Andolasoft Awarded As TOP #21 iPhone App Development Company

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It is a great privilege to announce that Andolasoft has been ranked at 21 in Top 25 iPhone app development companies by bestwebdesignagencies.com. Heartfelt thanks to our customers for their continued appreciation which helped us to be here today.

Needless to say that our top-notch iOS app developers, our efficient project management team have been providing excellent customer service won us the rank.

Few more reasons behind our success:

  • Easy-to-use iPhone app with rich and engaging user experience
  • Agile methodology to facilitate rapid mobile app development
  • Step-by-step guidance and suggestions to our customers starting from creating an App-Store account, publishing and marketing their application
  • We provide the right technical help and resources to our customer’s need
  • Industry Best Practices
  • We help customers knowledgeable in building as well as promoting their applications
  • On-time delivery
  • Fast and responsive communication support
  • Quick turnaround service

The bestwebdesignagencies.com is an autonomous body that identifies and lists out the best design and development companies in the world. The purpose is to help customers to find the best names in the industry. They adopt a stringent evaluation process to determine the quality of work delivered by a company and customer satisfaction.

Things You Should Know Before Planning Your Mobile App-Part-I

When you are looking at all the popular apps, you too are tempted to have one of your own; however, it can’t be done overnight. It is because; there are thousands of mobile app programmers and companies who may be thinking of doing the very much similar things. To have a successful mobile app it takes lots of hard work and well defined requirements.  You need to think about the main development aspects before planning to go for your mobile app.

Basic Steps You Need to Know For Developing Mobile App:

From our experiences, here are some guidelines you must go through if you are planning to develop a successful mobile app:

  1. The most crucial step is to come up with an innovative idea. Here, you need to make sure that there is little or no competition for it.
  2. Identify your targeted audience and build your app form their perspective, something that is more likely to be appreciated by these users.
  3.  Judge and determine major pain points and challenges that you expect to face for your application. You should hire a dedicated development team who could understand your specific business requirements and turn your ideas into a working app.
  4. Make sure that your app provides good usability and practical values to the users i.e., they should find your app useful and productive.
  5. Your app should have a solid built with no loose ends. Make sure to run a vigorous crash test and beta test phase before actually publishing it. User experience must be intuitive as well as engaging. If you are willing to implement APIs, ensure that it is robust and doesn’t generate any glitches in the application.
  6. After publishing your app to the application stores, you need to start promoting and market your application. One of the best ways to reach a wider audience is by promoting it over social media. Next, you will have to avail as much positive feedback from users as possible.
  7. You should offer constant support to your customers by addressing their comments, expectations and complaints. Then you should release updates and new features for your app to woo your existing customers as well as attracting the attention of new ones.
  8. Offering basic features for free and then selling premium stuff is a popular way to keep users hooked up and to gain traction. Also make sure that the app is noticed and favored by your customer.

iOS application development and Android app development can be easily executed and managed with the help of expertise mobile app developers. Moreover, it is advisable to outsource mobile application development tasks to development companies. Hiring a professional development company would facilitate you to build flawless and unique mobile apps which would greatly leverage revenue.

How To Use “UIActionSheet” As A Pop-over View In Your IOS Apps

iOS-destructive_button

What is UIActionSheet

The action sheet in iOS contains a title and one or more buttons. Each of the buttons is associated with separate actions. It can be presented from a toolbar; tab bar, button bar item or from a view, however the title can be optional.

Why use UIActionSheet?

UIActionSheet is used in the following cases:

  • To show an option for a given task
  • To prompt the user to confirm an action
  • To get user input

Action sheet is dismissed by touching anywhere outside the pop-over.

How to use it?

  • Extend the UIActionSheetDeleagte in the .h header file of the ViewController
  • Then add a method named as”showActionSheet”

Example

[sourcecode]@interface MyViewController : UIViewController {

}

-(IBAction)showActionSheet:(id)sender;
@end[/sourcecode]

Initializing the UIActionSheet takes 5 following parameters

  •  initWithTitle
  • delegate
  • cancelButtonTitle
  • destructiveButtonTitle
  • otherButtonTitles

Add the following code in the .m file of viewcontroller.

