Packt Publishing special offers, news, and contributed articles by the technical community. http://www.packtpub.com The MVC model helps us separate the business logic from the display and data. Now, we can build an application on Force.com . For an effective application, having correct data is as important as having efficient business logic. Force.com is suitable for data-driven and process-driven applications, hence the data operations are massive. Force.com provides us with some really nice and efficient tools to manage, manipulate, and clean massive data per iteration. In this article by Siddhesh Kabe, author of Force.com Developer Certification Handbook (DEV 401), we will learn: How to import data using the data loader The standard data management operations How to import data using wizard How to execute the data loader via command line Some lessons in Force.com IDs So let's start playing with the data. http://www.packtpub.com/article/force-com-data-management?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/force-com-data-management Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:07:26 +0500 Devices such as the iPhone are also location-aware; its GPS receiver is able to determine its position anywhere in the world. Movement can be tracked, the current speed can be obtained, and even the direction the device is facing can be determined. In addition to mapping, location services are finding their way into all kinds of areas ranging from photography to messaging clients. In this article written by Christopher Caleb, author of Flash iOS Apps Cookbook, we will cover the following recipes: Determining your current location Determining your speed and heading Checking for geolocation access Responding to accelerometer changes Detecting a shake http://www.packtpub.com/article/geolocation-and-accelerometer-api?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/geolocation-and-accelerometer-api Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:49:35 +0500 There are several generic containers and generic algorithms available in the .NET Framework and a couple of other majorly accepted APIs such as Power Collections and C5. In this article by Sudipta Mukherjee, author of .NET Generics 4.0 Beginner’s Guide, we will take a look at: Generic container patterns: There are several patterns that are used more than the others in code bases that use Generics. Here, we shall walk through some of these very popular generic structures. Best practices: Here we shall walk through a list of best practices with succinct causes to back them. http://www.packtpub.com/article/.net-generics-40-container-patterns-best-practices?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/.net-generics-40-container-patterns-best-practices Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:59:08 +0500 This article covers some advanced topics such as conditions, raised events, and so on. In this article by Ezra Schwartz, author of Axure RP 6 Prototyping Essentials, we will cover a set of features such as raised events, conditional logic and variables, introduction to a terminology which is usually associated with programming and suggests complexity. It is understandable if you are not interested in, or are intimidated by, the prospect of coding, and wish to avoid using this set of Axure features as long as possible. You should not. First, rest assured that no coding is involved. By now, you are familiar with Axure's Interactions and the Case Editor features, which require you only to select from a contextual selection of options and construct interactions by pointing and clicking. The only typing required is the labeling. You will find a similar easy-to-use interface when you use features such as the Condition Builder or simulate "drag and drop". Secondly, think about some of the terminologies and methods we use in interaction design. We use branching logic to determine use cases, scenarios, and how functionality responds to user interaction under certain conditions. Axure makes it fairly easy to model the logic we need, in order to visualize branching paths, and express it in the interactive prototype. http://www.packtpub.com/article/axure-rp6-prototyping-essentials-advanced-interactions?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/axure-rp6-prototyping-essentials-advanced-interactions Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:19:41 +0500 http://www.packtpub.com/article/oracle-jdeveloper-11gr2-application-modules?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/oracle-jdeveloper-11gr2-application-modules Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:50:24 +0500 One of the best user features found in Dynamics CRM 2011 is the addition of standard dashboards. Dashboards can contain any combination of charts, lists, and other components to help give users a visual and interactive view of their CRM data. This article will explain how to edit user and system dashboards along with detailed information about the different properties that you can change on chart and list components. In this article by Mark AuCoin, author of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011: Dashboards Cookbook, we will cover the following topics: Editing a user dashboard Editing a system dashboard Deleting a user dashboard Deleting a system dashboard http://www.packtpub.com/article/working-with-dashboards-in-dynamics-crm?