a.k.a devgeeks

Been a while, but there is a reason

Sat, 19 May 2012 07:42:00 +1000

It’s been almost two months since my last post, but that’s because I have been working hard on a new app. In fact, an entire new product.

I’ll be able to post more soon including some of the custom plugins I wrote for the app.

It’s a camera-based app at heart so I needed a custom camera overlay view as well as some changes to make the camera more responsive (there was a horrible delay after clicking the “use” button in the core PhoneGap Camera API).

I am hoping to find a way to make the camera functionality open source and abstract enough that it would be useful to someone else.

Until then, stay tuned? ;)

Who Uses PhoneGap/Apache Cordova?

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:47:45 +1100

Who Uses PhoneGap/Apache Cordova?:

A nice list of some of the “bigger” names behind/using PhoneGap / Cordova.

Announcing the Read it Later plugin for PhoneGap (soon also for Cordova)

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:42:00 +1100

One of the developers working on the new PhoneGap-based Wikipedia Mobile was having some annoying issues with the PhoneGap ShareKit plugin and decided he’d rather just put the Facebook and Twitter sharing in with their individual plugins.

He was happy with the decision where Facebook and Twitter were concerned, but lamented that the decision would mean there would no longer be support for Read it Later (http://readitlaterlist.com).

I had a look at Read it Later’s API and iOS SDK and it looked fairly straight forward, so when he asked if I would like to write a plugin for it I took on the challenge.

Just two hours later I had a shiny new PhoneGap plugin!

https://github.com/devgeeks/ReadItLaterPlugin

If you wanna be as cool as Wikipedia, run over to GitHub and clone it into your app now!

Installation

This plugin allows you to save a URL to Read It Later from your app.

Add the plugin much like any other:

Add the ReadItLaterPlugin.h and VolumeSlider.m classes to your Plugins folder in Xcode (use “Create groups for any added folders”)
Add the ReadItLaterPlugin.js file to your www folder
Add the ReadItLaterPlugin.js to your html file. eg:<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="ReadItLaterPlugin.js"></script>
Add the plugin to the PhoneGap.plist under Plugins (key: “ReadItLaterPlugin” value: “ReadItLaterPlugin”)

Next, get the Read It Later API iPhone Library and add it to your project:

Download the library from Read It Later
Unzip the library and examples
Copy these four files into your Xcode project under the Plugins folder (again, use “Create groups for any added folders”)
- ReadItLaterLite.h
- ReadItLaterLite.m
- ReadItLaterFull.h
- ReadItLaterFull.m
Get an API Key from Read It Later for your app
Add your shiny new API key to the top of the ReadItLaterLite.m file you copied in above
- static NSString *apikey = @"<api key here>";
Add the name of your app (as you entered it to get your API key above) as well
- static NSString *nameOfYourApp = @"<name of your app here>";

Finally, call the saveToReadItLater() method using a success callback and an object containing a url and a title:

Example

function onDeviceReady()
{
    var readItLaterPlugin = window.plugins.readItLaterPlugin;
    readItLaterPlugin.saveToReadItLater(
        function(){
            console.log("Successfully saved to Read It Later");
        }, 
        { 
            url: "http://github.com/devgeeks", 
            title: "Devgeeks on GitHub"
        }
    );
}

How to keep your old version of PhoneGap for iOS when upgrading

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:09:28 +1100

The PhoneGap installer for iOS overwrites the old version when you run it. It puts itself in over the top of your previous version.

However, when you have shipped an app with PhoneGap and it’s happily in the App Store, the last thing you want to do is have to deal with changes in the PhoneGap API between versions if you need to make small maintenance tweaks down the track.

Here’s what I do in this instance.

Before upgrading PhoneGap (running the installer) I back up the previous version of the framework. I copy ‘/Users/Shared/PhoneGap’ to ‘/Users/Shared/PhoneGap-<version>’ (such as ‘/Users/Shared/PhoneGap-1.2’).
Next I go into the projects that I want to keep running that version, and I delete the PhoneGap.framework from the project (remove reference only).
Then I add the framework from the copied versioned folder I made in step #1. Select the target in Xcode, choose the “Build Phases” tab, open the “Link Binary With Libraries” section and click the + and choose “Add Other…”, browse to where you backed up your old PhoneGap.framework and add it in.
Upgrade PhoneGap to latest version.

You now not only have a back up you can keep old projects maintained against, but you have a version you can use if the new PhoneGap changes something you want to use or breaks a plugin you need for your project. In fact, inside the ‘/Users/Shared/PhoneGap-1.2/Frameworks/PhoneGap.framework/www’ folder is the version-specific PhoneGap iOS JavaScript file if you need to downgrade a project.

