"@NKrista: Codea by Two Lives Left

All new Yr7 pupils will be getting this on their iPad's when they start in Sept. https://t.co/pvC0Uuh8bc"

I've sent Nick, who is the assistant head teacher at a school on the Isle of Wight, UK, a supportive message.

New AutoGist Installer: https://gist.github.com/briarfox/5562489

The Installer is one file. Copy it and paste it over main in a newly created project named AutoGist. Then just run it twice! Thanks to @acp for the code.

AutoGist code - https://gist.github.com/briarfox/5525674

AutoGist 2.0 is here! First you will need to create a Github account @ http://www.github.com

-Open AutoGist and supply your username and password. These are not saved and only need to be used once. After you Authenticate it will save your Github token as a global.

-Exit and reload AutoGist

-You can now use AutoGist to pull full projects from a gist id. You Simply create a blank project, open AutoGist Enter the project name and the gist ID from the gist you want to pull.

-AutoGist can now create a single file that will install all tabs from a Gist. This makes it easy for people who do not have a Gist app. Simply Enter the Name of the Project and the gist id from it's gist. A new gist will be created with one file. That files is ran in place of main and will install the project all in separate tabs.

-You can comment out code that you do not want to appear in the Gist. use

--to comment out code do
--/*
code to comment out
--*/

This is how you include AutoGist into your project to backup.

To backup your projects you simply add this to your main file and include AutoGist in your project:
VERSION = your version number 
-- When this number changes it will update your Gist. 

BUILD = true/false 
--BUILD will create a separate gist for builds when set to true, version is ignored

In setup add:
autoGist = AutoGist("YOUR CODEA PROJECT NAME","DESCRIPTION",VERSION)
 -- VERSION should be the variable used in setting the version at the top.
autoGist.backup()
 -- if you pass true in backup, your Version gist will be public.

Thats it! Future update will include Version tracking as a tab within Codea.

I've just been exploring this app and it seems really interesting. I'm just exploring it at the moment and just had a quick question concerning maps.

Does anyone have any code lying around that would enable me to run an app that would display a map of my current location and a little point at the center showing my current location? (Basically the same functionality that the standard 'Maps' app offers already with my ipad.)

Not sure if this is possible?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Pete

So a library of useful shaders would be - well, very useful.

I'm happy to help compile it - I know of Andrew Stacey's demo shaders, and I have a couple spacemonkey wrote for me, but do any of you have any shaders that do really useful or cool stuff? If you do, could you share, including a working demo that shows how to use it as simply as possible?

So i want to Save the photo and i want that the screen changes to the photo after shooting it. So i can edit or crop it. Thanks

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/big-bigger/id640028352?ls=1&mt=8

Thanks to people who helped me learn to code in Codea. And all beta testers who helped improve this game a lot.

Thank you Simeon and TwoLivesLeft for Codea too :)

I use Codea Splash Screen in this game, hope it helps people know about Codea more.

Here are some promo codes

Y9WP47H3T4YK

FHJWAT9RHPLL

W4NLE3XJ93L6

3RTPY746XNEK

RYJRR9RLL6XE

A traffic simulation. The three images can be downloaded from the following addresses. Then save in the Documents folder.

http://imageshack.us/a/img805/6471/ampel.png http://imageshack.us/a/img826/3563/streetg.png http://imageshack.us/a/img22/3160/59823085.png

-- Use this function to perform your initial setup
function setup()
    displayMode(FULLSCREEN)
    gox = 100
    speed = 10
    red=color(255,0,0)
    yellow=color(255,255,0)
    green=color(0,255,0)
end

-- This function gets called once every frame
function draw()  
    gox = gox + speed
    if gox > 1200 then gox = -31 end 
    if gox > 400 and gox < 480 and s == true then speed = 0
    else speed = 10; end

