Flashy Substance Blog | Tips and Tricks in Cross Platform Mobile Development

How to read your Check Engine Light codes with an iPhone

This isn’t directly about app development, but it does involve an iPhone app, so thought I’d post it. My check engine light came on recently in my 2001 Lexus ES300. I wanted to try and read the codes myself, so I did some comparison shopping and settled on the following items. ioGeek Auto Scanner –…

One advertising-related item for your pre-launch #CoronaSDK checklist

If you think there is a remote possibility that you will end up leveraging Facebook’s app install ads, make sure the fb plugin’s publishinstall method with your appID so that you can track the number of installs to attribute to that campaign.

Inaccurate error message when testing Google Play In-App Purchases

If I had a nickel for every time a vendor’s error message said one thing, and I had to Google the error message to find out that it meant something entirely different, I’d have at least $0.20. Seriously though, it’s one of the most frustrating experiences as a developer and it’s startlingly common. In this…

The only rule that matters for in-app purchase identifiers in cross-platform Corona SDK apps

There’s only one important rule for iAP identifiers: If you care about maintaining case-sensitive consistency with your identifiers across all platforms, you’ll need to keep all the letters lowercase because Google doesn’t allow capital letters. Seriously, that’s it…the only rule that matters. So, don’t use capital letters for your iAP identifiers on iOS even though…

2 tools for creating many sizes of app icons when building your mobile app

Creating all of the appropriate sized icons for your app is definitely a pain. There are websites and tools that exist to automate the process. A STANDALONE APP iconbot (formerly known as icon robot) is a standalone app that provides a nice UI for this process and allows you to select which app stores you’re…

A comprehensive explanation of supportedPlatforms in Corona SDK’s build.settings file

SupportedPlatforms was introduced a long time ago in item 5 of the Wednesday FAQ’s in a Corona blog post. Corona’s official documentation for the build.settings file shows this table, but it’s not completely clear how it works or what values are available It’s important that you understand exactly how to use it or you may…

the In-App Store in FlowBen's Music Trivia

The Not So Obvious Downside to Using Consumable iAPs on any mobile platform

When you’re planning your strategy for in-app purchases, it’s important to understand the implications of the choices that you make. WHAT YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW Make sure you know the difference between the following: Consumables (aka Unmanaged Items) – Can be bought multiple times. Often a virtual currency (coins, gems, etc) Non-Consumables (aka Managed Items…

I haven't figured out way to avoid changing config.lua or build.settings

Edits You Can’t Avoid When Changing the Store Target in Corona SDK

I like to minimize the number of things I have to change when compiling for different devices, because I’m likely to forget a step or two. I use the following techniques to minimize changes: Using store.target throughout the app to write conditional code and show different interfaces if necessary Using the build.settings supportedPlatforms key to…