Developing for the iPhone

I'm a company

2009-03-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to filing my LLC with the state yesterday. Turns out it only took about 15 minutes and $50. Easy.

"Brian's Brain" is off and running!

Running Windows on my Mac (gasp!)

2009-03-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finally been forced to figure out how to run Windows on my Mac. The culprit? Quicken.

I love Quicken. But they just don't support the Mac. Intuit is in Beta on "Quicken Financial Life" for the Mac, but it is currently scheduled for release this summer, and that is at least a 6-month delay from the original announced date.

So, for the last year or so, I've been running Quicken on my wife's Vista laptop. But it is SERIOUSLY slow!

I finally decided to try VMWare Fusion, but I couldn't find my original Windows Me install CD (no surpise there), and my old Windows XP Home Upgrade CD wouldn't install without it. So I got the Windows 7 beta, and installed it.

The Windows 7 beta installed fine on Fusion, but it was also SERIOUSLY slow. And it crashed. So that sucked.

But then I remembered a stack of old CDs I had laying around with the intent of eventually using them in a yard project, and managed to find some old Windows 98 betas. And the XP home upgrade installer recognized one of them! Stay tuned...

Well, it turned out to install flawlessly. And I have Quicken installed and working. It was kinda slow, so I upgraded my Mac to 4GB and gave 1GB to VMWare. We'll see if that helps.

Buttons & Books

2009-03-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

I have spent the last couple of days adding some buttons to my app. I don't know if I'm back up to speed, or if the books I bought are really helping, or it's the Buffy "Once More, With Feeling" soundtrack I've been listening to, or what, but it has gone pretty smoothly!

About the books, here's what I picked up at Powell's:

So far the first two have come in handy. Hoping the last two help when I need to see "under the hood".

Mobile Tagging

2009-02-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Attending a presentation on mobile tagging. The simplest example is a 2D barcode that encodes a URL, printed as part of an advertisement. Load mobile app, shoot barcode with camera, and URL is loaded in your browser.

Google is extending AdSense and YouTube to support QR Code generation. MS has proprietary tag format.

Can be read from print, screen even plaque.

Privacy issues. Is URL malicious? Perhaps creator of reader (eg google) could provide clearinghouse that qualified URL before redirecting to it.

Debug Logging

2009-02-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

Today I'm taking some time to enhance my debug logging. I now have so many debug log messages that I need a way to enable/disable them quickly at compile time.

I have it mostly done, so now's the time when I usually find out that this capability is already provided for me somehow... ;-)

XCode & Subversion

2009-02-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

I'm back to full-time iPhone development, and I am determined to solve a problem I've been having with Subversion. Our project repo is up on projectlocker.com. I can access it fine via every mechanism (XCode Repository browser, Safari, svn command-line) EXCEPT from within the "Groups & Files" window. It always fails as follows:

Error: 170001 (Authorization failed) Description: PROPFIND request failed on ...
Error: 170001 (Authorization failed) Description: PROPFIND of ... : authorization failed (https://seed1.projectlocker.com)

Oh, this works fine for my partner.

Google has been no help. Nor have the ProjectLocker nor Apple Developer web-sites.

So, I created a new dummy repo, uploaded some dummy code, and ... it works.

Hmm. So it is something with the files in my project repo. Is some path hardcoded maybe? I did demote the code under a "trunk" path at some point..

Oh, I can't believe it. In Project Info - General, there is an "SCM Repository" field. It was set to my local file:// repository for some reason. Probably because that's where I had done my original development. Not sure why it didn't default to the repo from which it was checked out - Doh!

Anyway, it works now. Yea!

iPhone Tips

2008-12-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

Check out these iPhone tips. My tip: learn all 10 of them.

What to do after you reflash your iPhone

2008-09-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

Apple does a good job of keeping backups of your iPhone data, but they don't backup everything. Here's a list of stuff you have to fix after you reflash your iPhone:

Passcode Lock: Settings - General - Auto-Lock, Passcode Lock
E-mail: If you leave mail on the server, your iPhone will forget which e-mails you have already read, so you'll have to read or delete them. A couple of tricks:

Reduce the number of messages displayed in your inbox - Settings - Mail... - Show

In Mail, hit "Edit", then select a bunch of messages and delete them all at once

I'll keep adding to this list as I remember stuff.

