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Posts Tagged ‘Cocoa’

CSStringTokenizer, a Cocoa Touch front end for tokenizing strings

Filed under: Developer, SDK

Have you ever wanted to work with rather deep elements of Core Foundation in the iPhone SDK with some sort of front end? August Joki has just come up with a project that provides a Cocoa Touch wrapper for the CFStringTokenizer type in the Core Foundation framework.

As you can see in the screen shot at right, the demo provides various aspects about the current string including the string in a letter, word, or using a WordBoundary. It works just like CFStringTokenizer can, but can be accessed using this front-end.

If you’re wondering what CFStringTokenizer actually is, it’s useful for breaking a string into a token, which can specified by words, sentences, or paragraphs. You’re also able to further modify the tokenization once you break it down.

This is something that’s going to be useful for iPhone developers who like to work with a Cocoa Touch interface to bring lower-level elements of the iPhone OS into their apps, and also to developers who work with natural language strings.

To download this project, go over to the cocoa-stringtokenizer project page on GitHub.

TUAWCSStringTokenizer, a Cocoa Touch front end for tokenizing strings originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TapLynx media-based iPhone app builder from NewsGator released

Filed under: Cool tools, iPhone, iPod touch

The iPhone app platform TapLynx from NetNewsWire was released yesterday, after months of anticipation. TapLynx provides you with a way to build media-rich iPhone applications without having to write any code. It’s basically NetNewsWire’s way of leveraging their RSS expertise along with their iPhone development skills, in the form of Brent Simmons.

Although TapLynx users don’t need Cocoa knowledge, if you’re a Cocoa developer you can use TapLynx to quickly add media management features to your app. In fact, NewsGator distributes TapLynx as a Software Development Kit, making its development roots fairly obvious. Beyond the ability to customize the user interface and choose the feeds you want your app to display, TapLynx offers the unique feature of being able to do remote updates to the app. This means that you can change a number of things in the app including the look-and-feel without requiring an update to be submitted to the frustratingly slow App Store.

Brent Simmons, the developer behind TapLynx, is the guy behind the perennial Mac favorite RSS reader, NetNewsWire. What many people don’t know is that before he did NetNewsWire he worked at UserLand, creating tools for developers. So in some ways this is Brent returning to his roots.

[Update] As commenters have pointed out, the pricing for TapLynx is a little over the top: $3,499US for an Enterprise license, which is the only type of license they offer. That makes the news of TapLynx’s release a little less interesting, in my opinion.

TUAWTapLynx media-based iPhone app builder from NewsGator released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xcode 3.2 Daily Tip: Analyzing Your Code

Filed under: TUAW Tips, Developer

More Xcode 3.2 tips for Mac and iPhone developers.

The LLVM/Clang static analyzer bundled with the Snow Leopard developer tools automatically detects a variety of memory management bugs in Objective-C programs. It’s a terrific tool for finding memory leaks and other issues and it is now easily available to all developers, both for the Macintosh and iPhone platforms.

I first learned about using the analyzer with iPhone projects from a blog post by Joe Heck of rhonabwy.com. Heck pointed out that the Intel-only analyzer worked with the Intel-based Simulator code generated by the iPhone SDK, letting you use the analyzer with your iPhone projects.

At that time, you had to download a copy of the analyzer, install it by hand, and run it from the command line. It was amazingly helpful but a bit of a pain to use.

No more. Xcode 3.2 incorporates the static analyzer tool directly into its IDE. Choose Build > Build and Analyze (Command-Shift-A) and the analyzer automatically checks your code. and presents any bugs detected by the analyzer. Static analysis evaluates source code to automatically find bugs, issuing hints that are similar in nature to compiler warnings but targeted at Foundation (Cocoa) and Core Foundation memory management.

Each bug is marked with a blue icon and a description. I do wish that the text didn’t seem to “cut off” so abruptly. Resizing the Xcode editor window does not affect the hard right alignment of the bug reports. This bug refers to the local watcher variable, which is allocated and initialized but not released.