      -- Do your drawing here
    --sprite("Documents:Street",WIDTH/2,HEIGHT/2,WIDTH*2,HEIGHT) --foriPad1
    sprite("Documents:Street",WIDTH/2,HEIGHT/2,WIDTH,HEIGHT)  --for iPad4 Retina
    sprite("Documents:VW",gox,100,295,150)
    sprite("Planet Cute:Tree Tall",1000,0,200,800)
    sprite("Documents:Ampel",495,200,116,375)

 if (os.date("%S")) > ("00") and (os.date("%S")) < ("11") then fill(red) ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     noFill() ellipse(500,300,40,40);noFill() ellipse(500,260,40,40); s=true end

 if (os.date("%S")) > ("10") and (os.date("%S")) < ("12")then fill(red) ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     fill(yellow) ellipse(500,300,40,40);noFill() ellipse(500,260,40,40);  s=true end

if (os.date("%S")) > ("11") and (os.date("%S")) < ("26")then noFill() ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     noFill() ellipse(500,300,40,40); fill(green) ellipse(500,260,40,40) ; s=false end   

 if (os.date("%S")) > ("25") and (os.date("%S")) < ("27") then noFill() ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     fill(yellow) ellipse(500,300,40,40); noFill() ellipse(500,260,40,40); s=false end

if (os.date("%S")) > ("26") and (os.date("%S")) < ("41") then fill(red) ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     noFill() ellipse(500,300,40,40); noFill() ellipse(500,260,40,40) ; s=true end  

if (os.date("%S")) > ("40") and (os.date("%S")) < ("42") then fill(red) ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     fill(yellow) ellipse(500,300,40,40); noFill() ellipse(500,260,40,40) s=true end 

if (os.date("%S")) > ("41") and (os.date("%S")) < ("58") then noFill() ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     noFill() ellipse(500,300,40,40);fill(green) ellipse(500,260,40,40)  ; s=false end  

if (os.date("%S")) > ("57") and (os.date("%S")) < ("61") then noFill() ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     fill(yellow) ellipse(500,300,40,40);noFill() ellipse(500,260,40,40)  s=false end

    if (os.date("%S")) < ("01") then fill(red) ellipse(500,340,40,40);
     noFill() ellipse(500,300,40,40); noFill() ellipse(500,260,40,40)   s=true end

end

--# Main
function setup()
    CreateImage()
    w,h = i.width/2,i.height/2
    m = mesh()
    m.texture = i
    m.vertices = {vec3(-w,-h,0),vec3(-w,h,0),vec3(w,h,0),vec3(w,-h,0),vec3(-w,-h,0),vec3(w,h,0)}
    m.texCoords = {vec2(0,0),vec2(0,1),vec2(1,1),vec2(1,0),vec2(0,0),vec2(1,1)}
    mf = mesh()
    i = readImage("SpaceCute:Background")
    w,h = i.width,i.height
    mf.texture = i
    mf.vertices = {vec3(-w,-h,0),vec3(-w,h,0),vec3(w,h,0),vec3(w,-h,0),vec3(-w,-h,0),vec3(w,h,0)}
    mf.texCoords = {vec2(0,0),vec2(0,1),vec2(1,1),vec2(1,0),vec2(0,0),vec2(1,1)}
    X = 0
    Z = 0
    angle = 0
end

function draw()
    background(255)
    perspective(45,WIDTH/HEIGHT)
    fill(255)
    angle = angle+1
    X = 400*math.cos(math.rad(angle))
    Z = -1100 - 400*math.sin(math.rad(angle))
    camera(X,0,Z,0,0,-1000,0,1,0)
    pushMatrix()
    translate(0,0,-1000)
    m:draw()
    popMatrix()
    pushMatrix()
    translate(100,0,-1100)
    rotate(90,0,1,0)
    m:draw()
    popMatrix()
    pushMatrix()
    translate(-100,0,-1100)
    rotate(90,0,1,0)
    m:draw()
    popMatrix()
    pushMatrix()
    translate(0,0,-1200)
    m:draw()
    popMatrix()
    pushMatrix()
    translate(0,-50,-1100)
    rotate(90,1,0,0)
    mf:draw()
    popMatrix()
end

function CreateImage()
    i = image(200,100)
    local w,h = i.width,i.height
    setContext(i)
    rectMode(CORNER)
    fill(255, 194, 0, 71)
    rect(0,0,w,h)
    fill(255, 0, 0, 255)
    ellipse(w/2,h/2,h/2)
    setContext()
end

Is there any way I can see at what speed Im downloading an png file and how much of it is downloaded?

