but you can also #include the body of a method if you want to.

Basically what i want is to just include either the insides of a function or the function where i put #import. I have tried to #import a .m file with either a method or the contents of a method but i just get hundreds of errors.

My best guess is im doing something very noobish.

[slaterjohn]

I actually think the .m file was the issue. I changed it to a plain text document and it seems to work a treat.

Big thanks to both of you lovely lovely people.