Development on Flo's Thoughts

Taking Charge Of Those XIPs

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 22:31:17 +0200

Two great tips in this article. Luckily, at this time of the year waiting for new Xcode builds to unpack isn’t as bad as in the early summer. I’m sure this will save a lot of time after the next WWDC, though. I don’t know if I’ll use those PDF man pages often, but it’s still a neat trick.

Discontinuing My Personal Apps

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 07:27:34 +0200

I’ve released Studifutter probably more than ten years ago, and to this day, it is still on the App Store. While I was often pleasantly surprised that it was still working, I didn’t find the time or the will to properly update it to support new cafeterias or the newest phones.

That’s why I have decided to sunset it along with Deadlines, which also hasn’t seen any updates in years. Both apps will soon disappear from the App Store.

RTFM, Flo!

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 20:25:51 +0200

For the last couple of days, I was pulling my hair out over an issue with CoreLocation’s geofencing features. As I stated earlier, our new app Iris relies heavily on those geofences. When I first implemented them, everything seemed fine. But when I switched to some closer test cases around my area (in GPX format, because why would I leave the house anyway), the events for when a region was entered or exited did not fire anymore. I changed the tracks a few times and I even created a few different GPX tracks to make sure that I did not somehow screw up those coordinates. All solutions Google brought up were similar to what I was using. So I was pretty sure that my approach was still right. Nothing seemed to work, though. I was already convinced that this was one of the more stupid mistakes on my end, like swapped longitude and latitude values.

Geofencing

Sun, 09 Aug 2015 20:25:26 +0200

Update August 28, 2015: I had some trouble regarding those geofences later down the road. I wrote it down here.

If you follow me on Twitter you might have noticed, that lately Cat Noone and I talked about an app we’re developing called Iris. Iris is our new project, based on an idea Cat came up with earlier this year. I don’t want to share too much about the app’s purpose at this point. What I’d rather do, is talk about a few observations I have made so far.

Combining Matt Gemmell's Staging Script and Jekyll-Post-Link

Sun, 08 Feb 2015 15:00:00 +0200

Last week, Matt Gemmell released a pretty handy staging script for Jekyll.¹ This temporarily removes all your posts from your site and copies a draft into _posts. This way, building your Jekyll site with your new draft post is way faster than your regular builds with all your content.

Unfortunately, this does not work when you’re using the jekyll-post-link in one of your pages. (Yes, I mean pages, not posts.) The build process for your staged website will fail with an error like this:

Two New Jekyll Scripts

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 14:00:00 +0200

Every now and then I try to make the process of writing posts in Jekyll a bit more pleasant. Last time, I shared a script that was supposed to make the post creation process a bit easier. It turned out, though, that I almost never really use this script because of its complexity. There are just too many switches and configuration options. (Of which some don’t even work reliably.)

Though this script did not help me as much as I hoped it would, it led me to two new, extremely simple scripts in my toolchain.¹

Deadlines 1.2

Thu, 05 Feb 2015 13:04:00 +0200

A few days ago, I submitted a new version of Deadlines to the App Store. Today it has been approved. This small update features a new design to fit the iOS 7 style and fixes a few issues I had with the calendar integration. I wanted to do this ever since iOS 7 was announced. I hope you like it.

Back To The Roots

Wed, 07 Jan 2015 11:33:26 +0200

tl;dr: I’m looking for a new side project.

Some of you may know that I moved my professional focus to a new field after getting my degree in early 2013. I was offered to join our family business, which has absolutely nothing to do with computer science. Since I thought it might be a great idea to keep learning, I finished a few courses which led to another job title I can add to my résumé. Now I’m also an occupational safety specialist¹ and planning supervisor² and I do this as my day job now.

The Terminal

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 11:06:57 +0200

If you ever find yourself inside a Terminal window go ahead and read Craig Hockenberry’s great collection on Terminal tips and tricks.

Migrating from SVN to Git

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:06:40 +0200

At least since reading the comments on my post about combining Dropbox and SVN suggesting I should move to a decentralized versioning system for my development projects I developed an eager want to do so. To be honest, I was afraid the migration would turn out to be a royal PITA.

Last weekend, investigating this problem again, I found this article by John Albin who wrote a set of scripts to make the entire process fairly simple. The final output of those scripts are the bare Git repos that can be used to serve the projects to your clients. After moving them to your server you should be able to clone that data.

Thinking Slowly by Matt Gemmell

Thu, 15 May 2014 20:00:00 +0200

Matt Gemmell:

Defer starting. Put it off. Do your thinking first, even if you have to tie a hand behind your back. Allow the idea to ripen, and lay out your work – just a bit of it, at least – in front of you to consider.

