macOS Access Image Kit framework from Java code

[moonman239]

Hi,

I'm building a Java application and would like to enable the end user to scan in an image from his/her document scanner. For Mac OS X, I'll use Image Kit.

The problem is, the framework is written in Objective-C. While I know how to program in Objective-C, I'd much rather use Java as much as possible.

 

[Madd the Sane]

There used to be a way to write Cocoa code in Java, but that was removed in 10.5. You could use JIGS (Java in GNUStep), but that'd probably be overkill if you are trying to access one API.

I'm afraid the only way to do this would be to create a bridge that uses C functions to bridge back to Java. You'll probably have less headaches if you disable ARC and use manual reference counting.

 

[hokan]

Another possibility would be to design the Objective-C part as a separate program. You could then let the java process and objective-C process use some kind of interprocess communication to send requests and results back and forth. Below are some possibilities:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2846337/best-way-to-do-interprocess-communication-on-mac-os-x

http://nshipster.com/inter-process-communication/