I thought that it was not allowed to customize the taskbar on the iPhone. However, I noticed this app called iHandy Tip Calculator which replaces the battery icon with a fast switch icon, that pops up a view as shown. How is this allowed, and if so how can I be doing something different?
If you run the app on an iPad, you'll see, how they do it: they are overlaying the normal status bar. Also note, that the screenshots in the app store don't show this feature. I assume, they were fearing to get rejected and disabled the overlay for the screenshots.
Apps from this developer iHandy incorporate this into the status bar, but I've never seen another company do this. I am surprised that the status bar is able to be modified in this way in any event.
My question on apple.stackexchange is posted over here:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/71969/what-is-the-meaning-of-this-status-bar-icon
It is possible to create your own statusbar and "simulate" the network status and battery life etc in a 'full-screen' app. But apple doesn't allow it, but this might be one that 'slipped through' just like Gaz_Edge said.
You are correct. You are not suppose to be able to modify the 'springboard'. Apple normally refuse apps that do anything that modifies it. Maybe this one slipped through the net?
I just downloaded the latest version of iHandy Level (version 1.62.0) on an iPhone 5 running iOS 6 but don't see the icon (it's within the app rather than in the status bar). (And the status bar is hidden.)
I was curious to see if they actually hid the status bar and created their own custom status bar. If that was the case, you'd be able to tell because when you swipe down from the top for notification center, it would first show a little tab and then you'd have to swipe again to pull down the menu.
Guessing maybe they removed this functionality at Apple's request.
If anyone still has a version that shows it, please let us know if it shows the tab when you swipe for notification center. If not, they likely found some private api to allow them to replace the battery icon (which would be interesting).
Related
About a week ago xcode showed me some error and when I clicked to solve the problem, xcode added this picture:
My questions are: What is it good for? Why do I need it?
Thank you.
Yes you must include one.
From Apple's Interface Guidelines
To enhance the user’s experience at app launch, you must provide at least one launch image. A launch image looks very similar to the first screen your app displays. iOS displays this image instantly when the user starts your app and until the app is fully ready to use. As soon as your app is ready for use, your app displays its first screen, replacing the launch placeholder image.
Without this default image (or a LaunchScreen storyboard), your app would not take all the available screen space on iPhones with 4" displays (iPhone 5, 5s, SE). This is the default image that those iPhones would use.
Of course you can (should!) change it with the one you designed.
Runtime, leading to the top and bottom of applications were empty out a lot , because the application is based on a 320x480 size to run.
I am developing a recording app, and I'd like to show a pulsing red double-height status bar on top of my app while the app is recording, and while the user is still in the app - just like Voice Memos. How do I do that?
I can get it so that the double-height red status bar appears when I am outside the app, but not while inside the app. Any hints? Is it actually possible at all?
to answer the last question first: it is possible, though i don't know whether the mechanism for causing to happen in other apps can be applied to your own.
to answer your next to questions "how do i do that? any hints?": one hint would be to simply hide the [UIApplication sharedApplication] statusBar inside of your app conditionally based up whether you are in record mode or not, and create your own pulsing status bar to simulate the one that is being presented in other apps. i hide the status bar conditionally in one of my apps, and you can then present whatever you want in the status bar area.
I am developing a recording app, and I'd like to show a pulsing red double-height status bar on top of my app while the app is recording, and while the user is still in the app - just like Voice Memos. How do I do that?
I can get it so that the double-height red status bar appears when I am outside the app, but not while inside the app. Any hints? Is it actually possible at all?
to answer the last question first: it is possible, though i don't know whether the mechanism for causing to happen in other apps can be applied to your own.
to answer your next to questions "how do i do that? any hints?": one hint would be to simply hide the [UIApplication sharedApplication] statusBar inside of your app conditionally based up whether you are in record mode or not, and create your own pulsing status bar to simulate the one that is being presented in other apps. i hide the status bar conditionally in one of my apps, and you can then present whatever you want in the status bar area.
Well, it might be hard to describe, but what I want this:
When the application fires up, I want it to load a couple of components and I want to show a progress bar loading upto 100% Complete. But for Interface sake, I just want the progress bar on the desktop. I don't want the Window controls or background. My customized progress bar should appear on the desktop loading upto 100%, followed by showing of window and thereby, the entire app.
Just to mention, I want this in a Mac App being developed in Xcode.
I strongly suggest you think about the visual effect you're considering and the assumptions you're making. I would argue this to be "bad design":
Users can put anything as a Desktop Picture. If my background happens to be blue... and your custom progress bar is blue.. then I won't see the progress bar and will be left wondering why your application isn't responding. "Screw this app, it hangs when I launch it. Delete!"
Chances are that users have more than one application running. Your "floating progress bar" would be lost in a sea of other application windows. (Why is iTunes loading something? Oh wait!! It's this other windowless thing... "Not intuitive! Not cool")
This is not very Mac-like. Don't forget there are rules for each platform as to how to be a good citizen. Metro apps need to adhere to a specific Interface paradigm. Likewise, there's a thing to be said for "Mac-like" and I would argue this behaviour isn't (a floating progress bar).
I would strongly suggest you keep your progress bar within a properly named modal window. Applications go in-and-out of being front-most... so it's important to know what that progress bar relates too.
If you've considered all these, the following question should help you get started :
How to make an NSView transparent and show what's under the NSWindow?
You are probably talking of a borderless NSWindow (NSBorderlessWindowMask), with an opaque background view whose alpha is set to zero and an NSProgressIndicator subview to show the progress. You also probably want to use the -[NSWindow center] method to nicely center your window.
However, I doubt that you want that kind of UI. A progress bar is probably not visible on top of all desktops, and thus aesthetically worthless.
I think a rounded, half-transparant black window will be more suited in your case. Take a look at Matt Gemmell's source code.
I read about this problem for the iPhone on the post here.
The post says it's only a simulator problem. Right now I've got the same problem on my iPad app, on the device itself. The app has a status bar - but after hiding it in app i can't click/touch in that area (using iOS version 4.2).
Thanks in advance.
If you're desperate enough, you could have your own window on top of the (invisible) status bar and process events in there. Set its windowLevel high enough and you're good to go. However, that might not be a good solution for you, because there's no way to forward touches from one window to another. You might end up having to do a lot of touch handling yourself.