InCode Bundle Problem Fixed
16/05/10 01:42 PM
Some
of you may have had some rather annoying problems
with .incodebundle files not being transferrable
through iTunes; it turns out this was a bug where an
iPad app’s bundle types are not automatically visible
to the connected Mac.
To make sure they can transfer, just download the automator droplet from the InCode page and install it in your Applications folder; everything should just work. As always, contact us if they don’t.
To make sure they can transfer, just download the automator droplet from the InCode page and install it in your Applications folder; everything should just work. As always, contact us if they don’t.
Open Letter to Steve Jobs - Apple Design Award
28/04/10 11:16 AM
Steve,
I was excited to see that WWDC ’10 has finally been announced, but noted with dismay that the Apple Design Awards are no longer being offered for Mac applications. This is extremely disappointing, as Mac developers form the core of the Apple developer community; many of them are the same ones who develop iPhone and iPad software. The Apple Design Award is the crown jewel of Mac/iPhone/iPad software development. Excluding this from the Mac eliminates something to look forward to, a motivation that, though rarely achieved, nevertheless helps drive developers to continue making better and more innovative software.
I certainly hope that the decision to cancel this award will be rethought. Although it may be too late to reinstate it for WWDC ’10, I look forward to WWDC ’11 and hope to see the Mac version of the Apple Design Award back in its rightful place.
Thanks for your time.
Justin
I was excited to see that WWDC ’10 has finally been announced, but noted with dismay that the Apple Design Awards are no longer being offered for Mac applications. This is extremely disappointing, as Mac developers form the core of the Apple developer community; many of them are the same ones who develop iPhone and iPad software. The Apple Design Award is the crown jewel of Mac/iPhone/iPad software development. Excluding this from the Mac eliminates something to look forward to, a motivation that, though rarely achieved, nevertheless helps drive developers to continue making better and more innovative software.
I certainly hope that the decision to cancel this award will be rethought. Although it may be too late to reinstate it for WWDC ’10, I look forward to WWDC ’11 and hope to see the Mac version of the Apple Design Award back in its rightful place.
Thanks for your time.
Justin
InCode 1.0.1
21/04/10 08:42 PM
Well, InCode 1.0.1 has been interesting. Mixed in
with exams and research, I had a simple update that
fixed a serious issue that caused folders to be
impossible to transfer from InCode back to the Mac
through iTunes. But it got held up for over two weeks
by an obscure bug involving nothing more than a
popover that did not rotate according to Apple’s
expectations! Chalk one up for Apple, holding back an
important update to deal with a trivial UI bug.
Thanks Apple.
Anyhow, the good news is that InCode 1.0.1 will be available soon (hopefully). Also, alongside the new release, we have an Automator Script that will automate the conversion for you, or you could just do it yourself by adding and removing “.incodebundle” before and after transferring. Not the prettiest solution, but it does the trick.
See the InCode Page for more info on the script.
Anyhow, the good news is that InCode 1.0.1 will be available soon (hopefully). Also, alongside the new release, we have an Automator Script that will automate the conversion for you, or you could just do it yourself by adding and removing “.incodebundle” before and after transferring. Not the prettiest solution, but it does the trick.
See the InCode Page for more info on the script.
AquaPrompt 1.2.2 Released
12/04/10 01:22 PM
AquaPrompt 1.2.2 fixes a bug where opening a new file
and discarding an old one would result in an epic
fail. Download it at the AquaPrompt page, or just let
AquaPrompt automatically update itself as usual.
InCode and New Website!
02/04/10 03:04 PM
Also, I’m sure you noticed the site redesign if you’re reading this on our blog page. Special thanks to seyDoggy themes for the site’s design. If you’re looking for awesome RapidWeaver themes, check them out!
New Menubar Utility Soon!
13/12/09 04:07 PM
Those of you who use a lot of menubar utilities, we
have something for you! One of the problems with
small screens is that sometimes your menus cover the
menu extras. Need to access the Evernote clipper
menubar icon while in Mailplane? If it’s covered up
by the Mailplane menus, you have to switch to the
Finder, which has shorter menus. We’ve found a better
solution. We’ve been held up for a while by exams,
but we’ll be releasing this menubar marvel as soon as
we can!
Proof is Open Source!
04/12/09 08:50 AM
After some experimentation and consideration, we’ve
finally decided to upload Proof to GitHub as open source
software. You can find it at http://github.com/NovaStormSoftware/Proof/.
The more developers we have working on it, the
faster it’ll improve!
AquaPrompt 1.201
01/12/09 10:03 PM
We have a bugfix release: 1.201. This fixes a problem
that caused new license files to not be recognized.
It turns out the problem was an extra period in the
code. If you had already installed your license file
prior to the 1.2 update this doesn’t affect you. If
you purchased AquaPrompt recently and discovered that
upon launching the license file the text area was
filled with gibberish, then this fix is for you.
Extending Proof
30/11/09 01:35 PM
I just wanted to let people know where Proof stands as a platform.
This does get a bit technical, but I’ll keep it
as simple as possible.
The Proof architecture revolves around a central controller that manages different preview subcontrollers. Each subcontroller has its own code and views to handle specific types of files. If necessary, Proof could easily be expanded to support chaining, so a single subcontroller would have its own set of subcontrollers.
The benefit of this is that I can easily implement advanced preview features. One example is LaTeX. While Proof supports viewing the source, it doesn’t view a finished product (unless you export to a PDF first). But if I wanted to add live LaTeX previews, all I’d have to do is add a subcontroller to the text viewer module that would take control of .tex files. When asked if it could handle the file, it would check if TeX was installed. If not, it would simply ignore the file and it would be handled by the normal previewer, with full backward compatibility.
