Ios 23

Are you developing a new app for iOS7? If you are, you may want to consider using some of the new techniques that other apps are using to make it feel like a true iOS7 feeling app. If you’ve used the new Yahoo! Weather app you will have seen a nice blur light effect that they use as you scroll down the view. It’s a nice effect that makes the app look very polished.

CoreBackground is a set of Objective-C classes inspired by the iOS Yahoo Weather App. It provides iOS location-based Flickr backgrounds with Gaussian blur light effects for iPhone. As one scrolls over the foreground a Gaussian blur light effect is applied to the background. This provides for an engaging location-based UX while at the same time providing a canvas to apply readable content to the foreground. CoreBackground is a non-blocking “event-based” Objective-C block API and all rendering occurs in backing stores to preserve the main run loop. Make it be the foundation of your next iOS project today.

Setting up CoreBackground

Follow the steps below to get started:
1. Visit the GitHub page here:https://github.com/justinmfischer/core-background.
2. Pull or download the latest version of the source code.
3. Add the following required frameworks into your project:
– Accelerate.framework
– CoreLocation.framework
– CFNetwork.framework
– SystemConfiguration.framework
4. Start coding!

CoreBackground is comprised of 3 main Objective-C singleton managers all within the CBG header file (CBG.h).

• CBGLocationManager : Provides cacheable location-based information.
• CBGFlickrManager : Provides cacheable Flickr API content.
• CBGStockPhotoManager : Provides local image content in case of reachability issues.

Prior to using CoreBackground a valid Flickr API key and shared secret is required. The sample project will successfully build (LLVM – Warning) without this information but will fall back to stock photos. The Flickr API key and shared secret can be obtained here. As of this writing Flickr restricts free (Non-Commercial) accounts to 3600 request per hour. Please make the following modifications below.

(CBGConstants.h)
//Flickr Auth
#define OBJECTIVE_FLICKR_API_KEY @"Ch@ngeMe"
#define OBJECTIVE_FLICKR_API_SHARED_SECRET @"Ch@ngeMe"

The constants file also contains a value to provide searchable Flickr photo tags. The sample project uses “bike” and will match any comma separated values. Example: “bike,ride,outdoor”

//Flickr Search
#define KFlickrSsearchTags @"bike"

Code: Sample Project

The CoreBackground sample project demonstrates how these Objective-C classes can be used to achieve location-based background content to drive discoverability and local engagement.

While one could subclass UIViewController to provide higher orders of abstraction CoreBackground was specifically designed to be loosely coupled and not bound to a particular view hierarchy. This design pattern encourages community modifications and higher adoption rates.
ViewController.m

- (void) viewDidLoad {

    [super viewDidLoad];

    //ScrollView content size
    if([CBGUtil is4InchIphone]) {
        self.scrollView.contentSize = CGSizeMake(320, 720);
    } else {
        self.scrollView.contentSize = CGSizeMake(320, 580);
    }

    //Initial stock photos from bundle
    [[CBGStockPhotoManager sharedManager] randomStockPhoto:^(CBGPhotos * photos) {
        [self crossDissolvePhotos:photos withTitle:@""];
    }];

    //Retrieve location and content from Flickr
    [self retrieveLocationAndUpdateBackgroundPhoto];

    //Schedule updates
    self.timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:kTimerIntervalInSeconds target:self selector:@selector(retrieveLocationAndUpdateBackgroundPhoto)userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}

- (void) retrieveLocationAndUpdateBackgroundPhoto {

    //Location
    [[CBGLocationManager sharedManager] locationRequest:^(CLLocation * location, NSError * error) {

        [self.activityIndicator startAnimating];

        if(!error) {

            //Flickr 
            [[CBGFlickrManager sharedManager] randomPhotoRequest:^(FlickrRequestInfo * flickrRequestInfo, NSError * error) {

                if(!error) {
                    self.userPhotoWebPageURL = flickrRequestInfo.userPhotoWebPageURL;

                    [self crossDissolvePhotos:flickrRequestInfo.photos withTitle:flickrRequestInfo.userInfo];
                    [self.activityIndicator stopAnimating];
                } else {

                    //Error : Stock photos
                    [[CBGStockPhotoManager sharedManager] randomStockPhoto:^(CBGPhotos * photos) {
                        [self crossDissolvePhotos:photos withTitle:@""];
                    }];

                    [self.activityIndicator stopAnimating];

                    NSLog(@"Flickr: %@", error.description);
                }
            }];
        } else {

            //Error : Stock photos
            [[CBGStockPhotoManager sharedManager] randomStockPhoto:^(CBGPhotos * photos) {
                [self crossDissolvePhotos:photos withTitle:@""];
            }];

            [self.activityIndicator stopAnimating];

