Make App Pie

January 23, 2019

CALayer Masks

UI doesn’t have to look like a rectangle. You might want a different shape for your icon. You can do that with layer masks. Let’s learn how to set them up. Download the example files. You’ll find an app with two square buttons. If you head over to the assets, you see I have a…
January 16, 2019

Draw Paths in UIViews

In a previous tip, I drew rectangles and circles in a UIView. This time, let’s add lines and curves using paths to draw some toast. Download the playground I set up for you. I set up my code to do all the drawing in the drawLines method. Go to the closure. I set up a…
December 12, 2018

Add an Animated Drawer

You’ve probably seen menus that pop out of the side of an app, but do you know how to make one? With the knowledge of some simple code you too can add these to your application using auto layout. If you take a look at the example file, I’ve set up a storyboard for you.…
November 21, 2018

Tip: Add Drop Shadows

A video of this tip can be found on LinkedIn Learning User Interfaces often use shadows to make them look less flat, but it isn’t obvious how to add one to a view on your app. In this tip, I’ll show you how to make shadows using the CALayer found in UIViews, and a few…
November 14, 2018

Make A Toggle Button

Sometimes you need a control that doesn’t yet exist. For example, the UISwitch control is far from customizable. I’d like a toggle switch that looks more like an old-fashioned switch or pushbutton. Let’s learn the basics of making your own controls by making a UIButton into a toggle button. Open the example file. You’ll find…
November 7, 2018

Embed Table Views

Here’s an app I started from the downloaded example file. It is a restaurant check with a total, but I have to press the Order button to see the details in a table view on the next view controller. That button is a waste of real estate, and it would be nice to see the…
October 31, 2018

Layout iPad Landscape and Multitasking Apps

Note:You can find a video of this tip here on LinkedIn Learning If there’s one thing in auto layout that drives me nuts it is laying out for landscape different than portrait on an iPad. Phones are easy since the class sizes are different for portrait and landscape. For all phones, if I have a…
October 25, 2018

Recursion and UIView Changes

One powerful, yet sometimes rightfully feared programming technique is recursion. Many do not even use it, some don’t know what it is, but when working with hierarchies, you really have to use it. Let’s take a look at recursion and apply it to a common UI case where you need it. Download and open the…
October 17, 2018

Make Round Buttons and UIViews

In the good old days, Apple used a lot of rounded corner buttons. Many developers use several images to get the effect of round buttons. The CALayer of UIButton does have a feature for you to easily get rounded corners, and even circular buttons. Download the code from GitHub and open the starter file. It…
October 10, 2018

Use the Speech Synthesizer

It’s sometimes nice to add a little sound to your applications, and even better to add a voice. Outside Siri, you can use a cool and simple AVFoundation API to make iOS devices talk. Let’s learn how to use the Speech synthesizer. Download the starter file. I’ve made an app for you that has a…