Part 1

Goal for this step: Read from a database and display the data in a UITableView

Let’s create a new project in Xcode and create a new Single View Application.

Once the project is created, click on the MainStoryboard.storyboard and delete the view controller created by the project. Then drag a new Table View Controller onto the storyboard.

Now go into the ViewController.h and change the ViewController to inherit from UITAbleViewController instead of UIViewController.

@interface ViewController : UITableViewController

Now go back to the storyboard and click on the view controller, then click on the Identity Inspector tab and make sure the class is set to ViewController.

Save the project and run. You should see an empty TableView.

Now its time to create the database. Download SQLite Manager for FireFox and create a very simple table. For now all the column are going to be text just to keep things simple.

Drag the database mySchedule.sqlite and drop it on Xcode. Be sure to select “copy” items into destination group’s folder.

Create a class for the database by clicking “file” on the menu and then “new” then “file”. Select the “Objective-C class” and select “next”.

Change MySchedule.h to look like below. Defining the pointers and properties of the table columns.

 @interface MySchedule : NSObject{ NSString *weekof; NSString *monday; NSString *tuesday; NSString *wednesday; NSString *thursday; NSString *friday; NSString *saturday; NSString *sunday; } @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *weekof; @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *monday; @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *tuesday; @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *wednesday; @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *thursday; @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *friday; @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *saturday; @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *sunday; @end 

Add “import sqlite3.h” to both ViewController.h and ViewController.m.

Create an NSMutableArray called scheduleArray to hold the data we will read from the database.

Create a method called scheduleList.

ViewController.h should look like this.

Set the identifier in the proptype cell to ScheduleCell so we can refer to it by name in our code

Now set the text of the table cells initial view in cellForRowAtIndexPath

Compile and Run and we have an app that displays dates from a database in a tableView.

Download the project files for Part 1 - MySchedule Part 1

In 1989 I began my career in art and design after graduating from the University of Arkansas with the opening of a custom sign business. My career path slowly migrated into the computer design field and after a couple years the design path gave way to a career in computer programming. I spent about ten years working in small shops, international organizations and global companies in the computer programming arena all the while keeping my love for art and design alive on the side. As the internet began to become more widespread, I began to see where I could weld my love for design and computer programming into one. Web design, the perfect medium.

If you would like to find out more, please contact me or join me on LinkedIn.

In 1989 I began my career in art and design after graduating from the University of Arkansas with the opening of a custom sign business. My career path slowly migrated into the computer design field and after a couple years the design path gave way to a career in computer programming. I spent about ten years working in small shops, international organizations and global companies in the computer programming arena all the while keeping my love for art learn more…

Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 1 hr 45 mins | Servings: 8 to 10 servings | Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. cooked pinto beans
• 12 ounce bag Boca Meatless Ground
• 2 tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Spread
• 1 large onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 3/4 tbsp oregano
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1 cans tomatoes, in blender
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp black pepper
• 4 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp sugar

Directions:

Cook onions and garlic in buttery spread until onions are clear. Then put in pinto beans and veggie crumbles. Put in other seasonings and tomatoes and cook slowly after bringing to a boil. Cook about 1 1/2 or 2 hours. Add enough water so it won’t stick. Slow simmer with lid on.

Scary Stuff from Halloween

[media id=15 width=600 height=360]

I’ve been coding WordPress sites for 4 or 5 years now. The more I use it, the more I love it. WordPress is an awesome CMS tool. When I create a site for a client, I want the site to be as easy as possible for a “non” web designer/developer types to maintain. One of my latest clients wanted to be able to create a post and attach a file for download. The client found it a little confusing to attach the file to a post and then include that file as a link. They also wanted to show an icon specific to the document type they had uploaded. With a little code, I was able to automate the process of linking to files attached to a WordPress post and specify the icon based on the files MIME type. There are plenty of articles on the web about WordPress attachments so I’m not going into any detail about that. Here is an article on attachments by Jeff Starr I’ve bookmarked for reference. Digging into WordPress

Here is an example of what we are about to create. I’ve attached several sample files to this post and that’s it. By the way, the zip file listed below is a zip of all the icons for you to download.

