Sending a PHP Curl requests to REST API of Parse.com

Parse is an external BaaS (Backend as a service) provider.

The REST API of Parse lets you interact with Parse from anything that can send an HTTP request. Read more about Parse Rest API.

Follow the steps to create a Parse App and obtain AppId.

1. SignUp for Parse. 
2. Move to Dashboard
3. Create a New App
4. Copy Application ID, Client Key and REST API Key to a text file.

Following is a sample code to send a Php Curl request to Rest API of Parse.  Replace the placeholders with your Application ID and Rest API Key in the code and run it from a php server.

 <?php  
 $url = 'https://api.parse.com/1/classes/GameScore';  
 $appId = 'YOUR_APP_ID';  
 $restKey = 'YOUR_REST_KEY';  
 $headers = array(  
   "Content-Type: application/json",  
   "X-Parse-Application-Id: " . $appId,  
   "X-Parse-REST-API-Key: " . $restKey  
 );  
 $objectData = '{"name":"Adarsh", "age":"26"}';  
 $rest = curl_init();  
 curl_setopt($rest,CURLOPT_URL,$url);  
 curl_setopt($rest,CURLOPT_POST,1);  
 curl_setopt($rest,CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,$objectData);  
 curl_setopt($rest,CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER,$headers);  
 curl_setopt($rest,CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);  
 curl_setopt($rest,CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);  
 $response = curl_exec($rest);  
 echo $response;  
 print_r($response);  
 curl_close($rest);  
 ?>  

Goto the Data Browser tab of the parse to find the saved data :)

How to Unhide the Library Folder on a Mac

From Mac OS X Lion 10.7, the “Library” folder located within every user’s home folder, was made invisible. As a developer we need this folder to visible to deal with the supporting files of applications. 

Ex: SQLite files generated by the Core Data, Document folder of the iOS app etc are avilable inside the Library folder.

To unhide the library folder, you should open Terminal app and use the following command.

chflags nohidden ~/Library

Note : - Apple used to make the folder invisible again with every System update.

How to install PhoneGap for Android in a Windows Machine? How to create a PhoneGap Android Project?

Install Java JDK => Click here to download Java JDK
Check MyCompuer properties to figure out you are using 32Bit or 62Bit OS.

Install ADT => Click here to download ADT This includes android dev tools and Eclipse.

After installation, Start Eclipse >select Help > Install New Software > Click on Add in the top-right corner >  In the Add Repository dialog that appears, enter “ADT Plugin” for the Name and the following URL for the Location: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
> Click OK > select the checkbox for Developer Tools > Click Next and proceed to finish. After Installation restart eclipse.

Now Go to Window > Android SDK Manager. Select latest API levels and Install those packages. Will take some time to download.

Install PhoneGap

Goto nodejs webpage and install Noje Js.

Go to PhoneGap web page and download the latest version of the PhoneGap,  I will be there in the bottom of the page.

Set up your PATH environment variable

Go to  My Computer properties > Advanced tab > Environment Variables button.
> System variables  > PATH variable > Edit button.

We need to add the path to Android SDK platform-tools and tools directory. Append the following text into the text box. In my case

E:\adt-bundle-windows-x86-20130917\adt-bundle-windows-x86-20130917\sdk\platform-tools;E:\adt-bundle-windows-x86-20130917\adt-bundle-windows-x86-20130917\sdk\tools;

Save your edit.

Now we need to include %JAVA_HOME%\bin to the PATH as well. In my case it is as follows.
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_40\bin;%JAVA_HOME%\bin; 

Before adding JAVA_HOME you can check whether it is there already. GoTo Start > Run> Type java. it is not found then you should Add JAVA_HOME variable to the PATH.

Now we need to include %ANT_HOME%\bin in the Path Variable.

Now to confirm the above steps we should go to  Command prompt and type java -version. If it list out the java version details then you can confirm it as working fine.

