Calendar interface for cocoa app

Hi there,

I'm trying to make an organizer app as a school project, and since it is a school project I don't have a lot of time to read all of Apple's documentation, so in order to learn Cocoa and Objective-C I'm just watching tutorials online.

Anyway back to the point. I need to have a Calendar interface in my app, something like iCal, or maybe even iCal built into my app, I have looked at CalendarStore from Apple but it doesn't look like it will do what I need.

Just to specify exactly what I need:
-iCal like gui, for the calendar.
-Ability to create calendars, events, and modify them.
-Needs to comply with Apple's guidelines, for design and everything else, because I may want to put this on the app store if I have a good app in the end.


I wouldn't mind having to create the whole interface myself, but I would prefer to have some API that I can just plug into my app, because that would save me a lot of time. If there is no such API, I would be very grateful if someone could point me on the right direction of where to start to get the design working. I've been searching on Google for days on this but not much luck.

Thanks in Advance

I'm not ObjC pro but I just took a quick look at the CalendarStore documentation and it sounds perfect for what you need especially if you don't mind designing a UI. What is it about CS that you don't like?

Thanks for the quick reply.
CS looked like the best option for me, the only problem was that it didn't have the UI, and I've got no idea, where to even start looking for how to build a UI for a calendar.

I thought about creating the interface on OpenGL but I'm not too sure if it is the best option for designing an UI for a calendar.

If you've got any idea of where to start with creating the interface for it, I would truly appreciate it.

Thanks

Cocoa doesn't have a built in calendar object so you'll either have to roll your own or use a third party solution such as this one.

I'm downloading CSWeekView at the moment, it looks like it is a good solution for me.

Just one question about it, since it is registered under GPL, would Apple accept it in the app store? if I were to put the app there in the future.

Thanks

Hmm, good question. I read this comment on an OSNews article recently that would suggest that you can't. However, I don't know for sure.

Producing an app like iCal is no small undertaking, It does not matter which programming language, or development tool you use, you will have to design your own GUI for your app.
The CalendarStore Framework is exactly the right cocoa framework for the job, but there's no way to avoid using Interface Builder for designing your interface, and wiring the UI elements to your apps logic code.

You can search the interweb for a custom control class that might display a calendar type display in a window, but you will still need other interface and menu elements for a complete application design.

Good luck with it.

Regards Mark.

Thanks for the replies,

I have had a look at the code for CSWeekView although it is not exactly what I needed, by looking at the code I saw, what I needed to get started with, I'm working on it, and hopefully I wont need to use CSWeekView that way I don't run into any problems with the GPL and Apple's guidelines.

Mark FX, I did realize I would have to do all the design, I just thought the UI of the actual calendar part (week view, day view, month view) would reduce my workload, but after seeing the code for CSWeekView I noticed that it isn't as hard as I though it would be. Thanks for your input anyway.

Thanks,

PS: For anyone reading this post later, what I saw on CSWeekView that got me started was NSRect, NSPoint, NSSize, and all the other related ones.