From the Forum — Issue #27

04 July 2014

From the Forum — Issue #27

Welcome to the latest 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. Roll-your-own Composer transition effects

I always liked the decision by Corona Labs to open the Storyboard API after releasing the new Composer scene management system. Developers standardized on the Storyboard manager are now able to engineer their own transitions, memory modules and WYSIWYG editors to speed development. But what if you want to have new transitions in the newly-supported Composer API?

The below link gives some information on how one can develop and implement their own scene transitions under Composer itself. It’s interesting to remember that things learned when putting the Storyboard API under the microscope can, in many cases, be applied to the Composer logic. Check out the original thread and pick up some Composer tips right now!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/48659-missing-composer-transition-effects/

2. Sorting tables with two value fields

Combining and editing tables can be considered the backbone of Lua’s usefulness. It helps categorize and organize data and turn 1s and 0s into gold. Problems, however, can arise when you have a dizzying array of information contained in several tables, getting the right info to your user can become difficult.

Keeping ourselves organized is always useful. To that end, I found an interesting thread that discusses the best methods to sort and divide tables with two separate values into something that is readable by human eyes.

It’s always useful to had these kinds of tips in your toolbox. Head over to the original thread to grab a nice snippet, and if you have your own suggestion, definitely consider sharing it.

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/46704-how-to-sort-a-table-on-2-values/

3. Corona Viewer development on-the-go

For the Pro (and up) subscribers out there, the Corona Viewer implementation is a game-changer. Being able to check code on your (for now) iOS device without the steps of building, loading and running on the device saves time and frustration.

A few of our most accomplished developers have found a few interesting ways to use this powerful tool. It has been discovered that one can use the Corona Viewer tool to build an app, load it up on your iOS device, take the device on the go and edit code, then refresh the code and have the app, installed on the same iOS device, refresh and update with the edited code!

Check out the info in the original thread below, and if you have any questions (or tips on some great iOS text editors) feel free to throw it into the post!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/49059-a-counter-argument-please-keep-dropbox-even-if-you-implement-direct-ip/

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!