I love the process of planning out a new project. Scribbling in my notebook, collecting and organizing ideas, playing it through in my head. It is so rewarding when the up-front work gets validated during the actual implementation.

Studifutter 2.2 – iOS 7 Update

Wed, 27 Nov 2013 20:00:00 +0200

When iOS 7 was announced this summer we planned to support it from day one with Studifutter and Deadlines. As you might have noticed, this did not work out as planned.

A few months later, today Studifutter gets it’s update. We got rid of all the custom textures and try to be more simple and straight forward.

We hope you like it. Get it on the App Store.

builds

Sat, 16 Nov 2013 19:00:00 +0200

I’ve been using a simple script that would increase my app’s build numbers on every build in Xcode for a while now. This worked fine but had a major downside: It did not support working on a team.

So I had the idea to write a script that would talk to a server, store and increase the build number there, pull it back and write it to my project file locally. Tonight a had some time to do this.

Cholesterini ist fertig

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 10:00:00 +0200

Cholesterini is only available in German for now. I’ll let you know when it’s been translated.

Gestern Abend hat Apple die neueste App, an der wir für unseren Kunden neapptrix arbeiten durften, freigegeben. Cholesterini (App Store Affiliate Link, 15,99 €) hilft Schlaganfall- und Herzinfarkt-Patienten und -Risikogruppen ihre Blut- und Nährwerte im Auge zu behalten und stellt diese grafisch dar. Dabei können die Lebensmittel aus einer Datenbank mit ~15.000 Einträgen gewählt werden, wodurch sich der Erfassungsaufwand auf ein Minimum reduziert. Ziel ist es, schnell, einfach und zuverlässig seine Daten im Überblick zu haben und so den Benutzer dabei zu unterstützen, sich gesünder zu ernähren.

Studifutter and Deadlines on iOS 7

Wed, 18 Sep 2013 18:00:00 +0200

Today, Apple released iOS 7 to the public and the adoption rate might go even crazier than it did with the previous versions due to all the new bits this update brings. It’s the biggest update since the introduction of the iPhone OS back in 2007.

This is a huge opportunity for developers, they say. In an App Store filled to the max with Apps a new chance to separate from the masses came up when the new OS was introduced at WWDC in June.

Deadlines 1.1.2

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:00:00 +0200

With Deadlines 1.1.2 we decided to do a major change (though it’s not a major update): Deadlines is free from now on.

This move is a reaction to the experiment we did earlier this year. During the seven months Deadlines was available now only a hand full of people bought it. During the weekend we gave it away for free a few hundred people downloaded it. So it does not make any sense to charge for it if no one is buying it anyway.

Studifutter 2.1

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:00:00 +0200

Studifutter 2.1 is here. We’ve improved the performance again and added social sharing features. You can now share your plans to go to your local cafeteria via Facebook, Twitter or mail.

As with Deadlines 1.1.1, we added Crashlytics. If you want to help send the reports to us whenever the app crashes.

Hope you like it.

Displaying Your App Store Downloads on Panic's Status Board

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0200

About a week ago Panic introduced its newest product: Status Board. It’s a widget-based app that displays different kinds of information on your iPad or on your TV.

Since there are already quite a few custom widgets out there I thought it would be nice if you could see your App Store downloads on there. We’re using App Annie and they’re offering a public API. Tim Brückmann implemented a script that creates a data source for a widget that displays the App Store sales.

Deadlines Free for the Weekend

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0200

As a little experiment we’re giving away Deadlines for free over the weekend. So go get it on the App Store (de, us)! Feel free to email us about any concerns or improvements.

Happy downloading.

Deadlines 1.1.1

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:00:00 +0200

Today Apple published Deadlines 1.1.1, a minor bug fix release. Changelog:

Configure reminder times (per event and globally via settings)
Improving performance and UI of the calendar

Besides that we included the Crashlytics framework. So when the app crashes, you may be asked to let it send a report about what happened to us. If you wan’t to help us improve the app say yes.

We hope you like it.

Studifutter 2.0.3

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:00:00 +0200

As of today, Studifutter 2.0.3 is available. Here are the release notes:

Fixes cosmetic bugs which caused some assets to randomly appear and disappear
Fixes the bug that caused the app to hang on first launch
Fixes the bug which caused the app not to display new data after hitting the re-download button
Downloads only the menu for the restaurant wanted
Notifies the user when there are no meals (during holiday breaks, i.e.) instead of just displaying an empty list

We hope this makes the experience quite a lot better.

Deadlines 1.1 Available

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0200

Deadlines 1.1 made it to the App Store last night. It brings a few bug fixes and the options to read from and save to the calendar. That makes adding events even easier. Besides that, I added a settings screen that allows to hide overdue events.

Get Deadlines here.

