Best Resources In iOS Development – July 25th 2011
Another week gone by, and welcome to this listing of resources shared in the last week in order of popularity.
This week once again yet another beta was released of iOS 5 for us to install. The release date is slowly creeping up.
Some great resources were posted on the site including open source libraries for interface improvement, free game graphic sources, and some excellent tutorials.
If you would like us to submit a resource you can do so on the submit page.
Open Source: Drop In UILabel Replacement For Beautiful Text Easily – A library utilizing NSAttributedString, and core text allowing you to quickly create labels with styled text.
Design: Free Game Graphic Sets Made Specifically For iOS Games – Some great looking sets of game art styled specifically or the iPhone and iPad complete with backgrounds, characters and game objects.
Tutorial: Easy Game Controls In Cocos2D With SneakyInput – Describes how to use the SneakyInput library in your Cocos2D game so you can quickly add a virtual joystick.
Tutorial: Using And Building OpenCV (Open Computer Vision) On iOS Devices – Tutorial along with a build script for those looking to use the OpenCV library in their apps.
Open Source: Behavioral Driven Development Testing Framework – A framework made with Objective-C and specifically for Objective-C apps enabling BDD testing.
Tutorial: Objective-C Blocks (Closures) For Beginners – The basics of using Objective-C blocks including an overview of using them in concurrency programming.
Tutorial: Building Complete Games With SpriteHelper And LevelHelper – A couple of tutorials on the usage of these excellent tools to quickly build games with Cocos2D and Corona.
Open Source: Real-Time Congress App Phonegap And Native Source Code – The source code to both a Phonegap and native app that displays real time data.
Tutorial: Texturing 3D Objects In OpenGL ES 2.0 – An excellent step-by-step tutorials for beginners to OpenGL ES demonstrating how to Texture 3D objects.
Design: Creating An App with HTML/CSS And Sencha Touch – A tutorial on how to design iPhone style interfaces with HTML/CSS and Sencha Touch.
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Tutorial: Using And Building OpenCV (Open Computer Vision) On iOS Devices
If you have any interest in computer vision or augmented reality with marker detection then you have probably heard of OpenCV, the Open Source Computer Vision library for real time computer vision.
There are many apps, and some augmented reality libraries (even commercial ones) that use the BSD licensed OpenCV. However, building for iOS was a real pain, and for awhile it almost seemed like some wanted to keep the entire process secret (can’t really blame them!). I mentioned a tutorial that explained the process but definitely didn’t make things easy.
I recently came across a build script that alleviates all that pain so you can have OpenCV installed for iOS devices automatically, and it’s been updated to support OpenCV 2.2.9. The build script is from Khvedchenya Eugene and in the second part he writes on getting started with OpenCV in Objective-C.
Update: If you don’t mind precompiled binaries Khvedchenya has a precompiled iOS binary also available of OpenCV 2.3RC (thanks for telling me Tom!).
You can find Khvedchenya’s tutorials here:
Building OpenCV For iPhone In One Click
Using OpenCV In Objective-C Code
You can find the Github for the most recent version of the build script here:
https://github.com/BloodAxe/OpenCV-iOS-build-script
[UPDATE] For those interested in OpenCV 2.3 pre-compiled binary:
OpenCV 2.3 Release Candidate Is Available
If you ever want to dabble in augmented reality on iOS devices this is a great help.
Open Source: Behavioral Driven Development Testing Framework
For those unfamiliar with the term behavioral driven development testing (BDD) frameworks are used so that you can test applications using logical English like syntax.
I have come across an open source framework designed specifically for iOS devices. What’s cool about this specific framework is that it can easily be attached to Objective-C methods, runs in the simulator, and let’s you store your different stories in different files so you could easily demonstrate your software’s ability to cope with different scenario’s.
Here’s an example of the types of a story used for testing:
Story: Example story showing the basic syntax.
Given Simon is working
Then I should be able to see abc and 5 in the log and say goodby at the end.
The framework is known as Simon, and was created by Derek Clarkson.
It can be found on Github here:
https://github.com/drekka/Simon
UPDATE: Got feedback about another framework known as Kiwi you may want to check out if this interests you.
I had never used one of these frameworks before, but it looks like a great way to illustrate an app does exactly what it should do. HKSAB58YGFWN
Best Resources In iOS Development – July 18th 2011
Another excellent week to be an iOS developer, and some big news in the department of iOS game development with the release of Cocos2D V1.0.0 and the opening of the Moai SDK beta to everyone. Also some great open source libraries and tutorials were shared.
If you have written a tutorial, open source library or tool that you would like to share you can submit the url here.
I’ve been contacted a number of times about advertising on this site so I decided to add support for BuySellAds, and added a section for small button ads. If interested you can check out the advertising page here.
Here are the resources from the last week in order of popularity:
Open Source: Easy Multistroke and Single Stroke Complex Gesture Recognition On iOS – A couple of great libraries if you are looking to quickly implement complex gesture within your app.
Open Source: iCade Library For Easy Integration In iOS Games – Library that allows you to easily support the iCade classic arcade box/controller for iPad. Makes a good example if you are trying to support a specific bluetooth interfacing device.
Tutorial: Manipulating Images With Touch Gestures – A tutorial with sample code demonstrating how to add touch features for image manipulation.
Tutorial: iOS Map Kit For Beginners Guide – A getting started tutorial for those beginning with the iOS map kit including a tutorial on displaying data from XML locations on a map without using any libraries outside of those included with the iOS SDK.
Open Source: Active Record For Core Data Library – A great open source project modeled after Ruby On Rail’s ActiveRecord for more straightforward data retrieval.
News: Cocos2D Game Engine v1.0.0 Released – News about the highly popular Cocos2D game engine finally reaching the v1.0.0 release.
Tutorial: iOS Multithreading With Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) Basics – An excellent step by step guide beginning with the basics on multithreading with iOS ‘s Grand Central Dispatch.
News: Moai SDK Game Development Kit Made Available To All – The lua based open source Moai SDK has now opened the beta for anyone to download and use.
Tutorial: Calculator App Style Glossy Buttons With Core Graphics – An explanation of the technique used to create buttons just like the calculator applications that come with iOS devices.
Tutorial: How To Use The iOS Keychain To Store Names And Passwords – A guide on using the iOS keychain in order to securely store usernames and passwords.
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Open Source: iCade Library For Easy Integration In iOS Games
The iPad has created quite a market for bluetooth peripherals and one of the coolest has to be the iCade.
The iCade is a mini arcade cabinet which you can fit your iPad within, and comes with a classic arcade style joystick, and buttons. The iCade uses bluetooth so it can actually work with other tablets or even with your desktop. I’ve almost talked myself into getting one by writing this article.
If you are unfamiliar with the iCade you can check out this video:
A pretty cool device, and at the cost of $99 you can imagine those using it are pretty hardcore iPad classic game enthusiasts.
Stuart Carnie has created a library for easy integration in iOS games, and includes a sample app.
You can find the project on Github here:
https://github.com/scarnie/iCade-iOS
You can check out the iCade on ThinkGeek here:
iCade – Arcade Game Cabinet
The peripheral seems to have gained quite a following, and being able to advertise your game with iCade support might drive up it’s popularity. Easy to do with this open source library.
[via Alex Curylo]