Howdy All,
I've been looking into creating a native iPhone version of PocketWGU and it looks very doable. If anyone is interested, or wants to help, please let me know by replying to this post.
As with the current PocketWGU version, I intend to use the native platform toolset. This means the iPhone version will be written in Objective-C using XCode. I've already created a couple of proof-of-concept apps that support WGU authentication and sucessfully retrieve, list, and display the latest community messages. These all run in the iPhone Simulator without problem, and as they were among the first features to work on Android, I think this bodes well for a port to iOS.
Parsing the degree information looks to be a bit more challenging on iOS, but I'm sure it can be accomplished. If I can get a stable prototype put together, I'll find some way to let others play with it.
Let me know if you're interested!
Howdy All,
The iPhone port is progressing nicely (still very early in the process) but I've posted a view screenshots if anyone wants to take a look. The "pre-alpha" phase is documented at:
Pre-Alpha PocketWGU for iPhone Screenshots
Enjoy!
PocketWGU DevTeam PocketWGU is a volunteer project open to students, faculty, staff and alumni of WGU.
Sounds great, and the screen shoots look promissing. Will the app be compatible with, iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad?Look forward to seeing future updates on this. Great Job.
I've only tested the code in the Apple simulator so far, but it works for both the iPhone and the iPad in that simulator, and I'm sure will work for the iPod Touch as well. I have access to an iPod Touch and iPad for testing (once things are further along) so I'm sure both of these will be fine. Note that optimizing for the iPad is another task (just because it runs on the iPad doesn't mean it takes advantage of the bigger screen) that I intend to address later in the development cycle. I have not tried to target a "Universal App" yet, but if I can fully implement the functionality of PocketWGU for the iOS platform, I'm relatively confident that tuning for each of the Apple devices will be fairly easy.
PocketWGU DevTeam PocketWGU is a volunteer project open to students, faculty, staff and alumni of WGU.
I am looking forward to the iPhone and iPad applications!
This is awesome, as an avid iPhone and iPad user I would love to get in on testing this!!
Bryan Jensen,Course Mentor - Information Technology, Western Governors University
Excellent! I'll be looking for testers very soon. To test the app, you will need to send me the Device ID of the iPhone/iPad you wish to test it on. This is an Apple requirement (not mine) for distributing apps outside the App Store. I'll write up the procedure and post it to this website in a day or two.
The app still has a long way to go, but I was able to get student info parsing and display working Sunday. This allows me to populate the home screen with data similar to the Android version. Yesterday, I was able to setup a development "provisioning profile" so the app can now be installed on a physical device (before it only ran on the simulator). I have starting testing on my wife's iPod Touch (4th Gen) and on my iPad (original). Fortunately, it runs on both.
Just so that everyone knows, I'm focused on creating an iPhone version first as the portal/community are fairly functional on the iPad. The first version will also run on the iPad, but it won't be optimized for the large screen. Once the iPhone version works well, it should be easy enough to create an iPad-specific version, maybe "PocketWGU HD" :) for the big screen.
So far, the following work:
I still have to learn how to use "Core Data" (the iOS framework for database persistence) but doubt that will be too hard. Architecturally, iOS coding is very similar to Android. Moving from Java to Objective-C means that all the names have changed (to punish the innocent :-) ) but the concepts are all similar.
PocketWGU DevTeam PocketWGU is a volunteer project open to students, faculty, staff and alumni of WGU.
Okey doke, PocketWGU for iPhone is now available for testing. The current version is Alpha 4, seems pretty fast and stable, but still only has a few features. Anyone that wants to give it a try needs to send their device's UDID to pocketwgu@gmail.com so that it can be registered with Apple. More info at http://pocketwgu.geofinity.com/d/iPhoneEnjoy!
PocketWGU DevTeam PocketWGU is a volunteer project open to students, faculty, staff and alumni of WGU.
Testing continues on the iPhone build. Login, Community, and News are all working. Parsing student data is (mostly) not working. Oddly, the current version of the parsing code works for some users (including me) but not others. Oh well, back to work. :)
PocketWGU DevTeam PocketWGU is a volunteer project open to students, faculty, staff and alumni of WGU.
PocketWGU for iOS (iPhone and iPad) has now entered the final stages of testing before release with Release Candidate 1 (RC1). If all goes well, this could be submitted to Apple within the week. Once they have it, it's anyone's guess how long before it shows up in iTunes.
PocketWGU DevTeam PocketWGU is a volunteer project open to students, faculty, staff and alumni of WGU.