To do this:
Go to Window -> Organiser and then choose the project icon.
Select the project you have problems with and delete it.

Be sure to save your work first!

That’s why we wrote a small online tool to help us in this process, the iCapps Plist-Translator can be found on http://www.icapps.be/plist-translator/ .
To summerise the tool has the next functionalities:

- Select up to 5 languages to translate your plist. Add languages later on in your development process.
- Import your plist, add the new keys and optionally overwrite extisting translations. Export the plist to excel, send them to your customers and copy paste all the translations from excel in one time.
- Let business users make the translations online, translate labels for all the languages in a single screen.
- Choose the correct language and export your plist.

Registration and use is free of charge.

Happy Translating!

Possible methods to init variables in your viewcontroller are:
- init
- viewDidLoad
- viewWillAppear
- viewDidAppear

To explain my point I started a new project with the template Tab Bar Application. I added logging statements to the viewDidLoad methods in both view controllers. A also added a button to the second view controller who would initialize some images that would give me a memory warning.

After logging some statements and came to the following conclusion:

15:11:40.077 testblog2[4865:707] FirstViewController viewdidload
15:11:56.720 testblog2[4865:707] SecondViewController viewDidLoad
15:12:05.710 testblog2[4865:707] Pressed loading images button
15:12:19.025 testblog2[4865:707] Received memory warning. Level=1
15:12:21.272 testblog2[4865:707] SecondViewController didReceiveMemoryWarning

15:12:30.822 testblog2[4865:707] FirstViewController viewdidload


If you initialize variables in the viewDidLoad method then please keep in mind that these variables could be reinitialized after receiving a memory warning. Cocoa will remove the view and your viewDidLoad method will be triggered again once you go to that specific view controller.

Available view controllers

The Address Book UI framework provides developers with three view controllers and one navigation controller for working with the Address Book database. We can use these view controllers to reduce develop time and to provide a consistent experience to the users.

The four controllers provided by the Address Book UI framework:

• ABPeoplePickerNavigationController
• ABPersonViewController
• ABNewPersonViewController
• ABUnknownPersonViewController

To use these controllers, you must set a delegate for them which implements there appropriate delegate protocols.

Adding Address Book framework and delegates

Before we can use these controllers, we need to add the Address Book UI framework to our project. We do this by selecting the ‘build phases’ in our target. Then we select the ‘link binary with libraries’ category. Here we add references to the Address Book and Address Book UI framework.

After we add the framework references to our binary, we need to add the framework references and delegate protocols in our header file:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h> #import <AddressBook/AddressBook.h> #import <AddressBookUI/AddressBookUI.h> @interface AddressBookTutorialViewController : UIViewController <ABPeoplePickerNavigationControllerDelegate, ABPersonViewControllerDelegate, ABUnknownPersonViewControllerDelegate, ABNewPersonViewControllerDelegate> { } @end 

Ok, everything set up? Let’s go!

ABPeoplePickerNavigationController

The ABPeoplePickerNavigationController allows users to browse their list of contacts and access their properties.

We can present an ABPeoplePickerNavigationController in a view controller which implements the ABPeoplePickerNavigationControllerDelegate protocol.

- (IBAction)presentABPeoplePickerNavigationController { ABPeoplePickerNavigationController *picker = [[ABPeoplePickerNavigationController alloc] init]; [picker setPeoplePickerDelegate:self]; [self presentModalViewController:picker animated:YES]; [picker release]; }

The three delegate methods we need to implement are:

• (void)peoplePickerNavigationControllerDidCancel:(ABPeoplePickerNavigationController *)peoplePickerThis method gets called when the user cancels the picker. We dismiss the picker.
• (BOOL)peoplePickerNavigationController:(ABPeoplePickerNavigationController *)peoplePicker shouldContinueAfterSelectingPerson:(ABRecordRef)personThis method gets called when the user selects a person. We now determine if the picker should continue to prompt the user to choose a specific property of the person. If so, we return YES. If not, we return NO and dismiss the picker.
• (BOOL)peoplePickerNavigationController:(ABPeoplePickerNavigationController *)peoplePicker shouldContinueAfterSelectingPerson:(ABRecordRef)person property:(ABPropertyID)property identifier:(ABMultiValueIdentifier)identifierThis method gets called when the user selects a persons property. We now determine if the picker should continue. If we want to perform an action like dialing a phone number, starting a new e-mail, etc. we return YES. If not, we return NO and dismiss the picker.

