UITableViewCell insert/add style green plus (+) button - how can I grab this image? - iphone

I need to grab the image for the UITableViewCellEditingStyleInsert button (green +). Of course, I would like to get it in the regular size and in 2x. I didn't think this would be so difficult, but I am having a hard time finding it. Is there a way to get this without a major hack?

There are some sites that provide free downloadable vectors of the iPhone User Interface elements. You should be able to get the green button from these packages. Since they are vectors, you can resize them to any size you'd like without losing detail.
Here's one site that links to multiple sites offering these downloads:
iPhone UI Elements
If none of these work for you, try searching online for something like 'iPhone vector UI elements.'

Related

iPhone - Proper UI controls for calculations

I am pretty new to iPhone development and currently working on an application which includes a view that performs a simple numerical calculation. In particular, the user enters 3 or 4 values into text fields and the view displays the result. Something along the lines of http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm
What is the nicest way to achieve this? I am currently using simple UITextFields and a UILabel for the result but it doesn't look nice or "native-like". What UI object would be best to use?
Thank you!
It's entirely up to you. You're using the right classes for actual input- it comes down to how you choose to style those classes. I'd suggest looking at the documentation for UIView and CALayer (youView.layer, and include QuartzCore framework in your project).
A good start might be to choose a color scheme, a background for your app, and the look and feel you're shooting for- this will inform your styling. Try looking for apps that you think are elegant and attractive, and boil down what they do and what you like about them.
I'd say;
use a grouped table style (with the white tables with round corners on a blueish striped background)
embed settings values directly in the cell (aligned to the right) as much as possible
you can show a relevant keyboard (text, numbers) or picker view to let the user pick values, directly when they tap the cell. Use sliders and switches where relevant.
You may want to take a look at http://www.inappsettingskit.com/, we are currently investigating it for the same purpose and it seems to do the job
You can use either a UISlider or a UIPickerView if some of your values have limits.
You can use UISwitch for toggles.
You can also switch the default keyboard for your textfields to be numeric.
Other than that you seem to be on the right track.
Also, sometimes putting a view inside a scrollview makes things seem cooler even if its only one page. The auto bounce on scrollviews is kind of cool.

How can I use images provided by the iPhone OS?

First, let me state what brought this question about: I saw the green checkmark icon in this post and I would like to use it in my own application. However, since it looks so much like the UITableViewCellAccessoryDetailDisclosureButton my assumption is that this green checkmark icon is provided by the iPhone OS in some form or fashion.
So, my question is: how can I use the green checkmark icon and/or other OS-provided images in my own applications?
As a side question: where can I find a list of the OS-provided images (if they even exist)?
Thanks very much for any input :-)
This is not one of the standard images.
To see what you have available, you can add a UIBarButton in interface builder and try different system icons.

should one customize default iphone controls?

my app asks the user yes-no questions, user replies using a uiswitch on screen. i've been thinking about creating a custom version of the switch that would display yes/no instead of on/off and would use a green/red background as an indicator of the value. after creating a mock up i'm not so sure this is the way to go. using the default switch doesn't feel right but so does changing it too much. what do you think?
It really depends; some custom applications have extremely custom UIs (such as ConvertBot, for example) and it works great for them. The risk is sometimes worth the effort. In other scenarios, custom widgets result in breaking usability. I don't think that changing 'ON/OFF' to 'YES/NO' is groundbreaking, if you do it right you can pull it off no problem.
I think if your mockup was better done (the slider should be divided into two to have YES AND NO of equal length with equal padding on both sides) it would look a little better.
From a user interface perspective, this is a bad idea. People have already learned the default switch, so why change it now?
Additionally, you run the risk of adding another source of bugs to your application that was not present before.
Depending on the app, this can be very valid. Sure people are used to the default controls, but changing the text or colors is not going to break the user's understanding of these controls. Its still the same switch underneath.
In your example you color both the Yes/No. That is the only concern I would have that you did change how the core switch works. Typically, it works with a highlighted color and a grey color. So, having it stay colored on both options could potentially be confusing.
Regardless, if you want to build your app this way, you should. Just because the iPhone offers great default controls doesn't mean developers shouldn't innovate and add their own or take the default controls to the next level.
Take a look at the custom UISwitch control that I built to allow me to change the background color of the control. You could use the same method to change the text, the font, or the text color very easily.
http://www.homick.com/posts/custom-uiswitch-control
The code is available on Github and includes a PSD that is used to build three different png files that the control uses. You can modify the contents of the psd to recreate the png files in whatever format you like. Swap those into the control and away you go.

iPhone application : is-it possible to use a "double" slider to select a price range

I'm working on an iphone application (not web app) and I'd like to build a form asking a user to indicate a price range. Instead of using two text fields, I would prefer to use a double slider to set the minimum and the maximum price. I know that it is possible de use a simple slider (sound control for exemple) but i've never seen a double one. Can anyone help ?
This is not possible without creating a custom control. You'll need to inherit from UIControl or UIView and provide a custom drawRect method. You'll also need to respond to touch and drag events to update the state of the control. I have not done this myself, but I would be prepared for a fairly significant amount of work to get everything to respond and display as expected.
I'm curious as to why you need to have both values specified on a single slider? Why not use two sliders either side-by-side or stacked? It would not require any more input steps than a double slider, and would conform more to standard UI guidelines.
I think you can specify multiple thumbs for a single slider if you subclass UISlider, at least I vaguely remember that being possible in MacOSX. But Code Addict is right, you'll probably be better off using the standard controls - a double-thumbed slider seems like it'd be pretty difficult to deal with in the touchscreen environment.
I built such a control and added it to GitHub so feel free to have a look and if you like the control extend it and contribute.
GitHub page: http://github.com/doukasd/DoubleSlider
Blog post (showing a video of how it works): http://dev.doukasd.com/2010/08/double-slider/

Better way to have a photo slider/thumbnails on iPhone?

I have a probaly large list of images and want something like the photo app but with custom toolbar.
I wonder how do this. I see the sample of Apple http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/samplecode/Scrolling/index.html but that not will work for a large set of images.
I have a product list and some of my customer need download as much as 12,000 products in the device (I have a solution for the PocketPC I'm porting to iPhone).
In this thread How make a view of thumbnails in landscape mode? somebody suggest is possible use a TableView, but then I'm not sure... mainly how hide the section caption then could be...
UPDATED correct the link
The "Scrolling" demo won't work as-is for a large image set, but some minor adjustments can easily fix that. The trick is to use UIScrollView delegate methods to load images on demand and then unload them after they disappear. For decent performance you'd want the central image and one or two on either side to be loaded-- meaning that you can extend that design to support as many images as you like but still never have more than 3-5 in memory at a time.
The Stackoverflow link you post doesn't actually mention table views, so I'm not sure what approach you have in mind there. If by "section caption" you're referring to section header and/or footer text, then just don't provide any. Table views don't have a default for this, so if you don't give one to a table view then it won't show one.