Dependency injection framework for Cocoa? [closed]

Answer 1

What about dependecy injection implementation at Objective-IOC

Answer 2

You don't have to instantiate the object in the NIB file. If you set the File's Owner to your object's class and then link things in the view/window/whatever up to that, you can set your object as the owner at runtime by loading the nib file manually. That way you can have a dynamic instance of an object that still gets dependencies injected properly.

Answer 3

Has any looked at the Associative References feature of Mac OS X 10.6?

I believe with this it would be possible to build or already have something similar to DI. As far as I have seen however any reference that is needed in an object has to be fetched manually using objc_getAssociatedObject().

Manfred

Answer 4

What about ObjectivePim? ObjectivePim

Answer 5

Interface Builder does not do ANY dependency injection. It does not need to. Interface Builder serializes objects. When a nib is "awoken" (aka opened), there are no "dependencies" to resolve -- there are just properties to set. Very, very simple. Opening a nib relies solely on the NSCoding protocol and key-value coding.

Dependency injection, pretty much a make-work project at the best of times, or at best a generalized glue layer between components designed independently, is of no use in well written Objective-C code. You are asking for a tool that you don't need.

In Objective-C, software that requires an anonymous service declares a Protocol. Services then adopt this protocol. Clients load services as dynamic plug-ins. On the other hand, if the server was written prior to the client, it is simply a matter of writing a new plug-in which adapts the existing interface to the protocol. This is less work, and more straightforward than trying to define an intermediate data-driven system for "discovering" (please) an interface at runtime.

Is it not obvious to everyone that the big secret of DI is just that it's a way to write code in XML instead of in the native language? I'd really like to hear a good argument as to how XML is somehow a better programming language than a real programming language. It doesn't make any sense.

Answer 6

I'll go out on a limb and speak on this. Dependency injection as described by the top answer doesn't address the core issue that those seeking to use it are having. We'd like a means of development where component A does not directly instantiate or reference component B. Component A is bound by protocol to component B and is not referenced at all by component A. This allows component B to be replaced at anytime without ever touching component A. I down voted but I will research your references as it seems there are a few who agree with you. I'm not trying to debate, just looking to learn. I'd like to understand more about the "nope you don't need to do that" approach.