I want to know what's limit of setContext() function. Because after some call, generated sprites are empty =/

If you've been around here the last couple of months you might have heard me mention a few times that I have been working on a module loading system designed for Codea. I've been using it now for quite a while in it's current state, and I feel that while it's not yet ready for prime time, it is stable (and hopefully useful) enough to share a "pre-release" version of it. I will consider it at 1.0 when a) Codea supports optional tab execution (which is in the feature tracker), and b) when I figure out how to make it work with exported projects (currently it can only be used within the Codea app itself).

cmodule itself can be found here: https://gist.github.com/apendley/5411561

and a small test suite with basic examples of usage can be found here: https://gist.github.com/apendley/5594141

Why use cmodule? Codea's basic module structure is great for prototypes and projects of smaller scope. However, as projects grow larger in scope and become "real" projects, it can be quite cumbersome to manage the global namespace, dependencies, as well as ensuring that your program does not fill up the iPad's memory with code/data that is used only infrequently (e.g. game data, like levels, spritesheet metadata, etc). These problems can all be amplified as well when collaborating with others.

cmodule attempts to fully address this. With cmodule, you can load a tab (file) from any other Codea project on demand, without having to include that project as a Codea dependency (and thus, without cluttering the global namespace). By default, the source code in a module file is not loaded/executed until it is explicitly loaded with cimport/cload, so only modules that are actually used get loaded into memory (and, the garbage collector will collect them when they are no longer used). Additionally, since dependencies are explicit, and are imported locally to each module, debugging can become less of a chore: there's only so many things a module can break, especially when taking care not to access the global environment unnecessarily from inside the module. cmodule also provides a stack trace for module compiler errors, making it much easier to track down typos or malformed code. Also, cmodule provides a way to load application data/code in an optionally sandboxed environment (using the cload function), which allows you to safely expose only the data and functions necessary for the data file to do it's job (since, after all, the data files are Lua files).

My main motivation for cmodule is that I feel like it worth taking a stab to try and coordinate efforts for sharing code in a more standardized manner, and a module loading system can be excellent for that, if adoption becomes common (for example, it makes it much easier create shared code libraries, application/template installers, and many other things). This is my attempt at that. I fully do not expect anyone to adopt cmodule, especially in it's early state, however I am cautiously optimistic that at least a few others will find value in both the cmodule's methodology and the actual implementation itself. It is usually my goal when hacking in Codea to provide features that TLL will hopefully find useful enough to one day include in Codea itself (either in it's Lua form or in a native form), thus I want to solicit feedback and get opinions on the idea and the execution itself. At the very least, I hope this can be educational/informative to others; there are a couple of neat tricks in there that are afforded by Lua's seemingly infinite expressiveness, and you might just learn something you didn't know from examining the code :)

This weekend I will move cmodule to a proper github repo (though I'll still keep an updated Codea-packaged copy in gist at the above links) and take a stab at some proper documentation. Some of the cooler features of cmodule are not obvious, and I want to make sure to get them documented so that they may be taken advantage of.

A note about cmodule file format: Due to the fact that Codea automatically loads and executes all tabs within a project and it's dependency projects, module files must currently be wrapped in a long comment to prevent Codea from executing the code prematurely. Eventually Codea will support optional tab execution, and this will no longer be necessary, but for now cmodule must exist with this slightly annoying wart. As a concession, cmodule allows you to use whichever form of long comment you want, to alleviate issues with nested block comments. For example, you can use:

--[[

-- module code goes here

--]]

or:

--[=[

-- module code goes here

--[[
a nested long comment
--]]

--]=]

Essentially, you may choose to use as many = characters in your wrapper comment, and cmodule will respond accordingly.

