What are Private FrameWorks and how will we use them?

Question

My question is about private frames in IphoneOS3.1SDK dirctory

/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS3.0.sdk/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/

What is it? and when I added one of them to my project, they had no headers? How can I use them in my project?

Answer 1

Private frames are frames that you cannot use. They are not expected to be used outside of Apple, hence "Private". They are often low-level libraries that can break the system if used incorrectly. (But frameworks must exist because Apple apps and public frameworks use private frameworks.)

Because private frameworks are not intended for public use, Apple does not need to provide any headings or documentation.

If you are writing for the AppStore, you should not use private frameworks (unless you are from Apple). The system will immediately reject your application before the start of the review process.

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(On the other hand, you can use any framework for jailbroken platforms. Despite this, the private framework APIs are unstable and you should avoid them if possible.

Efforts are currently underway to document these private frameworks and APIs at http://iphonedevwiki.net/index.php/Main_Page .)

Answer 2

Avoid using private frameworks if you want to send your application to Apple. Otherwise, you can call any of the available private methods using your own code. Erica Sadun has information on private wireframes on her site.

Answer 3

While the other answers are generally correct, there is one small exception that deserves mention.

In some applications, the App Store application may use (included) certain parts of private frameworks (in addition to code libraries, which often have databases and similar binary, non-executable files). One such example is the RMPhoneFormat class from @rmaddy, which uses "a copy of the Apple-provided framework file named Default.phoneformat". The author (no doubt other developers) used this binary in the App Store applications without any problems .

(I don’t know if this is due to Apple tolerating this practice or that they simply don’t check this type of use in the approval process.)