NSUserDefaults - Persisting data & passing it around viewCOntrollers

This is a very simple way to pass parameters between various views.

1st in the appDelegate.m file add;
// NSUserDefault setup for passing info around the app the starting default values.
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setInteger:0     forKey:@"list_filtered"];
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setInteger:1 forKey:@"selected_spreadsheet"];
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setInteger:0 forKey:@"selected_map_type"];
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"ALL" forKey:@"selected_driver"];
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"initialString" forKey:@"selected_plist"];
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"initialDictionary" forKey:@"selected_member"];
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"selectedIndexPath" forKey:@"selected_indexPath"];
       
// sync the defaults to disk
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] registerDefaults:appDefaults];
        [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] synchronize];

Simple Database creation for Apps

This is my quick go to for creating a data file to use in an app.  There are other better, quicker and more complex, but this is quick & easy/peasey!

• Create a CSV file in the speadsheet of your choice.  I use either Google's or OpenOffice.
• Run the file thru my favorite converter - Plist Converter, by cc ccc.  It's also easy.  Couldn't find the url, but here's what it looks like;

 

• Copy the resultant fileName.plist into your project.
•  Write yourself some code to translae it into an NSArray or somethin'.

That's all she wrote.

Facebook Integration notes

Notes & research;
FB Graph API URL - https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/common-scenarios

From FBs documentation

Uploading Photos and Creating Photo Albums

Apps are able to publish and create new photo albums, and publish photos via the Graph API on behalf of people or Facebook Pages. Photos can be uploaded by sending the actual image files, or by using URLs of images already on the internet.
Read These Docs

• Platform Policies that cover publishing behavior in apps.
• Guide to Publishing with the Graph API.

Use These APIs

• /{user-id}/albums to create empty photo albums for people.
• /{user-id}/photos to add individual photos for people.
• /{page-id}/albums to create empty photo albums for Facebook Pages.
• /{page-id}/photos to add individual photos for Facebook Pages.
• /{album-id}/photos to add photos to an existing album for people or for Pages.

 Other links:
Good Wenderlich tutorial - http://www.raywenderlich.com/1626/facebook-tutorial-for-ios-how-to-post-to-a-user-wall-upload-photos-and-add-a-like-button-from-your-iphone-app

More Info from FBs API

Telling Stories with Open Graph

Open Graph lets apps tell stories on Facebook through a structured, strongly typed API.
People use stories to share the things they're doing, the people they're doing them with and the places where they happen. Open Graph lets you integrate apps deeply into the Facebook experience, which increases engagement, distribution and growth.

FBs tutorial for an Open Graph Story integration - https://developers.facebook.com/docs/ios/open-graph

Stunning example of FBs Story photo album  I take back what I said about FBs slideshow features!
https://www.facebook.com/fanpage.it/posts/945924002095941

https://www.facebook.com/chris.lamb.39982/media_set?set=a.10204719814007996.1016090179&type=3

Turn-by-Turn Routing for your app

The following method takes the User's location and the destination's location and sends them to the iPhone's native Maps app for their Turn-by-Turn routing.  Most excellent!!

Looks like this:

The method:

- (IBAction)turnByRouting:(UIBarButtonItem *)sender {
    NSLog(@"Opens the native Map app's turn-by-turn navigation");

//business location
    // test location
    // CLLocationCoordinate2D coords = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(37.0469,-122.0308);

// Gets the coordinates from the single pinsArray object
    NSString *latitude = [[self.pinsArray objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"latitude"];
    NSString *longitude = [[self.pinsArray objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"longitude"];
    CLLocationCoordinate2D coords = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake([latitude
          doubleValue], [longitude doubleValue]);
      
    MKPlacemark *place = [[MKPlacemark alloc] initWithCoordinate:coords addressDictionary:nil];
    MKMapItem *mapItem = [[MKMapItem alloc]initWithPlacemark:place];
  
//current location
    MKMapItem *mapItem2 = [MKMapItem mapItemForCurrentLocation];
      
    NSArray *mapItems = @[mapItem, mapItem2];
      
    NSDictionary *options = @{
        MKLaunchOptionsDirectionsModeKey:MKLaunchOptionsDirectionsModeDriving,
        MKLaunchOptionsMapTypeKey:[NSNumber numberWithInteger:MKMapTypeStandard],
        MKLaunchOptionsShowsTrafficKey:@YES
    };      
    [MKMapItem openMapsWithItems:mapItems launchOptions:options];
}

Great Xcode tutorials

Here's a running list of tutorials;

Passing Data Between Views - http://www.geekylemon.com/WEBPROTECT-xcodepassingdataviews.htm

Creating and array of index letters

The following method allows you to supply an array of dictionaries and obtain a sorted index array of any key for use in an indexed tableView;