Example

[sourcecode]-(IBAction)showActionSheet:(id)sender {
UIActionSheet *popupQuery = [[UIActionSheet alloc] initWithTitle:@"Set your title" delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel" destructiveButtonTitle:@"Destructive Button" otherButtonTitles:@"Rename",@"Delete", nil];

popupQuery.actionSheetStyle = UIActionSheetStyleBlackOpaque;
[popupQuery showInView:self.view];
[popupQuery release];
}[/sourcecode]

How to know which button was clicked by user?

There is a delegate method named as “actionSheet clickedButtonAtIndex” in which you can get the action.

[sourcecode]-(void)actionSheet:(UIActionSheet *)actionSheet clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex {

switch (buttonIndex) {
case 0:
NSLog(@”%@”,Destructive Button Clicked);
break;
case 1:
NSLog(@”%@”,Rename Button Clicked);
break;
case 2:
NSLog(@”%@”,Delete Button Clicked);
break;
case 3:
NSLog(@”%@”,Cancel Button Clicked);
break;
}
}[/sourcecode]

Conclusion:

UIActionSheet gives additional choices to the users for a particular action & gives a cleaner look to the app.

How to show Captured Images dynamically in “GridView” Layout

There are numerous camera apps in the market which displays shopping items (i.e. image view). In these camera apps we need to arrange each photo items in a list view, basically a ‘Grid View’.

In such cases, ‘table layout’ would be easier to use; but it is difficult to arrange large number of items in

gridview_sample-253x300

side scroll view. As ‘table view’ is just a layout manager, it doesn’t allow direct interaction with each item to the users.

In order to tackle such development issues, it would be smart to implement ‘Grid View’ Layout.

What is “Grid View” Layout?

Grid View (android.widget.Grid View) is a layout that is implemented to show two-dimensional view with scrollable structure.

With the help of ‘List’ adapter, we can add images dynamically to a ‘Grid View’ layout by customizing the number of columns.

Let me tell you the process to show your Android Smartphone captured images dynamically in “Grid View” layout with some example.

Example of Layout xml

[sourcecode]<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity" >

<RelativeLayout
android:id="@+id/RelativeGridLayout"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" >

<GridView
android:id="@+id/gridviewimg"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:numColumns="2"
android:scrollbarStyle="outsideInset"
android:smoothScrollbar="true"
android:verticalSpacing="10dp"
android:paddingBottom="50dp"
android:paddingTop="10dp"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

<RelativeLayout
android:id="@+id/RelativeLayout01"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="40dp"
android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/RelativeGridLayout"
>

<Button
android:id="@+id/capture_btn1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:text="Camera" />
</RelativeLayout>

</RelativeLayout>[/sourcecode]

Example of Main form Activity class

1.MainActivity.java

[sourcecode]package com.example.gridviewimagesdemo;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;

import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.provider.MediaStore;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.ActivityNotFoundException;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.GridView;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnClickListener {

Button captureBtn = null;
final int CAMERA_CAPTURE = 1;
private Uri picUri;
private DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
private GridView grid;
private  List<String> listOfImagesPath;

public static final String GridViewDemo_ImagePath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath() + "/GridViewDemo/";

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

captureBtn = (Button)findViewById(R.id.capture_btn1);
captureBtn.setOnClickListener(this);
grid = ( GridView) findViewById(R.id.gridviewimg);

listOfImagesPath = null;
listOfImagesPath = RetriveCapturedImagePath();
if(listOfImagesPath!=null){
grid.setAdapter(new ImageListAdapter(this,listOfImagesPath));
}
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
}