Tonchidot - Amazing iPhone app

2008-09-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously, Tonchidot is so amazing I can't believe it isn't a hoax.

I can't figure out how they figure out orientation of the device - GPS can tell you where it is, but how does it know where it is pointing? Image recognition?

GTD

2008-09-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get serious about planning using Getting Things Done (GTD). I've tried Remember The Milk and Nozbe, both web-based apps. I like them fairly well, but each has some limitation that drives me crazy. So today I downloaded "Things" from Cultured Code.

Things is free (while in Beta) on the Mac, and $10 on the iPhone. The two can be sync'd via wifi. I haven't tried the iPhone version, but I really like the Mac version. The UI just makes sense, and I like the way tags work. We'll see how it does over time...

OK, that's enough time. I REALLY like it. Time to buy the iPhone version...

Easily installed, easily sync'd. I like the way the sync works - very bluetooth-pairing-like.

For some reason the iPhone app is missing the "Areas" tab - maybe it isn't implemented yet.. yup... patience, patience...

Update 2008.09.23: Lovin' Things. Again - UI "just makes sense".

iPhone OS 2.0.1

2008-08-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

Downloading now - let's see what it fixes...

249MB download - but it went pretty fast. rebooted, seems to be working...

...2 days later, and so far, so good, but I haven't noticed any noticeable performance or stability improvements. Seems to work a little better with XCode.

Subversion Hosting

2008-08-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at hosting my Subversion repository somewhere other than my Mac. Here's why:

my partner gets updates as soon as I make them, rather than waiting for when I have time to deliver a memory stick
I get my partners updates the same way
we can keep non-Xcode code and documents under revision control, too
other tools, e.g. issue tracking and wiki
its effectively an off-site backup of our stuff

After a bunch of searching through hosting sites listed on the Subversion site, I chose ProjectLocker's $30/year plan. Lots of sites have free or close-to-fee hosting, but I liked ProjectLocker's alerts (e-mail, rss and twitter), unlimited monthly data transfers, and disk space. They also, as many sites do, provide Trac, and uploading of an existing repository. Seems like a good choice for a small team.

App Store On-Line

2008-07-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

The app store is on-line! I downloaded a bunch of free apps to play with. Some seem really good, some are crashing fairly regularly. But then again, so does mine!

Reviews of the iPhone 3G

2008-07-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

Check out Walter Mossberg's review of the iPhone 3G (Wall Street Journal)

And here's David Pogue's (NY Times)

WWDC Day 5

2008-06-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

1:00 - Getting help from the Table View Lab
11:45 - Time for lunch
10:30 - How Do I Do That? Tips and Tricks for iPhone Development
9:00 - Mastering iPhone Table Views
8:10 - Quick trip, but I did figure out my SQlite problem.
7:00 - Last Day on the Bus. Got my own seat. Must be some people working at home today.

WWDC Day 4

2008-06-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

10:30 - Debugging and Profiling Your iPhone Application - have to try to pay attention while working on my app...
9:00 - Can't get into "Mastering Interface Builder", so I'll sit in "Building an Advanced iPhone Web Application, Hands On" and work on my code...
8:45 - Jeez, problem was that the db file wasn't getting copied to the simulator when I though it was, so it had an old version. Once again, not the code...
8:00 - Arrg! Can't get the friggin' SQLite code working.
7:00 - On bus, still working on that first app.