-- RayTracer 3Balls

-- Use this function to perform your initial setup
function setup()
    displayMode(FULLSCREEN)
    myMesh = mesh()
    --myMesh.shader = shader("Documents:ray")
    myMesh.shader = shader(rayShader.vertexShader, rayShader.fragmentShader)
    aVPosBuffer = myMesh:buffer("aVertexPosition")
    aPPosBuffer = myMesh:buffer("aPlotPosition")

    aVPosBuffer:resize(6)
    aPPosBuffer:resize(6)
    size = 0.8 -- 1.0 is fullscreen
    aVPosBuffer[1] = vec2(size,size)
    aVPosBuffer[2] = vec2(-size,size)
    aVPosBuffer[3] = vec2(size,-size)
    aVPosBuffer[4] = vec2(size,-size)
    aVPosBuffer[5] = vec2(-size,size)
    aVPosBuffer[6] = vec2(-size,-size)

    t=0
    s1 = vec3(0,0,0)
    s2 = vec3(0,0,0)
    s3 = vec3(0,0,0)
end

function calcCamera()
    cameraFrom = vec3(math.sin(t*0.4)*28, math.sin(t*0.13)*5+5, math.cos(t*0.4)*28)
    cameraTo = vec3(0,0,0)
    cameraPersp = 6
    up = vec3(0,1,0)
    cameraDir = (cameraTo - cameraFrom):normalize()

    cameraLeft = cameraDir:cross(up):normalize()
    cameraUp = cameraLeft:cross(cameraDir):normalize()
    cameraCenter = cameraFrom + cameraDir * cameraPersp

    ratio = WIDTH/HEIGHT
    cameraTopLeft = cameraCenter + cameraUp + cameraLeft * ratio
    cameraBotLeft = cameraCenter - cameraUp + cameraLeft * ratio
    cameraTopRight = cameraCenter + cameraUp - cameraLeft * ratio
    cameraBotRight = cameraCenter - cameraUp - cameraLeft * ratio
    aPPosBuffer[1] = cameraTopRight
    aPPosBuffer[2] = cameraTopLeft
    aPPosBuffer[3] = cameraBotRight
    aPPosBuffer[4] = cameraBotRight
    aPPosBuffer[5] = cameraTopLeft
    aPPosBuffer[6] = cameraBotLeft    
end

function calcBalls()
    s1.x = math.sin(t * 1.1) * 1.5
    s1.y = math.cos(t * 1.3) * 1.5
    s1.z = math.sin(t + math.pi/3) * 1.5
    s2.x = math.cos(t * 1.2) * 1.5
    s2.y = math.sin(t * 1.4) * 1.5
    s2.z = math.sin(t*1.25 - math.pi/3) * 1.5
    s3.x = math.cos(t * 1.15) * 1.5
    s3.y = math.sin(t * 1.37) * 1.5
    s3.z = math.sin(t*1.27) * 1.5
end

-- This function gets called once every frame
function draw()
    -- This sets a dark background color 
    background(0, 0, 0)

    calcBalls()

    calcCamera()

    myMesh.shader.cameraPos = cameraFrom
    myMesh.shader.sphere1Center = s1
    myMesh.shader.sphere2Center = s2
    myMesh.shader.sphere3Center = s3

    myMesh:draw()

    t = t + 0.03
    if t> math.pi * 200 then
        t = t - math.pi * 200
    end
end

rayShader = {
vertexShader = [[
attribute vec2 aVertexPosition;
attribute vec3 aPlotPosition;

varying vec3 vPosition;

void main(void)
{
gl_Position = vec4(aVertexPosition, 1.0, 1.0);
vPosition = aPlotPosition;
}
]],
fragmentShader = [[
     precision highp float;

const vec3 lightDir = vec3(0.577350269, 0.577350269, -0.577350269);
varying vec3 vPosition;
uniform vec3 cameraPos;
uniform vec3 sphere1Center;
uniform vec3 sphere2Center;
uniform vec3 sphere3Center;

bool intersectSphere(vec3 center, vec3 lStart, vec3 lDir,
out float dist) {
vec3 c = center - lStart;
float b = dot(lDir, c);
float d = b*b - dot(c, c) + 1.0;
if (d < 0.0) {
dist = 10000.0;
return false;
}

dist = b - sqrt(d);
if (dist < 0.0) {
dist = 10000.0;
return false;
}

return true;
}

vec3 lightAt(vec3 N, vec3 V, vec3 color) {
vec3 L = lightDir;
vec3 R = reflect(-L, N);

float c = 0.3 + 0.4 * pow(max(dot(R, V), 0.0), 30.0) + 0.7 * dot(L, N);