@Override
public void onClick(View arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
if (arg0.getId() == R.id.capture_btn1) {

try {
//use standard intent to capture an image
Intent captureIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
//we will handle the returned data in onActivityResult
startActivityForResult(captureIntent, CAMERA_CAPTURE);
} catch(ActivityNotFoundException anfe){
//display an error message
String errorMessage = "Whoops – your device doesn’t support capturing images!";
Toast toast = Toast.makeText(this, errorMessage, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
toast.show();
}
}

}

protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
//user is returning from capturing an image using the camera
if(requestCode == CAMERA_CAPTURE){
Bundle extras = data.getExtras();
Bitmap thePic = extras.getParcelable("data");
String imgcurTime = dateFormat.format(new Date());
File imageDirectory = new File(GridViewDemo_ImagePath);
imageDirectory.mkdirs();
String _path = GridViewDemo_ImagePath + imgcurTime+".jpg";
try {
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(_path);
thePic.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 90, out);
out.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.getMessage();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
listOfImagesPath = null;
listOfImagesPath = RetriveCapturedImagePath();
if(listOfImagesPath!=null){
grid.setAdapter(new ImageListAdapter(this,listOfImagesPath));
}
}
}
}

private List<String> RetriveCapturedImagePath() {
List<String> tFileList = new ArrayList<String>();
File f = new File(GridViewDemo_ImagePath);
if (f.exists()) {
File[] files=f.listFiles();
Arrays.sort(files);

for(int i=0; i<files.length; i++){
File file = files[i];
if(file.isDirectory())
continue;
tFileList.add(file.getPath());
}
}
return tFileList;
}

public class ImageListAdapter extends BaseAdapter
{
private Context context;
private List<String> imgPic;
public ImageListAdapter(Context c, List<String> thePic)
{
context = c;
imgPic = thePic;
}
public int getCount() {
if(imgPic != null)
return imgPic.size();
else
return 0;
}

//—returns the ID of an item—
public Object getItem(int position) {
return position;
}

public long getItemId(int position) {
return position;
}

//—returns an ImageView view—
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent)
{
ImageView imageView;
BitmapFactory.Options bfOptions=new BitmapFactory.Options();
bfOptions.inDither=false;                     //Disable Dithering mode
bfOptions.inPurgeable=true;                   //Tell to gc that whether it needs free memory, the Bitmap can be cleared
bfOptions.inInputShareable=true;              //Which kind of reference will be used to recover the Bitmap data after being clear, when it will be used in the future
bfOptions.inTempStorage=new byte[32 * 1024];
if (convertView == null) {
imageView = new ImageView(context);
imageView.setLayoutParams(new GridView.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT));
imageView.setPadding(0, 0, 0, 0);
} else {
imageView = (ImageView) convertView;
}
FileInputStream fs = null;
Bitmap bm;
try {
fs = new FileInputStream(new File(imgPic.get(position).toString()));

if(fs!=null) {
bm=BitmapFactory.decodeFileDescriptor(fs.getFD(), null, bfOptions);
imageView.setImageBitmap(bm);
imageView.setId(position);
imageView.setLayoutParams(new GridView.LayoutParams(200, 160));
}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} finally{
if(fs!=null) {
try {
fs.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
return imageView;
}
}
}[/sourcecode]

Example of Manifest.xml file content:

Example of AndroidManifest.xml

[sourcecode]<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.gridviewimagesdemo"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" >

<uses-sdk
android:minSdkVersion="8"
android:targetSdkVersion="17" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name="com.example.gridviewimagesdemo.MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>

</manifest>[/sourcecode]

Conclusion:

So, a ‘Grid view’ implementation would result in following features and benefits:

  • In ‘GridView’ layout items would be listed in a static grid, defined in layout xml file.
  • ‘Gridview’ extends android.widget.Adapter, so it could be used where large amount of data is managed in a single page frame.
  • Enhanced data source binding capabilities (Direct interaction with SQLite Data Source)
  • Built-in support for sorting and paging mechanism
  • Additional Column types (ImageField)

I would like to recommend you to go through my previous article on where I have clearly narrate the process to display your iPhone captured images in Grid View layout.

