From the Forum — Issue #13

28 March 2014

From the Forum — Issue #13

Welcome to the thirteenth installment of From the Forum. In this series, guest blogger Alex Jackson highlights outstanding threads from the Corona Forum. The goal is to bring attention to the most captivating, interesting, and thought-provoking discussions taking place in our very own backyard.

Please visit the forum to join these conversations or start your own!

1. You can’t be excused until you finish your veggies!

One of the great strengths of Lua is using tables to hold data and accessing that data from virtually anywhere in your project. Grasping table “best practices” is essential to mastering Corona.

Perhaps the most important part of Lua table administration is the efficient removal of elements from a table — adding is the “ying” but quick and intelligent subtraction is the “yang.” The forum thread below discusses some interesting methods for removing items from a table. In addition, it outlines some pitfalls to avoid when developing your own table logic.

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/36698-how-to-remove-a-table-or-array/

2. You want to Dropbox?

Dropbox is becoming ubiquitous as the solution for cloud storage and data services. Its familiarity among users and simple APIs makes it ideal for integration into our apps.

On the Corona side, two determined developers have found a way for Dropbox APIs to “talk” to each other. If you’re keen on this, head over to the original thread and learn how to make Dropbox part of your app.

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/33336-dropbox-rest-api-sample-code-in-code-exchange/

3. Sorting tables alphabetically

Continuing with our table maintenance theme, it’s useful to discuss how best to sort and identify entries in tables. Often, we need to locate a specific variable or datapoint and return it to a function in our app.

You’ll find suggestions everywhere and there are several which will help you reach your goal, however the solution in the thread below is one of the best ways. Check it out and learn how to make your tables more intelligent!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/36656-help-sort-table-alphabetically/

About Alex

Alex Jackson is an indie developer and the founder of Panc Software, specializing in retro-style gaming. He has created several mobile applications, enjoys long walks on the beach, pixel art, and reading the Corona forums. Contact him by email or follow him on Twitter: @pancsoftware. Check out his new game Crosstown Smash on iOS, Android, and Amazon devices!