iOS5 Feature List

iOS 5 will support the iPhone 3GS and 4, the third- and fourth-generation iPod touch, and all iPads. I’m listing features that are listed in WWDC coverage.

• Notification appear in smaller animated bar that slides down from the top screen
• New Notification Center that combine all notifications
• Lock screen displays notifications that goes directly to the app
• Software updates over the air
• New iMessage app sending text, photo, video, contact, group messaging with iOS devices
• Delivery receipt, read receipts and iChat-like indication on Messaging
• Safari Reader view only content of articles
• Safari Reading List save for later reading
• Tabbed browsing is available to iPad
• New Newsstand app for periodicals
• Newsstand support background download overnight
• Single-sign-on for Twitter
• Twitter support on Photo, Safari, YouTube, Map app
• Automatic update Twitter usernames for contact in Address book
• New Task/list app
• Task alert is date-based or location-based
• Double-tap Home button to launch camera
• Music playback control to launch camera
• Volumn up button to take picture
• Grid line to compose photo
• Pinch-to-zoom for digital zooming
• Auto-focus locking on photo
• Auto-exposure locking on photo
• Crop, rotate, red-eye reduction, one-click enhance on photo
• Rich Text formatting on mail
• Full-message search on mail online or offline
• Send encrypted mail using S/MIME
• OS-level support for turn-based games
• Purchase and download games within Game Center
• Social recommendation on Game Center
• System wide built-in dictionary
• Split keyboard for iPad for thumb typers
• AirPlay mirroring to your Apple TV
• Wi-Fi iTunes sync
• New multitouch gestures to flick between apps
• New iPad Music app
• Personal dictionary support
• Hourly weather forecasts
• Typing shortcuts
• Alternate routes in maps
• Voiceover options
• Wireless sync for Exchange tasks
• FaceTime mid-call invitation alerts
• Improved FaceTime video quality
• Mass configuration
• Real-time stock quotes
• Custom vibration patterns
• Accessible input for mobility
• Improved offline support in Mail
• Voiceover item chooser
• Option to speak text
• Set tones for voicemail, mail, and calendar alerts

Interesting Facts:

• Safari on iOS accounts for almost 2/3 of mobile web browsing
• Its engine (based of Android web browser) accounts for nearly 90% of all mobile browsing

TinyUmbrella – Restore device iOS version

Apple warns that you can’t restore back to previous iOS version if you upgrade to iOS 5 on your developer device. Why? Apple only allows you to restore to the firmwares they ‘sign’. This ‘signing’ only lasts for a limited time. Once they stop ‘signing’ the SHSHs for a firmware, there is no way to restore that firmware ever again.

TinyUmbrella is a tool you can use to restore device iOS. TinyUmbrella which does not require you to be jailbroken. TinyUmbrella sends the SHSH request through Cydia’s servers which turn around and request the SHSH from apple. This results in your SHSH being saved on Cydia and then also locally on your home computer.

Download TinyUmbrella

http://thefirmwareumbrella.blogspot.com/p/faq.html

Xcode 4.0 Error: Apple Match-O Linker(Id) Error “…”, referenced from:

Upgrading to Xcode 4.0 from Xcode 3.0 requires some work. This is a very common error. The fix is simple but it takes a while to identify the source.

Errors:

Apple Match-O Linker(Id) Error “…”, referenced from:

ld: warning: directory ‘/Users/UserName/Development/Project/frameworks’ following -F not found

Fix:

• Enter FRAMOWORK_SEARCH_PATHS into the search box
• Remove that directory from the “framework search paths” in the build settings for the project, or for that target

Another Error:

ld: warning: directory not found for option ‘-L/Users/UserName/Desktop/student/../../../../Downloads/ProjectName/ClassName/lib/Debug-iphoneos’

-L is for specifying additional library search path directories. The directory it mentions in the error doesn’t exist.

In the given folder look into the project settings. Update the current directory for the current version of the SDK. Use above fix.

Xcode 4.0 Error: No architectures to compile for – Facebook iOS SDK

Upgrading Xcode projects from Xcode 3.x to Xcode 4.0 are not that simple. It does involve a lot of “detective” work like solving murder mystery.

In this case it happens on Facebook iOS SDK sample project. The codes work perfectly fine in Xcode 3 yet the same code won’t run in Xcode 4.0 Simulator. After trying many suggestions from Apple Developer Forum, I found the only working solution.

[EROR] No architectures to compile for (ARCHS=i386, VALID_ARCHS=armv6).

“No architectures to compile for” means “Valid Architectures” field is empty. Update it to $(ARCHS_STANDARD_32_BIT) and you’ll see the usual armv6 armv7. This happens in XCode 4 after updating “Base SDK” to “Latest SDK”.

Instruction:

• Select Project in the Navigator left panel in Xcode 4
• Select Targets
• In Build Settings, enter VALID_ARCHS in the search box to show Valid Architectures
• Enter $(ARCHS_STANDARD_32_BIT) in the value column
• It should show armv6 armv7
• Run

Don’t use setAlternateColor: on UISwitch

According to Apple documentation, it is recommended not to change UISwitch.

