Clubiphoneapps's Blog

My First iPhone Application

milena silva — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:21:31 +0000

Hello iPhone World!

So for the past week I’ve been trying to figure out how to build my very first iPhone Application – this process actually started a while ago, but I haven’t been that dedicated since at encountered failure at every corner! Let’s just say that there are hardly any tutorials out there that actually explain everything that goes into what makes an iPhone App work – some of them, as simplistic as they seem; really do skip on tiny bits of code that any beginner like myself would really not figure out all on my own!

Finally – last week I started experimenting with the tutorial above – Like my teammate I had lots of errors – until finally I decided to download the code from the programmer (thankfully all source files were supplied).. and guess what – IT DIDN’T WORK… all thanks to one tiny line of code that was misplaced… “

#import “HelloWorldController.h” ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE ON LINE 1 OF YOUR AppDelegate.m file! ***

MAKE A NOTE OF THAT PEOPLE!!

How did I figure this out – well… lets just say I took a really great guess as to what the jiberish error note said!

The moral of my story is that you gotta be creative when guessing these error codes – but definitely don’t let those defeat you… I feel a great sense of accomplishment, and you should do! Stick in there!

–

Milena Silva

Testing out the Emulator

evernon — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:32:06 +0000

So, with the developers license still up in the air, we decided to take a look at what we can do with the Apple ID.

Just so everyone is clear:

Apple ID
- free
- e-mail verification
- Allows you access to the emulator and xCode. You can make applications and test them, but only on the computer.

Developers License
- costs money
- long application process
- allows you to test your app on your iPhone, apply to sell it in the store.

I’ve been having Abbot and Costello conversations with people about those two things and it’s giving me a headache.

To download the emulator, sign up for your Apple ID and then download it, it’s on the main page after signing in. iPhone SDK 3.1.2, for Leopard or Snow Leopard. You’ll need to be running the most recent Mac OS to use these. You were aware you can only do this on a Mac right? This is Apple we’re talking about.

Here’s a breakdown of how long this took me, just so you don’t think you can sign up and get your app running the night before it’s due:

Get an Apple ID – 5 or 10 minutes, this is fairly easy.
Download the iPhone SDK 3.1.2 – Two hours. It’s a large file.
Updating my Mac OS – Oh, right, has to be the most recent. This took another hour.
Installing the SDK – Another hour.

So to get started on trying out the emulator we spent about five minutes looking at the documentation it comes with before deciding to see if there were any YouTube tutorials instead. We then followed the one embedded below and created our very first iPhone application! It does nothing, just flips between two pages. There’s still a lot to figure out, but I was impressed with how easy it is to get started. Everything that comes standard with the iPhone, like the search, you are able to drag and drop right into your application. Doesn’t get much easier then that.

Here is the YouTube video we followed:

iPhone Virus-Writer’s New Job: Building iPhone Apps

clubiphoneapps — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:54:49 +0000

A hacker (21-year-old student)who goes by the names “Ikee” and “Ikex” took credit for the attack,(9th Nov 2009) which affects only jailbroken iPhones whose owners have installed SSH and neglected to change the default root password, “alpine.”

He has been hired this month as an iPhone application developer…read more at

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/iphone-hacker

Design Guide for iPhone Apps

kamimm — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:44:01 +0000

Hi Everyone,

I created a small design guide for creating application on the iPhone. Here it is, Enjoy.

-Kamran A.

Thinks to know when getting involved with iPhone apps development

armandoheor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:16:58 +0000

by Armando

This is what comes in the box when you buy an iPhone:

iPhone 3GS
Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic
Dock Connector to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
SIM eject tool

This is what most people know:

3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen
Capacity: 16GB or 32GB
3 megapixels Camera
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth

And this is what may be useful to know to start developing applications and get the most out of the iPhone:

The device

Model: iPhone 3GS
Display:
- 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
- 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
- Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Capacity: 16GB or 32GB flash drive
Wireless:
- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Location:
- Assisted GPS
- Digital compass
- Wi-Fi
- Cellular
Audio playback:
- Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
- Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
Video playback:
- Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Camera, photos and video:
- 3 megapixels
- Video recording, VGA up to 30 fps with audio
- Photo and video geotagging
- iPhone and third-party application integration
Sensors:
- Accelerometer
- Proximity sensor
- Ambient light sensor
Voice Control

The Development

Development of iPhone applications requires an Intel-based Macintosh computer running Mac OS X v10.5 or later. You must also download and install the iPhone SDK 3.1.2. Development is not supported on Windows platform.