I hope you find this useful. If you want to develop android or iPhone mobile app for you or for your organization, then you can hire single or group of developers from the pool of skilled and accomplished android specialists. Drop me a line below with your thoughts, thanks.

Guide To Display Images In Grid View On IPhone

In some iOS apps, displaying images in a single view would make the UI lose its uniformity. It would be difficult to manage images of different resolution and impossible to keep track of thousand of images without using Grid View in iPhone.

This is just like a “Grid View” application. Here we will explore how to display images, programmatically in “Grid view” on an iPhone.

Here We Go…

Step 1:

  • Open Xcode
  • Create a View base applicationGridview-123
  • Give the application name “ImageGrid”.

Step 2:

The directory structure is automatically created by the Xcode which also adds up essential frameworks to it. Now, explore the directory structure to check out the contents of the directory.

Step 3:

Here you need to add one ‘NSObject’ class to the project.

  • Select  project -> New File -> Cocoa Touch -> Objective-C class
  • Give the class name “Images”.

Step 4:

Then add an image to the project and give the image name “icon.png”.

Step 5:

  • Open “ImageGridViewController” file and add ‘UITableViewDelegate’ and ‘UITableViewDataSource’
  • Define ‘UITableView’ and ‘NSMutableArray’ classes as well as the buttonPressed: method
  • Import the ‘Image.h’ class and make the following changes.

[sourcecode]#import &lt;UIKit/UIKit.h&gt;
#import "Image.h"
@interface ImageGridViewController:UIViewController &lt;UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource&gt; {
IBOutlet UITableView *tableView;
NSMutableArray&nbsp; *sections;
}
@property (nonatomic, retain) UITableView *tableView;
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSMutableArray *sections;
-(IBAction)buttonPressed:(id)sender;
@end[/sourcecode]

Step 6:

  • Double click the ‘ImageGridViewController.xib’ file and open it in the Interface Builder.
  • First drag the ‘TableView’ from the library and place it in the view window.
  • Select ‘tableview’ from the view window and bring up connection inspector and connect ‘dataSource’ to the ‘File’s Owner’ and delegate to the ‘File’s Owner’ icon.
  • Now save the .xib file and go back to Xcode.

Step 7:

In the ‘ImageGridViewController.m’ file, make the following changes:

[sourcecode]#import "ImageGridViewController.h"
#import "Item.h" @implementation ImageGridViewController
@synthesize tableView,sections;

-(void)loadView{

[super loadView];
sections = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

for(int s=0;s&lt;1;s++) { // 4 sections
NSMutableArray *section = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

for(int i=0;i&lt;12;i++) {// 12 items in each section
Image *item = [[ Image alloc] init];
item.link=@"New Screen";
item.title=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Item %d", i];
item.image=@"icon2.png";

[section addObject:item];
}
[sections addObject:section];
}
}

– (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
return [sections count];
}

– (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
return 1;
}

– (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath*)indexPath {
NSMutableArray *sectionItems = [sections objectAtIndex:indexPath.section];
int numRows = [sectionItems count]/4;
return numRows * 80.0;
}

-(NSString *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView titleForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {

NSString *sectionTitle = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Section&nbsp; %d", section];
return sectionTitle;
}

– (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

static&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;NSString *hlCellID = @"hlCellID";

UITableViewCell *hlcell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:hlCellID];
if(hlcell == nil) {
hlcell = [[[UITableViewCell alloc]
initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:hlCellID] autorelease];
hlcell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
hlcell.selectionStyle = UITableViewCellSelectionStyleNone;
}

int section = indexPath.section;
NSMutableArray *sectionItems = [sections objectAtIndex:section];

int n = [sectionItems count];
int i=0,i1=0;

while(i&lt;n){
int yy = 4 +i1*74;
int j=0;
for(j=0; j&lt;4;j++){

if (i&gt;=n) break;
Image *item = [sectionItems objectAtIndex:i];
CGRect rect&nbsp; = CGRectMake(18+80*j, yy, 40, 40);
UIButton *buttonImage=[[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:rect];
[buttonImage setFrame:rect];
UIImage *buttonImageNormal=[UIImage imageNamed:item.image];
[buttonImage setBackgroundImage:buttonImageNormal forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[buttonImage setContentMode:UIViewContentModeCenter];
NSString *tagValue = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d%d", indexPath.section+1, i];
buttonImage.tag = [tagValue intValue];
//NSLog(@tag….%d", button.tag);
[buttonImage addTarget:self
action:@selector(buttonPressed:)forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
hlcell.contentView addSubview:buttonImage];
[buttonImage release];

