james petersen

Where ideas become apps.

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Sadie laying with her paw over her toy. #sooocute #dontwanttomovetostartleher

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Merry Christmas!!

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Do you think it's time I cut my hair?

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It’s true that you can learn almost anything for free online these days. The trick is knowing where to find the information you need, though. These ten sites will help you get your geek on and learn something new.

1. 5min Tech

From tech news and product reviews to quick tips and tutorials, ...

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JPPageControl: A custom UIPageControl object

I really enjoy working with the design team here at my office, but sometimes, they make things interesting.  Case in point, an iPhone user interface contained numerous custom controls, thats cool, but that meant a lot of extra work for me, but I'm always up for challenge :)

GitHub: JPPageControl

I will post an example later, but if you are familiar with Objective-C, the code example in the README.md will explain what you need.

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NSMutableDictionary search by KeyPath

I have been working on a project for a little while now and have been working with constant changing data.  The problem I was running into was when a new type of entry was created, I would have to go into the code, make a change, and if it was ready for the app store, then submit it as an update.  This was not going to be an efficient way to handle the added types.

I created a JSON file that contains the template and the data mapping in a format like so:

    "signup": {       "template": "{{user1}} just signed up.  Welcome!",       "dataMap": {         "user1": "user.screen_name"       }     }

The dataMap represents the location in dot notation as to where the data could be retrieved from the NSMutableDictionary.  So the idea was the split the dataMap into an Array and then figure out some way to create something like this dynamcially:

[[Dictionary objectForKey:@"user"] objectForKey:@"screen_name"]

Would have been fine if the dataMap was consistant on only having 2 Keys, but I needed it more dynamic than that.

Now enters, ValueForKeyPath.

This has got to be one of the coolest parts to using an NSMutableDictionary.  I can now pass it like below and it will do the same thing as the example above.

[Dictionary valueForKeyPath:@"user.screen_name"]

Isn't that just the coolest thing ever?  Ok, maybe to me it is, cause I can see using this for numerous projects down the road, to help reduce the amount of code actually needed.

I look forward to posting more of these as I come across cool ideas and what not.

Have a great weekend!

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I just came across this control, and its pretty awesome.  It gives what looks like a table view, a different look and feel, really easy to use.  Looking forward to using this in one of my upcoming apps.

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Thinking about mobile lately?  If you would like to find out what it would take to get an app on the Apple App Store or Google Play, get in touch with us and we can help you.

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Xcode Storyboards

With the projects I've been working on at home, I haven't had the chance to really look into storyboards until last night.  I've got to say, one of the coolest new features to Xcode.  The amount of time needed to create the views have been decreased substantially.

I will be starting to do tutorials on build apps for the iPhone and iPad soon.  Keep checking back for more updates.

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A doctor can't tell you how strong your spirit is.

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Cutest little dog - Sadie

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Hardcore gamer!

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See... Dogs love cats :)

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Delicious! Good night out with the wife.

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App Development

I've been working on different ideas for app's but never seem to be able to find the time. I just need work work on a way to keep myself focused and organized.