if (c > 1.0) {
return mix(color, vec3(1.6, 1.6, 1.6), c - 1.0);
}

return c * color;
}

bool intersectWorld(vec3 lStart, vec3 lDir, out vec3 pos,
out vec3 normal, out vec3 color) {
float d1, d2, d3;
bool h1, h2, h3;

h1 = intersectSphere(sphere1Center, lStart, lDir, d1);
h2 = intersectSphere(sphere2Center, lStart, lDir, d2);
h3 = intersectSphere(sphere3Center, lStart, lDir, d3);

if (h1 && d1 < d2 && d1 < d3) {
pos = lStart + d1 * lDir;
normal = pos - sphere1Center;
color = vec3(0.0, 0.0, 0.9);
}
else if (h2 && d2 < d3) {
pos = lStart + d2 * lDir;
normal = pos - sphere2Center;
color = vec3(0.9, 0.0, 0.0);
}
else if (h3) {
pos = lStart + d3 * lDir;
normal = pos - sphere3Center;
color = vec3(0.0, 0.9, 0.0);
}
else if (lDir.y < -0.01) {
pos = lStart + ((lStart.y + 2.7) / -lDir.y) * lDir;
if (pos.x*pos.x + pos.z*pos.z > 30.0) {
return false;
}
normal = vec3(0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
if (fract(pos.x / 5.0) > 0.5 == fract(pos.z / 5.0) > 0.5) {
color = vec3(1.0);
}
else {
color = vec3(0.0);
}
}
else {
return false;
}

return true;
}

void main(void)
{
vec3 cameraDir = normalize(vPosition - cameraPos);

vec3 p1, norm, p2;
vec3 col, colT, colM, col3;
if (intersectWorld(cameraPos, cameraDir, p1,
norm, colT)) {
col = lightAt(norm, -cameraDir, colT);
colM = (colT + vec3(0.7)) / 1.7;
cameraDir = reflect(cameraDir, norm);
if (intersectWorld(p1, cameraDir, p2, norm, colT)) {
col += lightAt(norm, -cameraDir, colT) * colM;
colM *= (colT + vec3(0.7)) / 1.7;
cameraDir = reflect(cameraDir, norm);
if (intersectWorld(p2, cameraDir, p1, norm, colT)) {
col += lightAt(norm, -cameraDir, colT) * colM;
}
}

gl_FragColor = vec4(col, 1.0);
}
else {
discard;
//gl_FragColor = vec4(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
}
}]]
}

--# Main
-- SpritelyToDropbox

-- Use this function to perform your initial setup
function setup()
    print("Hello World!")
    aloader = SpritelyLoader()

    -- Change "YourImageNameHere" to the name of your image
    Name = "YourImageNameHere"
end

-- This function gets called once every frame
function draw()
    -- This sets a dark background color 
    background(40, 40, 50)

    -- This sets the line thickness
    strokeWidth(5)

    -- Do your drawing here
    createImage = loadstring( readProjectData(Name))
    anImage = createImage() 

    saveImage("Dropbox:"..Name, anImage)

    -- Quits program as soon as image is saved
    close()

end


--# SpritelyLoader
SpritelyLoader = class()

-- SpriteLoader 
-- ver. 1.0
-- moves data from global to project storage
-- ====================

-- This class takes data from global and dumps it into your project.
-- 
-- To use this class, create an instance in your project.
-- For example:  aloader = SpritelyLoader()
--
-- This call will read both keys and images from the global Spritely
-- storage and copy them into your project space. 
--
-- Once in the project data, load the saved string to 
-- an image using it's key.  For example:
--
-- createImage = loadstring( readProjectData("bob"))
-- anImage = createImage() 

-- To display your images, you'll need to load them into
-- a sprite. The command looks like this

-- sprite(anImage, 100, 100, 32, 32)

-- Good luck!

function SpritelyLoader:init()
    local keys, k, s
    if readGlobalData("SpritelyKeys") == nil then
        print("No Spritely data found.")
    else
        -- read global keys
        keys = readGlobalData("SpritelyKeys")
        saveProjectData("SpritelyKeys", keys)
        print("Moving...")
        for k in string.gmatch(keys,"([^,]+)") do
            print(k)
            s = readGlobalData(k)
            saveProjectData(k, s)
        end
        print("Move complete.")
    end

end

Just change Name = "YourImageNameHere" to your image name and after running the program sync your Dropbox from within Codea

Also note, if you want it to save to documents just change saveImage("Dropbox:") to saveImage("Documents:") The program is supposed to close as soon as the image is saved so do not be alarmed when it quits, the image should have been saved

Enjoy!

