Adding a no animation segue to iOS

If you want a view to just appear without any animation or transition in iOS then this quick tip for you. First off you do not have to code a custom segue like is suggested on several sites. All that is required is selecting the correct preset segue type and changing a simple setting. Selecting Present Modally and unchecking the Animates checkbox. That all that is needed to have the new view just appear without any animation or transition. That much easier than writing a custom segue.

If you need to see how to do this then watch this short little video;



Thanks and happy coding :)

iOS Xcode Auto layout device preview

When layout of a unversial app in Xcode for iOS, there a way to preview the unverisal layout on all apple device sizes within Xcode at the same time.

I been working with Xcode Swift with several companies and pretty much all of them never knew this could be done. It is a great little tip and I felt it is worth sharing with the world.




Enjoy and happy coding ;)

Livecodes 8 Media Buzz

I started hearing all this buzz about a new Livecode. Like it was a new dawn, mountains where going to be moved, lives where going to be changed and the future was now. There was talk around the world about Livecode 8 so much that one would think alien life landed on the earth last week.

With this kind of media attention, they sure want us to take notice. Usually I would see d.p., alpha, beta as words not ready for release. However Livecode yelled as loud as they could, look at me! look at Livecode 8, Talk about it.

OK lets do this, take a journey with me to my mac desktop. A video screen cast of Livecode 8 and all of its media buzz, they unleashed at this point in time on this product.

I however could not get anything to work. There no UI items in the tool palette and no properties. I ask around if anyone else where seeing these problems also, many where but some say they where not.

I really like the idea what this could do, specially for Android. However I just can not get it to work.

Watch the video below:




Thanks and happy coding ;)

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Edited: If you comment on this please no cyber bullies. I already had a threaten response over this video, and a few others call me several other foul words (which I will not re post) over this video. That pretty crazy.

Just imagine if your self had similar issues as I did. With this tool or any other. (Like in this video.) Imagine trying to get help and have people be absolute thugs over something so little as documenting something not working.

We had users of our apps before video document bugs. Guess what our response was. Thank you for sharing, we will fix that as soon as we can. 

Make a custom button with Xojo canvas

Today we look at another Xojo canvas example on how to make a very simple custom button.
Our simple button will draw a button on screen with text that resizes and centers as the window resizes. Also will show how to add a very simple button states and add simple effects on which state is active. The sky really the limit with the canvas object in Xojo. We just touch the surface here, and show how simple it can be to get started making some custom UI elements such as a button with Xojo.

 Check out the video:

If your on iOS device (The video quality is better if you watch va the YouTube app.) here the link




Thanks and Happy coding ;)

Fun with Swift recap

Since 2015 we added a number of Swift tutorials to this blog for Mac OS X and iOS. I mostly have focused on Mac because I discovered there not many code examples around the web for Mac and swift. iOS there thousands of them and many are very good.

I also have been making apps for the Mac since 1997 and would like to see so many more jump on board to the Mac OS platform. Users are actually willing to pay money for a Mac apps, unlike iOS where anything over $0.99 is frowned upon.

I going to recap  back to all of the 2015 post we made so far up to March 1st on Swift.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Using Swift for Mac OS X apps

The basic intro of using strings.

view topic

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Hello Mac From Swift

A video walk through of Xcode and how to make outlets and actions. How to setup UI Controls, Windows with layout constrains. How to use and combine text strings.

view topic

Friday, January 23, 2015

Make OS X Web Browser with Swift

A video showing how to make a basic web browser with swift, inculding adding Google search.

view topic

 Saturday, January 24, 2015

 Sliders with Swift

A basic look at how to uses the a slider control.

view topic

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Alert Messages with Swift

A look at how to present a NSAlert

view topic

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Alerts with Swift for iOS

A look at how to use alerts with iOS.

view topic

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

64-bit requirement for iOS

Simple info about all app store apps require 64-bit support.

view topic

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Tabbar for iOS with Swift

A video to show how to add more tabs to a iOS tab view app.

view topic

Friday, February 20, 2015

Swift language update

Info about Apple beta release of Swift version 1.2

view topic

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Xcode swift tip: Access to docs fast

A tip on how to access header files fast in Xcode to quickly speed up development.

view topic

Monday, February 23, 2015

Swift for Mac Cocoa: Radio Buttons

A video show how to program with Radio Buttons and NSMatrix with Swift.

view topic

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Swift for Mac: Programming Image Views

Another video showing how to load bundle images and present them on screen.

view topic

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Swift for cocoa importing files with open panel

Another video showing how to use a open panel to import and read files selected by the user.

view topic 

See All Swift Posts

View

I will be adding more swift examples this year, however I will also be focusing back on cross platform also.

