iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips » Tag: tutorial

Design: Creating An App with HTML/CSS And Sencha Touch

John — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:09:31 +0000

As you probably know there are many frameworks that allow you to develop native iOS apps with the interfaces designed with HTML/CSS.

The big question then is how do you create that app’s interface? Sencha Touch is one possibility.

I’ve found a tutorial that goes into detail on how to design a great looking mobile web app that looks like a native one using HTML/CSS using the Sencha Touch library that looks and feels just like a native app. What I really like about the tutorial is that it goes through the design process step-by-step.

The tutorial is from Jen Gordon who’s set of beginner native iOS app design tutorials I previously mentioned.

You can find the tutorial here:
Create An HTML/CSS Mobile Web App Using Sencha Touch

You can test out an expanded version of the app built in the tutorial here (use your iPhone):
http://senchalearn.github.com/roookies/?style=demo

This information is great to know not just for web apps, but a useful guide if you plan on creating a native app using a wrapper framework like Phonegap.

. Tags: design tutorials, web apps, javascript, Mobile Web, ios (apple), phonegap, sencha, html css, Sencha Touch, tutorial

Tutorial: iOS Map Kit For Beginners Guide

John — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:56:17 +0000

In the recent past I mentioned a great open source example for beginners interested in using the Map Kit on iOS devices, and utilizing several open source projects.

I’ve come across a couple of excellent beginners tutorial on how to parse an XML feed, and display the contents on the map. Another giving a good explanation of the Map Kit class and several code snippets for solving common Map Kit problems. These tutorials take a different approach form the open source example that I mentioned, and no libraries outside of the iOS sdk are used.

The tutorials are from Azam Sharp and can be found in 2 parts here:

Introduction to MapKit Framework for iPhone Development

Consuming XML Feed and Displaying Public Information on the MapView Control

Great stuff if you are just beginning to use the iOS Map Kit.

. Tags: ios, mapkit, programming, example, map, tutorial

Tutorial: iOS Multithreading With Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) Basics

John — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:38:19 +0000

As a user it can be extremely frustrating if you’re using an application and you have to wait an extended period of time while the application updates.

Sadly this was pretty common when the app store was new. The devices were slower, the networks were slower, and many apps weren’t using multi-threading in places they probably should have. I remember becoming frustrated many times using an RSS reader, waiting for the article list to update, and then waiting again for the article to display.

Thankfully Apple introduced Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) with iOS 4.0.

Multithreaded programming with GCD can still be intimidating. I’ve found a great step-by-step guide which breaks things down into a step by step guide explaining things fully every step of the process of downloading data asynchronously and updating in real time.

The tutorial is from Ray Wenderlich, the creator of the Space Game Starter Kit and co-author of the Learning Cocos2D book, And Can Be Found Here:
Multithreading And Grand Central Dispatch On iOS For Beginners Tutorial

An excellent example of a tutorial that makes a complicated subject seem so simple.

. Tags: multithreading, ipad, gcd, Grand Central Dispatch, ios, iPhone, tutorial

Tutorial: How To Use The iOS Keychain To Store Names And Passwords

John — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:32:10 +0000

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.

. Tags: tutorial, login password, keychain, iphone programming, store data, ios, ipad programming

Open Source: Library For Easy Data Saving/Loading

John — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:17:05 +0000

There are many ways to save data on iOS devices. Some like a database are likely overkill for a game, and other methods like serialization are great, but things could still be easier.

I’ve found a very cool time saving library that allows you to easily save and load ints, floats, and NSString’s to an automatically created .PLIST file. No fuss at all just one line of code to save, or one line to load each of these datatypes. A nice simple quick solution if you want to install some simple data saving into an app. If you need to save a few floats of game data it is an ideal solution.

The library is ABLFXSaveSystem from Alexander Blunck and can be found on Github here:
https://github.com/ablfx/ABLFXSaveSystem

A cool example of a simple, but useful open source library.

. Tags: development, ipad, save data, tutorial, example, ios, iPhone

Tutorial: Drag And Drop Outlets And Actions In Xcode 4 Interface Builder

John — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:46:36 +0000

Xcode 4 has introduced many improvements, but you have to know how to use them – and know they exist.