You should be wondering why, as I walk around the forest, you never see the images side on, because, after all, they are just flat 2D images. The answer is that I rotate the images - all 200 of them - so they are always facing the viewer.

There is another problem with 3D rendering, which is that if you draw objects in front before those behind, you get bad results. You should always try to draw objects in order, from furthest to nearest. So what I have done is sort the table holding the trees, in order of distance from the viewer. I only do this once a second, so as not to hammer the FPS too much. And what is my FPS? With just the buildings (see previous post), I'm up around 60 FPS, but the trees take it down to about 30.

This is the whole map, 2000 x 3000 pixels

http://instagram.com/p/ZFCwWCBHb7/

(and yes, that is a full size castle with battlements tucked away in the far right corner).

Now all I need is a couple of zombies, and I have an FPS 8-X

The code below allows you to provide either a simple list of (unnamed) parameters, or a named list, in a table. Your function then only needs a single extra line of code to call the Params function to unpack the parameters correctly, by providing a list of the parameter names in the correct order.

Suggestions and improvements welcomed.

function setup()
    --this is how you'd normally do it
    Test1(11,22,nil,44,55)

    --this is my proposed approach, allowing named parameters as well
    --both alternatives below give the same result
    --(a) pass parameters as simple list, in the correct order
    Test2(11,22,nil,44,55)
    --(b) pass only the named parameters we want, in any order
    Test2({stealth=55,health=11,dexterity=44,strength=22}) --strength omitted
end

--usual function requires a list in the right order
function Test1(h,s,d,m,t)
    print(h,s,m,d,t)  --test result
end

--this function allows named parameters as well
function Test2(...)
    --unpack the parameters, using the names to sort them correctly
    --this is the only extra line you need in your function
    local h,s,m,d,t=Params({"health","strength","magic","dexterity","stealth"},arg) 
    print(h,s,m,d,t)  --test result
end

function Params(list,tbl) --tbl is params
    if type(tbl[1])=="table" then --was named table
        local t={} --match the named params with the list provided
        for n,v in pairs(tbl[1]) do
            for i=1,#list do
               if n==list[i] then t[i]=v break end 
            end     
        end  
        return unpack(t)
    else --was an unnamed list, return it as is
       return unpack(tbl) 
    end
end

How to enter:
There are a few ways to enter your app.
1. If your app is already on the App Store and is free, then give me a link to it.
2. If you app is on the App Store and is paid, send me a redemption code for it.
3. If you have the code for your game, but it isn't on the App Store, then you can email the code to zoyt12 (at) gmail (dot) com.
4. You can also send me a private message to me with the code in it or a conversation thread with the code in it.
If you have the game in code form, please send me the name of the game.

Entries:
I will post the name of the game and the creator here when I get some entries.

Prizes:
First:
$20 at thatdevelopermarketplace.com
Second:
2 weeks of ad space at thatdevelopermarketplace.com

Please throw in a little something for prizes. It could be anything worthwhile, wether it's a snippet of code or a redemption code for your app. PM me anything you would be willing to throw in.

Thanks, and good luck!

We blog about games & Development, If you want us to post about your new game, Don't be shy... We're indies too!

Some of our favourite articles: Learn to program in iOS Lesson 1 : http://thatdevelopermarket.com/?p=453 The Pschology of game development: Attractong customers like corporates - http://thatdevelopermarket.com/?p=392

If you'd like to submit some codea tuts to us, I'd be more than delighted to put them up, I'll also include all your links and data. For the store we have over 400 visitors per week, It's great to attract some attention to show how powerful codea actually is!

All the best, Jack :-)

In my code I break out the various touch states (BEGAN, MOVING, ENDED) which is why the touched() method forwards calls to one of the following:

    touchesBegan(),  touchesMoved()  and   touchesEnded()

For my project I needed an onLongPress() method to be called every time the user touches and holds the screen for a given time. My code uses a global 'longPressDuration' which by default is set to 1/2 a second (0.5). This is the only variable that should be changed if you need longer or shorter long-press durations. All of the variables that begin with 2 underscores '__' are used internally and should not be changed as they're used to maintain the state of the long-press event detection logic.