Thanks and happy coding ;)

Swift for cocoa importing files with open panel

 Today we look at programming a open panel to import files that the user selects. Most apps do things with files so this is really a good thing to know. With swift this is pretty simple and I think you will find the example easy to do your self.

My example will show importing images that the your selected, but this same panel can open anything. From text, movies, music, folders etc.

Here the video showing how to add open files to a cocoa app using swift:



Thanks again, Happy Coding ;)

Swift for Mac: Programming Image Views

Today's Swift example shows how to display images “photos” in a cocoa based app. It is actually easier with Swift and Xcode, than with most third party development tools I used.

Video to watch is here:



Thanks, happy coding ;)

Swift for Mac Cocoa: Radio Buttons

When it comes to Swift for Mac OS X cocoa there very little info to be found anywhere. Google very rarely returns anything useful. The only swift examples found for the most part are for iOS not Mac. The two platforms are not really the same even if they use the same programming languages

Personally I want to use Swift for everything, because I really like it. It is possible to inter-mix Swift and Objective-C but why? Apple set up Swift to work completely on its own two feet.

Today is a basic example on how to use AppKits Radio Buttons for a Mac cocoa base app. I go over how to get which radio the user clicked on and how to set a highlighted radio cell by swift code.

I have a video showing you this in full, Here a my video on YouTube:



Thanks, happy coding ;)

Tabbar for iOS with Swift

Working with Xcode and Swift is really simple. I keep getting amazed how fast and simple it is to use.

I keep getting people telling me that Swift and Xcode is hard. Also have some say it is s not as fast as Xojo or Livecode for iOS or Mac OS. Actually for iOS and Mac OS its just as fast if not faster. It is really not that hard once you grasp the basics of Swift and learn the ins and outs of Xcode. 

 

Today we look at using  Xcode and Swift for a iOS interface, Tab bar views. Xcode comes with a template with two such tabs. My video will go over what you need to do to add more tabs to your tab view controller. Its under 5 minutes long. So enjoy.

Video:

Thanks for watching, Happy Coding.

Make OS X Web Browser with Swift

Make OS X Web Browser with Swift

The last swift example we did was using basic text strings. This next example takes what we learned using basic text string and shows how they can be used to make a very basic web browser. By taking basically the user inputed text we will load a web page. Also we will take a basic user field input and take that string and do a basic google web search. The video still stays in the realm of basic, however you can see how quickly the project could and should start using functions and be broken into separate sources files.

Swift for Mac OS X is really not very hard to pick up and makes in a good choice for those who came from Apple Script, Basic, Ruby, Javascript or a Small Talk language to pick up quickly as it is very similar to what you already know.

Swift makes you start  to see very fast why you should consider using it over a 3rd party tool, as it simple to learn and use. Best of all it has access to everything Mac or iOS and is free to use. (note for iOS the webview is done differently. It is kind of the same, however you need to use UIWebview instead. It is also more limited than the webview for Mac in what it can do.)

This video a little long at 30 minutes but covers a bunch. Will likely revisit this project in the future with more advance topics.

Here the video:

(It supports up to 1080p and may even work with the new 1440p Beta resolution.
It may take a while for youTube to Process higher video resolutions upto a hour from posting, I suggest 1080p or higher to read the sourcecode.)

And if you on a mobile device and want to view on the you-Tube app instead here the video link (video quality is better for mobile on youTube app) http://youtu.be/khhi52p9szQ




Thanks and happy coding ;)

Adventures of iOS with Xojo Part 2 Tab Bar Now Working

If you been following along the first part I had a hell of an time figuring out the Tab bar set up. Well after a good night sleep and a good tip from a beta user,who had more info than me. Now it works and did another video showing how it does work.