2010-01-03-AM.pdf

test.docx

test.doc

Presentation.pptx

Presentation.ppt

Workbook1.xlsx

Workbook1.xls

icons.zip

• Jeopardy Think Music

  Download

First let’s create the function and the shortcode. Go to your themes folder and open functions.php. If you don’t have one, just create a new file named functions.php and save it to your themes folder.

Create a new function with the following code.

function get_attachment_icons($echo = false){
	//PDF Documents
	if ( $files = get_children(array(   //do only if there are attachments of these qualifications
	 'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
	 'post_type' => 'attachment',
	 'numberposts' => -1,
	 'post_mime_type' => 'application/pdf',  //MIME Type condition
	 ))){
	 foreach( $files as $file ){ //setup array for more than one file attachment
		$file_link = wp_get_attachment_url($file->ID);    //get the url for linkage
		$file_name_array=explode("/",$file_link); 
		$file_name=array_reverse($file_name_array);  //creates an array out of the url and grabs the filename
		$sAttachmentString .= "<div class='documentIcons'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<img src='".get_bloginfo('template_directory')."/images/mime/pdf.png'/>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<br>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>$file_name[0]</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</div>";
		}
	}

This block is for PDF files. You can tell that by the line that says ‘post_mime_type’ => ‘application/pdf’,. Just change the MIME type for the type of file you are expecting. In the final code, I’ve added a new loop for each MIME type below:

• PDF = application/pdf
• Word Documents = application/msword
• PowerPoint = application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
• Excel = application/vnd.ms-excel
• Zip = application/zip
• Audio files = audio/mpeg

Now at the bottom of the function we will add the hook for the shortcode and we’re done!

add_shortcode('attachment icons', 'get_attachment_icons');

Usage

Just include a shortcode in any post

[attachment icons]

or place one line in your single.php file (or where ever you’d like the document icons to show up)

<?php get_attachment_icons($echo=true); ?>

Final Code

Here is the code altogether for your copying and pasting pleasure. Enjoy!

function get_attachment_icons($echo = false){
	$sAttachmentString = "<div class='documentIconsWrapper'> \n";
	if ( $files = get_children(array(   //do only if there are attachments of these qualifications
	 'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
	 'post_type' => 'attachment',
	 'numberposts' => -1,
	 'post_mime_type' => 'application/pdf',  //MIME Type condition
	 ))){
	 foreach( $files as $file ){ //setup array for more than one file attachment
		$file_link = wp_get_attachment_url($file->ID);    //get the url for linkage
		$file_name_array=explode("/",$file_link); 
		$file_name=array_reverse($file_name_array);  //creates an array out of the url and grabs the filename
		$sAttachmentString .= "<div class='documentIcons'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<img src='".get_bloginfo('template_directory')."/images/mime/pdf.png'/>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<br>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>$file_name[0]</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</div>";
		}
	}
	//Word Documents
	if ( $files = get_children(array(   //do only if there are attachments of these qualifications
	 'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
	 'post_type' => 'attachment',
	 'numberposts' => -1,
	 'post_mime_type' => 'application/msword',  //MIME Type condition
	 ))){
	 foreach( $files as $file ){ //setup array for more than one file attachment
		$file_link = wp_get_attachment_url($file->ID);    //get the url for linkage
		$file_name_array=explode("/",$file_link); 
		$file_name=array_reverse($file_name_array);  //creates an array out of the url and grabs the filename
		$sAttachmentString .= "<div class='documentIcons'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<img src='".get_bloginfo('template_directory')."/images/mime/word.png'/>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<br>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>$file_name[0]</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</div>";
		}
	}
	//Powerpoint Documents
	if ( $files = get_children(array(   //do only if there are attachments of these qualifications
	 'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
	 'post_type' => 'attachment',
	 'numberposts' => -1,
	 'post_mime_type' => 'application/vnd.ms-powerpoint',  //MIME Type condition
	 ))){
	 foreach( $files as $file ){ //setup array for more than one file attachment
		$file_link = wp_get_attachment_url($file->ID);    //get the url for linkage
		$file_name_array=explode("/",$file_link); 
		$file_name=array_reverse($file_name_array);  //creates an array out of the url and grabs the filename
		$sAttachmentString .= "<div class='documentIcons'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<img src='".get_bloginfo('template_directory')."/images/mime/PowerPoint.png'/>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<br>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>$file_name[0]</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</div>";
		}
	}
	//Excel Documents
	if ( $files = get_children(array(   //do only if there are attachments of these qualifications
	 'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
	 'post_type' => 'attachment',
	 'numberposts' => -1,
	 'post_mime_type' => 'application/vnd.ms-excel',  //MIME Type condition
	 ))){
	 foreach( $files as $file ){ //setup array for more than one file attachment
		$file_link = wp_get_attachment_url($file->ID);    //get the url for linkage
		$file_name_array=explode("/",$file_link); 
		$file_name=array_reverse($file_name_array);  //creates an array out of the url and grabs the filename
		$sAttachmentString .= "<div class='documentIcons'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<img src='".get_bloginfo('template_directory')."/images/mime/XLS8.png'/>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<br>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>$file_name[0]</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</div>";
		}
	}
	//Zipped Files
	if ( $files = get_children(array(   //do only if there are attachments of these qualifications
	 'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
	 'post_type' => 'attachment',
	 'numberposts' => -1,
	 'post_mime_type' => 'application/zip',  //MIME Type condition
	 ))){
	 foreach( $files as $file ){ //setup array for more than one file attachment
		$file_link = wp_get_attachment_url($file->ID);    //get the url for linkage
		$file_name_array=explode("/",$file_link); 
		$file_name=array_reverse($file_name_array);  //creates an array out of the url and grabs the filename
		$sAttachmentString .= "<div class='documentIcons'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<img src='".get_bloginfo('template_directory')."/images/mime/zip.png'/>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<br>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "<a href='$file_link'>$file_name[0]</a>";
		$sAttachmentString .= "</div>";
		}
	}
	