By default UISwitch shows a blue button with “ON” label and white button with “OFF” label. API won’t allow you to change the font name, font size, font style, font color, button color on UISwitch.

Even though there are many examples on how to use setAlternateColor: method to change the default UISwitch button from blue color to orange color, this is not recommended. Your app will be rejected if you use it.

The UISwitch class is not customizable.

You would have to build your own custom switch. It is in general difficult to subclass UIControl and reimplement UISwitch. There are other work around approaches to recreate Switch using png images.

Disable & Enable Idle Timer in iOS SDK

By default, the idle timer will dim the screen after a period of non use and then turn the power to the screen off. You may need to disable idle timer on a specific app such as a Flash light app or location-based app.

– (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
…
}

Add the following line:
[application setIdleTimerDisabled:YES];

– (void)applicationWillTerminate:(UIApplication *)application {
…
}

Add the following line to re-enable the idle timer:
[application setIdleTimerDisabled:NO];

This won’t work on the Simulator but it definitely works on device.

Debugging using printf() in Xcode Console

You can use printf() function inside .m file to indicate the app status such as application starts and ends.

In Xcode, select AppDelegate.m file, insert a line inside applicationDidFinishLaunching: method:

– (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application {
…
}

Add the following:
printf(“%s\n”, __FUNCTION__);

Note: The __Function__ has two underscores before and after the FUNCTION.

Add the same line to applicationWillTerminate: method

– (void)applicationWillTerminate:(UIApplication *)application {
…
}

You should be able to see the printed output inside Xcode Console when you launch the app

[AppDelegate applicationDidFinishLaunching:]

After you exit the app by pressing the Home button on the iPhone simulator, you will see this printed output
[AppDelegate applicationWillTerminate:]

UIDevice Properties

Currently these are the most popular common UIDevice properties. It shows the device name, device identifier, device model, device system name, and device system version.

You can print these properties inside the Console for debugging.

NSLog(@”Device Name: %@”, [UIDevice currentDevice].name);
NSLog(@”UDID: %@”, [UIDevice currentDevice].uniqueIdentifier);
NSLog(@”Device Model: %@”, [UIDevice currentDevice].model);
NSLog(@”System Name: %@”, [UIDevice currentDevice].systemName);
NSLog(@”System Version: %@”, [UIDevice currentDevice].systemVersion);
NSLog(@”User Interface: %@”, [UIDevice currentDevice].userInterfaceIdiom);

If you would like to print it in a label, then you can assign an NSInteger object to the UIDevice property. Assign the UILabel text to the NSString object.

// Show Device Name
NSString *nameString = [UIDevice currentDevice].name;
nameLabel.text = nameString;

You can also print Core Foundation object in Console.

CFShow([[UIDevice currentDevice] model]);
printf(“–\n”);

Constant in Objective-C

This is a very tricky task to handle constants in Objective-C. The most suggested approach is to define global, public or private constants. This will work only if you don’t expect to put the same constant inside a loop.

In the header file

// Constants.h
extern NSString * const strConstant;

You can include this file in each file that uses the constants or in the pre-compiled header for the project.

// Constants.m
NSString * const strConstant = @"Constant";

Constants.m should be added to your application/framework’s target to link it to product.

It is suggested that the advantage of using string constants instead of #define‘d constants is that you can test for equality using pointer comparison (stringInstance == strConstant) which is much faster than string comparison ([stringInstance isEqualToString:strConstant]).

// Constants.h
#define MY_CONSTANT @"my_constant"

Or even better
// Constants.h
extern NSString * const MY_CONSTANT;
// Constants.m
NSString * const MY_CONSTANT = @"my_constant";

If you need a non global constant, you should use static keyword. Static constant is not visible outside the file.

// Constants.m
static NSString * const CONSTANT = @"my_constant";

Another quick dirty way of declaring global constants is to put constant declaration into pch file instead of .h or .m files.

To declare integer instead of string in Objective-C, you will use NSInteger. This is Apple preferred way of declaring Objective-C integer.

NSInteger const counter = 0;

However if you are going to use this method to declare NSInteger and use it inside a loop, then you are in trouble.

Warning:

Assignment of read-only variable ‘counter’

If you need to use a constant inside a IF statement and iterate the constant inside a class instance or method, you would have to use static keyword.

You can add static int outside @implement.

static int counter = 0;

– (void)showTimer {
counter += 1;
}

Adding Text Field inside UIAlertView

Adding form text field into an alert window on iOS is a popular UI pattern. It’s a very handy feature to achieve good user experience by asking a simple input without any click on the same screen. The best use is iPhone app to ask for user password and to log into iTunes app store for app purchase.

To add a form text field inside UIAlertView is tricky. Technically it is easy. However Apple reserves the right to use Private API for its own native app design. Developer would have to work more in order to achieve the same feature.

If you use these Objective-C methods to insert a Text Field inside UIAlert, your app will get rejected by Apple review team.

The following non-public APIs are included in your application:
addTextFieldWithValue:label:
textFieldAtIndex:

“3.3.1 Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs.”

I’ll share how to add Text Field without using these private API methods.