PhoneGap / Cordova plugin devs and users are in for a bumpy ride

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:48:22 +1100

It looks like those of us who rely heavily on plugins are in for a bad time.

Cordova devs working on 1.4.x began the process of deprecating some classes a great many plugins used, now it looks like the work on 1,5 and beyond is going to make the plugin landscape even shakier.

The work on the new unified js will be a great boon to many end users making it easier to develop for multiple platforms. Unfortunately, it looks like it is also going to be only a partial implementation on 1.5 and one that not only might break things for existing apps and/or plugins… but might not even be the final API we see shipped with 1.6…

…we’ve made no commitment on the plugin api (its never been official) so I don’t feel we’re breaking any promises

…and concerns about it are being dismissed.

I don’t know about you, but I think I might stick with 1.4.x for now unless a bug comes up that will make it worth it to me to work around these teething issues in the coming releases.

I do know the PhoneGap Google group, IRC and StackOverflow are gonna get an influx of confused devs very soon. I’m bracing for it.

PhoneGap plugins in iOS complaining about deprecations and what you might be able to do about it

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:29:00 +1100

In PhoneGap (in reality Cordova) 1.4.x some classes were deprecated in the effort to make it play nice as a component in an otherwise native app (as opposed to only being able to be the primary controlling view). This is causing some confusion when developers using this version try to use plugins written using those classes. Xcode is giving them warnings about the deprecation and making them worry.

The plugins affected are mostly those that pop up an entire native view controller over the top of the PhoneGap/Cordova app - EmailComposer, SMSComposer, Twitter and worst of all ChildBrowser.

The important thing to remember is that for now (1.4.x), although the methods are deprecated, they should still work just fine. They will warn you, but as a good friend of mine was fond of saying: “a warning is not an error”. The point of deprecation warnings are to warn you that what you are doing might go away some time in the future and to start thinking about a new way to do it.

AFAIK, the issue will be with the coming releases when the methods are actually removed (there is debate on if this should be soon… like 1.5 or 1.6… or wait for a major release like 2.0).

I am happy to update plugins and submit pull requests to the phonegap-plugins repo if the plugin is not being actively maintained or not overly complex. I have already submitted a pull request for an update to SMSComposer after someone asked for help in the PhoneGap IRC channel. As for any of the others affected, it might be that they will just use the deprecated calls until the upcoming plugin upgrade guide is ready I believe with 1.5.x.

In the case of most of the affected plugins, really all you should need to do is in the plugins PluginClassName.m file add in this initialization method just after ‘@implementation PluginClassName’ (note: this one might be optional, but most of the modern plugins seem to initialize self this way):

-(PGPlugin) initWithWebView:(UIWebView)theWebView 
{     
    self = (PluginClassName*)[super initWithWebView:theWebView];     
    return self; 
{

Then, where ever the deprecated ‘appViewController’ appears… change:

[[ super appViewController ] presentModalViewController:picker animated:YES];

to:

[self.viewController presentModalViewController:picker animated:YES];

This will make most of the basic plugins compile quite happily without warnings. Unfortunately… ChildBrowser not so much, but that plugin is far from simple. However, it is very popular so I am sure it will get some love before the deprecations truly take effect.

If you have any questions about this feel free to shoot me a message:

tommy AT devgeeks DOT org

4ZzZfm app program guide updated

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:35:00 +1100

The main reason it took so long to port the 4ZzZfm app from Objective-C to PhoneGap had nothing to do with PhoneGap, really. It had to do with adding new functionality at the same time that I had been wanting to add in for some time.

4ZzZfm has a program schedule that changes at the very least every quarter or so. There are also small things that change from time to time for various reasons. Up until this version of the app, changing that program information in the app has meant my updating the schedule manually, then updating the app and submitting a new version to the App Store.

Needless to say, this didn’t happen as frequently as it should have.

So for this version, it was important to me to have the guide be updated from within the app with no updates to the code required. Though getting there was a bit of a challenge, the current version of the app does indeed include that functionality. However, it had not actually been tested in a “live” environment… until today. :)

Today I pushed an updated version of the guide to the server and the app should automatically use that version the next time it starts up (though the background behaviour of iOS and Android mean that this might not happen unless you close it all the way or don’t use it for a given period of time… not entirely sure what all triggers the app having to start from scratch).

Anyway, it seems to have worked. If you or anyone you know has trouble with the app updating the guide, please let me know, but for now I am calling it a success.

If you haven’t already checked out 4ZzZfm and / or the app, it’s available for iPhone and Android now.