WWDC Day 3

2008-06-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

6:05 - On the bus, hacking away!
5:25 - I'm not a dork - its an XCode bug - applied workaround - RUNNING IN MY IPHONE!!
5:15 - Go to XCode lab with problem
5:00 - Decide to see if I can download an app into my iPhone rather than go to session
4:25 - iPhone OS installed!
3:30 - iPhone Multi-Touch Events and Gestures
3:25 - SDK Installed!
3:20 - Installing Beta 7 of SDK and iPhone OS
2:00 - "Can't disclose" session (sorry!)
12:30 - Small Teams, Complex Pipelines: Writing Software at Pixar
10:30 - Controls, Views, and Animation on iPhone
9:00 - iPhone Application User Interface Design
8:30 - At WWDC. Made good progress on my first app - may even get it working today.
7:00 - On bus, working on my first app that isn't just a sample app

WWDC Impressions

2008-06-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here are my main impressions of WWDC:

Here's a link to a survey that suggests that 70% of planned iPhone apps may be free. I think that is quite right, as many existing services will provide free iPhone apps to access their service.
5200 developers in attendance
Standing in Lines - reminds me of college - it's like people are looking for lines to stand in.
I'm special! - I'm one of 4000 approved iPhone developers. That seems like a big number, but I've met a number of people who haven't been approved. I have no idea why I was approved...
The iPhone is big. Really big. - I don't know who is going to develop the killer app, or how many people will make a lot of money, but there are some cool applications under development. It will be amazing to watch what happens over the next year. Lowering the price of an iPhone to $199 while adding several important new features is also going to help in a huge way.
As far as I can tell, there are no diet-colas available here. 17 other kinds of drinks plus coffee, but no diet-colas. I'm seeing some serious withdrawal symptoms...

Missing iPhone Features

2008-06-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so it has been announced. What is the new iPhone missing?

Voice dialing - why is this missing? It is a phone, right? I can get a free cell phone that does this!
Copy and paste - this might actually be #1 - how often have I tried to do a simple copy and paste on my iPhone, only to be disappointed...
Video - I really liked being able to take short video clips with my Windows Mobile phone. The iPhone is a video playing powerhouse, why not be able to capture, too?
Global search - I'd love to be able to search everything - e-mail, contacts, etc.
Voice Recording

WWDC Day 2

2008-06-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

6:10 - Ducked out a few minutes early so I could make the last bus
5:00 - Designing Applications with Interface Builder
3:30 - Understanding iPhone Table Views
2:00 - Understanding iPhone View Controllers
12:30 - Lunch

12:18 - Developers Conferences are the only events on the planet where the lines for the Men's restrooms are longer than the lines for the Women's restrooms!

11:50 - Bean bag chairs? This is a different kind of developers conference!

11:45 - Time for lunch, and perhaps a bit of development?
10:30 - Introduction to the iPhone Development Tools - very cool tools. The instruments capability makes me want to inject bugs just to have fun finding them...

9:00 - iPhone Application Development Fundamentals
8:50 - Just looked over to see the Army Colonel who was in the video clip during the keynote. In the clip, he said something like "We are the most mobile IT environment in the world, with one of the largest user bases. And the only one whose users get shot at."
8:14 - On the bus to WWDC day 2, trying to figure out which sessions to attend today. There is some unfortunate overlap to deal with.

WWDC Day 1

2008-06-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

6:15 - On the bus, on the way home. Good day, overall.

5:00 - Introduction to Mac and iPhone Development - Damn, the room filled up! And no overflow. Apple blew this one. Maybe I can get my money back? ;-)

3:30 - Developer Tools State of the Union

2:00 - Mac OS X State of the Union - In the overflow room, again. BTW, the rest of the day is "Apple Confidential", so I'll have fewer updates.
1:49 - Just learned something. Treat your iPhone earbuds carefully! $29 bucks for a new headset. Jeez, an entire iPhone 3G (8GB) will only be $200!

12:35 - Super Geeky network stuff...

11:30 - 3G!! GPS!! Go, Steve!
10:38 - Looks like there will be some cool apps at AppStore.
10:18 - Still waiting for something new...
10:07 - In!!! Just as Steve came on stage...
9:58 - Still in line. Steve, don't start without us! Enjoying conversation with other developers in line. Some are completely new to the mac, some are super experiences.
9:37 - Still in line...

8:50 - More than an hour 'til the keynote, I'm about 50th in line, and the auditorium is already full! I knew I shouldn't have stopped to use the bathroom!
8:00 - On the bus on the way to WWDC. Can't seem to do formatted blogging from my iPhone. Will update during or after the keynote.