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/working-with-dashboards-in-dynamics-crm Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:09:33 +0500 Ext JS 4 is a pure JavaScript application framework that works everywhere from IE6 to Chrome 11. It enables developers to create the best cross-platform applications using nothing but a browser, and has a phenomenal API. It features expanded functionality, plugin-free charting, and a new MVC architecture making it the best Ext JS yet. http://www.packtpub.com/news/master-ext-js-4-with-examples-using-packts-latest-book-and-e-book?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/master-ext-js-4-with-examples-using-packts-latest-book-and-e-book Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:44:18 +0500 http://www.packtpub.com/news/let-us-know-your-thoughts-wwwpacktpubcoms-redesign?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/let-us-know-your-thoughts-wwwpacktpubcoms-redesign Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:09:11 +0500 This article will take you through all the recipes that you require to build your very own development environment. This will be done in a step-by-step manner, via the suggested best practice of using a Windows Server 2008 R2 server as the base operating system running on a virtual machine. In this article by Ed Musters, author of Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Development Cookbook, we will cover the following concepts: Selecting your virtual environment Installing and configuring Windows Server 2008 R2 Installing and configuring SQL Server 2008 R2 Installing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Installing Microsoft Office 2010 Professional http://www.packtpub.com/article/setting-development-environment-4?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/setting-development-environment-4 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:33:07 +0500 In this article by Loiane Groner, author of Ext JS 4 First Look we will cover some new features and enhancements in the following Components. Tree panel Form panel These Components enable faster performance and more developer flexibility. (For more resources on JavaScript, see here.) http://www.packtpub.com/article/ext-js-4-working-tree-form-components?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/ext-js-4-working-tree-form-components Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:08:02 +0500 In this article by Loiane Groner, author of Ext JS 4 First Look we will cover some new features and enhancements in the Grid Component. Ext JS 4 introduces major changes compared to Ext JS 3. There is a new data package, new charts, and new, updated layouts. The framework was completely rewritten to boost performance. http://www.packtpub.com/article/ext-js-4-working-grid-component?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/ext-js-4-working-grid-component Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:06:04 +0500 Sencha Touch is a versatile HTML5-based framework specifically built for Mobile Web. It can be used to develop user interface for mobile web applications that look and feel like native applications on supported mobile devices. It is fully based on web standards such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. http://www.packtpub.com/news/ master-cross-platform-application-development-using-packts-new-sencha-book?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/ master-cross-platform-application-development-using-packts-new-sencha-book Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:07:43 +0500 In this article by Jobin Kuruvilla author of JIRA Development Cookbook, we will cover: Writing JIRA 4 gadgets Invoking REST services from gadgets Configuring user preferences in gadgets Accessing gadgets outside of JIRA http://www.packtpub.com/article/gadgets-in-jira?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/gadgets-in-jira Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:47:56 +0500 Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications. PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. http://www.packtpub.com/news/combine-php-ajax-powerful-platform-web-applications-packts-php-ajax-cookbook?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/combine-php-ajax-powerful-platform-web-applications-packts-php-ajax-cookbook Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:13:49 +0500 Railo is a completely free, open source CFML engine that has been officially accepted as a JBoss.org project. Railo is known for its compatibility, performance, innovations and extensibility. The Railo Open Source project is led by Railo Technologies, with development work funded by consulting and support contracts, but anyone can contribute code for consideration. http://www.packtpub.com/news/develop-and-deploy-complex-web-applications-with-ease-using-packt-railo-book?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/develop-and-deploy-complex-web-applications-with-ease-using-packt-railo-book Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:08:31 +0500 Integration with other systems is always one of the most critical steps in development and it should be on our mind during the planning phase. In this article, the Drools integration modules, Spring Framework and Apache Camel, will be covered explaining how they can be used independently of the Drools Server but, of course, integrated with Drools. In this article by Lucas Amador, author of Drools Developer's Cookbook, we will cover the following concepts: Setting up Drools using Spring Framework Configuring JPA to persist our knowledge with Spring Framework Integrating Apache Camel in your project http://www.packtpub.com/article/drools-integration-modules-spring-framework-apache-camel?