The move to Tumblr

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:13:55 +1100

I have decided to move the blog to tumblr for a few of reasons.

I was sick of managing the comment spam on the previous WordPress blog
I was sick of managing the software/security updates on the previous WordPress blog
I wanted an easy way to post to the blog when I was out and about on an iOS device using Markdown
I wanted to see how well Tumblr works for a blog with it’s own domain, etc
I wanted to learn how to theme Tumblr

So far it seems to be going OK. Some things are certainly easier (less maintenance, easier posting) but some things are more tedious (static “landing pages” for the apps, etc).

I will be updating the theme a bit at a time. Cleaning up the posts so the images are no longer coming from the previous WordPress blog, extending the theme to include comments/discussion/likes/etc and adding more social media integration (apart from just Twitter).

Feel free to shoot me an email if you think this is a good/stupid/pointless idea. ;)

Meet the new 4ZzZfm app – now for iPhone and Android!!

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:34:00 +1100

Dear 4ZzZfm and lovers of the best community radio station ever…

The 4ZzZfm iPhone app has been updated to version 3.0. This new version should always have an up to date Program Guide. It can now update the guide over the internet so it will no longer need an updated version to have a correct guide.

http://devgeeks.org/iphone-apps/4zzzfm-iphone

or on iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/4zzzfm/id359090535?mt=8

oh… and for those that have brought it up whenever the 4ZzZfm iPhone app is mentioned…

Meet the 4ZzZfm Android app!:

http://devgeeks.org/android-apps/4zzzfm-android-app

or on the Android Market:

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.devgeeks.fourzzzfm

4ZzZfm iPhone app

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:58:00 +1100

So here we are. Almost four months to the day since I last posted about porting the 4ZzZfm iPhone app to PhoneGap, it’s finally awaiting review in the App Store.

A lot has changed from starting out to getting to this point. I’ll be writing a much bigger post about the whole experience (including my new-found hate for timezones and date math), but till then… I am just happy to see the back end of it. :)

Now let’s see if we can get past the approval process OK.

Devgeeks takes over the WORLD! (or at least my life...)

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:31:00 +1000

So for all my bemoaning about not having enough time to work on devgeeks work and mobile stuff in particular, I have had a career change of sorts and I am now going to pursue devgeeks as my full-time job.

This means I will be able to take on work as a mobile developer (as well as my more traditional web applications work).

I have set up the new devgeeks.com to this end. I will also continue with the open source plugin development that I talked about in my previous post. I am pretty excited about this change. Feel free to throw work my way so I can keep doing it ;)

Experiments with PhoneGap

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:15:00 +1000

It’s that time again. Time to update the 4ZzZfm iPhone app. Actually, it’s way past due… but this is the way things go sometimes.

Early on I attempted to use some of the “write your app in HTML/Javascript/CSS and deploy to iPhone” technologies, but at the time their acceptability by Apple for App Store distribution was in doubt, and I couldn’t get them to do what I wanted anyway. This meant I had to actually learn Objetive-C. Now let me just say that I really like Objective-C. The problem is that I am primarily a PHP developer so HTML/JavaScript/CSS feels more natural to me.

This has lead me to revisit the above-mentioned web technology options for iPhone app development. PhoneGap in particular seems to be both quite mature, used a great deal in apps in the App Store and quite extendable via plugins. This last part is the bit that has tipped it for me. Not only are there some great plugins available for PhoneGap, but it is quite easy to write your own plugins.

What this all comes down to is that I am going to try and re-write the 4ZzZfm iPhone app using PhoneGap and write whatever plugins I need along the way that aren’t catered for in PhoneGap’s core or plugins written by others.

I have already started on this process and I have the Audio Streaming classes written by the amazing Matt Gallagher (cocoawithlove.com) that I used in the original Objective-C version of the app (mostly) working as a PhoneGap plugin. ~~The remote control events don’t work yet, and I am not sure that will be possible from a plugin anyway… that might require some hacking of the PhoneGap core. We’ll see. It needs some more work~~ update: I ~~have~~ had the remote control events working fine. No core hacking needed. Then between updating PhoneGap and iOS something went wrong.

Another piece of functionality I need for the 4ZzZfm iPhone app is a volume control slider. In the Objective-C iPhone SDK that is implemented using an MPVolumeView (from the MediaPlayer framework). This turned out to be a very easy to make into a PhoneGap plugin. Now one of the best things about PhoneGap is that it and its plugins are open source. PhoneGap and its plugins are developed by the PhoneGap community and available on GitHub. So I have decided to join GitHub myself and submit any plugins I create for this project that I think others might find useful. The first of these that have been added to the main PhoneGap plugins repository is the aforementioned VolumeSlider plugin. I am pleased as punch about this as it is my first real contribution to a modern open source project. Hopefully it is just the first of many more such contributions.