New iPhone Features

2008-06-09T17:12:00.001-07:00

Here's a list of my favorite new features of the iPhone 3G (and iPhone OS 2.0):

3rd Party Apps - duh!
Contacts search - it is a phone, right?
3G - Yup, downloading faster will be great. Gets close enough to WiFi that most downloads (with the possible exception of video) will be way faster.
Push e-mail, calendar, contacts - Whether through Exchange or MobileMe, this will make it way easier to share calendars and the like. Will make Enterprise users very happy...
GPS - I've already seen the advantages of this. When I came down here on the bus, I noticed that my map continued to update my current location, rather than staying static as it used to. Even though my iPhone doesn't have GPS, it showed a fairly accurate track. And geotagging photos is automatic. Nice.

First App

2008-05-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went through Apple's "Your First iPhone Application", which was, no surprise, "Hello World". But I liked the way the accompanying document led me through creating the app step-by-step, because I was unfamiliar with Objective-C, X-Code and the framework. Unfortunately, the link to it is now dead. I think it was pre-Interface Builder, so maybe they decided it wasn't worth continuing with.

There appears to be a replacement: Creating an iPhone Application . Maybe I'll check that out.

First post - catching up

2008-05-05T09:56:00.001-07:00

Hey, my first post on my new blog!

Let's see if I can catch up in a paragraph or two (or maybe three). OK, so there I am in my mom's fallopian tubes... Seriously, I love developing software. I started doing it in the fifth grade (on an IBM mainframe), managed to continue in high school (on Commodore Pets and TRS-80s), stumbled on the fact that you could actually get a degree in this (Computer Science @ Cal Poly) and then found myself doing it professionally for more than 20 years. I get a chance to take a sabbatical, and just when I'm thinking going back to work would be fun, Apple releases the iPhone SDK.

Alright, that takes us to March 6, just two months ago. I'm e-mailing back and forth with a friend, and he asks me "so, have you taken a look at the iPhone SDK?" Wow, I had heard about it earlier in the year, but had lost track of when it was going to be introduced. So I go to Apple's site and watch the presentation. Hey, that looks pretty cool. I've had a number of mobile app ideas floating around in my head for a while. Maybe this is the right platform? A few weeks later (and after creating a preliminary business plan so I can convince my wife that spending some $$$ is a good idea), I'm the proud owner of an iPhone and a brand new MacBook Pro. For a guy who previously designed PC clones for the #1 PC manufacturer, this was a big step.

So I have my new iPhone. Replaced a Cingular 8125, so it's not my first smart phone. And I can tell you, this thing is way easier to use. Sure, I miss my spreadsheet app, and I hate iTunes on the PC (my Mac hadn't arrived yet), but I'm loving this thing. It gets to the point where I start hearing "PUT THE IPHONE DOWN!" a bit too much at dinner time, so I know I'm hooked (surprisingly enough, responding "But, honey, I'm just researching Christopher Lee, the actor" doesn't help). Anyway, I'm a geek, but the fact that I love the iPhone (as do my geeky friends who have one) and the fact that it is so easy to use have me convinced that this would be a good platform to develop for, i.e. there are going to be lots of them out there.

Next my Mac arrives. And, the first day I have it, I lock it up once or twice. OK, so it's not Utopia. But it is still very, very, good. And iTunes is way better than it was on the PC. (Oh, yeah, I forgot: my iPhone rebooted once or twice the first day I had it. This is why fellow engineers like me to test their HW & SW - I can get anything to crash). Download the SDK (16 hours? - man, it is popular) and I'm ready to go.

Well, not quite ready yet. Been a while since I've developed in C++, so I need to do some rust-brushing-off. And I still have to finish that playcastle I've been building for my son, and, well, you know how it is. I also decide that I'm going to do it systematically, so I start going through the sample code. And I get Subversion working, because most recently I've been a SW process guy, and I'm curious about that...

So, that takes us to today, two months after the first SDK release. Time to look at more sample code, I think. Maybe some design. And perhaps another blog entry...