I know Apple has been touchy about sharing, and this feature could be seen as an avenue toward sharing, but I really feel it would be a huge help to my own peace of mind.
I would simply like to know that all the work I am doing in Codea is well backed up in my cloud file storage of choice: Dropbox. In fact, my iCloud account has a bug (yes, reported but never resolved) that prevents me from using the document sharing feature at all, so I must use Dropbox for this sort of thing.
I would simply like Codea to copy all scripts to Dropbox when I have a linked account, and to allow me to restore scripts from Dropbox if they are not present on my iPad.
Any chance? Or has this already run afoul of Apple?
This is a great tool, but misses the essential benefit of Dropbox syncing… it should be done automatically and often. In fact, given the simplicity of the “restore” process @dave1707 outlines, I’d be happy with simply a backup to a simple text format like this one that just happens automatically any time I exit a project. Or alternatively any time I run a project or exit a project. In any case, if the text backup was done automatically then I’d know all my work was safe.
If there is no direct restore from the Dropbox backup, I’d find it hard to see how Apple could complain about this as a sharing tool. After all, we can “share” right now via copy/paste!
BTW, if someone knows who to actually have a conversation with at Apple about this sharing restriction, please let me know. I am considering Codea as a code-teaching tool, but the inability to “share” scripts so that I can (for example) grade them is a bit of a showstopper. Apple should really reconsider this point for products like Codea that do not reach out of their own sandbox. The real issue is not security of the platform, here, it is Apple protecting the monopoly on code distribution of any kind… they don’t want Codea to be an app store alternative. Not sure how to make them comfortable. The process has to be cumbersome enough to not threaten the App Store, yet convenient enough to be useful.
@efc what about @Briarfox autogist? It works really well to save you project when you change its version (so when you decide to). And you have access to previous versions too.
For sharing, see the new and shiny Codea Community, coming out soon.
As for automatically backing up everything… I wish it could be done automatically, but projects can’t be set to run in the background. It could be set to save on a loop, though, but you would have to sit there and be running it, therefore not coding, therefore useless.
Also, hopefully soon, we can have a listProjects() function, so then we can backup all our projects in one run of a program.
But all this begs the question: if the only reason Codea does not have proper sharing built-in is that Apple does not want a community to form around any code outside the App Store, how will this not run afoul of Apple? Will Apple just force Codea to remove features that allow this to work (like grabbing text versions of projects via code)?
This is all just work-arounds for the Apple restrictions.
That said, I am very happy to see the work being done here and amazed at the creativity on display. Can’t wait!
@efc Dont worry too much. There are plenty of apps now that can exchange things over internet. They are all in the same case then. Bannana said ‘no code sharing by email’, and they will or wont get back on it. Fine! There wont be code sharing via email. But Life will find a way… If autogist is too much manual for you, i could write some variant included in XFC that saves your code when you run it, say every 10 min, without you even having to bother about that. Let me know if you really want this.
Also i dont think anything good can come from a discussion with Banana. Do you still belive that they love us and do all this for our own sake? Lol! Read again your ‘La Fontaine tales’ and what happens to the honest complaining rabbits when they call the Lion to judge their case…
I believe that Apple is acting in Apple’s best interests first and the customer’s second. They don’t want people writing programs that compete with the App Store, and they don’t want people creating security risks that will affect their public image.
The malware and viruses showing up in the Google Play market are exactly the kind of thing you don’t want to see on mobile devices.
However, I’m certain that the rules on sharing code with Codea are entirely about preventing competition to the App Store, just like when they crippled purchases in the Kindle app.
Will Apple cause TLL to nerf Codea even further in order to prevent code sharing? The trend line is clearly moving toward loosening restrictions.
Oh, and Banana is a computer reseller. I’m pretty sure the company you’re thinking of is a red, shiny fruit, not a yellow, squishy one.
@tomxp411 lol! I am just trying to be discrete… Sometimes i use Big Brother, or any fruit. Too bad ‘banana’ is already a reserved keyword, i found it quite a disgraceful transposition, which appropriately reflected my feelings…
Do not go to any trouble on my behalf, @Jmv38. I have grabbed the tools referenced in this thread any will track the CC effort. Reading these scripts has taught me quite a bit already. Now I’m hoping for a ListProjects() too!
I’ve been in the fruit salad bowl for a long time and really do believe that there are those who serve the customer there, so I hold out hope. I do agree with @tomxp411 that the Codea case is about the App Store, not about security. I wonder if we can eventually make a case that Codea sharing would strengthen the App Store? Anyway, given the tools you all have shared, this is not a front-burner issue for me. Thanks!
