From the Forum — Issue #45

07 November 2014

From the Forum — Issue #45

Welcome to the latest installment of From the Forum. In this series, guest blogger Alex Jackson highlights outstanding threads from the Corona Forum. The goal is to bring attention to the most captivating, interesting, and thought-provoking discussions taking place in our very own backyard.

Please visit the forum to join these conversations or start your own!

1. Empty push messages

Running through the steps to get Push notifications working can be a hassle unto itself. There are so many moving parts that troubleshooting your code can cause baldness, blindness and temporary insanity.

That’s why it’s always best to have as much up-to-date information as possible. This tip comes to us from developer jflowers45, wherein he describes an issue he was encountering when running push notifications with PushWoosh, using his own server backend. The main sticking point caused him to run around in circles for some time, but when he figured it out, he decided to do the Corona development community a solid and hook us up with the info.

Chug on down to the original thread to pick up on this hint, and see what kind of library you can use with your own custom server!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/52121-how-to-avoid-empty-push-notification-messages-in-android-gcm/

2. Modified SlideView for a sophisticated widget

Few things in life come easy. A passing grade in organic chemistry, getting a child to sleep after they eat 10 double-fudge brownies, and deciding on the right widget to use within Corona SDK all fall under this header. Fortunately, developer vadiminc has gifted the Corona community with some code for their customized SlideView widget!

Not only are you able to add an external listener, but there is definitely room for future updates. Be good soul and check out the code in the original thread below. Have a suggestion or an addition of your own? Feel free to throw it in!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/52356-slideview-modified-version/

3. Auto-updates from the Corona Exchange? Yes, thank you!

More PSAs are coming through than I realized are necessary, but these updates are too important to not shout from the mountaintops!

Corona distinguished developer jonjonsson has set up an automated system to update all following @coronacode on Twitter, when new updates are added to the Corona Code Exchange. The Corona Code Exchange is a very useful resource that allows us all to pull and deposit code from which other Corona developers can benefit. It’s a really great system that we can all get some new tips and tricks from.

Check out the original thread for more information and to get a quick tip regarding web-based automation!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/52330-corona-code-exchange-tweeted

About Alex

Alex Jackson is an indie developer and the founder of Panc Software, specializing in retro-style gaming. He has created several mobile applications, enjoys long walks on the beach, pixel art, and reading the Corona forums. Contact him by email or follow him on Twitter: @pancsoftware. Check out his new game Crosstown Smash on iOS, Android, and Amazon devices!