When the help docs are vague it often seems harder than it actual is. Since I do not work for Xojo I can not help document for them but I can make a video like this in no time flat.

Adventures of iOS with Xojo Part 1 Tab Bar Blues

I was super happy to finally have a chance to work with iOS for Xojo. I knew there would be a learning curve. However never thought the would be a learning curve to just add user interface element like a tab bar.

Xojo included example project of a tab bar however that example has no code. It was done some way by the IDE. Trying to figure out how is the topic for this first part of the Adventures of iOS with Xojo.

I feel this is fitting for the first part because Xojo for iOS is not as easy as Xcode without better help docs. Would have thought it should have been, but its not. Since this has taken up hours trying to understand how Xojo for iOS works with just adding tab bars. also hearing other are experiencing about the same thing. Its fitting to start this series off this way.

Part 1; Xojo iOS Tab Bar Blues (in full motion color)

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Look at Livecode 6.7 & 7.0

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.... Many many users submitted bugs for Metacard / Revolution/ and now Livecode that went unfixed for what seem like forever. Well the new versions of Livecode which have been in the works for well over a year have fix many of those old time bugs in versions 6.7 and 7.0.

I knew what your thinking? Why two versions. I asked several times myself and no one would tell me either. However after the actual release it became clear that 7.0 is the full unicode version which does break backward compatibility with any apps that accessed text, image data, and arrays. That where version 6.7 steps in its the backwards compatible version without the new unicode.

I decided to do a little video overview Editorial of the new Livecode versions. If you like check it out, below.

I should also note when I went to Livecode web site to download the new versions of Livecode, it does not have a link anywhere for the actual versions 6.7 or 7.0. Instead it gives you version 6.6.5. I tried to ask runrev where the new versions where, but I guess there to busy to tell us where there open source stuff actual can be downloaded from.

After a week of asking anyone I could find, I finally found out from another Livecode user where this secret download web page was at that has all of Livecode downloads. I will share that with you here. Because we all just want to know http://downloads.livecode.com/livecode/  Link Here



Have fun :)

From Livecode to Xojo; Center Window

I keep getting Livecode users telling me that Xojo can not do most of what Livecode can do. I here to show them, Yes it can and just how simple it is.

This weeks look at something real simple in centering a window to the main screen. With Livecode this requires a pretty simple script and in Xojo this can be done by a simple block of code or the properties window.

Here a short video showing how simple it really is.


 

From Livecode to Xojo buttons and such

Another look at moving from Livecode to Xojo ( two different cross platform development tools) or the other way around. This time around we look at a very basic UI elements, buttons and tab panels. One tool looks like a million bucks while the other just looks not so good.


Below image is the default button set and tab panel styles of Livecode 7.0 (with cocoa support on mac)

Below image is the default button set and tab panel styles of Xojo 2014v2 (with cocoa support on mac)

The two photos clearly show one set of controls that looks like a million bucks and another one that looks not so good. Why is this important? If you have a product aka app that does something awesome but looks bad with buggy UI no one going to want to buy it. Looks are important to so many people who are willing to pay money for something. Second one of the photo shows old outdated and even buggy controls. That will bring into question your actual app and how sound it is and if It actual works. One set of UI shows pride in ownership the other does not.

But to give it a chance beyond just photos I did a video of both Livecode and Xojo and look at the UI elements of buttons and tab panels. It may help a little choose between the two tools for your next project.

enjoy.

Preview files with using Quick Look

One of the coolest thing I like about using Xojo is we can add functionality easily to a app deployed to a certain system. Such as adding a view to preview any file on Mac OSX with quick look within a window. This added functionality can be added using declares, macOSLib or Plugins.(Monkey bread complete plugin as one example of a plugin.)

I spent over a decade using a tool called Livecode that had no real way to add any additional functionality within views of a window. This made for very non professional looking apps that had outdated user experience and needs hacks to do anything cool. The problem with hacks, is they are not a safe way to make a app. A poor user experience also leads to less sales. 

With Xojo this is possible and without any special hack. This is one of the main reasons why I use Xojo over the now outdated Livecode that still stuck back in 2005 for most of what it does out of the box.

