How to compile and install spatialite on iOS

_howto.md

Spatialite for iOS

Install compiler dependencies

brew install automake autoconf libtool libxml2 pkg-config
brew link libxml2

Build libspatialite

git clone https://github.com/gstf/libspatialite-ios.git
cd libspatialite-ios
make

The result is a folder, lib, containing several .a files, as well as an include folder containing many .h files.

Create a new XCode project

Copy the libspatialite binaries and "include" folder into a folder named "libspatialite" in the XCode project folder.

In the XCode project's "Build Settings", you'll need to set the library and header search paths:

Library Search Paths: $(PROJECT_DIR)/AppName/libspatialite Header Search Paths: $(PROJECT_DIR)/AppName/libspatialite/include

Drag the .a files into your project.

From the "Build Phases" window, add the following to the section "Link Binary With Libraries":

• libz.dylib
• libxml2.2.dylib
• libc++.dylib
• libcharset.1.0.0.dylib
• libiconv.dylib

Now you should be able to use spatialite! To test if everything worked, just make your AppDelegate output the spatialite version.

Add the following to AppDelegate.m

#include <sqlite3.h>
#include <spatialite/gaiageo.h>
#include <spatialite.h>

In your application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method, add:

spatialite_init (0);
printf("Spatialite version: %s\n", spatialite_version());

Compile and run and you should see the version output in the console!

filesystem.png

search-paths.png

xcode-project.png

The same steps, but using the GRDB wrapper - https://github.com/groue/GRDB.swift
Late edit: this worked fine until an upgrade. I wasn't able to resolve the problem so needed to discard GRDB.

import SQLite3
import Spatial
import GRDB

// ------- other code -------

let fileManager = FileManager.default
let documentsUrl =  FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!
let docsPath = documentsUrl.path  // no trailing slash
let shortname =  "spatialtest.sqlite"
let tablename = shortname.replacingOccurrences(of: ".sqlite", with: "").lowercased()
let fullname = docsPath + "/" + shortname
   
do {
   print("Delete \(shortname)")
   try fileManager.removeItem(atPath: fullname)

   print("Create .sqlite file, initialize spatialite and connect to the database")
   let dbQueue = try DatabaseQueue(path: fullname)
   try dbQueue.inDatabase { db in
       spatialite_initialize()
       var spconnect: OpaquePointer?
       spatialite_init_ex(db.sqliteConnection, &spconnect, 1)
      
       print("Create \(tablename) table")
       try db.create(table: tablename, ifNotExists: true) { t in
           t.autoIncrementedPrimaryKey("ogc_fid")
           t.column("title", .text)
           t.column("descr", .text)
       }
       
       print("Create spatialite metadata structure")
       try db.execute(literal: "SELECT InitSpatialMetaData('WGS84');")
       
       print("Add POINT geometry field & create a spatial index for it")
       let sqlSpatial = [
               "SELECT AddGeometryColumn('\(tablename)', 'geom', 4326, 'POINT', 'XY');",
               "SELECT CreateSpatialIndex('\(tablename)', 'geom');"]
       for sql in sqlSpatial {
           try db.execute(sql: sql)
       }
       
       let insertStr = "INSERT INTO \(tablename) (title, descr, geom) " +
               "VALUES (?, ?, ST_GeomFromText('POINT(126.0 -34.0)', 4326) );"
       print(insertStr)
       try db.execute(sql: insertStr, arguments: ["Pelican", "Thermaling up high."])

       let sqlStr = "SELECT ogc_fid, title, descr, ST_AsText(geom) AS wkt FROM \(tablename);"
       print(sqlStr)
       let rows = try Row.fetchCursor(db, sql:sqlStr, arguments: [])
       while let row = try rows.next() {
           let id = row["ogc_fid"]
           let title = row["title"]
           let descr = row["descr"]
           let wkt = row["wkt"]
           print("ogc_fid=\(id!), title=\(title!), desc=\(descr!), geom=\(wkt!)")
       }
       
   }
} catch let error as NSError {
   let str = "\(error.debugDescription)"
   print(str)
   return
}
      

@smbkr @mrclayman i have seen both of you guys have worked on building spatialite i tried both of the solutions.
I built spatialite 4.4.0 using https://github.com/smbkr/libspatialite-ios/blob/master/Makefile and
Last i used was https://github.com/mrclayman/libspatialite-ios/blob/libspatialite-5/Makefile

In both of the solutions base spatialite functions works fine in IOS but functions which require geos or proj or rtree does not work.(i also built another with rttopo for test purpose by manually disabeling GEOSContext_setErrorMessageHandler_r() check and it was built successfully)
For example ST_IsValid , IsValidReason , ST_Within , ST_Overlaps etc. ST_Within does not filter any feature. ST_IsValid always returns -1 even when i tried it on SELECT ST_IsValid(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(15.785 21.713)')).
I believe there is some library communication problem or might need to update build process.
I have posted complete problem detail here as well
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78187601/st-within-st-isvalid-or-any-other-geos-or-rtreetopo-related-function-not-working.