Wish me luck. Worst case I can always just stick with Objective-C.

Failure to update...

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 02:43:00 +1100

So what we have here is a failure to ~~communicate~~ update…

Between moving house in September, the birth of my beautiful daughter Ivy in October and entering a new start-up phase at my “day job”… I just haven’t been keeping up with this blog.

I mean seriously.. the last post was about the Brisbanesounds app not having been approved yet. That app has long since been approved and is going quite well.

I can’t promise to do much better in the future, but perhaps I can at least update when an app has made it through the approval process next time :)

An update on the Brisbanesounds iPhone app…

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 20:35:00 +1000

Apple say they are getting through 83% of new app submissions in 7 days… I guess Brisbanesounds falls in the other 17%

I guess all I can do is wait. I have probably been abnormally lucky with my quick turnarounds on the 4ZzZfm app so far. It’s probably just a lucky numbers game. I suppose I shouldn’t be worried. It would be much more serious if it was taking a long time once the review process actually STARTS… then I would be worried.

New app for Brisbane Sounds in review in the App Store

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:37:00 +1000

I have finally gotten my second app into the review process on the App Store.

It’s an app for the Brisbane Sounds project – http://www.brisbanesounds.com/

New version of 4ZzZfm iPhone app on App Store now!

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:18:00 +1000

Hooray! My latest update to my 4ZzZfm iPhone app is live on the Apple App Store.

Took a bit longer to get approved than the original submission… I guess due to all the iPad app submissions that must be going on at the moment.

What’s new in version 2.0:

4ZzZfm Program Guide navigable by day and time
“Now Playing” program listing in stream player view
Program Guide displayable in either QLD (Brisbane) time or your local timezone (especially helpful for overseas listeners)
Settings bundle for switching between local and QLD time in the Program Guide

4ZzZfm iPhone app Submitted and waiting for review…

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:51:00 +1000

So I have finally gotten the chance to submit the next version (2.0) of my iPhone app for the community radio station 4ZzZfm to Apple for approval.

Hopefully I managed to do everything right in the submission process… I took so long between versions I forgot what I did last time ;)

4ZzZfm app v2 nearly ready for submission

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:09:00 +1000

I am very close to being ready to submit the next version of my 4ZzZfm iPhone app to Apple for approval.

I have been hard at work adding features and a better UI experience and I think it’s finally done.

The main addition to this version is the Program Guide. It is a complete 4ZzZ program guide navigable by day and time. It displays detailed info about each show on 4ZzZ (where available). The streaming player screen even shows what program you are currently listening to.

The best bit though, is that the Program Guide can be told to display itself in your current local timezone. I know, I know… it’s no longer Daylight Savings time here in Australia. So the east coast Australian users won’t benefit from this feature till next year. However, anyone in SA or WA will get the Program Guide in their local timezone, not in QLD time.

Best of all, all the users in other countries will benefit most of all as it’s not just a matter of a couple hours one way or another… some programs would be on different actual DAYS in their local area. This new Program Guide handles that. Doesn’t matter if you are in Japan or Canada.. it works off what you have as your local timezone in your iPhone.

Controlling this switch is a new settings screen from within the app, and a settings bundle in the iPhone’s settings app. The in-app settings screen however has another useful feature. It can rebuild the Program Guide if you for any reason find yourself in a new timezone! Just rebuild the Program Guide and you are good to go.

Below is a gallery of screenshots… as always, the gallery software cuts off the screenshots a bit in the thumbnails so be sure and click through to the larger version of each image.

4ZzZfm stream is down

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:45:00 +1100

That’s right… the 4ZzZfm stream is down. OK. So anyone who uses my 4ZzZfm app will not be able to connect to the station.

It’s been like that for a few days now. It sucks, but it’s community radio and neither expertise or money flows freely… plus I believe the streaming server is a shared resource with another station.

Hopefully it will be back up soon :(

4ZzZfm iPhone app version 2.0 approaching beta

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:29:00 +1100

I have been hard at work on the next update to my 4ZzZfm iPhone app and it is nearing the stage where I can release it to my beta testers.

Added so far in this new version:

Program Guide navigable by day (which shows are playing at what time, and a little info about them).
Settings allowing the program guide information to be displayed either in original Brisbane/Queensland time or translated to your current local timezone (a great deal of the downloaders of the first version were a long way from Brisbane).
Display of the currently playing show in the stream playing view.

Here are some screenshots to show what I mean (the gallery cuts the images off a bit… click them to see the full image):