At the D2L UnConference I demoed an alpha version an iPad application I have been working on that is aimed at replacing traditional workshop handouts in the faculty training sessions I offer. The basic idea is that the app communicates with a web server to automatically display a PDF handout of the current workshop and also loads the sign-in and evaluation pages for that particular session. The app will hopefully eliminate unnecessary printouts and allow participants to more easily access to complementary workshop materials during sessions.
Since the conference I have completely rewritten the application, making it cross-platform (iPhone and iPad) and adding several new features. Let’s take a look at how the new version works!
Initial View
When the app loads, it parses a small XML file hosted on a server and loads the correct session information into memory. It then checks to see if the session handout already exists in the app’s documents directory. If so, it displays the previously downloaded version. If that file is not present, the app will download the file to the device and display it in the main window.
Participant Sign In
Participants can sign in using the second icon in the bottom toolbar. This displays a modal window with a web-based sign in form. The app passes the form some hidden fields including the current time and the session ID to help ensure participants get credit for attending the correct workshop.
The form is created using the Gravity Forms WordPress plugin, but any online form would work just as well. Once a participant registers, they automatically receive a personalized email with the PDF handout attached.
Website View
The third icon loads a web site defined in the XML file. In my workshops I frequently ask attendants to navigate to external websites, and this will hopefully make that process a bit easier. Participants can use the action menu item to send themselves a link to any of the sites visited during the session.
Workshop Evaluation
The last icon in the toolbar sends participants to the workshop evaluation form. Like the sign in form, hidden fields are passed to the form to ensure that the evaluations are associated with the correct session.
Conclusion
I had originally planned on using the app in my faculty training sessions, but I now think that I may also use it in the mobile web design course I am teaching this fall. We have a classroom set of iPads in the experimental technology classroom I am using for that course and this seems like a perfect fit. I will post my experiences as the semester progresses.
Feel free to let me know if you have an idea that would make the app better. I am always open to suggestions!
In preparing for my beginning iOS development workshop last month and the upcoming Web Design for Mobile devices course (fall 2011), I’ve been accumulating links to various resources that I think will be helpful for new mobile developers. Currently the list of resources is more geared towards native app development, but I will be adding mobile web resources to the list as I continue to develop the course. if you know of a resource I should add, please feel free to leave a comment below.
Graphic Resources
Tutorials
- Cocoa Dev Central
- iCode Blog
- Design Then Code – a site that explores both sides of the development process; design and development. Visitors can purchase instructions along with the Photoshop files and Xcode projects.
Books/Publications
Videos
Code
- SVShareViewController – a simple way to add Twitter and Facebook integration to an existing application.
- Taplynx – if you’re looking to build a content/RSS-based application, I highly recommend Taplynx ($599).
- SensibleTableView – An awesome framework for creating table-based applications. It costs $99 but saves countless hours of work and can be used on multiple projects.
- CocoaControls – custom UI components for your iOS projects
- ASIWebPageRequest – A class that makes it easy to download complete web pages
- Open.iPhoneDev.com – a listing of open source iOS code and projects
- MWaterfall – an Objective-C RSS/Atom feed parser for iOS
- Sharekit – an easy way to add social sharing to your iOS app
- Baker Framework - a ridiculously easy way to create e-book apps from your HTML files
Other
- Ingredients – a documentation browser that is easier to use and more elegant than what is built in to Xcode
On April 19 I offered a beginning iPhone application development training session at Walters State Community College. We started off by discussing some of our favorite mobile applications, then jumped right in to a discussion on what’s needed to develop apps for iOS devices. We ended the first part of the day by making our app icons and splash screen in Photoshop, taking a quick tour of X-Code, and covering the basics of Objective-C. We built something similar to the D2L Quick Reference app in the session after lunch; adding an extra media player and removing the shake features and settings screen.
This was the first time I’ve taught an iOS development workshop so I wasn’t really sure how things would work out. All things considered, I think the day went fairly well. We actually finished a majority of the app even though I had to take some shortcuts towards the end of the day to get all of the functionality in place. Driving home from the event, however, I realized that this sort of training would probably be much better suited for a series of blog posts or video tutorials than a full day of training – especially for folks that have never launched X-Code or developed in Objective-C before.
This summer I’ll be spending some time developing materials for an upcoming course I’m teaching on mobile web design (more on that later), and I think that would also be a great time to get started on a series of iPhone dev tutorials. My thinking is that the tutorials would be presented weekly and guide tech-savvy educators and instructional technologists through the entire process of developing an app from an idea sketched on paper to preparation of submission to the app store. At this point I don’t know exactly what app I would want to build, but I definitely want to keep it simple – maybe a training app or some sort of e-book app. Or I could even go through the app we built in the original session. Anyway, I’d love to know what you think. Feel free to leave your comments or suggestions below!
