How much work would this app take to code?

I think it really depends on how experienced you are.

I wouldn't guess it'd take more than a month if you're already pretty familiar with everything you'll need to do.

But the fact you're saying

suggests that you may not be very familiar with it all. Yes, it's definitely possible to do it all without IB and creating .xibs. Would I suggest using .xibs? Probably, I mean, it seems like using xibs would just save a few headaches with getting all the numbers right.

 

Not sure what you're asking. Are you asking how long it would take you to do it, or how long it would take someone else to do it?

If you want to know how long it will take you, then you're the only one who can answer that. If you don't know, and you have to ask here, then the answer is "Longer than you imagine". That's not a smartass answer. It really will take longer than you imagine. Software always takes longer than you think, until you have lots of experience estimating how long software takes. Even with experience, your estimates will often be wrong, just not as much wrong, say only 25% off instead of 300% off.

If you're asking how long it would take someone else to do it, then I think it depends on who is doing it.

On the project itself, are you doing this for educational value? Because it doesn't seem like something Apple would accept into the App Store. Every iPhone already has an Email app, a Settings app, and a Contacts app. Why would I need your multi-purpose app? What does it offer that I can't already get? And why on earth would I want to sign up with a new account and password? I can already do all that just by signing up for gmail, or yahoo mail, or any of countless other websites.

If the goal is to make the project, I'd probably just make it a web app, entirely in HTML5 and JavaScript, with client-side storage and offline capability.
http://developer.apple.com/library/...roduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007256

 

Your signature shows that you've already created two apps. Why do you not want to create this app yourself?

 

I actually find Tab Bar based applications easier to make than Navigation based ones... the only issue is that the tab bar rarely seems like a good idea for the basis of an application (at least IMO).

 

I agree. Plus is this app something that needs to be pushed out in a hurry? Can you not spend some time learning what you need to know to create this app yourself? Are you so sure that your app will make enough money to at least make you back what you'll pay a programmer to write it?

 

As a first step this kind of functionality can be very rapidly developed by modifying some existing sample/example code from the Apple Developer site.

Are you using HTTP POST, or HTTPS, or some other protocol? NSURLConnection is powerful, and worth studying. See: http://developer.apple.com/library/IOS/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSURLConnection_Class/Reference/Reference.html.

So you need some synchronization protocol. Can the cloud-based storage be modified outside of the App -- e.g. by administrator or by user using a Web App etc.? Getting synchronization right is nontrivial. Have you a design yet?

Do you intend to use SQL directly, or use Core Data? See: http://developer.apple.com/technologies/ios/data-management.html.

Presumably a UITableView, pretty trivial.

Arranging the navigation mechanics is pretty trivial -- again you will find plenty of examples of "drilling down" in UITableViews and so on. The real work here, of course, is the protocols for data storage and transfer.

Just out of interest, why? My App has a very complex layout that started in IB, but I later converted it to code; but IB would be a good fit for this App.

The user interface that you describe is rather straightforward IMHO. A competent iOS programmer could develop the required views in a matter of days.

The model, however, is more complex because your data model and communications protocols are unclear. Things to bear in mind when estimating the required effort:

• Network reachability
• The truth -- in Cloud or in App?
• Performance on EDGE
• Synchronization algorithms
• Security
• Interrupted data transfers
• Storage size limits?
• Impact of iCloud backups?
• Module testing
• Beta testing

Good luck