zendesk Xamarin binding for IPS and Android - xamarin

Question

I went through the documentation for doing Xamarin binding for Zendesk SDK for IOS. The documentation takes us through the scenario where we create .a file and proceed with binding. Zendesk library is provided in the form of a framework and though the Xamarin documentation says that frameworks contain .a file, I still could not find .a file in Zendesk framework. Hence, I am kind of blocked here. Any pointers here?
Link to Zendesk Library : https://github.com/zendesk/zendesk_sdk_ios
Link to Xamarin documentation : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/ios/platform/binding-objective-c/walkthrough?tabs=vsmac
I ran objective sharpie command. Though it says binding is done, it did not generate apidefinition.cs and structsAndEnums.cs file . Following is the output I see in terminal.
C02VX2ZCHTD6:~ naveen.ramachandrapp$ sharpie bind -output=Zen -namespace=zen -sdk iphoneos11.3 -framework /Users/naveen.ramachandrapp/Downloads/zendesk_sdk_ios-masterObjectiveC/ZendeskSDK/4.1/ZendeskProviderSDK.framework
Parsing 1 header files...
Binding...
[write] ApiDefinitions.cs
[write] StructsAndEnums.cs
Binding Analysis:
Automated binding is complete, but there are a few
APIs which have been flagged with [Verify]
attributes. While the entire binding should be
audited for best API design practices, look more
closely at APIs with the following Verify attribute
hints:
MethodToProperty (30 instances):
An Objective-C method was bound as a C# property
due to convention such as taking no parameters and
returning a value (non-void return). Often methods
like these should be bound as properties to
surface a nicer API, but sometimes false-positives
can occur and the binding should actually be a
method.
StronglyTypedNSArray (25 instances):
A native NSArray* was bound as NSObject[]. It
might be possible to more strongly type the array
in the binding based on expectations set through
API documentation (e.g. comments in the header
file) or by examining the array contents through
testing. For example, an NSArray* containing only
NSNumber* instances can be bound as NSNumber[]
instead of NSObject[].
ConstantsInterfaceAssociation (2 instances):
There's no foolproof way to determine with which
Objective-C interface an extern variable
declaration may be associated. Instances of these
are bound as [Field] properties in a partial
interface into a nearby concrete interface to
produce a more intuitive API, possibly eliminating
the 'Constants' interface altogether.
PlatformInvoke (3 instances):
In general P/Invoke bindings are not as correct or
complete as Objective-C bindings (at least
currently). You may need to fix up the library
name (it defaults to '__Internal') and return/
parameter types manually to conform to C calling
conventionsfor the target platform. You may find
you don't even want to expose the C API in your
binding, but if you do, you'll probably also want
to relocate the definition to a more appropriate
class and expose a stronger type-safe wrapper. For
P/Invoke guidance, see http://www.mono-project.com/
docs/advanced/pinvoke/.
Once you have verified a Verify attribute, you
should remove it from the binding source code. The
presence of Verify attributes intentionally cause
build failures.
For more information about the Verify attribute
hints above, consult the Objective Sharpie
documentation by running 'sharpie docs' or visiting
the following URL:
http://xmn.io/sharpie-docs

Answer 1

You have misread the documentation. It clearly lists 3 different scenarios:
Generally in the iOS ecosystem you can find libraries in 3 flavors:
As a precompiled static library file with .a extension together with
its header(s) (.h files). For example, Google’s Analytics Library
As a precompiled Framework. This is just a folder containing the static
library, headers and sometimes additional resources with .framework
extension. For example, Google’s AdMob Library.
As just source code files. For example, a library containing just .m and .h Objective C
files.
So you can create binding libraries using a .a file or a precompiled .framework (your case) or using .h and .m files. No need to look for .a files in the .framework file.
You can use objective sharpie to help create a ApiDefinition.cs file for your binding like so:
sharpie bind -framework ZendeskCoreSDK.framework -sdk iphoneos11.1
There is loads of documentation for Objective Sharpie here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/cross-platform/macios/binding/objective-sharpie/