Stages of iPhone Development

For any development we need a good code editing environment, debugging tools, performance tools and other tools like re factoring tool, source code management tool. This all are bundled in a single integrated environment called Xcode. Its simple to use with advanced facilities.

Xcode is a matured development environment and is used in Mac OS development for more than 2 decades. The Xcode for iPhone comes with templates which helps to start iPhone application development in a very limited time.

1. iPhone Management

2. Coding
The IDE provides a source code editor with easy access to your project. It shows all structure of the project and easy access to build setting, resource file etc. It also provide easy access to all the main actions like build.

Xcode supports snapshots, which captures the complete state of the project and will keep track of all the changes. This can be used to find difference between a previous version of file with current version. Snapshots will be taken when major changes like refactoring is done. It also SCM (Source code management) support. It can be bind to CVS, subversion or perforce. Xcode allows to browse, checkout your repository. This helps you to stay in Xcode for all the version control needs.

Xcode has a research assistant which helps as to view documentation of Api’s. Xcode comes with built in documentation which can be viewed from help menu. Xcode keeps this documentation uptodate with automatic update.

Interface builder in Xcode is a powerfull tool for graphical designing of interfaces.

3. Building and Debugging
Xcode allows to set break points. This heps in instant debugging of iPhone application. It also have a debugging option called datatips, which is similiar to watch in VB. It allow as to see values/details of any variable or object in scope. This helps in a better debugging of applications.

iPhone simulator is used to run your application on desktop, on an environment equavalent to the real device. Building the application for iPhone and installing it on a device is a simple task with Xcode. You can even run the application on real device and debug it, this is called on device debugging which is a great functionality of Xcode. This will help the developers to debug their application on a real device. Datatips, break points and debug console all are available with on device debugging which makes our job much easier.

4. Analysing iPhone Applications
Performance is a major aspect when developing mobile applications on any devices. Unoptimized code means more processor power and draining on battery of the devices. Xcode Tool called instruments helps in performance analysis. This instruments help to analyse memory usage, network activity, object allocation, CPU usage, memory leak, disk usage and so on. Some instruments used in iPhone development are Leaks, Sampler, Disk Monitor, Network activity, Object Alloc, Activity Monitor, Core Animation and OpenGL ES.

iPhone Apps for Ecommerce Merchants

Social Media Optimization (SMO): Social Media is a fantastic way to connect with your customers, encourage customer loyalty, and increase sales. Beyond that, the larger your social presence, the more likely you are to rank well in social search engines. Social media is all about keeping up with conversations, which can be hard when you’re away from the computer. This is why an iPhone app that keeps you connected is key. Below are the top 3 iPhone apps for social media optimization. Review them to determine which ones are right for you.

Meebo – This long awaited instant messenger app was jsut release yesterday, and now people have a great, all-in-one, iPhone app to keep up with chats on MSN, AIM, Yahoo, and Facebook. Many ecommerce merchants use IM as a way to chat with clients, and this app helps improve communication no matter where you happen to be. The Meebo app is FREE so try it today to see if it helps with your mobile productivity.

Tweetie 2 – There are numerous Twitter iPhone apps that all work in a similar way, but Tweetie 2 continues as one of the most popular Twitter apps. It allows you to keep up with multiple accounts and do basically everything you can do from your home computer, on your iPhone. This is a great app for $2.99 which can let you connect to your personal and business Twitter accounts from your iPhone while on the go.

Facebook – Most ecommerce sites have a Facebook fanpage to go along with their social media efforts. Having this FREE app is a great way to keep up-to-date with what your fans are saying about your ecommerce shop. This is a must have for any online store with a Facebook fanpage.

Source: zippycart & itgalary

WordPress for iOS, version 2.6, is now optimized to take advantage of the iPad’s new user interface, making blogging from your device even easier than ever before. Download it from the App Store today or read more about it on the WordPress for iOS website

A short list of reasons why this is the best version yet include:

• Video. Record, upload, attach, and play videos within the app. Yay for being able to catch your friends’ and co-workers’ most creative moments with iPhone video and publish them immediately for all the world to see on your WordPress site.
• A total rewrite of the way local drafts are handled, to prevent the unintentional loss of your pending posts.
• Autosave/post revisions. Bam! One of the “oh, thank goodness” features of the web app makes it into the iOS version.
• Easier setup. Faster and easier process for adding your sites to the app.
• Media Library. We’re gradually getting closer to the media management you’re used to in the web app.

There are also numerous bugfixes and performance enhancements in this release, so if you haven’t been using the app lately, you should consider giving it another try. I’m personally pretty excited to start using the iPhone version more often now that there are all these fixes and new features. Especially the video upload. You know, for those creative moments that make life fun.

