23 thoughts on “Procoding – HTML5 Canvas IDE for iOS”

1. Is it completely impossible to incorporate libraries in this app?

   1. It is impossible to include existing libraries written in Java, because the sketches are translated into JavaScript by processingjs and rendered in a WebView. However I am thinking about writing an OSC library which is very likely to happen. Moreover, libraries are often platform dependent, so for all other cases I’d say no and I wouldn’t expect something like it in the near future.

2. I mean for future releases.

3. Okay thank you, I want to let you know I enjoy the app very much and have successfully exported sketches to and from the app to processing on my Mac.

4. Sorry for all the posts but I think one other way to make this app completely amazing (don’t get me wrong it’s practically perfect as is) would be to have a way to share sketches with other PR0C3551N6 users. Like a gallery where you can try out other users sketches, maybe create seperate profiles. Also a vote/like system would be awesome. Just a thought :)

   1. Hi Dale, thanks for your comments, no problem! That’s a good idea, though I have to do some research on this feature. Codify had to remove the sharing feature upon request by Apple :-/

5. Ah that’s too bad :/ But if you could find an alternative method that would be great!

6. Hello, I don’t own the app yet, but I’m looking into it. So is this made so we can put the code into our website? And possible me webapps? About the external library’s, I do some hacking, but hard core (ish). I use iExplorer a lot, so I’ll see of I can find a way to include external library’s when I get the app. About file sharing, I currently own Codea and use it very much (and really love it), but as you mentioned, they had file sharing removed. Although, they did add a copy to clipboard feature on 1.3.1, do that might be possible. They were denied the right to have iTunes file sharing too, so that’s a bummer. But Simeon (main creator of Codea) actually thinks that with your method of file sharing, apple won’t remove it. Meh… Who knows.

   1. Hi Zoyt, exporting as an HTML Package was something I thought about briefly, but at the moment everything is optimised to run as smoothly as possible in Mobile Safari & Webkit. For example: dynamic canvas size based on device rotation and HighRetina Displays. Or think about the missing keyboard input which I am simulating for the soft keyboard. These are just two examples to show how tied the current setup is to Mobile Safari. I honestly doubt I’ll ever spend much time to make it run well in IE, but the HTML Export in general is definitely on the roadmap. But I don’t want to promise any timeframe as there are more urgent things coming up next.

7. Alright. Thanks. By the way, when I said iExplorer, it’s the same thing as iPhone Explorer, not the browser. Alright. I’ll purchase it when I get a chance.
   Thanks!

8. Michael,
   Excellent effort. Well done.
   This is going to become popular once word gets around.
   One question and a suggestion:
   Is it possible to read the magnetic sensor?
   One thing that processing does very well is provide a gallery and forum. To handle the fast approaching interest you possibly need to do the same. Don’t worry about iTunes sharing, Something like a Mediawiki is easy to set up and maintain.

   1. Thank you Mike!
      You can access the compass with an iPhone4 or iPad2 by “orientation.compassHeading”. See the “Motion” demo for other orientation events (I missed to note the compassHeading though, will fix that).
      A forum or issue tracker will most likely come, but a gallery with user upload is quite problematic to host here in Germany, as our law is very strict. This would require a lot of additional work for me, as admins are responsible for copyright- and other violations and forced to moderate everything. Not sure about it now, maybe I’ll think about it again, if things calm down a bit. Currently, I’d like to concentrate on the app itself.

9. Just started using this app on my iPhone. I can’t express what a joy it is to be able to actually write code that runs on my phone!

   I’ll chime in with the others above– It would be really great if there were some simple way to share applets you’ve written with other users. Also, have you considered a free version of the app? Maybe one with the “edit” feature turned off? That way we could share our toys freely with others (without requiring them to pay) but they would pay if they want to create/edit their own. Just a thought.

10. Very very nice! One big request for those of us with vision problems would an option to make the code text larger on screen. Thanks for all your hard work!

11. Really nice app!

    Playing around with it for a while, and wondered if and how you can access external files. In the previous blog post you “(Web-Import works though)”. What does that mean? I am trying to load some text file from a web server with loadStrings(“http://example.com/lorem.txt”) but this results in a NETWORK_ERR XMLHttpRequest Exception 101, which seems to indicate some cross-domain security issues.

    Should this work?

12. Thanks Till,

    there are currently two ways to load externals files:.

    1. The loadStrings should work, I just tested it. You shouldn’t load it in draw() though:
    String str = loadStrings(“http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/0,1518,823000,00.html”);

    If you’re trying to import a binary, take a look at the Image.pde example.

    2. If it’s not working in your case, as a temporary workaround, you can also put it in the documents folder and use a relative path:
    final String docFolder = “../../../Documents/”;
    However, note that this method will break in near future, as the document structure will change sooner or later. Also, it doesn’t work with images

    I’m planning to support adding external files to sketches, but this requires restructuring the simple pde centered way it is now. I’m already thinking hard how to make this as easy as possible :)

13. Ok, works now. Had problems due to a 301 response (Moved), which it cannot handle, but when I am using a URL with actual content, all is fine.

    Thanks!

14. Hi,

    I am new to Processing but have been coding in RealBasic for many years now.
    Trying to find a way to code for iPad I found this so I do not need to struggle with Xcode :-)

    The App I will start out with is dependent on data from a server. Got that working on my Mac with a few lines, but will not work with the client on the iPad using the same code.

    I only need data say every second.
    I can easily make a server that writes to a textile on my Mac, but is it possible to read that file every second from the iPad using load strings ?

    A socket would be nice but guess that is out of the question !
    Re Peter

    1. Hi Peter, there are differences between Processing and Processingjs, so not every sketch will run without adaptation. And sure, you can load strings from a server, see my previous answer. To read it every second, it’s probably easiest to count the frames and trigger an action when it’s time. Regards, Michael

15. Sorry for knocking again….
    But does that also include reading (and writing) to a file on my local network ? If yes what should the path be ?
    Tried to access my file in iPad browser with no luck.
    Re Peter

    BTW Is there a more formal forum to attend for these questions.

    1. Hi Peter, you can only communicate with servers in the worldwide or your local network. Thus you could also read & write, but the logic has to be implemented on the server.
       And yes: since today there is: http://audiocommander.de/blog/forums/forum/procoding/

16. Hi
    Just installed the app, and checked out the examples, haven’t coded anything yet but wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU, because I have been waiting and lokking for such an app eversince my first iphone.
    Will be back with feedback but PLEASE keep the good work gooing!

    1. Thanks for the kind feedback :-)
       btw: Version 2.0 is currently in beta testing and will be released shortly

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