14 DAY TRIAL // As the next step in helping devs build native experiences on multiple platforms, Microsoft has announced the release of the Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS.
Microsoft said the toolkit contains resources and services designed to make it easier for iOS developers to use Windows Azure, the cloud-based building and hosting platform that allows the creation and hosting of apps on Microsoft's servers.
Currently at its 1.0 release, Windows Azure Toolkit for iPhone is immediately available for download to developers looking to get started with writing iPhone apps on the Windows Azure platform.
The toolkit eliminates dependencies, like having intimate knowledge of Microsoft tools (Visual Studio being such one example).
Out-of-the-box, as they say, Windows Azure Toolkit for iPhone comes with compiled iPhone code libraries to interact with Windows Azure, a sample iOS application, documentation, and a “Cloud Ready” Windows Azure deployment package, Microsoft said.
In fact, here’s the entire list of contents, according to the Redmond company:
· A compiled Objective-C library for working with services running in Windows Azure (e.g. push notification, authN/authZ, and storage) · Full source code for the objective-C library (along with Xcode project file) · Sample iOS application that demonstrates how to use Windows Azure Storage with full source code · Documentation
Those looking to get themselves acquainted with the suite can skim through a detailed post by Windows Azure Technical Evangelist Wade Wegner, Microsoft recommends.
In his post, Wegner reveals that MS already plans to bring additional capabilities to the toolkit, including push notifications, Access Control Service, and more, just as they did with the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone 7.
The toolkit, the source code, and the documentation can be obtained on github at the following addresses:
Source code & zip: https://github.com/microsoft-dpe/watoolkitios-lib Sample application: https://github.com/microsoft-dpe/watoolkitios-samples Documentation: https://github.com/microsoft-dpe/watoolkitios-doc