            NSLog(@"Location: %@", error.description);
        }
    }];
}

- (void) crossDissolvePhotos:(CBGPhotos *) photos withTitle:(NSString *) title {
    [UIView transitionWithView:self.backgroundPhoto duration:1.0f options:UIViewAnimationOptionTransitionCrossDissolve animations:^{

        self.backgroundPhoto.image = photos.photo;
        self.backgroundPhotoWithImageEffects.image = photos.photoWithEffects;
        self.photoUserInfoBarButton.title = title;

    } completion:NULL];
}

- (IBAction) launchFlickrUserPhotoWebPage:(id) sender {
    if([self.photoUserInfoBarButton.title  length] > 0) {
        [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:self.userPhotoWebPageURL];
    }
}

- (void) scrollViewDidScroll:(UIScrollView *) scrollView {
    if(scrollView.contentOffset.y >= 0 && scrollView.contentOffset.y <= 80.0) {
        float percent = (scrollView.contentOffset.y / 80.0);

        self.backgroundPhotoWithImageEffects.alpha = percent;

    } else if (scrollView.contentOffset.y > 80.0){
        self.backgroundPhotoWithImageEffects.alpha = 1;
    } else if (scrollView.contentOffset.y < 0) {
        self.backgroundPhotoWithImageEffects.alpha = 0;
    }
}

Have you ever wanted to build an app with a styled menu that slides out from the left or right like Facebook and YouTube? Now you can easily add this functionality to your apps with a great framework called Mutual Mobile Drawer Controller (MMDrawerController). It was developed by the fine folks at Mutual Mobile.

MMDrawerController is a side drawer navigation container view controller designed to support the growing number of applications that leverage the side drawer paradigm. This library is designed to exclusively support side drawer navigation in a light-weight, focused approach while exposing the ability to provide custom animations for presenting and dismissing the drawer.

Setting up MMDrawerController

Follow the steps below to get started:
1. Visit the GitHub page here:https://github.com/mutualmobile/MMDrawerController.
2. Pull or download the latest version of the source code.
3. Add the following files into your project:
– MMDrawerBarButtonItem.h
– MMDrawerBarButtonItem.m
– MMDrawerController.h
– MMDrawerController.m
– MMDrawerController+Subclass.h
– MMDrawerVisualState.h
– MMDrawerVisualState.m
– UIViewController+MMDrawerController.h
– UIViewController+MMDrawerController.m
4. Include the following header at the top of your App Delegate:
– #import “MMDrawerController.h”
– #import “MMDrawerVisualState.h”
5. Start coding!

Creating a MMDrawerController is as easy as creating a center view controller and the drawer view controllers, and init’int the drawer. Add this to your App Delgate since the drawerController should be your root controller within your app.

@interface MMAppDelegate ()

@property (nonatomic,strong) MMDrawerController * drawerController;

@end

@implementation MMAppDelegate
-(BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application willFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions{
    UIViewController * leftSideDrawerViewController = [[MMExampleLeftSideDrawerViewController alloc] init];
    
    UIViewController * centerViewController = [[MMExampleCenterTableViewController alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewStyleGrouped];
    
    UIViewController * rightSideDrawerViewController = [[MMExampleRightSideDrawerViewController alloc] init];
    
    UINavigationController * navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:centerViewController];
    [navigationController setRestorationIdentifier:@"MMExampleCenterNavigationControllerRestorationKey"];
    
    self.drawerController = [[MMDrawerController alloc]
                                             initWithCenterViewController:navigationController
                                             leftDrawerViewController:leftSideDrawerViewController
                                             rightDrawerViewController:rightSideDrawerViewController];
    [self.drawerController setRestorationIdentifier:@"MMDrawer"];
    [self.drawerController setMaximumRightDrawerWidth:200.0];
    [self.drawerController setOpenDrawerGestureModeMask:MMOpenDrawerGestureModeAll];
    [self.drawerController setCloseDrawerGestureModeMask:MMCloseDrawerGestureModeAll];
    
    [self.drawerController
     setDrawerVisualStateBlock:^(MMDrawerController *drawerController, MMDrawerSide drawerSide, CGFloat percentVisible) {
         MMDrawerControllerDrawerVisualStateBlock block;
         block = [[MMExampleDrawerVisualStateManager sharedManager]
                  drawerVisualStateBlockForDrawerSide:drawerSide];
         if(block){
             block(drawerController, drawerSide, percentVisible);
         }
     }];
    self.window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];
    [self.window setRootViewController:self.drawerController];

    return YES;
}

MMDrawerController is highly customizable. Here’s a quick list of the built in animations:

• Slide: The drawer slides at the same rate as the center view controller.
• Slide and Scale: The drawer slides and scales up, while also alpha’ing from 0.0 to 1.0.
• Swinging Door: The drawer swings in along a hinge on the center view controller.
• Parallax: The drawer slides in at a slower rate, giving a parallax effect.

There are also some other nice features such as UIGestureRecognizer support, customizable drawer menu button, and a stretch animation effect.