This seems like a simple question to me, but it's one I simply can't find a good answer for: what do the top iOS apps (I'm talking Twitter, Facebook) use for live pushed data? Instead of polling an API for changes - real-time data updates, which I assume they have to have a method for.
My understanding is that the main solution is APNs (Apple Push Notifications) but I can't find any notable mention of apps using it... and have found only sparse support for NodeJS.
I'm deciding between that, and MQTT messages that trigger an API call. But I'm posting this question mainly because, in the back of my head, I think there's something I'm missing completely.
Thanks much for any information at all, or even pointing me in the right direction!
Check this out:
Firebase its really got but only for iOS and Android
AirNotifier supports iOS, Android and Windows
And this is a useful stackoverflow post for you.
happy coding!
I am a first time iOS developer trying to build an iOS app from the ground up. It is for a photo-sharing startup that will have similar functionality to Instagram.
I am not sure how to approach the sharing/viewing aspect. Would I use something like Parse or Google cloud storage? It is an iOS only app, if that helps. Given that we are just a startup, a long trial or a cost per GB is fine, but I don't want to be stuck with something expensive if we start getting a lot of photo uploads.
Given that I'm the only developer, I'm hoping for something that doesn't require me to learn too many new technologies. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Parse.com, the API is fairly easy to use. The free plan has a lot of functionality and it scales up well.
That's really a tough question. You first want to research each company and weigh the pros and cons with selecting each service. The Google Cloud and Google App Engine (while they do work extremely well together) are going to be a little less "centralized" since they are essentially marketed as separate services. Parse does have that "centralized" feeling since all of their services are designed to work together.
Another nice thing about Parse is that it has build in support for iOS local datastore which means even if your users don't have an internet connection the request will be queued until a connection is made. If you go with a service like the Google Cloud then you would have to implement that on your own or just not have offline functionality.
While Parse looks like a good solution for you, it would be hard for someone to answer your question with a definitive solution as that is up to you exactly how you want your product to work. Just continue to research other solutions as there may be something better and more suited for your exact needs. You may want to build a small prototype on one platform before dedicating all of your development to that platform.
I am looking at Articulate to support my own application. I want my users to be able to use Articulate to create the E-learning and then uploading the files to my site and run it on my site.
However i wish to store both the questions and the answers of the quiz that is created in articulate.
Does anyone know how this is possible or know a way around either by using excel or any other software to store the Q/A?
There may be more than one answer. But Articulate is SCORM compliant. It is designed to return test scores to the server using SCORM. I have not been involved with receiving those test scores by acting as an LMS, but in the past I have made custom applications that send that data to the LMS using scorm. But if you research SCORM and other APIs they use you might find something useful.
For example, if you mean Articulate Storyline then you can test send/receiving data using this package:
http://www.articulate.com/support/storyline/how-to-use-the-scorm-test-suite
This shows that it can be done. But you would have to write your own program to communicate with Storyline. If you can duplicate how that package works you might be on your way.
As an alternative to SCORM, you can also use the xAPI see https://xapi.com/overview/ to store your e-learning data
I am just starting iOS development. I read some tutorials, watched stuff on iTunes U and wrote some sample code myself. Now I want to take the next step. I want to learn about best practices for iOS development in XCode.
Are there any well written and well organized iOS projects that one could take a look at?
(As I see it, iOS is not exactly the place for open source enthusiasts, however.)
Thanks
Mike.
I agree with several of the other answers that state that looking at many, many projects for mini-examples of what you want to do in your own app is the way to go.
However, you asked for an example of an app demonstrating best practices.
You could do worse than to read Matt Gallagher's blog, Cocoa with Love from beginning to end. However, the app example you asked for is right here.
Not only will it show a variety of techniques, some novel design and best-practices, but also he points out where he feels that he might have done something better.
It's a great read.
I would suggest the following process: (it worked for me)
Think of an advanced app. that you eventually want to be proficient enough to create.
Make a top-down problem-solving tree containing the necessary skills required to build your final app.
