I have been asked quite a bit recently at user group meetings how to get started developing for the iPhone. I keep giving the same answers so I will post my advice here for posterity.

If you have some knowledge of programming, particularly in an object oriented language I suggest these two books

iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

Beginning iOS 5 Developement

If you do not have any programming experience or simplly want more information on the Objective-C language that is the basis for native iOS apps there are two more books that are popular. I have not read either of these books but they are spoken of highly within the community.

Programming in Objective-C

Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

The best way to really learn any programming language or framework is to actually use it. So install Xcode and get coding. There is no harm in trying things to see what works and what does not. If you get stuck the developer community surrounding iOS is very knowledgable and friendly. Visit StackOverflow if you're stuck or find a local NSCoder or Cocoaheads chapter and show up at a meeting.

Our local Albany Area Cocoaheads chapter is always glad to have new people and happy to answer any questions. I'm certain the groups closest to you are just as helpful.

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I have submitted an update to Proxima that has the following features:

• Calendar select popup on iPad is larger (supports iPad retina display)
• New inverse graphics mode (white text on black)
• New support for all device orientations (landscape and portrait)

Expect to see it in a week if past performance is any indication.

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This past weekend I attended the first Tech Valley Startup Weekend in Troy, NY.

40 or more people presented pitches for their ideas on Friday night. The attendees voted for about ideas 20 to continue to be developed.

I joined a team to create a service called Landlordia

Landlordia is a service to help improve the relationship between landlords and tenants. It is a web and mobile based service allowing payment and receipt of rents, notifications via voice, text and email of bills due and payments both due and missed. It allows the tenant to snap a picture on their phone and notify the landlord of something that needs to be repaired. And much much more. The link is just the landing page but there is a working site and web service along with a mobile app. Its real.

Out team of 9 spent 54 hours building this concept. We had designers, marketing, developers and even a lawyer on the team. 

We worked very hard. Everyone did their job and did it fantastically. We had a great team.

On Sunday night we finished in third place winning $6,000 in cash and services to further the business. 

I was impressed by the work of all the teams. I met some great people I hope to continue to work with and call friends.

This was a great experience and I encourage anyone interested in becoming an entrepeneur or taking part in the process of developing an idea into a business to attend a Startup Weekend.

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Apple has graciously reviewed and approved the newest release of CE Tracker. 

Version 1.2 features the ability to export your course records and track costs associated with each course.

These were the two most requested features. Keep the requests coming for more updates.

If you are using CE Tracker and like it please consider reviewing it in the App Store. If you don't like it or are having issues with it please let me know.

I know many people are using it and getting in touch but a few positive reviews in the store would boost sales and help keep the updates coming.  No one likes apps that remind you to review them so I didn't do that. Please consider supporting CE Tracker with a two minute review on the App Store. Thanks.

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I was working on a simple app to use UIWebVIews to display pages from a web site. Its a tab bar app and each tab loads a different page from the site.

The site is here: Tech Valley Mobile Developers Network

If you open that link in mobile safari you will see the extra elements added to aid browsing on the smaller screen.

The site is configured with a wordpress plug-in to better handle the mobile browser. The plug-in adds a menu, searching and the ability to toggle the mobile format on and off.

The home page looks like this:

I did not want these elements (the black bits at the top of the web view)  in the app as they would circumvent the tab bar button system.

It turns out, as with most things cocoa, once you figure it out its very simple.

The trick is to inject some html into the page after you load it. In this case I injected some javascript to hide content by id <div id=...> tag

Here is the code (apologies for the formatting)

- (void)hideUnwantedHTML{

    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"var script = document.createElement('script');"  

        "script.type = 'text/javascript';"  

        "script.text = \"function hideID(idName) { "  

        "var id = document.getElementById(idName);"  

        "id.style.display = 'none';"

     "}\";" 

     "document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);"];  

    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"hideID('headerbar');"];  

    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"hideID('wptouch-search');"];  

    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"hideID('wptouch-menu');"];  

    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"hideID('drop-fade');"];

    [self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"hideID('footer');"];    

}

What this method does is inject a script to find the element by name (idName) then hide any elements with that name. Call the script once for each id you want to hide.

Call this in your UIWebViewDelegate under the webViewDidFinishLoad: method and the nasty html you don't want will disappear.

- (void)webViewDidFinishLoad:(UIWebView *)webView {

    NSLog(@"Finished loading");

    UIApplication *application = [UIApplication sharedApplication];

    application.networkActivityIndicatorVisible = NO;

    [activityIndicator stopAnimating];

    activityIndicator.hidden = YES;

    [self hideUnwantedHTML];

}

Don't forget to add <UIWebViewDelegate> to your view controller in order to get the delegate calls.

Here is the same UIWebView after the addition of the injected javascript. Nice and clean.

Sure, web apps like this don't make the best apps but when a quick and dirty solution is needed this might just do the trick.

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A few people have requested the ability to export their course data out of CE Tracker.

Version 1.2 will have this feature. 

This next version will also allow you to track expenses associated with courses so you can see how much compliance is costing you.

We have been planning these features for a while but it definitely motivates me when people submit requests. Keep the suggestions coming.