An important sidenote is that it’s best to dismiss the picker using animation.

ABPersonViewController

The ABPersonViewController is used to present a person to the user.

In order for the ABPersonViewController to function properly, we need to present it in a navigation controller. We can present an ABPersonViewController in a view controller which implements the ABPersonViewControllerDelegate protocol.

- (IBAction)presentABPersonViewController { ABPersonViewController *view = [[ABPersonViewController alloc] init]; [view setPersonViewDelegate:self]; [view setDisplayedPerson:person]; // Assume person is already defined. [self.navigationController pushViewController:view animated:YES]; [view release]; } 

If the user selects a person’s property, the following delegate method gets called:

• (BOOL)personViewController:(ABPersonViewController *)personViewController shouldPerformDefaultActionForPerson:(ABRecordRef)person property:(ABPropertyID)property identifier:(ABMultiValueIdentifier)identifierThis method determines if the default action of the selected property, such as dialing a phone number, should be performed. If we want this behavior we return YES. If not, we return NO and dismiss the controller with animation.

ABNewPersonViewController

The ABNewPersonViewController allows users to create a new person.

New-person view controllers must be used with a navigation controller in order to function properly. It is recommended that you present a new-person view controller modally. We can present a ABNewPersonViewController in a view controller which implements the ABNewPersonViewControllerDelegate protocol.

- (IBAction)presentABNewPersonViewController { ABNewPersonViewController *view = [[ABNewPersonViewController alloc] init]; [view setNewPersonViewDelegate:self]; UINavigationController *newNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:view]; [self presentModalViewController:newNavigationController animated:YES]; [view release]; [newNavigationController release]; } 

When the users taps the save or cancel button the following delegate method is called:

• (void)newPersonViewController:(ABNewPersonViewController *)newPersonView didCompleteWithNewPerson:(ABRecordRef)personIf the user saved, the record will be added to the address book. If the user cancelled, the value of person will be equal to NULL. We dismiss the controller using animation.

ABUnknownPersonViewController

The ABUnknownPersonViewController allows users to add data to an existing person or to create a new person for the data.

Unknown-person view controllers must be used with a navigation controller in order to function properly. We can present an ABUnknownPersonViewController in a view controller which implements the ABUnknownPersonViewControllerDelegate protocol.

- (IBAction)presentABNewPersonViewController { ABUnknownPersonViewController *view = [[ABUnknownPersonViewController alloc] init]; [view setUnknownPersonViewDelegate:self]; [view setDisplayedPerson:person]; // Assume person is already defined. [view setAllowsAddingToAddressBook:YES]; [self.navigationController pushViewController:view animated:YES]; [view release]; } 

When the user finishes creating a new contact or adding the properties to an existing contact, the unknown-person view controller calls the following delegate method:

• (void)unknownPersonViewController:(ABUnknownPersonViewController *)unknownCardViewController didResolveToPerson:(ABRecordRef)personIf the user cancels the value of person is equal to NULL and we dismiss the controller using animation.

Conclusion

This concludes the first part of the iOS Address Book programming guide. We hope you realize that using the standard controllers provided by the Address Book UI Framework saves lots of precious development time. Stay tuned for the second part of this guide where we will be accessing the Address Book programmatically.

There are certain things that you type everyday more than once (e.g. comment blocks, custom logs, …), things that you most likely just copy over from a few lines above and change the parameters or the text.

You can do this with copying of course, but you can also use code snippets!

Xcode is already predefined with a bunch of code snippets which you will find in the Code Snippet Library.

If you open Xcode and show the utilities, you will find the predefined code snippets on the bottom right.

It should look like this:

If you want to add a custom code snippet, all you have to do is write some code, it doesn’t matter what you write, and drag it to the list of code snippets.

Let’s add an NSLog code snippet to use with a single string parameter.

Write the following code:

NSLog(@”%@”,);

The notation is used whenever you want to specify that the user has to fill in a value. You can name it into whatever you want.