Use this tree to divide your final app. into 'sub apps'. Start at the bottom of the tree, find a tutorial specifically for that skill, and make a "Hello World" app. that uses that skill.
Keep progressing upwards, creating 'sub apps' as you go.
When you are finally ready to make your final app. (it will take a while), you will have a good handle on how iOS development works. It will also be a great test of your knowledge via direct application!
Getting the hang of iOS development can be tricky; it really does require a top-down approach, and every online resource I've found takes a linear one. The only way that I think a linear approach to learning iOS development would be manageable, is to take it one small task at a time.
As for specific resources, I always google "[what I want to do] iPhone SDK" and browse the tutorials and forum posts that come up.
Here are some open source iOS apps. However, they aren't very well documented and are also very advanced.
TKAWebView - A subclass of UIWebView that handles authentication and downloading.
Welcome to your Mac - An iOS app. to VNC into a PC/Mac and do some cool stuff.
InAppSettingsKit - A settings screen creator for your apps.
Good luck!
The people behind the Parse platform have made two complete projects.
For each project there is the complete source code, a tutorial and the resulting app is also available from the AppStore.
Anywall: https://parse.com/anywall
Anypic: https://parse.com/anypic
They both rely heavily on the Parse platform as the data source, but you still get a feel for an iOS project.
Molecules is a great open-source app that uses 3D OpenGL to render complex models of molecules.
Just keep coding my friend. You'll learn over a period of time. The best way to get dirty in a mud fight is to jump into it... Weird analogy but you get the point.
Maybe someday, we all will learn from you then !
Like you said there many and many source codes are available internet, but most are incomplete.
I found some Open source codes of REAL application currently available through Apple app store are given here
Free iPhone App Source Codes of real apps
and also, you can find many answers here on stackoverflow question - Are there any Open-source iPhone applications around?
You can download free IOS sample projects from http://devcodemarket.com
I realize this is an old thread but I've also been looking for good objective-c code examples recently and I just realized that TextEdit's source code is available at the Mac Developer Library webpage.
Also, here are some popular objective-c libraries that have caught my attention:
CocoaPods
AFNetworking.
you can also go through UICatalog from Developers Library and download the sample code. just google it and you will find a project containing all basics of iphone.
I don't think there is any perfect project that can demonstrate all the qualities of great code. Developers have stylistic preferences and may make mistakes. That said, you should look at a lot of different projects and try to look at the conventions used.
I'd suggest starting on GitHub. Besides for seeing code, you'll see what libraries are out there, which may help further your projects later on. Here's the Objective-C page on GitHub.
(Also, I (GitHub link) think you're wrong about iOS devs not being in favor open source. Yes, there's money to be made, but you can't sell a CSV paring library on the App Store as is.)
Have a look at https://github.com/mozilla/firefox-ios
That is Firefox for iOS, written in Swift.
Cocoacontrols has a wide range of controls written using Objective-C & Swift.
I believe these days, this is one of the most famous website for iOS Developers.
But, before you jump onto this, you have to learn Objective-C & Swift very well, so that you will understand how to use the controls in your app which makes your app smooth.
I'm finding it very difficult to find any decent tutorials on how to get up and running with WCAT quickly. Does anyone have a link to a decent tutorial on it that they found useful when trying to get to grips with WCAT?
For me the best thing that I used to get going with WCAT was to get their "sample" running, which tied to a base IIS installation with a single file.
Once I got that done, i found that the help documentation was very easy to understand, it is just the initial setup that was tricky.
Otherwise, this blog posting is pretty straightforward as well.
Just another option that helped me getting into this:
Using the WCAT Fiddler Extension.
This extension automatically generates all the necessary files and also calls them for you.
If you want to understand what's going behind the scenes, a good starting point for me was to use Process Explorer to see which files the Fiddler extension generates and how it calls them.
Somehow the WCAT Fiddler Extension was not working on my side and does not support POST so I decided to create my own. I shared the source code on github just incase your interested.
Here's the link: https://github.com/francischie/FiddlerWCAT
I've also found this article which combines LogParser 2.2 with WCAT. You may find that interesting too.