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My first iPhone app is in the app store

 
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I am just excited, my first app has been approved onto the iTunes App Store.

No links here, because I am bragging and not trying to do blatant advertising. ;)

Mark
 
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Hey, does anybody know what that cool new app by Mark Spritzler is called?

Also, now I need to go buy an iPhone so I can download it.
 
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There's this really cool Money Mgt Calculator just released yesterday that looks like it could be really good. It looks like it can be purchase through apptism, but I don't know if that is the correct / best place to purchase.

Regards, Andrew
 
Mark Spritzler
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Funny, and thanks.

I think this is so cool, yes my app is a simple app, and I only charge because I am now self-employed and need all the cash I can get to pay bills.

Anyway, in three days I got a total of 22 sales, and I think that is really really cool. I was expecting only 1 sale, my own, but thanks to anyone who bought it.

Mark
 
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I think that's really cool Mark. I bet it's exciting to see your work out there like that. Gratz.
 
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Cool Mark!

Can you tell us a little about developing an iPhone app? How hard is it, what would you compare it to, what tools did you use, and so on?

Bert
 
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Bert Bates wrote:Cool Mark!

Can you tell us a little about developing an iPhone app? How hard is it, what would you compare it to, what tools did you use, and so on?

Bert


I'm not Mark, obviously, but I have been developing an iphone app since the beginning of January so I can answer this questions from my perspective.

How hard is it? - It depends. For us it hasn't been too difficult. The biggest hurdle was learning a new language (Objective-c) and a new API (Cocoa Touch). Our app is a turn based game and we use images to present pieces to the player. We did a tad with the 2d graphics API which is pretty similar to Swing's graphics2d API in how it works. Once you understand how views are constructed and how controllers are used, things go pretty quickly.

what tools did you use? We used XCode and Interface Builder. XCode sucks. It's SVN integration sucks. It has no concept of refactoring outside of search and replace for a file. But you don't really have any options since the iphone SDK is part of XCode when you install it. Interface Builder is actually pretty nice and it is easy to create UIs and connect them to the controllers.

We lived and breathed a couple of books through the process:

http://apress.com/book/view/1430216263
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/amiphd/iphone-sdk-development

Finding good information on the web specific to iphone development is difficult. Finding Objective-C info is pretty easy. And I'd also recommend this book:

http://www.apress.com/book/view/1430218150

Our app should be ready by the end of this month. We have to add some sound effects, plug in the real graphics, and write the code to upload scores/stats to our server. But those are the easy bits. It's been all sorts of fun and frustrating at the same time. Just like with any project I suppose.
 
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All the best with the sales Mark
 
Mark Spritzler
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My ditto post to what Gregg says.

I used both those books, I liked the apress book a little bit better. I haven't delved into the 2d graphics, mostly just Nav controllers and table view controllers.

the whole part of objective-c and how to code in it, and especially memory management was the tricky parts.

Mark
 
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I'm not sure I have a need for this, but I'm going to buy it for my iPod Touch just because, well because Mark wrote it.


 
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One thing I'm LOVING about iPhone development....

It's fairly common for UI development tools to offer some drag n drop junk. Interface Builder is what you get for Mac/iPhone development.

However, most UI tools just generate a ton of ugly code or markup under the covers. So then when you need to add something through code, you have to integrate with the nasty generated code.

In iPhone development, IB doesn't generate icky code. If you need to interact with a UI component through code, you simply create a property called an "outlet" which serves as a pointer to the UI component you need to interact with. It keeps everything very clean and separated.
 
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Marc Peabody wrote:One thing I'm LOVING about iPhone development....

It's fairly common for UI development tools to offer some drag n drop junk. Interface Builder is what you get for Mac/iPhone development.

However, most UI tools just generate a ton of ugly code or markup under the covers. So then when you need to add something through code, you have to integrate with the nasty generated code.

In iPhone development, IB doesn't generate icky code. If you need to interact with a UI component through code, you simply create a property called an "outlet" which serves as a pointer to the UI component you need to interact with. It keeps everything very clean and separated.



Separated, yes. The UI generated markup is still rather hideous. As you said, though, you don't need to care. There is a Java library that works similarly in that the UI markup is all in YAML files and if you need to reference a UI element specifically, you just need a property (Outlet) in your java class.

http://code.google.com/p/javabuilders/

They just don't have a nice tool like IB to build the UIs.
 
Mark Spritzler
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Bear Bibeault wrote:I'm not sure I have a need for this, but I'm going to buy it for my iPod Touch just because, well because Mark wrote it.




Thanks Bear, I really appreciate it.

I am adding a couple more calculators to the app. The typical tip calculator and also a percentage off, for when you want to calculate how much is 25% off 29.99 for those docker pants. version 1.1

Then I will add a check splitter in version 1.2

So while the app has a specific niche right now, it will hopefully expand to be close to being worth $1.99. I only charged because I am laid off and need the extra couple of bucks.

Mark
 
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Bear Bibeault wrote:I'm not sure I have a need for this, but I'm going to buy it for my iPod Touch just because, well because Mark wrote it.


Me too. I just downloaded to my iPhone. Congrats on the app!

(This should entitle me to bother you with my own iPhone development questions. )
 
Mark Spritzler
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marc weber wrote:

Bear Bibeault wrote:I'm not sure I have a need for this, but I'm going to buy it for my iPod Touch just because, well because Mark wrote it.


Me too. I just downloaded to my iPhone. Congrats on the app!

(This should entitle me to bother you with my own iPhone development questions. )



Thanks Marc, yeah definitely ask me some questions, I know some, but not all yet.

Mark
 
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Mark Spritzler wrote:... Thanks Marc, yeah definitely ask me some questions, I know some, but not all yet...


I was really enjoying learning Objective-C and Xcode in my "free" time, but then I got a new girlfriend who has taken priority. So my Mac development has come to a standstill, but I'm not complaining!

I'll get back to it eventually...
 
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