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/drools-integration-modules-spring-framework-apache-camel Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:15:02 +0500 This article covers every aspect of a form, including the different form fields offered by Sencha Touch, configuring each one of them for the user in a form, and configuring ways by which a typical form validation can be done. Fields such as Search, E-mail, DatePicker, Select, Slider, Checkbox, TextArea, FieldSet, and so on are covered in this article along with their detailed usage. In this article by Ajit Kumar, author of Sencha Touch Cookbook, we will cover: Getting your form ready with FormPanel Working with search Putting custom validation in the e-mail field Working with dates using DatePicker Making a field hidden Working with the select field Changing the value using Slider Spinning the number wheel using Spinner Toggling between your two choices Checkbox and checkbox group Text and TextArea Grouping fields with FieldSet Validating your form http://www.packtpub.com/article/sencha-touch-cookbook-catering-form-related-needs?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/sencha-touch-cookbook-catering-form-related-needs Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:39:42 +0500 Before getting started with any 3D package, it is crucial to understand the environment you'll be working in. As such, in this article by Will Goldstone, author of Unity 3.x Game Development Essentials, we'll make sure you're prepared by looking at some important 3D concepts before moving on to discuss the concepts and interface of Unity itself. You will learn about: Coordinates and vectors 3D shapes Materials and textures Rigidbody dynamics Collision detection GameObjects and Components Assets and Scenes Prefabs Unity editor interface http://www.packtpub.com/article/unity-3-0-enter-the-third-dimension?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/unity-3-0-enter-the-third-dimension Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:37:59 +0500 WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL, which is often customized into a content management system (CMS). This mature and stable product is the official successor of b2/cafelog, and can be completely customizable to be used for almost anything. http://www.packtpub.com/news/learn-enhance-your-seo-using-packts-new-wordpress-book?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/learn-enhance-your-seo-using-packts-new-wordpress-book Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:17:32 +0500 WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL, which is often customized into a content management system (CMS). This mature and stable product is the official successor of b2/cafelog, and can be completely customizable to be used for almost anything. http://www.packtpub.com/news/market-and-measure-success-your-blog-using-packt’s-new-wordpress-book?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/market-and-measure-success-your-blog-using-packt’s-new-wordpress-book Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:01:06 +0500 Over the past few years, all the major internet or enterprise applications are developed or migrated to Rich Internet Application to support all the features that are provided in the desktop applications. This helps organizations keep the end users happy and also improves application deployment and maintenance. qooxdoo is a stable, open source RIA framework. If you are waiting and watching for the right time to migrate your application to qooxdoo, this is the right time! In this article by Rajesh Kumar Bachu and Mohamed Raffi, authors of qooxdoo Beginner's Guide, we'll cover the following topics: Widgets Containers Panels Layout managers Layouts http://www.packtpub.com/article/qooxdoo-working-with-layouts?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/qooxdoo-working-with-layouts Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:06:06 +0500 Prizes: 1st Prize: The winner has their image used on the front cover of the forthcoming book Corona Game Development: Beginners Guide by Michelle M. Fernandez. The winner’s name and email address will feature inside the front cover and they receive 2 copies of the book. Our standard $100 is paid for use of the image. The winner will also receive a year long subscription of Corona SDK PRO courtesy of Ansca Mobile! 2 Runners up receive a Packt Games Library 1 Year subscription worth $120 (see http://packtlib.packtpub.com/gaming-library/subscription for details). http://www.packtpub.com/news/corona-game-development-book-cover-competition-ansca-mobile?