Create the PhoneGap Application

Open a command prompt: > Navigate to the bin directory deep inside the downloaded PhoneGap folder. In my case it is  cd E:\PhoneGap\lib\android\bin

Now use create command to create a new PhoneGap project.
Create command sytax is  create<Project-Path><Bundle-Name><Project-Name>

Use the following commad

create E:\AndroidWorkSpace\MyFirstPhoneGapProject com.mycompany.myfirstphonegapapp MyFirstPhoneGapApp  and press Enter. Now you can navigate to the location
E:\AndroidWorkSpace\MyFirstPhoneGapProject to find the new PhoneGap project.
Done !!!

PhoneGap File downloading and displaying in iOS

Include the given code just above the </head> tag in your index.html . Here we use FileTransfer object and fileTransfer.download() method.

  <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">  
       // Wait for Cordova to load  
    document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);  
    // Cordova is ready  
    function onDeviceReady() {  
      alert("Going to start download");  
      downloadFile();  
    }  
     function downloadFile(){  
       window.requestFileSystem(  
                    LocalFileSystem.PERSISTENT, 0,  
                    function onFileSystemSuccess(fileSystem) {  
                    fileSystem.root.getFile(  
                                "dummy.html", {create: true, exclusive: false},  
                                function gotFileEntry(fileEntry){  
                                var sPath = fileEntry.fullPath.replace("dummy.html","");  
                                var fileTransfer = new FileTransfer();  
                                fileEntry.remove();  
                                fileTransfer.download(  
                                           "http://www.w3.org/2011/web-apps-ws/papers/Nitobi.pdf",  
                                           sPath + "theFile.pdf",  
                                           function(theFile) {  
                                           console.log("download complete: " + theFile.toURI());  
                                           showLink(theFile.toURI());  
                                           },  
                                           function(error) {  
                                           console.log("download error source " + error.source);  
                                           console.log("download error target " + error.target);  
                                           console.log("upload error code: " + error.code);  
                                           }  
                                           );  
                                },  
                                fail);  
                    },  
                    fail);  
     }  
     function showLink(url){  
       alert(url);  
       var divEl = document.getElementById("deviceready");  
       var aElem = document.createElement("a");  
       aElem.setAttribute("target", "_blank");  
       aElem.setAttribute("href", url);  
       aElem.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Ready! Click To Open."))  
       divEl.appendChild(aElem);  
     }  
     function fail(evt) {  
       console.log(evt.target.error.code);  
     }  
 </script>  

Instalation of Cordova/PhoneGap SQLitePlugin to iOS PhoneGap Project.

Step 1 -  Goto the Cordova-SQLitePlugin Github Page and download the project (Cordova-SQLitePlugin-master.zip)

Step 2 - Create your PhoneGap project and open it in Xcode.

Step 3 - Goto the "Build Phases" of you Xcode project -> Click the dropdown "Link Binary with Libraries" and add libsqlite3.dylib or libsqlite3.0.dylib.

Step 4 - Unzip the file "Cordova-SQLitePlugin-master.zip" goto the folder src/ios/  you will find SQLitePlugin.h and SQLitePlugin.m file there.

Step 5 - Drag those files to the plugin folder in your Xcode project.  Make sure that you tick the "copy items to destination folder.

Step 6 - Same way you should add the following files to the js folder in Xcode project.

* lawnchair.js  
* SQLitePlugin.js 
* Lawnchair-sqlitePlugin.js

Step 7 - Include these files in the index.html of your project.  Use the code below.

     <script type="text/javascript" src="js/Lawnchair-sqlitePlugin.js"></script>
     <script type="text/javascript" src="js/lawnchair.js"></script>
     <script type="text/javascript" src="js/SQLitePlugin.js"></script>

Step 8 - Add the following code between you <head> </head> tag.

 <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">  
       // Wait for Cordova to load  
       document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);  
       // Cordova is ready  
       function onDeviceReady() {  
         console.log("Run1");  
         var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase({name: "MYDB"});  
         db.transaction(function (tx) {  
                 tx.executeSql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS LOGS (id unique, log)');  
         });  
         db.transaction(function (tx){  
                 for (var index = 1; index < 10; index++){  
                   tx.executeSql('INSERT INTO LOGS (id,log) VALUES ('+index+', '+index+')');  
                 }  
         });  
       }  
     </script>  

Step 9 -   Include the following in your config file.