Elegant Composing
Creating and editing posts is at the heart of the WordPress experience. Write, add photos, check your spelling, and even create links without having to write a single line of code or HTML.

When you’re writing and you’d like a bit more room, just rotate the screen. WordPress will automatically adjust to a more comfortable widescreen layout.

Location Mapping
On the iPhone, sharing your location when you post to your WordPress blog is a cinch. Just tap the Geotag icon on the Write screen, and watch as WordPress locates you on the map. It’s a great way to share where you were when you posted to your blog.

Gorgeous Photos
Add as many photos as you like — WordPress will automatically insert them into your post. Both high resolution and web optimized photos look and work great.

Source: ios.wordpress.org

The J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition) technology is still relatively new. Strong mobile development tools, especially IDEs, will greatly help J2ME’s adoption among wireless application developers. In this article, I review four J2ME IDE products:

• Borland JBuilder 7 Enterprise with MobileSet 3
• Sun Microsystems’ Sun ONE (Open Network Environment) Studio 4 Mobile Edition
• Metrowerks CodeWarrior Wireless Studio 7
• S5 Systems’ jVise (based on IBM Eclipse technology)

Landscape of J2ME development tools

Different wireless devices have different limitations in terms of memory size, screen size, input methods, and computing speed. Also, vendors’ J2ME implementations might contain vendor-specific add-on APIs that leverage special underlying hardware/OS features.

The diversified device market naturally results in diversified development tools. Each device vendor has its own SDK, device emulators, and performance analysis tools. Some SDKs even come with their own build project-management and source-code editing tools. One example is Sun’s J2ME Wireless ToolKit (J2MEWTK). J2MEWTK contains a reference implementation of J2ME/MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) and has multiple device emulators that run on Unix/Linux and Windows platforms. J2MEWTK also has performance profile tools and real memory usage monitors. All those tools can be administrated from a central control panel called kToolBar. kToolBar can also build and package ready-to-deploy JAR/Jad programs from development directories. However, mastering all these tools and testing applications on all emulators can prove tedious.

A J2ME IDE eases development by integrating device vendor SDKs with other tools. Developers can then have a unified IDE interface for all supported SDKs. IDEs also improve developer productivity and the quality of deliverable applications.

JBuilder 7 Enterprise with MobileSet 3

Borland JBuilder is a renowned Java IDE with three editions: Personal, Standard (SE), and Enterprise. All JBuilder editions can run on multiple platforms including Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X. To support J2ME development on JBuilder, you must install an add-on module called MobileSet. Currently MobileSet only runs on Windows, but support for more platforms is planned.

Sun ONE Studio 4 Mobile Edition

Formerly known as Forte for Java, Sun ONE Studio uses NetBeans technology to integrate external modules into the IDE. Sun ONE Studio comes with three editions: Community, Mobile, and Enterprise for Java. The Community and Mobile editions are free; Enterprise for Java costs ,995 and has sophisticated J2EE development and deployment features. You can obtain a 60-day free trial license for Enterprise for Java from Sun’s Website.

Sun ONE Studio is distributed online and on a CD. The CD contains all editions of Sun ONE Studio 4 on all supported platforms as well as J2SE and J2EE. Installation is easy.

Metrowerks CodeWarrior Wireless Studio 7

Metrowerks CodeWarrior Wireless Studio 7 Professional Edition comes with two installation CDs and two guidebooks. One guidebook shows you how to get started with Wireless Studio; the other is a general CodeWarrior IDE manual, which is not Java specific.
CodeWarrior does not have a free or evaluation edition. The Professional Edition I reviewed costs 99 if you buy online. However, the company does have discounted software for noncommercial academic users (19 per license). CodeWarrior Wireless Studio 7 only runs on Windows platforms.

jVise from S5 Systems

The jVise IDE is based on the open source Eclipse project. Eclipse itself only provides a core set of IDE functionalities in a runtime engine. However, the design philosophy behind Eclipse is to leverage the open source community efforts. Vendors or individual mobile developers can add additional features and extend the Eclipse IDE through plug-ins. The plug-in specifications and standards are completely open. Since Eclipse source code is covered under the IBM Public License, vendors can bundle and distribute value-added plug-ins with the entire core IDE in their product CD or download.
S5 Systems develops J2ME/MIDP compilers, libraries, and runtime environments as Eclipse plug-in modules. Those modules enable Eclipse to compile J2ME source code and execute J2ME applications. J2ME-compatible Eclipse plug-ins are only a small part of jVise. Its real value comes from S5 Systems’ proprietary J2ME obfuscation, code reduction, J2ME application verification, and Java Post Processor tools that are built into jVise.

Each of the four IDEs reviewed in this article provides reasonable J2ME application development support. If you are already comfortable with a particular IDE’s standard or enterprise version, you don’t need to switch to another.

Source: javaworld.com