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/corona-game-development-book-cover-competition-ansca-mobile Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:52:56 +0500 Almost any control or element in Titanium can have an animation or transform applied to it. This allows you to enhance your applications by adding a level of interactivity and "bling" that your apps would otherwise perhaps not have. In this article by Boydlee Pollentine, author of of Appcelerator Titanium Smartphone App Development Cookbook, we will cover: Animating a View using the "animate" method Animating a View using 2D matrix and 3D matrix transforms Dragging an ImageView using touch events Scaling an ImageView using a Slider control Saving our "Funny Face" image using the toImage() method http://www.packtpub.com/article/appcelerator-titanium-creating-animations-transformations-understanding-drag-drop?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/appcelerator-titanium-creating-animations-transformations-understanding-drag-drop Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:54:50 +0500 While playable, Flood Control in its current form is rather rough. When the player clicks on game pieces, they simply flop to their new orientation. Completed rows vanish without a trace, being filled in so rapidly that it is hard to tell if they actually disappeared at all. The game never ends! Once you have started, you can play forever, not worrying about the underwater research lab actually filling up with water. In this article,by Kurt Jaegars,author of XNA 4.0 Game Development by Example: Beginner's Guide – Visual Basic Edition we will address these issues by: Animating the rotation of pieces, when manipulated by the player Gradually fading out pieces of completed scoring chains Animating the falling of pieces into place on the board Implementing the flooding of the dome and adding increasing difficulty levels Adding a SpriteFont to the game, and displaying the current level and score in their appropriate positions on the screen All of these enhancements will give the player a better game experience, as well as give us the opportunity to learn more about how the SpriteBatch class can be used for animation and text display. http://www.packtpub.com/article/developing-flood-control-using-xna-game-development?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/developing-flood-control-using-xna-game-development Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:36:48 +0500 Adobe's Stage3D (previously codenamed Molehill) is a set of 3D APIs that has brought 3D to the Flash platform. Being a completely new technology, there were almost no resources to get you acquainted with this revolutionary platform, until now. In this article by Christer Kaitila, author of Adobe Flash 11 Stage3D (Molehill) Game Programming, we will: Obtain Flash 11 for your browser Get all the tools ready to compile Stage3D games Initialize 3D graphics in Flash Send mesh and texture data to the video card Animate a simple 3D scene http://www.packtpub.com/article/adobe-flash-11-stage3d-setting-up-our-tools?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/adobe-flash-11-stage3d-setting-up-our-tools Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:55:16 +0500 In this article by Milan Sedliak, author of PHP Ajax we will learn how to build the basic Ajax forms. We will try to understand where we can use Ajax methodology and where we can't. There are a lot of ways in which we can use Ajax. Here are some "best" practices based on user experience and the performance of the specific system. Ajax makes our lives easier, faster, and better; how and where to use it is up to us. In this article, we will cover the following topics: Validating a form using Ajax Creating an autosuggest control Making form wizards Uploading a file using Ajax Creating a five star rating system http://www.packtpub.com/article/ajaxbasic-utilities?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/ajaxbasic-utilities Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:57:11 +0500 In this article by Trevor James,author of Drupal 7 Business solutions we install and configure the Ubercart module for Drupal 7 in order to set up an online store and e-commerce system for our client who owns a bakery called Artisan Bakers Collective. Our client wants to offer their baked goods and other products online so their customers can order and pay for their bread and other baked goods ahead of time and then pick them up in the store. Follow along as we set up a basic Ubercart driven e-commerce system in Drupal 7. http://www.packtpub.com/article/setting-online-shopping-cart-drupal-and-ubercart?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/setting-online-shopping-cart-drupal-and-ubercart Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:44:59 +0500 In this article written by Ankit Garg, author of IBM Cognos TM1 Cookbook, we will deal with integration of the planning application and reporting layer. The recipe includeded is used to demonstrate how IBM Cognos BI components can be interfaced with IBM Cognos TM1 planning application. We will cover Integrating IBM Cognos TM1 with IBM Cognos 8 BI recipe in this article http://www.packtpub.com/article/integrating-ibm-cognos-tm1-with-ibm-cognos-8-bi?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/integrating-ibm-cognos-tm1-with-ibm-cognos-8-bi Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:53:52 +0500 MongoDB (from “humongous”) is a scalable, high-performance, open source, document oriented database. Written in C++, MongoDB features document-oriented storage, full index support, replication & high availability, auto-sharding, querying, fast in-place updates, map/reduce, GridFS, and commercial support. http://www.packtpub.com/news/quickly-develop-dynamic-web 2.0-applications-with-packt's-latest-php-and-mongodb-web-development-beginner's-guide?