So that’s the next plan. LaTeX live preview support is coming, thanks to an anonymous contributor showing me the right commands to execute to generate the preview. Now I just have to figure out how to work them in (and learn the ins and outs of NSTask in the process). So while it may take a little while, expect this neat feature sometime in the future!
The really cool part about the Proof platform is that it can be easily opened up to third-party viewers. I don’t have much experience with actual plugins and security issues surrounding them (if anybody knows how to easily allow plugins to be loaded without any major trouble, let me know!) but a relatively easy way for me to do it would for developers to send me their viewer modules for me to integrate into the original application. I’m also considering making Proof open-source, although I’ve never handled that kind of thing before and I have no idea what’s really involved, so it’d be more of a trial thing, but I’d really like to keep it open. I’m considering using GitHub but if anybody knows which one works best or how best to manage something like this send me an email.
The Proof architecture revolves around a central controller that manages different preview subcontrollers. Each subcontroller has its own code and views to handle specific types of files. If necessary, Proof could easily be expanded to support chaining, so a single subcontroller would have its own set of subcontrollers.
The benefit of this is that I can easily implement advanced preview features. One example is LaTeX. While Proof supports viewing the source, it doesn’t view a finished product (unless you export to a PDF first). But if I wanted to add live LaTeX previews, all I’d have to do is add a subcontroller to the text viewer module that would take control of .tex files. When asked if it could handle the file, it would check if TeX was installed. If not, it would simply ignore the file and it would be handled by the normal previewer, with full backward compatibility.
So that’s the next plan. LaTeX live preview support is coming, thanks to an anonymous contributor showing me the right commands to execute to generate the preview. Now I just have to figure out how to work them in (and learn the ins and outs of NSTask in the process). So while it may take a little while, expect this neat feature sometime in the future!
The really cool part about the Proof platform is that it can be easily opened up to third-party viewers. I don’t have much experience with actual plugins and security issues surrounding them (if anybody knows how to easily allow plugins to be loaded without any major trouble, let me know!) but a relatively easy way for me to do it would for developers to send me their viewer modules for me to integrate into the original application. I’m also considering making Proof open-source, although I’ve never handled that kind of thing before and I have no idea what’s really involved, so it’d be more of a trial thing, but I’d really like to keep it open. I’m considering using GitHub but if anybody knows which one works best or how best to manage something like this send me an email.
AquaPrompt 1.2 Released
30/11/09 11:50 AM
And AquaPrompt 1.2 is now
here! Sporting saving and loading as well as a
big obvious button for preferences, this version
brings one of the most requested features. And
it’s even better due to the LLVM/Clang compiler that
gives it a minor speed boost and will allow us
to develop more bug-free code more easily.
AquaPrompt Save and Load
26/11/09 11:44 PM
The feature is finally on its way! Saving and loading for
AquaPrompt is in the
works. And it’s not only a concept — it’s real.
It’s alive! Below you can see an image
of the warning dialog and just a bit of
the code that does the heavy lifting!
Of course, it has the
ability to detect if the document has been modified.
And it’s really smart. If, for example, you
completely retype the document, AquaPrompt
will still know that it’s the same document despite
the fact that you retyped it and will not bother to
re-save what’s already there.
The new version 1.2 will be available within a couple
weeks, but there’s no way we’re putting a set date on
it — we learned several times that set dates can
backfire when you least expect them to, especially
for a small company with limited resources. But we do
promise it’ll be relatively soon.
Compilers
25/11/09 12:33 PM
Announcement: NovaStorm products are moving to a new
compiler!
What, nobody’s excited? Well, we are. Here’s why. We’re using the new Clang/LLVM compiler which features the latest and greatest technology. It won’t have much direct effect on you besides a slight speed increase, and in our apps the code is so highly optimized already that you probably won’t notice much of a difference. And yes, that’s the official logo at the right! Who could refuse a compiler with that cool of a logo?
It will, however, have an indirect effect in that it will allow us to debug our apps and strip out errors easier and faster. Any time we can have the compiler tell us that our code may cause an error, that’s one less error that has the potential to find its way into a shipping product. Technology like this allows us to innovate faster and more efficiently. So the end result is a better product simply because of the help it affords us.
The first product to be built by the new compiler is the upcoming AquaPrompt 1.2 release.
What, nobody’s excited? Well, we are. Here’s why. We’re using the new Clang/LLVM compiler which features the latest and greatest technology. It won’t have much direct effect on you besides a slight speed increase, and in our apps the code is so highly optimized already that you probably won’t notice much of a difference. And yes, that’s the official logo at the right! Who could refuse a compiler with that cool of a logo?
It will, however, have an indirect effect in that it will allow us to debug our apps and strip out errors easier and faster. Any time we can have the compiler tell us that our code may cause an error, that’s one less error that has the potential to find its way into a shipping product. Technology like this allows us to innovate faster and more efficiently. So the end result is a better product simply because of the help it affords us.
The first product to be built by the new compiler is the upcoming AquaPrompt 1.2 release.
Proof released!
15/11/09 11:40 PM
We're happy to announce the release of Proof, a
simple document reviewer specifically designed for
document exporters. Go check out Proof!
Twee! now Free!
15/11/09 10:22 PM
We've decided to make Twee! free after seeing it
utterly fail. Well, fail in the sense that
nobody other that us seems to want it!
So we've decided to make it free so that at
least a few people may benefit from it.
New Website
14/11/09 06:01 PM
Sometimes starting from scratch is the best way to
revolutionize something - in this case, starting with
a brand-new website written using RapidWeaver and the
outstanding plugins from YourHead. With the previous
website, the raw HTML and CSS was becoming much
too complex and difficult to handle, and by
using the new system we can concentrate on
content and not how to make the content display
correctly. We can also do much more without
having to worry as much about IE compatibility.
Go visit the homepage to start from the
beginning.