The tool is not perfect. It may flag nonexistent “bugs” in programs, so there are definitely false positive results that will show up as well as gray areas. In this example, the watcher is used until the application teardown, so the fact that it’s leaking is not really a problem. That having been said, the analysis is amazingly helpful and if you do find real bugs, the Clang Static Analyzer team solicits bug reports.

To learn more about your bug, click the blue branch icon in the code itself. The analyzer offers a detailed view of the bug and its issues. This presentation provides more information about the specifics of the issue at hand.

In this detail view, clicking any single blue arrow opens the Build Results pane, showing the analyzer result list. Hide or show analyzer information by clicking the blue branch icon in the left gutter.

It’s easy to overlook the new built-in static analysis feature of Xcode 3.2, but you’d be missing out on a great feature if you didn’t explore it further.

TUAWXcode 3.2 Daily Tip: Analyzing Your Code originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Snow Leopard review

Snow Leopard. Even the name seems to underpromise — it’s the first “big cat” OS X codename to reference the previous version of the OS, and the list of big-ticket new features is seemingly pretty short for a version-number jump. Maybe that’s why Apple’s priced the 10.6 upgrade disc at just $29 — appearances and expectations matter, and there’s simply not enough glitz on this kitty to warrant the usual $129.

But underneath the customary OS X fit and finish there’s a lot of new plumbing at work here. The entire OS is now 64-bit, meaning apps can address massive amounts of RAM and other tasks go much faster. The Finder has been entirely re-written in Cocoa, which Mac fans have been clamoring for since 10.0. There’s a new version of QuickTime, which affects media playback on almost every level of the system. And on top of all that, there’s now Exchange support in Mail, iCal, and Address Book, making OS X finally play nice with corporate networks out of the box.

So you won’t notice much new when you first restart into 10.6 — apart from some minor visual tweaks here and there there’s just not that much that stands out. But in a way that means the pressure’s on even more: Apple took the unusual and somewhat daring step of slowing feature creep in a major OS to focus on speed, reliability, and stability, and if Snow Leopard doesn’t deliver on those fronts, it’s not worth $30… it’s not worth anything. So did Apple pull it off? Read on to find out!

Continue reading Snow Leopard review

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Snow Leopard review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Look: Keymote for iPhone / iPod touch takes control of your Mac

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch, First Look, App Review

There are some applications out there that never cease to amaze me. We’re always looking for shortcuts and ways to make our lives (and our computer use) much easier. Iced Cocoa’s new Keymote [iTunes Link] for iPhone and iPod touch is sure to do just that!

With Keymote, you’ll never again have to remember a shortcut. Keymote creates single buttons out of complicated shortcuts and groups them by application, speeding up your productivity and boosting your workflow. Basically, Keymote acts as a remote for your Mac and can control almost any application.

The developer notes that you can “Easily control Front Row from across the room, refresh your Twitter stream wirelessly, or play a song from iTunes without even touching your computer, the possibilities are endless.”

Some highlights of Keymote include:

• Simple and intuitive user interface that makes using Keymote easy and fun.
• Easy to connect and operate over a Wi-Fi connection.
• Organizes your keystrokes, keeping the ones you use close at hand.
• Highly customizable with different key colors, the ability to add tactile feedback with vibrations and more.
• Built-in store for purchasing keystroke sets for almost any Mac application. Don’t worry, most of these are free.
• Customize and share your keystrokes and layouts with other users easily.

I found the Keymote interface to be simple to use, and the commands are snappy, happening almost instantly. The in-app store is great too; I was able to download keystroke sets for Tweetie, Coda, iTunes, Safari, Firefox, Photoshop and so much more. I’m also a sucker for a beautiful user interface and Keymote certainly has that. The menus are easy to use and the keystroke pages are downright gorgeous.

The application is available in the iTunes App Store for $3.99 and is well worth the price. In addition to the app, you’ll need to head over to Iced Cocoa’s website, download the free Keymote receiver, and then pair your iPhone or iPod touch with the receiver application on your Mac.

Here are a few shots of the application in action:

TUAWFirst Look: Keymote for iPhone / iPod touch takes control of your Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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