New Hobby Project: Deadlines

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 22:00:00 +0200

A few semesters back I wanted to have an app that would allow me to enter a few important dates like the exams and create a basic list of them to keep track of that without the need to look them up on my calendar. While browsing the App Store I found a few that did exactly that — but they all were ugly as hell. All I wanted was a simple list with a title and the remaining time.

Deadlines Availability

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:00:00 +0200

Last night Apple set Deadlines to ready for sale. So I’ve been checking the App Store all day and waited for it to show up. Unfortunately I had to realize that I accidentally set the availability date to December 31, which explains why I couldn’t find it.

You can now finally find it here on the App Store.

I did also submit the first update which brings Calendar.app integration and a few bug fixes. Feel free to follow @DeadlinesApp or @flohei on Twitter for updates.

Follow-Up on Localized MonoMac Applications

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:00:00 +0200

Last year I’ve been working on a MonoMac application. While not having too many troubles using C# again (I used to do it almost exclusively a few years back), I had some problems localizing the Interface Builder files properly. Eventually I figured out how to do it. While I did not write it down, Uwe wrote a great article with example code about how to use it.

Studifutter Update

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:00:00 +0200

A few years back, when the App Store just opened we began to develop this little app called Studifutter. We thought it would be a nice project to start with this new platform as it would present information we as students needed every day: the menu of our cafeteria. Back then, it was only the website (which looked terrible on the phones most students had back then) and our own little website, Studifutter’s predecessor, which parsed the original website to present the menu in a more smartphone-friendly manner.

Building a Basic LEGO Robot

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 20:08:19 +0200

When the current semester began, we had the opportunity to choose a few of our courses ourselves. One of those was Self-Localization held by Prof. Dr. Jörg Roth. When I read the description it got me pretty excited about the topic. Not only because we would be using LEGO MINDSTORMS to create a simple robot to apply the newly gained knowledge about how to find out where an object is located. When we’re talking about location here, it means an indoor location which implies that GPS or Galileo are not that suitable. So I was pretty happy I was chosen among about 14 other students to attend this course.

Easy Versions Syncing Using Dropbox

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:43:03 +0200

For our subversion repositories we’re using Sofa’s awesome app Versions. If you’re working with subversion on a Mac go get it here.

Only downside: No bookmark syncing between computers. Today it bugged me enough to come up with a solution. Okay, fair enough, this is kinda obvious, but maybe you’re at the same point:

ln -s ~/Dropbox/Versions/ ~/Library/Application Support/Versions

Just move your Versions directory (which contains your Bookmarks.plist) to your Dropbox (or any other cloud location) and create a symlink to it at the directory’s old location.

What Makes a Good Bug Report?

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:36:27 +0200

A good bug report is one that describes the problem well enough that someone familiar with the project can understand and act on that bug report without talking to the person who wrote it.

That’s the line. Anything less is simply not good enough.

Studifutter ist online!

Mon, 18 May 2009 19:28:23 +0200

Seit gestern ist nun endlich unsere erste App im App Store erhältlich: Studifutter. Damit kann man sich momentan die aktuellen Speisepläne für die Mensen in Nürnberg, Erlangen, Ansbach, Eichstätt und Ingolstadt anzeigen und sich auch per Google-Maps-Integration dort hin navigieren lassen.

Wer sich jetzt denkt “Schade, sowas hätte ich auch gerne für meine Mensa oder Kantine.” dem sei gesagt, dass wir im Moment an einer neuen Version mit offener Schnittstelle arbeiten.

Neuauflage des Mensa-Infoprogramms

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:26:14 +0200

Simon hat sich vorige Tage noch mal ein wenig ins Zeug gelegt, und seine Speiseplan-App überarbeitet. Jetzt das Programm vom iPhone aus über futter.florian-heiber.de¹ zu erreichen und erscheint dort in einem schicken, modernem Design. Allerdings lassen sich im Moment keine Termine mehr runterladen. Per PC- oder Mac-Webbrowser wird man auf die eigentliche Mensaseite weitergeleitet.

Danke, Simon! :-)

Der Link wurde mit der Veröffentlichung von Studifutter deaktiviert. ↩︎

Immer wissen, was es in der Mensa gibt

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:24:50 +0200

Simon hat schon vor einiger Zeit ein kleines Tool entwickelt, mit dem er sich die aktuellen Speisen für unsere Mensataria von deren Website zieht und sie dann in iCal bzw. Outlook einfügen lässt, um sie dann so auf sein Handy zu syncen.

Jetzt hat er das Ganze noch webbasiert umgesetzt hostet das Projekt unter www.florian-heiber.de/speiseplan¹. Eine sehr geile Sache, wie ich finde. :-)

Es wird noch weiter daran rumgeschraubt, versteht es also bitte als beta. ;-)