iOS 5 OpenFlow tweaks

Openflow is an open source library that implements an iTunes style cover flow. [http://apparentlogic.com/openflow/]

When iOS5 was released, though, it started looking funny – the covers were coming in from the front instead of the back. The perspective was completely off.

This can be fixed with a few tweaks outlined at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7686506/how-can-i-make-openflow-work-correctly-in-ios-5-0

Specifically the following

    leftTransform = CATransform3DIdentity;
    leftTransform = CATransform3DRotate(leftTransform, SIDE_COVER_ANGLE, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
    rightTransform = CATransform3DIdentity;
    rightTransform = CATransform3DRotate(rightTransform, SIDE_COVER_ANGLE, 0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f);

    leftTransform = CATransform3DTranslate(CATransform3DIdentity, 0, 0, SIDE_COVER_ZPOSITION);
    leftTransform = CATransform3DRotate(leftTransform, SIDE_COVER_ANGLE, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
    rightTransform = CATransform3DTranslate(CATransform3DIdentity, 0, 0, SIDE_COVER_ZPOSITION);
    rightTransform = CATransform3DRotate(rightTransform, SIDE_COVER_ANGLE, 0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f);

OSX Lion default python v 2.6

OSX Lion ships with python 2.7 as the default, but there is a way to make it use 2.6 by default.

The following was retrieved from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6998545/how-can-i-make-python-2-6-my-default-in-mac-os-x-lion

$ man python 
$ which python /usr/bin/python 
$ python -V Python 2.7.1 
# # temporarily change version # 
$ export VERSIONER_PYTHON_VERSION=2.6 $ python -V Python 2.6.6 
$ unset VERSIONER_PYTHON_VERSION $ python -V Python 2.7.1 
# # persistently change version # 
$ defaults write com.apple.versioner.python Version 2.6 
$ python -V Python 2.6.6 

PhpMyadmin #2002 Cannot Log In To MySQL Server

If you get a

“#2002 Cannog Log In to MySQL Server” error from PhpMyAdmin

Try changing the “localhost” to “127.0.0.1″ in config.inc.php in the root directory

Cleaning Build in XCode 4

This was a bit confusing – if you just do a clean in XCode 4 you may still have old files lying around, completely disrupting your test process.

There is also no apparent clean all option unlike previous version of XCode.

All you have to do is: press the option key and click on Product menu -> the “Clean” changes to “Clean Build Folder”!

Done

Embedding Custom Fonts in iOS [iPhone, iPad]

Though iOS 4 comes with a variety of fonts, you may want to include additional ones for an application.

Recently, we had to include Arial Black in our UIWebView for a card viewer application.

Here is how:

1. You drag the *.ttf file into the Resources folder
2. Add a row to the *-info.plist file called “UIAppFonts” (of type Array)
3. It will change to say “Fonts provided by application”
4. Add the full name of the font in the Array – i.e. “Arial Black.ttf”
5. Now you can use the font in your HTML as you would regularly.

Android requires compiler compliance level 5.0 or 6.0. Found ’1.4′ instead

In Eclipse, you may run into the following error while developing Android apps:

Android requires compiler compliance level 5.0 or 6.0. Found ’1.4′ instead.  Please use Android Tools > Fix Project Properties.

The fix to this is to right click on the project, go to project properties, and under java compiler set it to 1.6 [it may be set to 1.5 or 1.4]

Mosquers Website

Mosquers – an annual video contest for the Muslim community – needed their website changed and put up within a couple of days.

We were able to integrate a wordpress design for them within 24 hours and give them a highly professional look.

Crystal Reports Web Portal

We just began working on a web portal for crystal reports for a large company. The data warehousing has already been completed.

The web portal will eventually include other tools the company currently uses but are not centrally accessible – i.e. dispatching contractors is still done on excel spreadsheets.

The reporting services will make it easy for the C-level executives to quickly get a pulse of the company. The money spent so far in just data warehousing has already saved them 6 figures.

More on the technical challenges of this soon.

PhoneGap on XCode 4.0

If you are using the open source mobile framework PhoneGap to develop mobile applications, you may run into a problem first running it on the newly released XCode 4.0 development tool.

When you try to go through the Phonegap Tutorial, you will notice that on Step 4 there is no such folder called “www”.

To fix this issue, simply right click on the project itself and click “show in finder” -> there you will see the “WWW” folder along with index.html. Now drag this folder into the XCode project and voila, www is present.

Mailserver Setups: Verify Your Timezone

We have been busy setting up the mail server on one of our web properties. Instead of paying a 3rd party such as Vertical Response $500+ / month, we decided to purchase a $500 software [Active Campaign] and set it up.

Within the next few days, we will post a complete tutorial, but we noticed one issue that others may face and have sleepless nights over.

It is good practice to have a DKIM signature [It is a digital signature verifying that the email did come from your domain - without it, your delivery rates will drop significantly].

Anyhow, you may want to send an email to sa-test@sendmail.net to verify that your email is working ok. It will reply with error messages if applicable.

If you continue to get an error, scroll down to see the header of the reply message – if it says that the time is in the future, go ahead and install ntp and sync your time…