One extremely useful feature is Xcode 4′s capability to create outlets and actions automatically with a simple drag and drop operation. This means that you can create your @property, @synthesize methods, and declare your instance variables without needing to enter any code at all.

Oleb Begemann has put together a short guide with images and a short video demonstrating how this is done.

You can find it here:
http://goo.gl/gX4Id

A useful tip that has been added to the Xcode 4 tutorial and guide page.

. Tags: actions, interface builder, ios, xcode 4, outlets, tutorial

Tutorial: Custom In View Popup Windows

John — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 07:04:30 +0000

Apple has provided user interface add-ons such as the UIAlertView, and modal views to allow us to alert users when we want to provide the user with information.

These add-on views aren’t always appropriate, and rather than push another view onto the stack a tutorial I came across earlier today demonstrates how to create an in-view popup which is really just another view so you can place any content that you would normally place within a view.

The tutorial is from Marin Todorov and can be found here:
Showing A Pop-up Window In iOS

Included is an example project with a library allowing you to add popups easily within your own apps. Very useful stuff.

. Tags: window, ios, tutorial, view, popup, example, pop up

Update: Balloon Game Tutorial In Xcode 4

John — Thu, 05 May 2011 03:37:34 +0000

Recently I received a few comments and e-mails stating that the beginner’s game programming tutorial featured on this site had issues when running with Xcode 4. I decided to test things out, and had no issues when running the tutorial in Xcode 4 with the latest release version of the SDK.

You can see a screenshot of the game running in Xcode 4 and the simulator below.

The issues may have to do with some still running an older version of Xcode, possibly a beta version. Be sure to update to the latest version available in Apple’s developer website, and if you don’t have access to download the latest version of Xcode 4 you can find it available in the app store for $4.99 here.

If you still receive an error when running the tutorial even wit the latest version of the SDK, please state the error within Xcode.

Thanks!

. Tags: tutorial, programming, apple, xcode, game, ios, languages

Tool: Easily Gather Sprite Data For Box2D And Generate Cocos2D Code

John — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:19:41 +0000

Found out about a pretty cool tool for those looking to develop games using Box2D (especially if you’re using Cocos2D — but really good for anyone using Box2D) called SpriteHelper. It is a notch above the other tools I’ve seen doing similar.

What the tool allows you to do is easily gather information on any sprite such as UV, the vertex positions, position of the sprite within another image (for those of you using spritesheets), and the dimensions of the sprite’s rectangle — but most importantly the tool allows you to easily drag and create an outline around the shape, telling you if your shape will work with Box2D, you can then use the generated data, or even generate the actual Cocos2D code for your Box2D shape. Check out this video demo/tutorial:

The tool is currently only 0.99 cents at the moment in the Mac App Store. No word on whether it will go up in price.

You can find it here:
SpriteHelper

What I think really makes this tool different is just the ease of use, and the small details added to the tool that make things a bit easier. If you are using Box2D, and especially Box2D and Cocos2D this should be a good time saver.

Thanks to the creator Vladu Bogdan for mentioning it in the iPhone and iPad development forum.

. Tags: box2d physics engine, canvas element, tutorial, ios, game engine, Cocos2D, iPhone, sprite (computer graphics)

Custom UIView Tutorial – 5-Star Ratings View

John — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:31:10 +0000

There are many iPad and iPhone apps where custom ratings could be useful, such as news apps, and picture rating apps. The problem with programming a custom UIView is that it is a pretty laborious process, and it’s easy to get something wrong along the way.

If you decide to go with the UIView approach, some of the tougher things are having the ratings follow along with your finger, and displaying the correct number of stars. You may have noticed when browsing the web that some of these don’t work at all on iOS devices.

Building The Custom UIView

Ray Wenderlich, the creator of the Space Game Starter Kit and co-author of the Learning Cocos2D book, has created an excellent tutorial on How To Make a Custom 5 Star Rating UIView that goes through the process of creating a custom UIView. It is a bit laborious for something so simple, but it definitely works, and works well.

Ray’s guide is also very useful for just learning how to customize UIView’s for other purposes

A custom 5-star rating UIView is also included in the handy TouchCustoms library.

Thanks for reading, please share this using the buttons below!

. Tags: ios, ratings, sdk, star rating, rating stars, uiview, custom, app, ipad, iPhone