Registered iPhone Developers can download iPhone SDK 3.1.2, which includes the Xcode IDE, iPhone simulator, and a suite of additional tools for developing applications for iPhone and iPod touch. The iPhone Developer Program provides a complete and integrated process for developing and distributing applications for iPhone and iPod touch.

The iPhone SDK contains the code, information, and tools you need to develop, test, run, debug, and tune applications for the iPhone OS.

iPhone OS comprises the operating system and technologies that you use to run applications natively on iPhone and iPod touch devices. Existing Mac OS X developers will find many familiar technologies, but they’ll also find technologies that are available only on iPhone OS, such as the Multi-Touch interface and accelerometer support.

To develop iPhone applications, you use Xcode, Apple’s first-class integrated development environment (IDE). Xcode provides all the tools you need to design your application’s user interface and write the code that brings it to life.

Creating simple applications that run on iPhone OS is relatively easy with the built-in project templates provided by Xcode, but creating applications that do something useful and look nice requires you to spend some time reading through the available documentation.

The basic information that every iPhone developer needs to know is in Cocoa Fundamentals Guide. This document covers the basics of the Objective-C language and the programming conventions and design patterns used by UIKit and many other system frameworks.

Cocoa is an application environment for both the Mac OS X operating system and iPhone OS, the operating system used on multi-touch devices such as iPhone and iPod touch. It consists of a suite of object-oriented software libraries, a runtime, and an integrated development environment. The Cocoa frameworks are the developer interface to the power of Mac OS X. Animation, rich media, networking, data storage, and multi-core operations—all the features of the OS are there for your application. Cocoa Touch provides the same control over iPhone OS features, optimized for the touch interface.

Objective-C is the primary language used for Apple’s Cocoa API. The Objective-C language is a simple computer language designed to enable sophisticated object-oriented programming.

These are some useful links to start learning how to develop your iPhone applications:

Once you understand the basic conventions you use to create iPhone applications, you can refer to iPhone Application Programming Guide for specific details on the development process.

Going further…

Adobe is working on an alternate way to develop iPhone applications. Flash Professional CS5 will enable you to build applications for iPhone and iPod touch using ActionScript 3. These applications can be delivered to iPhone and iPod touch users through the Apple App Store. There are already some examples of games available for download from the Apple App Store. They plan to release a public beta of Flash Professional CS5 with support for building applications for iPhone by the end of 2009.For more information refer to Adobe Labs.

Breaking the rules

The iPhone’s operating system is designed to only run software that has an Apple-approved cryptographic (encoded) signature. This restriction can be overcome by “jailbreaking” the phone,which involves replacing the iPhone’s firmware with a slightly modified version that does not enforce the signature check.

The iPhone Dev Team is a group of hackers in the iPhone OS community who have developed many tools to enable the use of applications unauthorized by Apple Inc. on the iPhone and iPod Touch devices. These applications provide owners with the ability to sidestep the limitations placed on devices by the manufacturer, allowing for activities such as deep customization and SIM unlocking. The group and its tools have become emblematic for these activities.

SIM unlocking is distinct from jailbreaking, is the process by which a mobile device is made compatible with telephone networks with which it was not specifically licensed to be used. The majority of iPhones are sold with a SIM lock, which restricts the use of the phone to one particular carrier, a common practice with subsidized GSM phones.

