Advanced iOS - Storyboard - 10 Oct 2013 (Thu)

In Xcode 5, you can no longer choose to create a project using the usual .XIB files. Instead, you will have to use Storyboard to create the layouts for your UI. This upcoming course on iOS Storyboard aims to show developers how to make use of Storyboard to layout their UI. In this intensive one-day course, you will learn how to get started with Storyboard, as well as create some interesting UI effects, such as sliding View windows, and your own custom PDF reader. 

Course outlines and application form here.

Venue
Bayview Hotel
30 Bencoolen Street
Singapore 189621

Date
10 Oct 2013 (Thu)

Time
9am to 5pm

Fee
S$599

Participants are expected to have basic knowledge of iOS programming. 

Android Tip: Checking the Availability of an Intent

Android developers are all too familiar with the concepts of Intent. But often, if you are not careful, calling an Intent using an action name that matches no activities will result in your application crashing.  In order to prevent that, you are advised to check for the availability of that Intent prior to calling it.

To check if an Intent is available, use the isIntentAvailable() method, defined below:

import android.content.Context;

import android.content.pm.PackageManager;

import android.content.pm.ResolveInfo;

public static boolean isIntentAvailable(

Context context, String action)

{

    final PackageManager packageManager =     

        context.getPackageManager();

    final Intent i = new Intent(action);

    List list =

        packageManager.queryIntentActivities(i,

        PackageManager.MATCH_DEFAULT_ONLY);

    return list.size() > 0;

}

This method returns a true if there is at least one activity that matches your action name. You can call it as follows:

String action = "net.learn2develop.secondactivity";

//---check if intent is available---

if (isIntentAvailable(this, action)) {

    Intent i = new Intent(action);

    startActivity(Intent.createChooser(

        i, "List of Apps"));

} else {

    Toast.makeText(this, "Intent is not available",

    Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

}

Free eDoc on Xcode and Dashcode

I am happy to announce that Developer Learning Solutions has collaborated with Mobiforge.com to release the free eDoc PDF - Introduction to iPhone Programming using Dashcode and Xcode.

This free eDoc contains two lab exercises - one for Dashcode and one for Xcode. If you are contemplating developing for the iPhone but do not know where to start, this eDoc will provide you with a quick and easy way to get started. It gives you a flavor of the 2 different ways to develop for the iPhone - web applications vs. native applications.

Download the free eDoc here.

Once you learned the basics, you would want to go further. Check out the following courses:

3-day iPhone Application Programming using Xcode Training Course

3-day iPhone Web Application Programming using Dashcode Training Course