	//Audio Files
	$mp3s = get_children(array(   //do only if there are attachments of these qualifications
	 'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
	 'post_type' => 'attachment',
	 'numberposts' => -1,
	 'post_mime_type' => 'audio',  //MIME Type condition
	 ) );

	if (!empty($mp3s)) : 
	$sAttachmentString .= "<ul class='audiofiles'>";
		foreach($mp3s as $mp3) : 
    		$sAttachmentString .= "<li>";
			if(!empty($mp3->post_title)) : //checking to make sure the post title isn't empty
				$sAttachmentString .= "<h4 class='title'>".$mp3->post_title."</h4>";
			endif;

			if(!empty($mp3->post_content)) : //checking to make sure something exists in post_content (description)
				$sAttachmentString .= "<p class='description'>".$mp3->post_content."</p>";
			endif;

			$sAttachmentString .= "<object width='470' height='24' id='single".$mp3->ID."' name='single".$mp3->ID."'>";
				$sAttachmentString .= "<param name='movie' value='player.swf'>";
				$sAttachmentString .= "<param name='allowfullscreen' value='true'>";
				$sAttachmentString .= "<param name='allowscriptaccess' value='always'>";
				$sAttachmentString .= "<param name='wmode' value='transparent'>";
				$sAttachmentString .= "<param name='flashvars' value='file=".$mp3->guid."'>";
					$sAttachmentString .= "<embed ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "id='single".$mp3->ID."' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "name='single".$mp3->ID."' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "src='".get_bloginfo('template_directory')."/jw/player.swf' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "width='470' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "height='24' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "bgcolor='#ffffff' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "allowscriptaccess='always' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "allowfullscreen='true' ";
					  $sAttachmentString .= "flashvars='file=".$mp3->guid."' ";
					  
					$sAttachmentString .= "/>";
			$sAttachmentString .= "</object>";		
                        $sAttachmentString .= "<a href='".$mp3->guid."'>Download</a>";
			$sAttachmentString .= "</li>";
		endforeach;
	$sAttachmentString .= "</ul>";
	endif;	
$sAttachmentString .= "</div>";
if($echo){
    echo $sAttachmentString;
  }
  return $sAttachmentString;
}
add_shortcode('attachment icons', 'get_attachment_icons');