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/quickly-develop-dynamic-web 2.0-applications-with-packt's-latest-php-and-mongodb-web-development-beginner's-guide Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:39:46 +0500 SketchUp is a 3D modeling program marketed by Google and designed for architectural, civil, and mechanical engineers as well as filmmakers, game developers. On April 27, 2006, Google announced Google SketchUp, a freely-downloadable version of SketchUp. The program, which is designed for ease of use, allows placement of models within Google Earth. Google's 3D Warehouse enables SketchUp users to search for, download and contribute free models. http://www.packtpub.com/news/create-realistic-3d-gaming-world-packts-new-google-sketchup-book?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/create-realistic-3d-gaming-world-packts-new-google-sketchup-book Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:18:48 +0500 What is the WordPress loop? The loop is a group of PHP instructions that retrieve posts from the database of your WordPress site and then displays them on the page. You can find the WordPress loop inside your themes, for example, inside index.php, single.php, or page. php. Any HTML or PHP code placed between the beginning of the loop and the end will be used for each post. In this article by Ric Shreves, author of WordPress 3 Cookbook, we will cover: How to work with the WordPress loop How you can retrieve posts from a specific category How to control how many posts you display Retrieving posts by date Showing only those posts published today How to show posts published exactly one year ago How to set up and use multiple loops http://www.packtpub.com/article/wordpress-customizing-content-display?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/wordpress-customizing-content-display Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:33:53 +0500 In this article by Ralph Roberts, author of Google App Inventor will show us how to use networks and the Internet to use the web and exchange data over the Internet. We will explore examples of: Browsing and using websites Fusion Tables, Google's free online data service We start with browsing and how you can use the millions of dollars invested in constructing huge websites in your own apps. http://www.packtpub.com/article/google-apps-surfing-web?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/google-apps-surfing-web Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:03:26 +0500 Vaadin is a new Java web framework for making applications look great and perform well, making your users happy. Vaadin promises to make your user interfaces attractive and usable while easing your development efforts and boosting your productivity. In this article by Nicolas Frankel, author of Learning Vaadin, we will: Learn key concepts behind the Vaadin framework Have an overview of its internal architecture See how to deploy a Vaadin application to a servlet container, be it in an IDE or outside it See how to update the previously developed application with a very simple interaction in order to display "Hello Vaadin!" http://www.packtpub.com/article/creating-basic-vaadin-project?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/creating-basic-vaadin-project Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:14:53 +0500 For years, physics engines have been used in video games to add a sense of realism to the action onscreen. In many games, physics plays a crucial role within the gameplay. Cocos2d comes bundled with two popular 2D physics engines: Box2D and Chipmunk. In this article, we will explain the most common uses of physics in games using Box2D as our engine of choice. In this article by Nathan Burba, author of Cocos2d for iPhone 1 Game Development Cookbook, we will cover the following points: Box2D setup and debug drawing Creating collision response routines Using different shapes Dragging and collision filtering http://www.packtpub.com/article/cocos2d-uses-box2d-physics-engine?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/cocos2d-uses-box2d-physics-engine Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:33:10 +0500 Cocos2d is first and foremost a rich graphical API which allows a game developer easy access to a broad range of functionality. In this article, we will take a look at the basic uses of sprites. In this article by Nathan Burba, author of Cocos2d for iPhone 1 Game Development Cookbook, we will cover the following topics: Drawing sprites Coloring sprites Animating sprites http://www.packtpub.com/article/cocos2d-working-with-sprites?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/cocos2d-working-with-sprites Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:37:02 +0500 Schools, colleges, and universities all over the world are installing Moodle, but many educators aren't making much use of it. With so many features, it can be a hassle to learn—and with teachers under so much pressure day-to-day, they cannot devote much time to recreating all their lessons from scratch. In this article, by Ian Wild author of Moodle 2.0 Course Conversion ,we're going to see how to lay the foundations for moving your department's courses into Moodle. In this article we will take a look at: What counts as a Moodle course ‹Creating your course ‹ Configuring the Backyard Ballistics course ‹ http://www.packtpub.com/article/configuring-moodle-course?