If you have been using the Mac OS for any amount of time then you are likely aware of Apple’s password management system known as the Keychain.  iOS devices also have a keychain system for storing user data securely.

If you need to store username/password data for a web service securely within your apps then you will likely want to use the iOS keychain service.  I’ve found an excellent guide explaining the basics of reading and writing to the keychain.  Also included is a sample project demonstrating keychain usage (you will need to run on an actual device to test real saving/loading to the keychain).

The tutorial is from John Muchow and can be found here:
Using Keychain To Store Username And Password

A nice easy to follow guide in case you ever need to use the Keychain service within your apps.

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

The iPhone has a great UI library, but there are still times when you think to yourself when programming — why didn’t they include this feature?

Whenever that thought pops into my head (probably because I’m an efficiency freak who likes to do things in the least possible time) and I can’t easily find the answer in Apple’s documentation I look to see if someone has done it before, and shared their results.

Hans Pinckaers, an 18 year old developer from the Netherlands submitted in a collection of several tips and custom UI classes that he has put together.

They include:

1. A multiline/auto-resizing UITextView element which operates similar to the SMS app. (here)

2. How to perform a custom action when the user presses a UIBackButton. (here)

3. A High performance rounded corner UITableView implementation. (here)

4. How to create a copyable UITableViewCell. (here)

Btw, if you’ve seen a good iOS tip feel free to submit it, or a link to it here and if I think the readers will like it I’ll feature it on the site in front of our 2,000+ daily visitors.

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

While the iPhone 4, and iOS 4 upgrade may be grabbing most of the headlines due to it’s recent release the iPad has in it’s short existence proven to be a fantastic seller with over 3,000,000 iPads sold in under two months.

Already there has been much written from those looking to grab headlines due to the iPad’s success.  However there really have not been too many high quality tutorials for those looking to develop on the iPhone.

I shared some excellent tutorials from Ray Wenderlich previously here:
iPad Tutorial – Converting iPhone Apps

Alex Curylo at Under The Bridge has created a great list on his website for iPhone developers you can find here:
iPad Programming Roundup

Three excellent resources on that list which stuck out to me were:

1. iPad Multitouch – An example of how to use 11 simultaneous touch events from Matt Gemmell.
2. iPhone To Hybrid – Making your iPhone apps truly multi-platform from Dr. Touch
3. Designing For iPad – Great guide on designing fro the iPad from information Architects.

Sources: Alex Curylo, Matt Gemmell, Dr. Touch, Information Architects

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

The iPad is still on everybody’s mind, and I’ve been wasting time reading many of the commentaries and brainstorming app ideas.  Here’s a roundup of some of the more insightful, and humorous posts I’ve seen from iPhone developers on the iPad along with some other articles providing technical knowledge that wasn’t really covered in the press conference or on Apple’s website.

iPad – First Impressions – Very insightful post about new development opportunities arriving with the iPad
iPad: What Developer’s Need To Know – A good summary of iPad features relevant to developers
Gizmodo Knows About Sucking Apparently – A passionate response to Gizmodo’s iPad Bashing
Apple’s A4 SOC Unveiled – some details on the CPU/GPU powering the iPad

My own thoughts is that while I would have liked to have seen some extra hardware such as a camera built into the device for video chat.  Apple seems to have fulfilled their vision though of  creating a device that fits directly between the Mac and iPhone and won’t cannibalize the sales of either.  I see the iPod Touch needing a price drop as I don’t think anyone in their right mind will buy one of the higher end iPod Touch models now.

There’s also seems to be a big outcry about the iPad lacking specific software.  In my opinion that’s a good thing, as rather than creating this software themselves it gives us developers greater opportunity.  The iPad is destined to become essential in schools (I saw a newscast yesterday showing that many students now take notes in College lectures using the iPhone – as ridiculous as that is).  There’s also markets for which tablets have been essential for some time such as the medical market.

So many new opportunities are being presented to us with this device, it will sell to not only the core market, but to people who would never buy a smartphone or iPod touch.  My head’s already popping with more iPad specific ideas as I right this, and the more I think about it the more excited I get about this device.€

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.