UILabel *label = [[[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake((80*j)-4, &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;yy+44, 80, 12)] autorelease];
label.text = item.title;
label.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
label.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"ArialMT" size:12];
[hlcell.contentView addSubview:label];
i++;
}
i1 = i1+1;
}
return hlcell;
}
-(IBAction)buttonPressed:(id)sender {
int tagId = [sender tag];
int divNum = 0;
if(tagId&lt;100)
divNum=10;
else
divNum=100;
int section = [sender tag]/divNum;
section -=1;// we had incremented at tag assigning time
int itemId = [sender tag]%divNum;
NSLog(@"…section = %d, item = %d", section, itemId);
NSMutableArray*sectionItems = [sections objectAtIndex:section];
Image&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;*item&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;=&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;[sectionItems objectAtIndex:itemId];
NSLog(@"Image selected…..%@, %@", item.title, item.link);

}

-(void)viewDidLoad{
[super viewDidLoad];
}

-(void)didReceiveMemoryWarning{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
}

-(void)viewDidUnload{
// Release any retained subviews of the main view.
// e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
}

-(void)dealloc{
[super dealloc];
}
@end[/sourcecode]

Step 8:

Open the ‘Image.h’ file and make the following changes:

[sourcecode]#import &lt;Foundation/Foundation.h&gt;
@interface Image:NSObject{
NSString*title;
NSString*link;
NSString*image;
}
@property(nonatomic, copy)NSString*title;
@property(nonatomic, copy)NSString*link;
@property(nonatomic, copy)NSString*image;
@end[/sourcecode]

Step 9:

Make the changes in the ‘Item.m’ file:

[sourcecode]#import "Image.h"
@implementation Item
@synthesize title, link, image;
@end[/sourcecode]

Step 10:

Now save it and compile it in the Simulator.

It would be smart to use Grid View to display a number of images in a single view because it enables to manage multiple images efficiently. Users are also facilitated to keep track of their images. It becomes eye soothing and looks great on the iPhone mobile devices.

Keep visiting regularly to Andolasoft blog to know our upcoming article about the process to show your android Smartphone captured images dynamically in “Grid View” Layout.

How Do I Implement Localization In IOS Apps?

We know that, all the apps in the Apple App Store are English-speaking, i.e. the menu, information, settings and everything else is in English. However, the apps become almost useless for the consumers from non native English speaking countries. Hence, it becomes essential for the developers to release apps with multiple language support. This is where internationalization and localization comes in handy which facilitates the iOS application developers to support numerous native languages that greatly increase the global user experience.

What Exactly Is Internationalization And Localization?

  • Internationalization and localization means adapting the software product to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a targeted market.
  • Internationalization is the process of designing a software application, so that it can be adapted to various languages and regions without engineering changes.
  • Localization is the process of accommodating internationalized software product for a specific region or language by adding locale-specific components and translating text.

Here Is An Example To Help You Grasp The Concept:

Let’s say there is an iPhone/iPad application made for Brazilian client and he needs to localize that product to Portuguese language so that every users of Brazil can use it.

Each and every application must contain some hardcoded strings. We need to pull all of these hardcoded strings into a separate file so that we can localize them.

To do this, create a “.strings” file in the Xcode to contain all of the strings that your project needs. Then the hardcoded strings should be replaced with a function call to look up the appropriate string from the “.strings” file based on the current language.