// Takes the array in question and creates an index for use in the tableview
- (NSArray *)makeSectionsIndex:(NSArray *)arrayOfDictionaries {
   
// Creates a mutable set to read each letter only once   
    NSMutableSet *sectionsMutableSet = [NSMutableSet setWithCapacity:26];
   
// Reads each item's country & loads it's first letter into sections set
    for (int i=0; i<=[arrayOfDictionaries count]-1; i++) {
        NSDictionary *aDictionary = [arrayOfDictionaries objectAtIndex:i];
        NSString *aCountry = [aDictionary objectForKey:@"Country"];
        NSString *aLetter = [aCountry substringToIndex:1U];         //uses first letter of string
        [sectionsMutableSet addObject:aLetter];
    }
   
// Copies the mutable set into a set & then make a mutable array of the set
    NSSet *sectionsSet = [NSSet setWithSet:sectionsMutableSet];
    NSMutableArray *sectionsMutableArray = [[sectionsSet allObjects] mutableCopy];
   
//Now let's sort the array and make it inmutable
    NSMutableArray *sortedMutableArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    sortedMutableArray = [sectionsMutableArray        sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(localizedCaseInsensitiveCompare:)];
    NSArray *sortedIndexArray = [NSArray arrayWithArray:sortedMutableArray];

//    NSLog(@"%@", sortedIndexArray);
    return sortedIndexArray;                                                  
}

posted from MyMapView, masterViewController by CPL

Creating a tableView Index

This implementation is from a tableView that is using coreData & fetchRequests as the model. It's necessary to implement the following dataSource delegate methods. Also there is a simple method in the table's data class which selects for 'first character'.

 in WordsTableViewController.m - implement the following delegate methods
#pragma mark - UITableViewDataSource indexList Methods
- (NSArray *)sectionIndexTitlesForTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
    return [self.fetchedResultsController sectionIndexTitles];
}
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView sectionForSectionIndexTitle:(NSString *)title atIndex:(NSInteger)index {
    return [self.fetchedResultsController sectionForSectionIndexTitle:title atIndex:index];
}

 in Items.m - this method uses the 1st character of each word as it's index
-(NSString *)firstChar {
    return [self.word substringToIndex:1U];
}

in WordTableViewController.m - And most importantly in the (void)setupFetchedResultsController method  the firstChar is used as the sort parameter.
    self.fetchedResultsController = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc]
            initWithFetchRequest:request
            managedObjectContext:self.wordDictionary.managedObjectContext
            sectionNameKeyPath:@"firstChar"
            cacheName:nil];

ref: myDictionary by CPL

iPhone screen rotation logic

This is the proper implementation for screen rotation (example is portrait or upside down portrait);

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation {
            if ((interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait) || (interfaceOrientation
            ==UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown)) {   
                 return YES;
             } else {
                 return NO;
    }
}

the other possible states are UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft or UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight.

You should also set the view mode in the view's Attribute inspector on the storyboard.

New Tricks n Tips for your iPad, iPhone & Xcode

The following links are for some good reference info on how to do various unusual things on your iThings and also Xcode.

Backing up your iPad or Iphone - This will allow you to load different versions of the iOS, secure your apps & data and .... or just follow this;

iTunes

How to back up

iTunes can create backups of your iOS device when you:

• Sync with iTunes (disabled if you have iCloud backup turned on)
• Right-click (or Control-click) the iOS device in iTunes under Devices and choose Back Up

Use these steps to manually back up your iOS device using iTunes:

1. Connect your iOS device to a computer with the latest version of iTunes installed
2. Select your iOS device in iTunes under Devices
3. Right-click (or Control-click) the device and select Back Up

 Turn on Photo Stream - This automatically syncs photos on your Mac, iPhone & iPad via iCloud;
in your iPad; go to  Settings - Photos - Photo Stream ON

HMI Ideas

This Corning video has a great set of UI features to emulate and create;

Panoramio demo - *** Version 4 Location & Tag selectable

This version uses JavaScript and allows for the eventual full use of the Panoramio data set. It is currently set for tag = mountain & location = Tibet

Photo widget JavaScript version

An anchor

Examples of the markup that can be used for buttons: A button element, an input of type submit and an anchor.

Panoramio demo - version 03 User Selected Content

Let's now try a just MY photos (user=1550977;) and other embedded data fields. Detailed Panoramio API

slideshow.html

These examples use panoramio's HTML widgets. For more detail we need to work with JavaScript

Panoramio demo - version 02 Embedded Slideshow

Let's now try a slideshow from within this frame, or can this be any easier?

Panoramio demo - version 01 simple iframe

This is the simplest version of the Panoramio api using an iframe script from the Panoramio api site.

App downloads & online signup tips

Good article with advice