Now drag it to the code snippet list, and the following window will appear:

Now give your code snippet a title, summary and select the platform and language where you want the code snippet to be used.

After filling these in, give your code snippet a completion shortcut for example “NSSingleLog” so that it will show up when typing for auto-completion in Xcode.

After this choose where you want the code snippet to occur. “Completion scopes”

After this is done, you just press “Done” and you have successfully created your first code snippet.

A quick look around on Apple Support Forums gave me the next solution:

The key problem is that your Itunes installation is missing a key component. So we need to reinstall it.
1) Close Itunes
2) Use Activity Monitor to stop the ItunesHelper process. Important!
3) Download Itunes from http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
4) Install Itunes once it finishes downloading.

Done!

Today I updated my iMac and MacBook Pro to Lion. The upgrade on my iMac went ok without any problems and after 40 minutes the job was already done.

On my MacBook Pro however things went not the way the supposed too. After the first reboot I got a blue screen (not windows like) and a progress indicator that seemed to stay forever. After half an hour I pressed the power button for several seconds so I could reboot my MacBook. This gave me some progress, a Disk Utility Tool fired up with several choices. I had no clue what to choose so I first tried to “Repair Disk” but that gave no solution.

Seeing I was prepared (backup in time machine form night before), I choose to reinstall Lion. After 50 minutes the job was done and I could login into Lion. After a short inspection everything seemed to be ok, all files and folders where still in place and since then on I’m running without any problems.

I noticed already one thing: the iPhone Configuration Utility was missing, I had this installed with Snow Leopard. I downloaded it again from the Apple Support Website and installed it without any problems.

There is a solution for that: CoreGraphics.

CoreGraphics is a library available in the iOS SDK which brings custom drawing to the table. It allows you to do all kinds of advanced stuff, but we will cover 2 basic functions here.

The easiest way to apply coreGraphics in your view is to apply this in your drawRect function.

- (void) drawRect
{
}


Simple things first, lets draw a line:

- (void) drawRect
{
// get the current context
CGContextRef currenctContext = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();

// set our color to black, for the drawing
[[UIColor blackColor] set];

// set the width
CGContextSetLineWidth(currenctContext, 1.0f);

// set how the lines will join
CGContextSetLineJoin(currenctContext,kCGLineJoinRound);

//startPoint
CGContextMoveToPoint(currenctContext, 0, 0);

//draw the top line
CGContextAddLineToPoint(currenctContext, self.frame.size.width, 0);

//right line
CGContextAddLineToPoint(currenctContext, self.frame.size.width, self.frame.size.height);

//bottom line
CGContextAddLineToPoint(currenctContext, 0, self.frame.size.height);

//left line
CGContextAddLineToPoint(currenctContext, 0, 0);

CGContextStrokePath(currenctContext);

}

So what are we doing here? We are drawing a square around the border of our view. To do this we need to get the current context of the view first.

CGContextRef currenctContext = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();

After that we set our drawing color to black and we set how we will draw the line in its specific context. In this case it’s a line with a thickness of 1 pixel and the point where the lines join they will round themselves.

// set our color to black, for the drawing
[[UIColor blackColor] set];

// set the width
CGContextSetLineWidth(currenctContext, 1.0f);

// set how the lines will join
CGContextSetLineJoin(currenctContext,kCGLineJoinRound);

Next we move to the point in the context where we want to start the drawing. And from there one we start drawing the lines.

CGContextMoveToPoint(currenctContext, 0, 0);

CGContextAddLineToPoint(currenctContext, self.frame.size.width, 0);

After all that we will execute “strokePath” to commit what we’ve done to our context.