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/configuring-moodle-course Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:52:15 +0500 In this article by Paul Thewlis, author of WordPress 3 For Business Bloggers, we'll look at one of the most important aspects of your blog—design. We'll begin by considering some of the principles of good blog design. Even if your blog is already up and running, this article will allow you to critically evaluate its design and replace your current theme with a custom-designed one. This article includes: The principles of blog design How to implement your blog design using CSS and HTML http://www.packtpub.com/article/wordpress-3-designing-your-blog?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/wordpress-3-designing-your-blog Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:33:07 +0500 In this article by Gaurav Barot, author of Liferay Beginner’s Guide , you will start building your Liferay site. You will go through the following concepts in this article: Components of the site Community and organization—The most basic need of any Liferay Portal Knowing the user group Knowing page templates http://www.packtpub.com/article/building-your-first-liferay-site ?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/building-your-first-liferay-site Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:47:53 +0500 We work our way through life with constant reminders of the importance of first impressions and final goodbyes. From an early age, these two circumstances are of extreme importance in our everyday lives. Hellos and goodbyes are important in our iPhone apps as well. Providing a first impression is absolutely essential, as it will set the pace and initial user opinion about our entire application. Likewise, the user will retain a lasting impression based upon the experience we provide when they leave our app for a phone call or text message, and then return back looking to use our app again. In this article by Cameron Banga, author of iPhone User Interface Cookbook, we will cover: Starting the application with a proper Default.png Planning our application UI for a first impression Dealing with phone calls or text messages Preparing for a quit application in iOS 3 Working with multitasking in iOS 4 Periodical downloads and Newsstand in iOS 5 Making accommodations for other apps that are multitasking http://www.packtpub.com/article/iphone-user-interface-starting-stopping-multitasking-applications?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/iphone-user-interface-starting-stopping-multitasking-applications Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:12:48 +0500 Games make up an exceptionally large proportion of all iOS applications, with 15 to 20 percent of all apps falling into the category. The top ten grossing applications list is consistently flooded with games, as users look for entertainment on their iPhone or iPad. In this article by Cameron Banga, author of iPhone User Interface Cookbook, we will cover: Planning your game around touch Control techniques that are optimized for touch Heads-up displays and designing with limited real estate Accounting for the lost Status Bar http://www.packtpub.com/article/interface-designing-games-ios?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/interface-designing-games-ios Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:05:07 +0500 In this article, we'll tackle the first thing the user sees when using our app: the icon. This 512 pixel square will be an essential piece of the puzzle if we want to see success, and we'll discuss some ways in which our work can stand out from the crowd. In this article by Cameron Banga, author of iPhone User Interface Cookbook, we will cover: Designing an application icon and preparing it for the user home screen Creating the rounded edges effect on our icon Removing the app icon's gloss effect Optimizing our newspaper or magazine app's icon for Newsstand in iOS 5 Creating a custom Tab Bar for our iPhone application http://www.packtpub.com/article/iphone-customizing-icon-navigation-tab-bar?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/iphone-customizing-icon-navigation-tab-bar Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:58:24 +0500 Our game menu system is a critical component for drawing players into our game. One of the best ways to make the menu system engaging is to have the player fly through one or more of the game scenes as a backdrop to the menu system. In this article by Robert Wiebe, author of Unity iOS Essentials, we will learn the following: How to set up a background scene that gives the player a feel for the expansive nature of our game? How to create a path that a camera can follow? How to create a main menu that overlays the camera, flying through our scene? How to save time by creating a menu that can be tested as easily in the editor as on an iOS device? How to set up Unity3D for iOS build settings to create an App that will run on all iOS devices? How to deploy an iOS app on multiple devices? http://www.packtpub.com/article/Unity-iOS-Essentials-Flyby-Background?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/Unity-iOS-Essentials-Flyby-Background Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:05:16 +0500 http://www.packtpub.com/news/packt-survey-which-online-learning-resources-do-you-find-most-useful?