I will walk over how to add a quick look view within a window and also add a panel view in this video tutorial. Additional bonus items that also can be used on any platform includes; adding and removing a file list to and from a list box. And how to use classes to assign supers.

enjoy

From Livecode to Xojo Read & Write Text Files

Both Livecode and Xojo are cross platform development tools.

This week in our Livecode to Xojo series... Is how to read and write text files with both development tools. If your new to one or both tools this will show an similar way to do the same thing with both tools.

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If you find this video helpful please go to you tube and give it an like. Happy Coding :)

Key Events with Class Cocoa Controls in Real Studio (Xojo)

The coolest part of using Real Studio is access to all the controls for each platform. Some of these controls are not built-in by default but are still available to use by using declares or Plugins (Like Monkey Bread Software, Complete Plugin or the Mac OSLib (free by the way.) to name an few.). Whatever you choose its up to you.

This however can present some interesting coding challenges to add support for certain events that are available to similar built in controls. Such as the text field keydown event can use an return key to preform an action. There is no keydown event however for an non built-in control, instead one needs to get creative and figure another way around this.

Lucky enough anything is possible by code. This is an simple look at getting an NSSearchField on OSX to search on clicking the Return or Enter key press. This without an event that supports keydown or keyup events.

The reason for this video is there no documentation, I could find to tell us how to do such. It was hours of trial and error to figuring it out. However I believe such information should be shared.

Here an simple video to show how this is done. I showing this off using OSX based controls, because I currently on mac. But should be similar on other platforms.

Livecode Mac Sandboxing

Here an overview for Livecode built apps enabling Sandboxing for the Mac apps store. I includes an video walk over on you tube for testing your Livecode built app against the sandbox security.

Some item you will need to get this to work with Livecode
• Livecode Version 5.5 or later (This version includes Power Box Dialogs for file and folder access, when  sandbox entitlements are chosen for such, previous version will crash and not work)
• An Mac Paid Development Account from Apple ($99 US)
• An Mac CPU running 10.7 or later (suggest having the most latest public release of OSX as newer entitlements are added pre release that make more things work.)
• Download and add your Mac App Store certificates to your machine for Code signing
• An sandbox entitlement file (This can be created in Xcode, and Text editor or using an 3rd party tool such as RB Package Maker Studio)

You can code sign by the command line or use an 3rd party tool (I using  RB Package Maker Studio as it make it more simple and catches problems before hand. RB Package Maker Studio is said to be for Real basic but works with an Mac app, including apps made with Livecode, Mac Ruby, Unity 3D and Other development tools. )

There two current gothias with Livecode built apps :

1. All Livecode built apps for Mac return an Print Violation , even if your app does not print. Fix this by enabling the Print Entitlement "com.apple.security.print"

2 Power Box Dialogs do not work correctly with the "as sheet" syntax. Current Fix do not sheet file and folder dialogs. (The video will show what happens if you do.)


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To access your own apps sandbox containers use the specialFolderPath() Livecode Syntax.

Such as:

specialFolderPath("Home")
returns:
/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.yourbundlename.yourappname/Data
specialFolderPath("Documents")

returns:

/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.yourbundlename.yourappname/Data/Documents

specialFolderPath("Temporary")
returns:
/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.yourbundlename.yourappname/Data/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems

Go ahead and try it for your self. Also Not everything works, any app the access an older system dialog will fail, such as answer record. There is some thing like this that need an bug report issued for an future fix. However most items work with sandbox enabled.

Also beware that some shell function and command line tools will not work, while most do. Items like screencapture will not because it an global system level item, and is not seen as secure. The best way to determine if your apps will work is to enable sandboxing and test for violations. It maybe you just need to recode some areas or recode the whole project. Also some apps may work 100% out of the box with no code changes.

Have fun, and remember follow the guidelines apple has published on the subject. This just confirms that Yes Livecode built apps do work with Sandboxing.

Edit: The best 3rd party tool I use now is App Wrapper (link). It works awesome with Xojo and good with Livecode. So it now the best all around solution (I suggest using the the full non mini version, as it supports way more stuff, and is worth the money. Also its developer is very helpful.)