31 May 2012

Photoshop For Developers: Making a Leather Navigation Bar

 

Learn how to make a stylish leather navigation bar - from scratch!

Learn how to make a stylish leather navigation bar - from scratch!

This is a blog post by iOS Tutorial Team member Tope Abayomi, an iOS developer and Founder of App Design Vault, your source for iPhone App Design.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make a stylish leather navigation bar for your app, complete with buttons – from scratch!

Not only will you go through creating the design, you’ll also export the custom bar and buttons and get them working in a sample Xcode app.

The best part is you’ll be able to re-use the skills you’ll learn in this tutorial to create all sorts of custom navigation bars – in case you want a different look than leather.

And to top it off, the end of the tutorial rewards you with a free design-related goodie from App Design Vault!

This tutorial is for developers who want to learn a little bit about design. To go through the tutorial, you need to have Xcode and Photoshop. If you do not have Photoshop, you can download a free trial from Adobe.

Now before I start making jokes about another kind of leather bar, let’s get started! Keep reading!

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29 May 2012

Objectively Speaking: A Crash Course in Objective-C

 

Warning: Objective-C Crash Course Ahead!

Warning: Objective-C Crash Course Ahead!

This is a post by iOS Tutorial Team Member Linda Burke, an indie iOS developer and the founder of canApps.

Are you a software developer skilled in another platform, but want to start learning iPhone development (and hence Objective-C)? This was my situation not so long ago, and frankly, I’d gotten a bit rusty from moving further and further away from development in my day job.

Some two years later, I’ve created a lot of apps for the iPhone and iPad. While I often had to learn the hard way, I’d like you to be able to benefit from some of my trials and tribulations.

This tutorial is for readers who already have some programming experience. It assumes that you know your while loop from your fruit loops and a debug from a lady bug! If you’re completely new to programming, you might want to check out our iOS for High School Students series.

The goal of this tutorial is to give you confidence with some of the basics of Objective-C. Instead of taking a “let’s explain every piece of syntax” approach, we’re going to take the approach of diving right in and giving you some hands-on experience and an example to work from. It will then be a lot easier for you to consult a reference when necessary moving forward.

In this tutorial, you will create a simple app that randomly generate quotes from a stored list. In doing so, you’ll become acquainted with a number of aspects of Objective-C, including:

  • Variables
  • Arrays
  • Property lists
  • Strings
  • Predicates
  • Random selection
  • Simple interface objects and events

Let me warn you though – iPhone development with Objective-C is a lot of fun and a little addictive. Be prepared to give up some sleep, and the chores might build up! :]

Before you begin, make sure you have an Apple developer account with the provisioning details set up and the latest version of Xcode installed (you can download this for free on the Mac App Store).

When you’re done, I will (Objective) C-you after the jump! :] Keep reading!

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24 May 2012

How To Rotate a 3D Object Using Touches with OpenGL

 

Learn how to rotate 3D objects using touches with GLKit!

Learn how to rotate 3D objects using touches with GLKit!

This is a blog post by site administrator Ray Wenderlich, an independent software developer and gamer.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to rotate a 3D object with touches on iOS with OpenGL ES 2.0 and GLKit.

We’ll start out simple and show you how you can rotate a 3D object by rotating a fixed amount along the x or y axis as the user drags. Then we’ll show you a more advanced technique using quaternions.

This tutorial will pick up with the sample project from the Beginning OpenGL ES 2.0 with GLKit Tutorial, so download it if you haven’t already.

Please keep in mind that I am learning this myself as I go and my math is quite rusty, so excuse me if I make any mistakes or don’t explain things quite right. If anyone has better or more correct ways to explain things, please chime in!

Without further ado, let’s get rotating! Keep reading!

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22 May 2012

Introduction to CocoaPods

 

Make an app with several library dependencies - without the pain!

Make an app with several library dependencies - without the pain!

This is a post by iOS Tutorial Team Member Marcelo Fabri, an iOS, Python and Java developer working at Dextra Sistemas. Check out also his personal website.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use a popular dependency management tool called CocoaPods.

But wait! What is a dependency management tool and why do you need one?

As an iOS developer, you certainly use a lot of code made by others, in the shape of libraries. You may not remember, but how complicated would your life be if you had to implement everything from scratch?

Usually (since building static libraries manually is sooooo boring), you just add the library code into your project. But that has some disadvantages:

  • Code that could be somewhere else is stored in your repository, wasting space.
  • Sometimes, it’s hard to get a specific version of a library.
  • There’s no central place where you can see which libraries are available.
  • Finding a new version of a library and updating your project with it is boring and sometimes, painful.
  • Downloading libraries manually creates a tendency to perhaps make some changes to the downloaded code and just leaving it there (making updating harder, as you’ll need to merge the changes you made with the code you download for the next version).

