UI Elements [ important feature ]

Suggestions
1

First, I’d like to thank twolivesleft. Codea version 1.3, It’s a great job.
Moreover, some bug tracker topics, created by me were changed in open status, so that it’s a good news, isn’t it?
For now I am happy, but not enough. I still want something else. Something I know you will not be too interested.
But I try. Maybe I will not be refused.

Before I start to say the problem, I will tell you a little story.
A little story about programming.
I noticed that the Code has no UI elements.
So, under these conditions, I tried something similar in App Store.

But wait. I found something. It is about iVBasic+DB, but before buying this app I tested it.
This is not an advertisement! :wink:
I downloaded iVBasic Free, I was fascinated, so I bought this app.
All was well and good, but suddenly Mr. Limit appears.
All UI elements works very well, but this app is very simple and not works like Codea, so.

I ask you to create some UI elements for Codea looks like iVBasic.
You can test iVBasic for free here:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/id485863243
Or All UI Elements:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ivbasic/id462841331?mt=8
Or All UI Elements + Databases:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ivbasic-db/id476587959?ls=1&mt=8

I repeat, this is not an advertisement.

I understood, you do not have the right to use UI elements of IOS, because Codea is not based on UI, Codea looks like a game based on OpenGL ES, I’m right? OK! Don’t worry! I have the solution!

It is not a tragedy that you can not use UI elements of iOS.
You can create a custom UI Elements for Codea. I’m not worry about Button and Input Field, I’m worry about:
TableList and here I’m worry about a long list, drag it with a finger up and down, and select a row and after,
show wich row has selected. I’m also worry about Switch and SegmentedSwitch and others.
It is not necessary that UI elements to look like iOS UI. By the way, I like the Sound Picker interface and Font Picker interface. You can create a UI TableList look like Font Picker.

Happy coding!

2

I’ve had this suggustion many times. But then I noticed that iLuaBox had to remove it’s GUI and device info. But that was a while ago.I’ve never heard of iVBasic, but it looks like another good role model for Codea. By that, I mean that Codea could learn from it, even though Cidea is far ahead of the game. I created a fairly ligitament Codea style UI you can find here.

3

Dude! I just took a closer look at iVBasic. It’s crazy! Too bad you can’t export it… But yes, UI elements for Codea would be amazing.

4

I would already be happy with a multiline input box, allowing me to paste text in. I am now using the very limited Luna (basically for text transformations).

5

Working on my Codea UI right now, so not long to wait. I would really like help. Thanks!

6

Do you mean a UI within a program or of the coding environment?

7

He meant UI within an app. So we could say something like switch(state,x,y) but there are many many problems with that. And we would have the threat of having it taken from us just like they did iLuaBox X(

8

I’m obviously missing something. Various people have written all sorts of UI bits and pieces, so why not just add the missing pieces ourselves? The only one that really needs Codea is access to the clipboard. But I’m probably missing something important.

9

Just looking at the code out there, I see sliders, buttons, popup menus, titlebars, etc.

I’m not even sure what UI pieces are missing.

10

@Mark There is currently no way to paste text in a running Codea program (you can paste it in the coding environment, but that is not quite the same).

11

@Andrew_Stacey and @Mark - You have a point, but this does a few things for us:

  1. Limits our code by not having to import the module.
  2. It’s the best of the best if TLL makes it.
  3. Makes it easy to do it all like change the color of the font on the button, or add a section to the UITableView.
  4. You can paste, cut, copy, define, and speak words into text boxes.
  5. Some people may have some setting or another set for that certain UIElement (although most likely not)
  6. The scrolling is just right and apple graphics never have flaws.
  7. If we could get UIMapView, that would be awesome.
  8. No more UI this, UI that, etc.
  9. It runs a lot faster.
  10. You get the point.
    And so on and so on. I just think it’s a fairly good idea.
12

iVBasic is limited to 50.000-70.000 rows in SQL.
iVBasic is limited to 20 rows in Array.
And the last:
iVBasic can’t Import/Export Project and Databases.
And I forgot something: Import images and Sounds into project.
So, this app not worth the money.
What’s left to do?
I’m waiting a response from Simeon or from iVBasic, Maybe he saw my complaints here.

13

@Georgian replicating or exposing iOS UI elements is not something we are focused on at the moment. There are many other features, such as custom sprites, that have higher priority.

That’s not to say we’ll never implement an iOS UI wrapper. I can see some value in it. My main criticism of the idea is that iOS UI elements are screen-space only and don’t interact with the transformation system in any way.

As @Mark and @Andrew have pointed out Codea has all the tools necessary to create touch based interfaces. It is possible to create switches, table views, scroll views, sliders and more. In fact, @Mark and @Andrew have created many of these themselves in their own projects.

14

Finally, I understood that Codea is a Game Creator, not App Creator.
It’s ok. You’re right.
By the way, I have a big problem with Codea. It’s about Undo into Code Editor.
I need Undo/Redo into code editor using three fingers into left direction = undo and right direction = redo.
It is possible?

15

@Georgian that’s a feature I would like to fix as soon as I can. The current undo is a bit limited and hard to access.

16

@Georgian - “Finally, I understood that Codea is a Game Creator, not App Creator.” That is false. Just take one look at Spritely and you notice the potential of creating utility’s with Codea.

17

@Georgian The hint is in the name: Codea is an Idea Creator. For me it allows me to quickly explore ideas on algorithms in a visual way, while other people may explore game ideas. The fact that these prototypes are almost as good as real apps only shows how good Codea already is!

18

I have iVBasic. It is a very good tool and if you are crafty with iExplorer you can get your SQLite databases out of it. A different creature than Codea and I like both.

I recommend both applications for different reasons. Wish I had more time to spend in Codea. I started making GUI controls for Codea and I think the community can put some classes together that emulate most of the GUI controls but then you are still missing the SQLite features.

19

TechBasic is 10 times better than iVBasic. My opinion, talking about UI and other goods.
Although, I prefer Codea for everything else.