Hiding between the cracks, best of WWDC 2015 news bits

Most people that follow WWDC keynotes are not developers, and are looking for new products or OS features. Most news sites do not list key developer things. There where several blips however that where not talk about in depth that where major things great for developers. In case anyone missed it, 3 things jump out as major developer wows.

First the release of Swift version 2.0 with many major improvements. Several are outlined here at apple swift blog

Second Swift is now open source, and will support Apples iOS, Mac and also Linux. With more platform support to come in the future. The source code will include swift compiler and standard library among other things.

Last and almost under the radar. The consolidation of Mac and iOS developer programs into one thing. Saving money for developers each year.

Saving money if you where like me and had to pay for both iOS and Mac developer programs annually for the past 5 years.

I still like to see for them to remove the annual fee altogether in the future. As Apple takes 30% commission from selling developers apps. That high commission should cover the fee for the program alone. As every other app store before Apple, only tock under 9% commission from selling developers apps.

Still it is a move in the right direction.

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 ;)

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 language update

Apple recently announced the Swift  language will soon be entering version 1.2 and with that it will bring several notable changes.

All of the examples I shown part of this blog up to now use Swift v 1.1,  Note I will continued to show Swift version 1.1 until Apple officially releases this new Swift version as GM public release. I am not able to show pre-released , based on my license with Apple.

Currently Swift Version 1.2 is in beta and can be used with Xcode beta 6.3. (this if you have an active Mac and or iOS developer license). You can learn more about it at Apple Swift Blog. Also note there said to be a migration tool that will be able to convert your swift version 1.1 code bases to version 1.2, which should be a major plus.

If your interested in swift I highly suggest you follow Apple swift blog for the new language changes and tips. Swift Blog Here You also can follow the blog va Twitter @SwiftLang

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.

64-bit requirement for iOS

The app store now requires all iOS builds be built for 32/64 bit binaries. If your using Xcode then this is nothing new. However if your using a 3rd party development tool you need to make sure all apps submitted are compiled to a 32/64 bit universal binary and by Summer 2015 all apps submitted before 2015 also are built with that requirement.

If your using Xojo for iOS the new released 2015 r1 supports this new iOS requirement. If your using Livecode for iOS the new release 6.7.2 or later supports this for Livecode. And if your using Xcode its business as usual, as it been supporting this for a while now.

For Xojo 2015 r1 (released 2/17/2015)  get it here
For Livecode 6.7.2 (released 2/17/2015)  get it here
For Xcode 6.1.1 (released 12/02/2014)  get it here

Alerts with Swift for iOS

A few weeks ago I went over alerts with swift for Mac OS X. Well just to show how different alerts are between Mac OS X and iOS well take a look at several different type of alerts that can be used with iOS with swift.

First is the most basic alert that includes a title, message and up to 3 action buttons.

below is the code to set up the alert, and call it when a user taps on the button; btnShowAlert

//button action:

@IBAction func btnShowAlert(sender: AnyObject) {
      
       // set up the alert view
        let alertController = UIAlertController(title: "Hello World", message: "this is the obleo's alert message", preferredStyle: UIAlertControllerStyle.Alert)
       
       //set up the action button
        alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: UIAlertActionStyle.Default, handler: nil))
       
        // show a alert view
        self.presentViewController(alertController, animated: true, completion: nil)
    }



That a little different to what we did with Mac OS X and swift. It has more code (however if you have auto complete on, most of its filled in for you.)

Another type alert that I use often is the alert with a text field. It has all the same options as above but includes a text field on the alert. ( you can have several fields if wanted, my example below screen shot show just one.)