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Excuse me venting here...

I am working on an app for a client. One of the features is sharing to twitter, facebook, etc.

In order to do so you need some API keys from the various sites to use in your app. I added half a dozen services with no problem. Then came facebook.

I have avoided creating a facebook page but it was needed in order to register an app as a developer. So I tried to sign up. I gave what I felt was the minimal information needed to start an account.

They decided that I was just going to spam them so they asked for a phone number to verify I was a real person. OK. Fair enough. I give them my google voice number to send me a text. I don't get the text. Repeat a few times. No text. Try again.  'You are requesting too many codes in a short period of time' Again, fair enough a bot network might do that.

Realzing this isn't going to work with text messaging and google voice, I give them a real live phone number and select the option to receive a voice call..... 'Our systems are busy. Try again later' Progress? Perhaps....

Repeat the process 3-4 times. Systems still busy. Really? You can't get a machine to dial my number and give me a code?? After 3-4 times it says I am spamming the system and locks me out again. Sometimes I can try again in a few hours sometimes 10-12 hours later it still says too many tries.

This has been going on for 3 days. Glad I didn't want the facebook page anyway.

Ended up using the client account to get the API key. Everything worked fine. For now.

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A user has requested the ability to omit certain courses from counting for selected goals.

I thought this was a great idea so I added this feature to the next update.

Code is complete. A wee bit of testing and we will upload to App Store.

More planned for version 1.2 but please let me know if you have suggestions.

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As promised the bug fix release of CE Tracker should now be showing up as an update.

Didn't warrant the 1.1 version so we are going with 1.0.1

Have a few suggestions for the next feature update but I am open to more. Any input on making the app more useful in various professions and non-US locations is very helpful.

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Thanks to a user report I have fixed a bug that prevented the info button from displaying beyond the second goal in the goals view.

I am currently awaiting feedback on another possible bug (could be a misundertanding rather than a bug) but once this is clarified and fixed, if necessary, I will upload a new build to the app store.

Unfortunately, the App Store is shut down for updates until after the holidays so any update will take a few more days to appear.

If you have run across this issue please bear with me, the fix is on the way.

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Proxima has been approved and is available now for free in the App Store.

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I could have sworn I checked for name clashes in the App Store prior to even starting this project. Apparently I was wrong. So the app formally known as What Next is now Proxima.

Same great app, fresh new name.

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The paint is barely dry on CE Tracker and I am well underway on my next app.

This one is quick and dirty but it scratches an itch I have had for a while. With three kids and all sorts of family and work activites it is sometimes hard to track whats going on and where I need to be next. Sure a calendar will show you your schedule or a to do list will track your tasks but what I wanted is a simple one click app to tell me 'whats next?'

And thats what I'm working on.

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CE Tracker available in the App Store

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Just finished uploading CE Tracker to the app store. CE Tracker is my iPhone app to help track continuing education compliance for professionals.

In many fields, such as law, medicine and engineering, licensed professionals are required to obtain a certain number of credits every year in order to maintain their licensing. Keeping track of the courses can be a tedious task. This is just the sort of job an iPhone is perfect for.

I tried to keep the app simple in appearance while maintaining a full feature set. If you enter the location for a class, seminar or event it can help you with directions using the iPhones mapping tools. If your license requires a certain amount of credits be in specifc areas of study it lets you track these requisites as well. If you are licensed in several states you can track them all. CE Tracker will figure out what credits apply to each of your licenses.

It took a lot longer than I expected. It always does but I never figured on shelving the project for 7 months. Anyway its been uploaded for review and if all goes well should be available in a few days.

You can read more about CE Tracker here

I'm happy with it and have of ideas on additional features. Lets see if anyone finds it useful.

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A new keyboard shortcut in Xcode4 allows you to quickly specify where a file opens in the editor.

Pressing Shift-Option and clicking on the file name in the Project Navigator brings up a quicklook type view in which you can click the location to display the new file. You can select the primary editor pane, the current assistant pane or a new assistant pane. A quick swipe in the 'quickview' window even lets you open the file in a new window. You can also select to open the file in a new tab.

Very handy. Very cool.

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Really working to come up on the correct icon for CE Tracker, my continuing education tracking app. I think I have a solid concept now but not 100% sure on the execution yet.

BTW new Pixelmator 2.0 is excellent

The background in the actual image is not a gradient. The icon generator adjusted it. Close enough for this sample.

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My long dormant app project is feature complete. Everything seems to work as it should. Squashed a few memory bugs when Instruments was cooperating. Seems good.

So I'm done right? Nah. Still got the other 80% of app development to do.

Back to work.

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The iAd framework is very easy to work with but adding support to an app with a complex view heirarchy is work. Adding support to a complex view heirarchy hand coded and left dormant for almost a year is a nightmare.

I finally figured it out and my app now supports iAds in a tab view controller with a tableview. You won't understand the level of difficulty unless you have tried this. I'm sure if you started from scratch with the intent of having ad support it isn't very difficult but if you have no xib to tweak this sort of setup can be tricky.

I did a bunch of reading online but this tutorial really helped me get my head around it.

It works. I'm happy. Today was a good day.

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