1 day – 1 app

Wow, it’s already been 2+ hours!

I started with browsing the iPhone Cookbook and implemented “hello world”. Didn’t quite work, I’m afraid, but I did get a general overview of the architecture.

Then I wanted to see some sample code, went to the iPhone Reference Library and downloaded UICatalog. UICatalog is great because it has all the standard iPhone UI elements in it. Good source .

Core Data

My next objective was to research data storage on the iPhone. So I’m now reading an introduction and will continue with the programming guide.
In the meanwhile, I’ve also downloaded a couple more demo apps:

• TopSongs is a listing app that retrieves data either from a local XML (for demo purposes) or an online RSS feed (implemented, not active by default). I’m planning to use this as the basic framework for 5Things.
• TaggedLocations allows you to add data (events), it geocodes your location (why?) and invites you to add tags for each location. It’s a pretty good example of associating data structures on the iPhone.

Application UI

Using some components from UICatalog and TopSongs, I’ve spent a few minutes in Fireworks and created the UI for 5Things.

The main page shows a listing of 5 things in your current location by default. You can change the location by typing the new one in the search box. Maybe I’ll replace the search box with a list. What do you think?

There’s also a second-level screen with details about a thing. I didn’t spend much time on this because I won’t implement it today. No time .

Daymap… a sort of roadmap

By 12pm, get the UI working with hardcoded data.
By 2pm, good on my way on integrating Core Data. For today, the app will read data from a local XML.
By 4pm, changing location should work.
By 6pm, screencast of the app running in iPhone Simulator.
By 8pm, buffer-time to finish everything.
By 10pm, at the cinema to watch Inglourious Basterds .

So what are *you* doing today? :p