CGContextStrokePath(currenctContext);

Ok, on to the next example. We want to add a gradient to a view we have. It’s not that hard when you got an example:


- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {

// get the context
CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
// set the fill color
CGContextSetFillColor(context, CGColorGetComponents( [UIColor redColor]));
// fill the whole view with the color
CGContextFillRect(context, rect);

// the gradient
CGGradientRef glossGradient;
// create the colorspace
CGColorSpaceRef rgbColorspace;
// there are 2 locations where we start with a new color
size_t num_locations = 2;
// where they are
CGFloat locations[2] = { 0.0, 1.0 };
// the colors we are going to use
CGFloat components[8] = { 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.7, // Start color
1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.06 }; // End color

// use the device colors
rgbColorspace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
// create the gradient with these parameters
glossGradient = CGGradientCreateWithColorComponents(rgbColorspace, components, locations, num_locations);

// get our screensize
CGRect currentBounds = self.bounds;
// the point from where we start drawing
CGPoint topCenter = CGPointMake(CGRectGetMidX(currentBounds), 0.0f);
// the point where we switch te color
CGPoint midCenter = CGPointMake(CGRectGetMidX(currentBounds), CGRectGetMidY(currentBounds));
// finaly draw it
CGContextDrawLinearGradient(context, glossGradient, topCenter, midCenter, 0);

// release your stuff
CGGradientRelease(glossGradient);
CGColorSpaceRelease(rgbColorspace);

}

So we created a red view and on top of that we draw the gradient.

CGContextSetFillColor(context, CGColorGetComponents( [UIColor redColor]));
// fill the whole view with the color
CGContextFillRect(context, rect);

// the gradient
CGGradientRef glossGradient;

The gradient consists of 2 colors (locations and num_locations), but if you want you can define more.
In the components we define the 2 colors:

CGFloat components[8] = { 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.7, // Start color
1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.06 }; // End color

For the colors we will use the default RGB colors available on our device. After we created the gradient we will define positions.

// use the device colors
rgbColorspace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
// create the gradient with these parameters
glossGradient = CGGradientCreateWithColorComponents(rgbColorspace, components, locations, num_locations);

The first position is a point on top of you screen from where you will draw your first color. The second position is halfway the screen where you will draw the second color. These 2 colors will give the impression that there is a gradient.

CGPoint topCenter = CGPointMake(CGRectGetMidX(currentBounds), 0.0f);
// the point where we switch the color
CGPoint midCenter = CGPointMake(CGRectGetMidX(currentBounds), CGRectGetMidY(currentBounds));

Draw everything on the context, release it and we are done.

CGContextDrawLinearGradient(context, glossGradient, topCenter, midCenter, 0);

The 9th of November we attended the iPhone Tech Talk! Were we the only Belgians there?

We already arrived in Paris on Sunday evening (8 November). As my colleague Olivier had never been in Paris before, we visited the most important things like the “Eiffel Tower” and the “Louvre”. Even it was already 9 o’clock in the evening, the “Louvre” was still open for visitors. This was strange… So we entered the building and wandered around. But what a coincidence!!! The biggest Apple Store in Europe just opened the day before, and this store is located in the “Louvre”!!! It was a beautiful, fancy store. Our Paris trip was already a success

Monday morning we arrived at the buildings where the iPhone Tech talk took place. It was a typically French building with nothing “Apple like” to attract the attention from the outside. Also inside it was very sober. Let’s say that everything (food, drinks, …) was correct but not the big Apple thing you’d expect. Bummer… no Apple gadgets for today.

Now the first (introduction) session was a session that was intended for everybody. Witness the first minute over here…

After that, we split, so we could follow as much sessions as possible. I will list out the sessions that we attended:

- Effective iPhone app Development (2 sessions)
- iPhone interface Design Essentials
- Adding In App Purchase to your App
- Integrating Web Content into iPhone Apps
- Testing and Debugging Your iPhone Application
- Finding Your Way with Location and Maps
- Implementing Push Notification

Let me say that all these sessions were very interesting ! We learned a lot.

There is one thing they told in the “iPhone interface Design Essentials” that I like to share with you: Invest in your App icon !!! It is “the” first impression of your iPhone App.
- People should immediately understand what your application is about
- Your icon should be beautifull, attractive, inviting, …
- If you don’t have the skills to design a good icon, spend some money on it !

And maybe one other thing from the “Testing and Debugging Your iPhone Application”… Upgrade your Mac to Snow Leopard and use the Static Analyzer that is available in Xcode ! It will help you find all code flaws.

After this long day, we enjoyed a lovely wine and cheese reception !

If you want some more information on a specific topic, don’t hesitate to contact me at niels.leunen@me.com !

You can find some pictures of our trip on facebook !