 

To set up the alert with the field is not much different than the normal alert. There is just two added lines of code needed different than an normal alert. 1) add the field to the alert with addTextFieldWithConfigurationHandler and 2) setting up way to get the text added to the text field.

see code below:

//button action:

@IBAction func btnShowAskAlert(sender: AnyObject) {
        

// set up alert view
        let alertTextController = UIAlertController(title: "Your Name", message: "Name:", preferredStyle: UIAlertControllerStyle.Alert)
       
        // add the field to the alert (new)
        alertTextController.addTextFieldWithConfigurationHandler ({ (mainTextfld) -> Void in mainTextfld.text = "Add Your name"; })
       
        //add a button action
        alertTextController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: UIAlertActionStyle.Default, handler: { (action) -> Void in
           
            // add code to preform action from user tapping OK button (new)
            let mainTextfld = alertTextController.textFields![0] as UITextField
            // present result on screen in UIText

            self.fldResult.text = mainTextfld.text
        }))
       
        // present the alert with field on screen
        self.presentViewController(alertTextController, animated: true, completion: nil)
       
        }

That it, swift is just amazing no mater if your targeting Mac or iOS. I noticing that swift for Mac is actually easier than iOS and is less lines of code than iOS for many of the same type of things.

Happy Coding ;)
 

PS I know its been a few weeks since I made a video, my old MBP finally died. I ran into issue with screenflow 3 is not working with my new Mac, I need to update screenflow to version 5+ and do not have the  extra cash today to make it happen. ( And yes I tried quicktime, but it not as professional as screenflow)

Xojo for iOS Tip; Where are the iOS docs.

When your in Xojo for iOS and click on the toolbar help icon. The iOS help docs are not accessable, The Help button bring up the Docs for Mac, Windows, Linux and the Web.

There two ways to get it. One is to just use your web browser. And go to this web page: http://xojo.helpdocsonline.com/home

The other is to go to the menubar / help and select iOS Language Referance, which opens it it in the Xojo help viewer.

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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Xojo for iOS is here, a first look.

Xojo for iOS is here, a first look. I have some screenshots and basic info. Later in the week maybe a video.

Xojo has a pricing change so depending on what you need. you maybe paying less or if your like me you be paying more. Xojo has a blog post on this info.

Above is a screen of one of the included example apps in the Xojo IDE. (One of those annoying and reject-able noise apps.)

Above is a iOS simulator view of a date picker running on the iPad. This uses declares.

Above is the example notes app running in the iPad simulator.

Xojo for iOS is done very well. I have used several development platforms for iOS over the years (including such; Livecode, Unity, Cornia SDK, Phone Gap, Ruby Motion and a few others) And to be fair when I compare Xojo for iOS Xojo is one of the best I seen.

However Xojo does not have a full out of the box feature set at this time. It is a little limited what you can do without writing declares. However declares are pretty simple to understand and use, that it not that bad. However for the price some may think some of these things should be added out of the box and I would agree.

One thing xojo does that basically no one else has done besides Ruby Motion and Xcode is have Native iOS controls built in. Corona & Livecode has no native controls and was one major reason both tools are a disappointment.

iOS Xojo control palette

Another awesome feature is the code signing is built in to Xojo so we do not need to sign it ourselves our pay some other app developer some huge overprice license to do it either (like you do on mac).

One of the neatest but confusing features is the auto layout. What cool is it has auto layout, however it works no where close to Xcode and swift in ease of use. here a image below.

Auto layout palette

Xojo for iOS gets a thumbs up from me. However It still needs work to be a really contender to several other iOS toolsets for its cost. Consider that iOS for Xojo is at 1.0 I say its pretty good. It still has much more it needs to do to get many to switch however. I still think its worth checking out. 

More info at Xojo.com

Jumping into swift for iOS

5 years ago I started making iOS apps. I started out using Livecode where I made 13 iOS apps and games. I also tried Corona Sdk where I made two more games and also Unity where I made one game. I then stopped for a while to focus on desktop apps again. Something I favor more that mobile because desktop apps make more money and have way more users (at least for my products). 

Another reason I stopped iOS development for a while was the development tools I where using had issues. Many where buggy and did not have full access to very much. 

