I have tried the first two approaches for building a single project for
deployment on all available iOS devices. The third is much harder for a visual
programmer like myself and as such I have not tried it yet. Your experiences
and comments are welcome and appreciated.
I uploaded a Utility Stack for this at Rev Online
User: Thomas McGrath III
Stack: iOS
Description: iOS Template Creator
1.) The first one uses one Stack with multiple cards, one for each device. The
stack is sized to the iPad since that is the largest size. For the
iPhone3GS/iPhone Retina/iPod the extra space is 'cut off' as it were and seems
to work just fine. Then in the preOpenStack use code to determine which device
we are launching on and Go to that card. All shared code can be at the stack
level and this way seems pretty fast.
2.) The second uses one Main Stack with multiple subStacks, one for each
device. This way each subStack can be sized to the right device size. Then in
the preOpenStack use code to determine which device we are launching on and Go
to that subStack. The shared code is harder to deal with (library) since each
device has its own stack code and then the main stack also has its stack code
as well. But this way is cleaner and if you start with the iPad and get
everything organized and coded then it is easier to duplicate the stack and
resize it and change the layout for each other device.
3.) Use one stack with one card for all devices and orientations. This one is
the hardest to both code for and layout. But in the end it is only one card and
one stack so it is very clean.
Now, with both of the first two approaches there are three alternate ways to
handle device rotation-orientation.
A.) The first is by having both orientations available on the same card and via
code moving/rearranging the controls to that particular orientation. Having
both on the same card requires a lot more coding to handle the
layout/rearranging but requires less coding when making changes to the projects
functionality - you just have to change the functionality code for controls
just once for either orientation.
B.) The same as (A) above except but we layout controls so that they can are
available for both orientations at the same time. This is easier to show than
describe. But if the card is large enough to encompass both orientations then
when the device rotates from Vertical to Horizontal the bottom is cut off and
the area to the right of the Vertical space is now visible during the
Horizontal View and when rotating from Horizontal to Vertical the the right
side is cut off and the bottom is now visible. This requires duplicating the
controls that are cut off on the right so they are also available on the bottom
part so that both are always available regardless of orientation but one or the
other is not seen. ( I have a very successful app done in xCode this way and
this is actually the easiest way of the three to handle orientation if your
layout allows for this. i.e. No pictures or fields will be cut off at the
bottom or side.)
C.) Or lastly by having two cards per orientation per device (for either (1)
single stacks or (2) multiple substacks - above) where the first card is the
vertical orientation and the second card is the horizontal orientation. Using
two cards, one for each orientation, for each device allows for laying out both
orientations ahead of time (good for fine tuning the UI) and requires much less
coding to handle the layout but it does require a lot more code when making a
change to the functionality - unless all of the code is handled at the stack
level and with behaviors (which is preferable anyway). Then when orientation
changes just switch cards to that orientation. This requires the most amount of
cards etc. but for visual displaying of controls is the best way.
For the stack One Orientation per Card sizes use:
iPod 320 x 480 & 480 x 320 -- No Status Bar
iPod 320 x 460 & 480 x 300 -- Status Bar showing
iPhone3GS 320 x 480 & 480 x 320 -- No Status Bar
iPhone3GS 320 x 460 & 480 x 300 -- Status Bar showing
iPhoneRetina 640 x 960 & 960 x 640 -- No Status Bar
iPhoneRetina 640 x 920 & 960 x 600 -- Status Bar showing
iPad 768 x 1024 & 1024 x 768 -- No Status Bar
iPad 768 x 1004 & 1024 x 748 -- Status Bar showing
For the stack Two Orientations per Card sizes use:
iPod 480 x 480 -- Has room at bottom and side for when Status Bar is hidden
iPhone3GS 480 x 480 -- Has room at bottom and side for when Status Bar is
hidden
iPhoneRetina 960 x 960 -- Has room at bottom and side for when Status Bar is
hidden
iPad 1024 x 1024 -- Has room at bottom and side for when Status Bar is hidden
For launching to a particular device on startup use:
on preOpenStack
if the environment is "mobile" then
iphoneSetAllowedOrientations "Portrait,Portrait Upside Down,Landscape
Left,Landscape Right"
iphoneUseDeviceResolution "true"
end if
end preOpenStack
on openStack
if the environment is "mobile" then
processTheDevice
end if
end openStack
on processTheDevice
put the machine into tDevice
switch tDevice
case "iPhone Simulator"
case "iPhone"
if iphoneDeviceScale() is 2 then -- iPhone Retina
if the cShowStatusBar of this stack is true then
iphoneShowStatusBar -- 40 difference
else
iphoneHideStatusBar
end if
go card "iPhone"
-- go stack "iPhone"
else -- iPhone 3GS
if the cShowStatusBar of this stack is true then
iphoneShowStatusBar -- 20 difference
else
iphoneHideStatusBar
end if
go card "iPhone3GS"
-- go stack "iPhone3GS"
end if
break
case "iPad Simulator"
case "iPad"
if the cShowStatusBar of this stack is true then
iphoneShowStatusBar -- 20 difference
else
iphoneHideStatusBar
end if
go card "iPad"
-- go stack "iPad"
break
default
iphoneShowStatusBar
go card "iPod"
-- go stack "iPod"
end switch
end processTheDevice
-- Tom McGrath III
http://lazyriver.on-rev.com
3mcgr...@comcast.net
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