For example:

To create a “.string” file, follow below mentioned steps

  • Select the Project group in Xcode, and navigate to File >>New >>New File.
  • Choose iOS >>Resource >>Strings File, and click Next, as shown in the below snapshot.
  • Name the new file Localizable.strings, and then click Save.

Note that the “Localizable.strings” is the default filename; iOS looks for when dealing with localized text. If you rename the file, you’ll need to specify the name of the .strings file every time.

The format for the strings file is:

[sourcecode]"KEY" = "CONTENT";[/sourcecode]

For our ‘Account’ text add in:

[sourcecode]"TITLE" = "Account";[/sourcecode]

Now switch to “ViewController.m”, and find the “viewDidLoad” method. Now you can set the text as below:

[sourcecode]self.titleLabel.text = @"Account";[/sourcecode]

We want it to read from our “.strings” file. For this, you need to change the current line to use a macro called “NSLocalizedString” as shown below:

[sourcecode]self.titleLabel.text = NSLocalizedString(@"TITLE", nil);[/sourcecode]

Adding A Portuguese Localization

Steps to add a Portuguese localization are as follows:

  • You need to select “Localizable.strings”, and open the Info pane.
  • You can do this by selecting the 3rd tab in the top toolbar of the View section, and selecting the 1st tab in the top section, as shown in the below screenshot.

To add support for another language execute following steps:

  • You need to simply click on the ‘+’ (Plus) in that ‘Localization’ pane on the right of the view.
  • At first it will create localization for English.
  • If the “Localizable.Strings” deselect after your click then select the “Localizable.Strings” again. After the “Localizable.Strings” selected click the ‘+’ button once again and choose ‘Portuguese(pt)’ from the dropdown.

Now, Xcode has set up some directories containing a separate version of “Localizable.strings” for each language that you selected, behind the scenes. To view this for yourself, go to your project folder in Finder and open it. There you’ll get the following:

  • ‘en.lproj’ and ‘pt.lproj’ contain language-specific versions of files.
  • ‘en’ is the localization code for English, whereas ‘pt’ is for Portuguese.

To change the text for Portuguese, select ‘Localizable.strings (Portuguese)’ and change the text as follows:

[sourcecode]"TITLE" = "Conta";
“Back” = “Voltar”;
etc.
[/sourcecode]

It’s all about how to localize a string. But you also need to localize the UI, as the text length for a button may vary in different languages.

How To Adjust UI Elements:

Let’s discuss about how to localize the button text.

  • For Portuguese let’s say the button text is ‘MODIFICAR’.
  • The problem is that you need your button border to be relatively tight around the text. This isn’t a problem for title label because there is no constraint on its width, but here you’ll need to adjust the size of the button to make it look perfect.
  • If you simply change the text in “viewDidLoad” it will look odd, as the text of that button may or may not fit into it.

So you need to add localization to your “xib” and make the button bigger in Portuguese.

  • Go to “ViewController.xib” and in the info pane on the right of the view, click the ‘+’ button to add a Localization and choose Portuguese.
  • Note you may need to scroll down in the Info pane as it has some Interface Builder content in that side.
  • Now we have copy of “ViewController.xib” in our Portuguese folder (pt.lproj).
  • Select “ViewController.xib (Portuguese)”, and edit the button text in that version to say ‘MODIFICAR’.
  • It will resize the button by default.

Once, all the set up is done perfectly, delete the application from simulator/device and select Project>>Clean to get a fresh build and install. Then build and run your app.

How To Apply Localization For Images:

If you have text in your image you need to localize it.Follow the steps mentioned below.

  • Select the .jpg file and add localization for Portuguese.
  • Check out the project folder.
  • The ‘.jpg’ image file has been added to the English folder (en.lproj) and then copied to the Portuguse folder (pt.lproj).
  • To make a different image for the Portuguese version, you need to overwrite the image in the Portuguese folder.
  • Rebuild and get the final result!

Benefits:

It is better to have localization in your iOS apps to target the global users. The app will display the contents according to the visitor’s language.

  • Same information can be shared across the world.
  • Great user experience.