When swift first came out I focused on it for Mac OSX but recently I decided to jump into swift with iOS. I am shocked just how easy it is over Objective-C. Actually I find now swift is actually easier than using Livecode or Corona to make iOS apps. And that is the truth

I was waiting around for Xojo to release its iOS version, which made it self into beta last week. However I just wanted to see if swift could be the answer. I am still interested in Xojo because of the cross platform aspect.

I started by making a simple photo app with swift for a simple benchmark test. That imports a photo from a album adds some core image effects and exports the altered image back to the photo album. I had made a similar app with Livecode back in 2012 and that was a month of programming. With swift the same type of app tock 3 hours from start to finish. Yes, Wow! I never knew I could do something that fast.

The coolest idea for learning and using swift, is swift has more widespread work available world wide than with another tool. 

I highly suggest checking out swift, it is a lot easier than it looks. 

I sure this blog will see some more Swift post with some code examples soon.

Xojo (Real Studio) New IDE out, Here is the lowdown.

Xojo formally known as Real Software whom made Real Studio and once Real Basic, has released there new Cross platform IDE tool Xojo 2013 r1. While there are some minor bugs in this first release, it is an great IDE if its compared with other cross platform tools (such as Livecode).

Since 1996 when I first started making software for money, I have used many such cross platform tools. None really compare to the overall quality of Xojo development tools or the final compiled product.

The IDE is basically one window, however as seen in the screenshot you can palette the object and properties panes (which I personally find make an faster workflow, during gui layout). 

What I really like about Xojo is it designed for the professional developer in mind first. Some of the other tools I have used seem to be designed for hobbyist first which make it fall short. 

Xojo has built in tools that help get the job done faster and with great results. I can not even cover all of them here, because there so many things it does that other tools do not. 

If you spend over 80 hours a week making apps like I do, having the right tools matter.

Having an fully customizable code editor is an major plus. Many other tools just do not get it, when it comes to code editing. They think any old plain text editor will do (which I guess it can work, if you spend little time writing any code.)

I prefer having and working with an editor that one can adjust colors of the syntax and background to anything.  After 14 hours an day, 6 days an week if not 7 staring at black text on an white background it can really kill your eyes. Specially if your already wearing glasses.

Also being able have syntax autocomplete is an major plus. Typing thousands of lines of code one char at an time adds up. This takes longer in time, and adds more chances of creating an bug.

When I compare Xojo to Livecode (another tool I used for 8 years) text editor. Hands down Xojo wins by an land slide. While many Livecode users have requested such changes to Livecode editors for years, nothing ever has come. 

Xojo seems understand how to make tools that make people more productive (While they are not prefect. Compared to other cross platform tools, I feel they understand far better than others.) 

This tool allows for many different project formats which supports source control super easy. Most other cross platform tools do not have this at all.

Built in Unit testing. This is awesome! Easy see bottle neck areas, fast and easy to help optimize your code. Actually no other cross platform tool I used has ever had this feature. This is an major plus, allowing you to deliver an top notch product that works fast.

The best thing I like in the Xojo IDE, is the interface layout and design area. The layout area has measurement guides, advance alignment tools, layering and quick access to every item on an window and also helpful scrollbars, when on smaller displays (macbook air anyone?). 

The best part of Xojo is the end product it makes. It is just better than any other cross platform tool on the market today. It supports many of the most modern platform items and native UI. Also if anything missing that I want access to I can write an declare and add just about any native thing I want. 

Also you can tap into the many resources of other developers and use 3rd party plug-ins that have reasonably prices. Specially when compared to the expensive, and limited 3rd party add-ons of most other cross platform tools

I hear many people complain about Xojo, I really do not understand why. Maybe if you have issues with it, go use Livecode or another cross platform tool for an few years. Then maybe you will see what I am talking about. When you actually compare Xojo to other cross platform development tools, really I see nothing better.

The people who make Xojo deliver promises, they make within an reasonable timeframe. I have been lead on for over 6 years about another tool I used, supporting Cocoa for OS X.Adding Browsers for Linux, etc, etc, etc. It still not done, and may never be done. There to busy working on minor things like syntax changes to things that are not broken.