A dependency management tool helps you overcome most of the issues mentioned above. It will resolve dependencies between the various libraries you use, fetch the source code for the dependencies, and creates and maintains the right environment for you to build your project with the minimum of hassles.

Coming from a JavaEE background, where Maven reigns as a dependency management tool, I longed for the day when I could just specify the library I needed (and optionally, the exact version) and have it installed/included for each project automatically.

That day finally arrived for me when I discovered CocoaPods :]

In this tutorial, you’ll get hands on experience using CocoaPods. Specifically, you’ll use it to create an app that connects to popular television information site trakt.tv and fetches information about the shows that you (or somebody else) subscribed to, allowing you to show information about upcoming television episodes.

As you’ll see in this tutorial, using CocoaPods will make this project a lot easier. Read on to see for yourself! :] Keep reading!

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21 May 2012

iOS 101 Coming Soon to 360iDev!

 

I'm teaching a Beginner iOS crash course at 360iDev!

I'm teaching a Beginner iOS crash course at 360iDev!

This is just a quick note to let you guys know that I will be teaching a 1-day crash course on beginning iOS development at this year’s 360iDev, called iOS 101.

This is the third time I will be offering this class at 360iDev. Every year I end up completely overhauling it since so much changes with iOS from year to year, and this time is no exception!

The material will be fully up-to-date for iOS 5 (maybe even iOS 6, we’ll see!), and cover an Objective-C crash course, ARC, Storyboards, and much more!

So if you’re a beginner or want a refresher on some of the basics, or have a friend who wants to get started with iOS development, be sure to stop by!

By the way, I highly recommend 360iDev. It has a great “indie” feel to it and a ton of interesting and useful talks. It’s a lot of fun, it’s got a Game Jam, and you’ll leave excited and inspired, and probably with several new friends. For more info, check out Vicki’s post on the subject.

If you want to go, you might want to pick up a ticket soon, it has sold out in the past.

Hope to see you there! :] Oh and I’ll be at WWDC too if anyone wants to hang out there as well, along with 9 other members of the iOS tutorial team! :]

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17 May 2012

How to Create a Simple Android Game with AndEngine

 

Learn how to make a Tower of Hanoi game on Android!

Learn how to make a Tower of Hanoi game on Android!

This is a blog post by iOS Tutorial Team member Ali Hafizji, an iOS and Android developer working at Tavisca Solutions.

In this tutorial, you’re going to get hands-on experience making a simple game on Android using AndEngine, a popular and easy to use game framework.

There are many frameworks you can use to make games on Android – the most popular being libGDX, AndEngine and Cocos2D-X. Each engine has its pros and cons.

Cocos2D-X (which we previously covered in a two-part series here and here) is great for making cross-platform games, but it does bring along a bit of extra complexity.

What if you just want to get a simple game working on Android the quickest and easiest way? This is where AndEngine comes in handy! Its API is very easy to use and it takes hardly any time to learn the ins and outs of the engine.

You’ll put AndEngine to work creating a version of the famous mathematical puzzle the Tower of Hanoi. Before you begin, make sure you’ve read my previous two tutorials on Getting Started with Android (here and here), or have some Android development experience under your belt.

Keep reading to get started with AndEngine! Keep reading!

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15 May 2012

Readers App Reviews – May 2012

 

Read about some great apps made by fellow readers!

Read about some great apps made by fellow readers!

This is a post by Reader’s Apps Reviewer Ryan Poolos, an iOS Developer and founder of Frozen Fire Studios. Checkout his latest game, Cyborg Livestock. Checkout his latest website, iHelp.

Its that time again! May came fast and we’ve got a ton of apps to show for it. You’ve all been very busy building some very fun games and useful apps.

This month there are a lot of super addicting games, making it very hard to actually write the reviews instead of playing. Sorry Ray! :]

You guys blew away Aprils record for submissions. Over 45 incredible apps came through my inbox this month. Thank you all for your submissions.

As you know by now there’s only room to post fifteen reviews per month. Remember its not a popularity contest or judging, this is just something we do to help out our readers and build community. As such, active readers, forum members, and those who submit all the required information gain priority. The apps are not posted in any particular order or rank. Make sure you check out the Honorable mentions to try out the apps I didn’t have room for!

So get ready to find out about some awesomely fun apps and games by fellow readers! Keep reading!

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