Resources:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html

http://developer.apple.com/

http://www.wikipedia.org

This is what comes in the box when you buy an iPhone:

· iPhone 3GS

· Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic

· Dock Connector to USB Cable

· USB Power Adapter

· Documentation

· SIM eject tool

This is what most people know:

· 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen

· Capacity: 16GB or 32GB

· 3 megapixels Camera

· Wi-Fi

· Bluetooth

And this is what may be useful to know to start developing applications and get the most out of the iPhone:

The device

· Model: iPhone 3GS

· Display:

§ 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display

§ 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi

§ Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

· Capacity: 16GB or 32GB flash drive

· Wireless:

§ Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)

§ Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

· Location:

§ Assisted GPS

§ Digital compass

§ Wi-Fi

§ Cellular

· Audio playback:

§ Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz

§ Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

· Video playback:

§ Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

· Camera, photos and video:

§ 3 megapixels

§ Video recording, VGA up to 30 fps with audio

§ Photo and video geotagging

§ iPhone and third-party application integration

· Sensors:

§ Accelerometer

§ Proximity sensor

§ Ambient light sensor

· Voice Control

The Development

The iPhone SDK contains the code, information, and tools you need to develop, test, run, debug, and tune applications for the iPhone OS.

Objective-C is the primary language used for Apple’s Cocoa API. The Objective-C language is a simple computer language designed to enable sophisticated object-oriented programming.

These are some useful links to start learning how to develop your iPhone applications:

· Learning Objective-C: A Primer

· Your First iPhone Application

· iPhone Development Quick Start

Once you understand the basic conventions you use to create iPhone applications, you can refer to iPhone Application Programming Guide for specific details on the development process.

Still waiting for the great idea to build a new iPhone app?

armandoheor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:24:03 +0000

by Armando

It happens all the time in business, art, even for personal projects; we loose time wating for that great idea that will make the difference. Some times it is just a matter of being aware of our thoughts and ideas and beleive in them. I found this article that may be interesting to all those people that are in this situation: 10 Off-the-wall iPhone Apps.

Alternative iPhone body designs

kamimm — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:57:32 +0000

While surfing I found some interesting design to the physical iPhone. Here they are below:

like to site >> Jump

-Kamran

Edward Tufte on iPhone

kamimm — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:49:06 +0000

Edward Tufte is world famous statistician and professor in the information design field in a video essay he present his viewpoint on the pluses and minus on the iPhone interface. It is a great run down of effectiveness of the iPhone design which everyone praises. Some specific that he mentions, He like the photo viewer except the grid line between the images are big, he like the web browser if only the navigation bar takes up less screen space, he call the stock market application to cartoonish but however he like the weather application as an elegant way to demo to friends. He feels for the most part the iPhone got a lot of information design right that other phone seem to lack. Check out the video its slow in loading but well worth the wait.

To Video

-Kamran

First step, getting a developers license.

evernon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:34:19 +0000

Over a series of posts I’ll be documenting my journey into the world of iPhone development in lengthy boring detail.

So, first we need a developers license. It isn’t free. You have two options, depending on what you’ll be developing for; standard ($99), which is for developing applications for the App Store, and enterprise($299), for developing in-house apps. Since I’m signing up for Sheridan College, we’re going for the Standard Company license (there is also an Individual license, if you are a brazen lone wolf, unhindered by group dynamics). Things go along smoothly until I hit a snag:

“The legal contact for my company who can verify that I have the authority to bind my company to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement is:”

Hmm, right. So I will need more information before I can move forward.

Now, to even get this far, you will need an Apple ID, which was surprisingly invasive. I always strongly dislike it when a company makes it mandatory that I give them my phone number. Why do they need my phone number? What possible situation would require it? My main concern is that they will phone me, but neglect to check time zone differences and wake me up at 5am (which actually happened once). They also require your company/organization name, so I guess make one up if you don’t have one, which most people don’t. To be honest, my opinion of Apple took a bit of hit when the form required I fill out which “State” in Canada I live in. Come on now. How are you going to succeed in world domination with such lack of attention to detail?

Brainstorm App #2

clubiphoneapps — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:28:59 +0000

by Steph