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/packt-survey-which-online-learning-resources-do-you-find-most-useful Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:51:44 +0500 Moodle is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. It is designed to help educators create online courses with a focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content. Its open source license and modular design allows any developer to create additional modules and features. http://www.packtpub.com/news/take-the-classroom-online-effortlessly-using-packt’s-latest-moodle-book?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/take-the-classroom-online-effortlessly-using-packt’s-latest-moodle-book Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:31:33 +0500 Packt has today announced a new subscription on its digital book library, PacktLib, for WordPress developers. Providing access to over 15 books on WordPress, this is the definitive subscription for any new or experienced WordPress developer. WordPress is a publishing platform powered by PHP and is ideal for creating an appealing and fully functional website or blog. In the WordPress library, subscribers will be able to gain insights into how to operate a WordPress site effectively. http://www.packtpub.com/news/new-wordpress-library-in-packtlib?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/new-wordpress-library-in-packtlib Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:50:28 +0500 Packt has today announced a new subscription on PacktLib for Joomla! developers. Housing 26 books, this library will enable Joomla! developers to get up and running quickly, as well as extend their skills and knowledge to become serious professionals. Recently announced as the winner of the best 2011 Open Source CMS, a resurgent Joomla!, now with a six month development cycle, has proved itself to be one of the leading open source content management systems on the market. http://www.packtpub.com/news/packtlib-offers-joomla-library?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/packtlib-offers-joomla-library Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:18:29 +0500 Packt has today announced a new subscription on PacktLib for Games developers. For an annual price of $120, subscribers get access to a growing library currently totalling 36 books covering everything any serious game developer will need to improve their skills. From CryENGINE, Cocos2d and XNA to Packt’s bestselling Unity Game Development Essentials, which is being relaunched for 3.x in November, this library has it covered. http://www.packtpub.com/news/packtlib-offers-subscription-library-for-packt-games-books?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/packtlib-offers-subscription-library-for-packt-games-books Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:12:12 +0500 PacktLib is pleased to announce the addition of Unity books to its e-Learning library. As teaching Unity is becoming more and more popular, and following feedback from e-Learning library subscribers, Packt has added Unity books to the e-Learning library to satisfy educators. The dedicated e-Learning library in PacktLib is a beneficial resource for administrators, teachers and now also for game developers to learn about the ways in which to study books in order to enhance their capabilities and acquire knowledge in their respective work projects and areas of interests through electronic means. http://www.packtpub.com/news/unity-books-added-to-the-elearning-library?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/news/unity-books-added-to-the-elearning-library Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:43:47 +0500 PowerShell is tightly integrated with SharePoint 2010, demonstrating an important alliance between the fastest growing collaboration and web publishing platform, and the latest task automation framework. The advantages of PowerShell and SharePoint integration help administrators and infrastructure specialists achieve everyday enterprise tasks more efficiently. In this article by Yaroslav Pentsarskyy, author of Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Windows PowerShell 2.0: Expert Cookbook, we will cover the following topics: Creating basic and complex content types Creating and configuring document sets Creating and editing publishing pages with PowerShell http://www.packtpub.com/article/microsoft-sharepoint-content-types?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/microsoft-sharepoint-content-types Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:31:23 +0500 Apache Solr, built on Apache Lucene, is a wildly popular open source enterprise search server that easily delivers powerful search and faceted navigation features that are elusive with databases. Solr supports complex search criteria, faceting, result highlighting, query-completion, query spellcheck, relevancy tuning, and more. In this article by David Smiley and Eric Pugh, co-authors of Apache Solr 3 Enterprise Search Server, we will cover the following points: How to get Solr, what's included, and what is where Running Solr and importing sample data http://www.packtpub.com/article/getting-started-with-apache-solr?utm_medium=rss http://www.packtpub.com/article/getting-started-with-apache-solr Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:53:52 +0500