Developing external objects for Max MSP using XCode

• Max MSP externals can be created using C/C++
• In Mac OS X, XCode is used to manage the C/C++ projects for Max MSP
• To compile Max MSP objects, the Max MSP SDK is needed
• The simplest way is to copy the "MaxMSP UB SDK" directory from the DIVA laptops; the external object projects are inside a folder under this directory
• An alternative method is to download the latest Max MSP SDK here
• I personally did both (downloaded the SDK and then also copied and worked under the "MaxMSP UB SDK" directory). The trick is getting XCode to find and recognize the header files in the SDK when the project compiles
  • If the frameworks/headers are not being found, check that they are imported inside the project; also check the framework/library search paths in the Target Build settings
• The downloaded SDK (version 5.0.6 is what I have) includes a Documentation.html file which is a great guide to compiling Max MSP externals. It is not uploaded here because it is linked to too many HTML files.