Xojo offer far better resources to make far better cross platform apps than any other tool I used. It is an great cross platform tool, I highly suggest checking it out. You can use the IDE for free , and it reasonable priced to deploy apps.

Here is an link Xojo website

Livecode Cross Platform is now open source

An development tool I used for the past nine years released itself as open source April 9th 2013.
This includes the full source code to the engine for desktop, mobile and server along with the IDE.

Here an quick link to the Git engine source https://github.com/runrev/livecode

The IDE which needs an free account to unlock and use can be found here Runrev

Livecode is an cross-platform tool for Mac OSX , Windows, Linux, Server, Android and iOS.
Its not prefect and can not do everything. However what it can do it does well. For the last 9 years 80% of all the software I have sold was made with Livecode. Even if now I moved on to using Real Studio (Xojo), Xcode and Unity for most of my software and games. (it was not for any other reason than I needed tools that could make professional software that Livecode was no longer suited the best option to build.)

I do recommend checking it out, it will surprise you to find out Livecode can do much more than what you first think it can do.

There also an great amount of 3rd party add-ons and custom controls than any other tool I seen besides Unity. One of the best part of it being open source for me is actually opening up the engine source and tweaking things. However I only started peeking and saying there using that? In I use that already with tool X.

I recall helping out an Livecode user last winter, and when I recommend curl as an option I was told "that dumb I never use it." Well guess what, Livecode was using curl, one look at the source code and licensing shows it.

There are many other interesting discoveries on how they made there tool work. I for years tried to guess what cross compiler they used. When I seen stack-less just in time compiler. I almost fell out of my chair. I had that listed as one of my guesses years ago.

If your new to Livecode, it will depended on coding experience on how you take it. I personally learned programing from BASIC and Livecode is much like hyper-talk. It takes time getting use to if you have years of using other programming languages, because it seems like baby talk. If you can look beyond that you find it works fast and does a lot.

The mobile space is actually very well and 500 times better than Corona sdk. However if you want physics you need to program them your self, which is really not that hard. There is however some major down  sides. The native UI is outdated at best, but you can use custom controls and get them to work pretty fast depending on your skill at design.

For Mac there no cocoa yet, witch means no retina support. This was one of the main reasons I quit using Livecode last year. And moved back to tools like Xcode and real studio.

Personally Livecode still worth an look for Mobile and it also does windows really well. Also Cocoa for mac is now an future project of runrev so its coming. I just do not think it will come till 2014 I could be wrong.

Also the IDE is way dated. And mobile apps windows at 1 to 1 retina sizes do not fit most computer displays. There an few tricks to getting this to work, witch is not all that bad for the trade off in code time saved.

Why not download it and give it an try. Maybe it works for you. Also do not believe everyone on that forum that says you can not do that. I proved many of them wrong for years doing what they said can not be done with Livecode.

Java To Objective-C Translation

I came across an interesting little open source project today. J2ObjC which is an Java to iOS Objective-C translation tool and runtime. The tool enables Java code to be part of an iOS app. J2ObjC is an Google made tool and worth checking out. Even if just for experimentation.

More Info

Open Source Livecode iOS Externals

I had made some externals to interface with Livecode and iOS. Some of which are now built into the IDE or do an small little things. I added these iOS externals for Livecode as free downloads with full source code to an backend webpage. I add an few new ones every once in an while.

I tried charging for my OSX Core Image External for Livecode OSX for only $50.00 and only an handful bothered buying and supporting it. It also seem to piss an ton of people off (I know because they emailed us.) that some one would spend months making an really cool addition to the Livecode tool, and then actually charge an small fee of $50.00 for there effort.  Specially when most of the Livecode 3rd party tools cost more than that, and do far less.

With that I am over selling externals for Livecode. I will share them as full open source and AS-IS. Maybe it will help someone learn or whatever.

Here an page to some limited open source iOS Livecode Externals we made, hope you enjoy. Link