peopart

Sample iOS and watchOS application

Step 1 - Setup UI Navigation Structure

To begin working on this step:

git checkout master

Concepts

• Understand Basic Swift Syntax
• Understand Basic Xcode IDE and Project Structure
• Understand the structure of view controllers and how to display them
  • UIAppDelegate
    • Description
      • Handles the various states and outside entry points into the application
    • Properties and Methods
      • application(_:willFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) Setup the UIWindow for the main UIScreen with the root UIViewController
  • UIWindow
    • Description
      • Backdrop of the UI
    • Properties and Methods
      • init(frame:) Setup a new UIWindow based on the UIScreen
      • rootViewController The root UIViewController
      • makeKeyAndVisible() Make the UIWindow key and visible
  • UIScreen
    • Description
      • Properties associated with a hardware-display
    • Properties and Methods
      • main the main screen of the device
  • UIViewController
    • Description
      • Base View Controller
  • UITabBarController
    • Description
      • UIViewController which contains a series of bottom tabs
    • Properties and Methods
      • setViewControllers(, animated: Bool) Set the UIViewController for each tab
  • UINavigationController
    • Description
      • UIViewController for allowing tree-like navigation
    • Properties and Methods
      • init(rootViewController:) Creates and new UINavigationController with a the designated rootViewController
  • UITableViewController

Tasks

• Create a class for listing users by subclassing UITableViewController

  • Hints
    • create a new Cocoa Touch Class subclass of UITableViewController called UsersTableViewController

• Display a single tab for listing users (no items needed yet)

  • Hints * in application(_:willFinishLaunchingWithOptions:)... create a UIWindow with the size of the main UIScreen
    • ... create a UINavigationController with a rootViewController of UsersTableViewController
    • ... create a UITabBarController with our new UINavigationController
    • ... set the rootViewController of the new UIWindow to our new UITabBarController
    • ... make the new UIWindow key and visible
    • ... set the window property to the newly created UIWindow
    • ... return true

Optional

• Use extensions to refactor the way our view controllers are displayed

Step 2 - Parse and Display Data

To skip ahead and begin working on this step:

git checkout feature/step-1

Concepts

• Reading a file from the Application Bundle using the Data type
  • Bundle
    • Description
      • set of code or resources such as an application or framework
    • Properties and Methods
      • main
        • the main application bundle
      • url(forResource:withExtension:)
        • attempts to return the url based the resource name and extension
  • Data
    • Description
      • a set of binary data
    • Properties and Methods
      • init(contentsOf:options:) throws
        • attempts to pull the binary data from a url, throws an error if failed
• Codable protocol for easy JSON decoding
  • JSONDecoder
    • Description
      • object which decodes a data type from JSON
    • Properties and Methods
      • decode(_:from:)
        • decodes the binary data from JSON format to a Codable value of the type specified
• Delegation pattern and how it is used with UITableViewController
  • UITableViewController
    • Description
      • a UIViewController which encapsulates a UITableView, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate
    • Properties and Methods
      • tableView
        • the UITableView managed by the UITableViewController
  • UITableView
    • Description
      • a UIView for representing rows of data
    • Properties and Methods
      • register(_ nib: UINib?, forCellReuseIdentifier identifier: String)
        • registers a UINib of the cell to be used throughout the UITableView
      • reloadData()
        • basic method for reloading UITableView rows
        • Note there are preffered methods of doing this such as reloadRows or performBatchUpdates
      • dataSource
        • property which defines the UITableViewDataSource of the UITableView
  • UITableViewDataSource
    • Description
      • a protocol which returns the data and cells for a UITableView
    • Properties and Methods
      • numberOfSections(in:)
        • defines the number of sections in the UITableView
      • tableView(_:numberOfRowsInSection:)
        • defines the number of rows in a particular section for the UITableView
      • tableView(_:cellForRowAt:)
        • returns the UITableViewCell for the particular row and section of the UITableView
• Basics of Model-View-Controller pattern
• Concept of Optionals and Optional Chaining and how to work with them
• How to throw and catch Errors in Swift

Tasks

• Use JSONDecoder to parse the bundled JSON using Codable into a set of structs
  • Hints
    • Get the url of the JSON file resource from the main Bundle
    • Get the binary Data object from the url
    • Make User implement both the UserProtocol as well as the Codable protocol
    • Use the JSONDecoder to decode the binary data into a container object with a User Array
• Create and register a custom UITableViewCell and understand how to use IBOutlet
  • Hints
    • Create a custom UITableViewCell Cocoa Touch class
    • Use Xcode to define a series of @IBOutlet properties which connent with UI element in the xib
• Display the list of users from the JSON file into the UsersTableViewController
  • Hints
    • register our custom UITableViewCell Cocoa Touch class
    • call the method to retrieve users from the database and reload the tableView
    • implement both tableView(_:numberOfRowsInSection:) and tableView(_:cellForRowAt:)
    • in tableView(_:cellForRowAt:) dequeue our custom tableView cell
    • set each property in our custom UITableViewCell
• Understand the basics of updating the user interface and the main thread
  • Hints
    • All UI changes need to be on the main thread

Step 3 - Display More Complex Data

To skip ahead and begin working on this step:

git checkout feature/step-2

Concepts

• Being able to decode dates from JSON - JSONDecoder.dateDecodingStrategy
• Allow for greater flexability using Protocol-Oriented Programming
• Create more complex return types using Functional Programming (map, reduce, sorting, max, etc...)
• Application Transport Security

  <key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
  <dict>
  <key>NSExceptionDomains</key>
  <dict>
  <key>lorempixel.com</key>
  <dict>
  <key>NSExceptionAllowsInsecureHTTPLoads</key>
  <true/>
  <key>NSIncludesSubdomains</key>
  <true/>
  </dict>
  </dict>
  </dict>

Tasks

• Setup Posts and Comments
• Dealing with Dates and Codable
• Basic Functional Programming
• Setup Application Transport Security

Step 4 - Apple Watch App Setup

git checkout feature/step-3

Tasks

• Using a Storyboards to customize the UI of the main WKInterfaceController
• Setup a menu for displaying users and posts
• Dynamically display a different sets of data into a WKInterfaceTable
• Push and pass context to a new WKInterfaceController