 <feature name="SQLitePlugin"> 
    <param name="ios-package" value="SQLitePlugin" /> 
 </feature>  

Step 10 - Run your project. Open FInder and goto ->User->Library->Application Support->iPhone Simulator->7.0 -> Applications -"Your Application" -> Documents if you find a file named MYDB.Sqlite then try to open it using some SQLite DB Manager. (I use a Mozilla Firefox plugin named SQLite Manager) Done !!!

UIView class methods for common animations.

Following  UIView class  methods are convenience methods for common animations.

UIView Animation blocks

[UIView beginAnimations:nil context:nil];

[UIView setAnimationDuration:0.70];

[UIView setAnimationDelay:0.0];

[UIView setAnimationCurve:UIViewAnimationCurveEaseOut];
        

Your Code to change the position of UIVeiw goes here...
        

[UIView commitAnimations];

We can animate UIView in ios 5 using this simple code. 

[UIView animateWithDuration:0.5

                              delay:1.0

                            options: UIViewAnimationCurveEaseOut

                         animations:^{

                             view.contentOffset = CGPointMake(position, 0.0f);

                         }

                         completion:^(BOOL finished){

                             NSLog(@"Done!");

                         }];

Method to insert text to a UITextView.

Method to insert text to a UITextView.

- (void)insertTextToTextView:(NSString *)string
{
    if ([self.textView.text length]== 0)// Nothing in the textview
    {
        NSString *textViewString = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%@%@",textView.text, string];
        [textView setText:textViewString];
    }
    else
    {
        NSRange range = textView.selectedRange;
        NSString *firstHalfString = [textView.text substringToIndex:range.location];
        NSString *secondHalfString = [textView.text substringFromIndex:range.location];
        textView.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@%@",firstHalfString,string,secondHalfString];
        textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(firstHalfString.length+string.length,0);
       
    }
}

QuartzCore Framework

If You get this kind of compile error,

Property 'anchorPoint' cannot be found in forward class object 'CALayer'

Solution:

Most likely, the error is caused because the QuartzCore  Framework is not added to the project.

To do this, select the project in the left sidebar and then select Target and then the Build Phases tab on the right pane. Expand the “Link Binary with Libraries” section and then click on the + sign and look for QuartzCore to add it.

Don't forget to Import the QuartzCore to your .m file.

Use this code. #import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>

Done. :)

Method to dynamically set the height of UILabel, UITableViewCell etc

To find the height of a label , UITableViewCell or UITextView for dynamic string content. Following method may help

- (float)getHeightFortheDynamicLabel:(NSString *)stringForTheLabel{
    UITextView *aSampleTextView;
    // 30 is the minimum height
    aSampleTextView = [[UITextView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, mywidth, 30)];
    aSampleTextView.text = stringForTheLabel;
    aSampleTextView.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:kMyFontSize];
    aSampleTextView.alpha = 0;
    [self.view addSubview:aSampleTextView];
    float textViewHeight = aSampleTextView.contentSize.height;
    [aSampleTextView removeFromSuperview];
    [aSampleTextView release];
    return  textViewHeight;
}

Programmatically calling to a phone number from iPhone.

//  This method will call a phone number from string.
+ (void)callPhoneNumber:(NSString *)phoneNumberString
{
        if ([phoneNumberString length]>0)
        {
            phoneNumberString = [[phoneNumberString componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]] componentsJoinedByString: @""];
            NSString *phoneDecender = @"tel:";
            NSString *totalPhoneNumberString = [phoneDecender stringByAppendingString:phoneNumberString];
            NSURL *aPhoneNumberURL = [NSURL URLWithString:totalPhoneNumberString];
       
            if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:aPhoneNumberURL])
            {
                    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:aPhoneNumberURL];
            }
       
        }
}