Parse Quick Start for iOS Swift 3 and Xcode 8

So now that you set up a free Parse server on Heroku using my previous guide you might be wondering how to start using it in your iOS project. Checking the main Parse documentation shows a bunch of Objective-C, which isn’t helpful if you’re using Swift 3.

Here are the steps I gathered from perusing the web and some testing:

1. Install Parse libraries (SDK/Framework).
   1. I prefer cocoapods to maintain to a single standard and since so many other frameworks use it.
   2. Create ‘Podfile‘ file in the xcode project folder with the following contents:

      source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
      platform :ios, '10.0'
      use_frameworks!
      
      target 'PROJECT_NAME' do
        pod 'Parse'
      end

   3. Run ‘pod install‘ in terminal in the same directory as the Podfile.
2. Connect your Swift 3 app to Parse server.
   1. Import Parse framework by adding ‘import Parse‘ at the top of ‘AppDelegate.swift‘ file.
   2. In ‘AppDelegate.swift‘ under function ‘application(… didFinishLaunchingWithOptions …)‘ add the following code:

      let configuration = ParseClientConfiguration {
      	$0.applicationId = "YOUR_PARSE_APP_ID"
      	$0.clientKey = "YOUR_PARSE_CLIENT_KEY"
      	$0.server = "https://PARSE_SERVER_NAME.herokuapp.com/parse"
      }
      
      Parse.initialize(with: configuration)
      

3. Test Parse server connection.
   1. Import Parse framework by adding ‘import Parse‘ at the top of ‘ViewController.swift‘ file.
   2. In ‘ViewController.swift‘ file, add the following code under function ‘ViewDidLoad‘:

      let testObj = PFObject(className: "testObj")
      testObj["foo"] = "bar"
      testObj.saveInBackground()

   3. You should see the new object in your Parse Dashboard.

Notes/Troubleshooting

If XCode can’t find the Parse module with the import command after you open the new .xcworkspace file, try the following:

• Press Command+Option+Shift+K and then Run your app.
• Or from the menu -> Product, press Option on your keyboard and you’ll see Clean Build Folder.