Learn how to rapidly integrate your iOS applications with RESTful web services in this hands-on training workshop. You'll be introduced to RestKit, a high performance, production quality Open Source solution for modeling and accessing RESTful web services in iOS applications.

RestKit presents a simple, yet very powerful API that allows the developer to integrate with backend web applications in the cloud without worrying about the complexities of HTTP, threading, data parsing/processing, and handling data persistence. You will come away from this workshop ready to build professional quality apps that seamlessly integrate with new or existing web services.

What You'll Learn:

• The Basics: RestKit provides a full HTTP stack for interacting with remote web servers. You'll quickly gain proficiency in constructing and sending requests, processing responses, authenticating via HTTP AUTH, uploading large files and all the other little things every web-connected mobile app must be able to handle.
• Managing Environments: RestKit provides support for quickly switching between backend environments (i.e. development/staging/production) using base URL's and resource paths. 
• Leveraging Reachability: RestKit provides simple integration with the SystemConfiguration Reachability API's to detect and handle changes in network availability.
• Modeling a Web Service: We'll take an in depth look at how to cleanly build a client side data model around a web service using RestKit's object mapping layer.
• Routing & Object Mapping: You think of your app in terms of objects and so does RestKit. You'll learn how to declaratively connect your object model to remote URL's and understand how RestKit maps data into objects.
• Integrating with Core Data: RestKit provides deep integration with Apple's Core Data persistence technology. We will look at how to use this integration to build a persistent, client side object model that synchronizes with the cloud.
• Offline Access: By leveraging the combined strengths of Core Data & Reachability, you can use your local object model as a cache to provide access to content even when the network is completely unavailable.
• Database Seeding: For applications that work with large data sets, being able to download content isn't enough. You'll learn how to bootstrap a local 'seed' database to include with your builds so that your app is ready to rock straight from the App Store.
• Advanced Topics: We'll briefly discuss advanced topics such as integrating RestKit with the Three20 framework, extending RestKit's parsing layer, and how to tune your apps for maximum performance.

Space in the workshop is limited to 12 participants to preserve an intimate, hands-on working environment. All proceeds from this event are pledged to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and are fully tax deductible. The workshop is graciously being hosted by our friends at Carrboro Creative Coworking.

A moderate to advanced level of proficiency developing iOS applications is assumed.

Presented by: Blake Watters, CTO of Two Toasters & Lead Developer of RestKit.