Basically the algorithm works like this: when the user first touches the screen (touch.state == BEGAN), we store the current ElapsedTime so we can later check to see how long it's been since the user began touching the screen. If the user moves their finger, then the long-press is cancelled. Since the only method Codea calls regualrly is draw(), I placed all the logic for detecting a long press at the END of draw(). This code first checks to see if we've detected a touch BEGAN event. If so, and we've yet to detect a long-press then we check the current time with the stored time when the touch BEGAN. If this result is greater than the long-press hold time (longPressDuration) then we trigger the onLongPress() method. You might notice the extra flags & checking, these ensure that once the system has detected a long-press, it doesn't keep sending out the onLongPress() method on every draw() cycle.

Enough talk, here's the code. Share & enjoy

--[[ 
  LongPress Event Detection

  Sample code to detect when a user long-presses/touches the screen.

  Since Codea doesn't provide timers or multiple threads, long-press
  detection is done in the only method that's called regularly, the
  'draw()' method.

  Also, Once a long-press has been detected, no more movement of the touch
  will be forward (touch.state == MOVING or ENDED).  Only after the user
  releases their finger from the screen will the long-press be cleared and
  touches will begin to be recognized again.

]]--



-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- GLOBALs
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- how long does it take before a long-press event is triggered.
longPressDuration = 0.5


-- Sensitivity of the touch movement in points.
-- The number of points a touch can move to still allow a long-press.
-- users tend to 'jiggle' their fingers when long-pressing the screen,
-- this helps to make a long-press more accurate.
longPressSensitivity = 10




-- !! THE FOLLOWING ARE USED FOR STATE MANAGEMENT AND DO NOT NEED TO BE MODIFIED
-- touch start time
__longPressStartTime = 0

-- did we detect a touch.state == BEGAN?
__longPressStarted = false

-- has a long-press been detected?
__longPressDetected = false


-- store the touch BEGAN location
-- these are used to calculate the distance between
-- the touch start and the longPressSensitivity value
__longPressTouchX = 0
__longPressTouchY = 0




-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- draw()
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function draw()
    
    -- <<< ADD YOUR DRAW CODE HERE >>>
    
    
    -- The following code goes AFTER all drawing is completed.
    -- Basically, if we've detected a BEGAN touch event and
    -- a long-press hasn't been detected yet, check how long it's
    -- been since the touch started.  If it's longer than the long-press
    -- duration then trigger a long-press event.
    if __longPressStarted then
        if not __longPressDetected then
            if (ElapsedTime - __longPressStartTime) > longPressDuration then
                __longPressDetected = true
                onLongPress()
            end
        end
    end
end



-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- touched()
--
-- When the user touches the screen, this method processes the touch event
-- and routes the different touch types to their own method.  If a touch BEGAN
-- event is received, then setup a long-press/touch state.  If a MOVING touch
-- state is received, and the distance between the start of a long-press and
-- the current 'moving' touch is less than the long-press sensitivity then
-- ignore the MOVING touch, otherwise cancel the long-press and just trigger a
-- MOVING event. 

-- Once a long-press/touch has been detected, ALL future touch events are IGNORED
-- until the user removes their finger from the screen, which triggers an ENDED
-- touch state.  Once this happens, the long-press state is reset and touches
-- are enabled once again.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function touched(touch)
    if touch.state == BEGAN then
        __longPressStartTime = ElapsedTime
        __longPressStarted = true
        __longPressTouchX = touch.x
        __longPressTouchY = touch.y
        touchesBegan(touch)

    elseif touch.state == MOVING then
        if not __longPressDetected then
            -- has the touch moved outside of the long-press sensitivty range?
            if not distanceWithinRange(touch.x, touch.y, __longPressTouchX, __longPressTouchY, longPressSensitivity) then
                -- cancel the long-press state...
                __longPressStarted = false
                -- send a touchesMoved() event...
                touchesMoved(touch)
            end
        end    
    else
        -- This is for touch.state == ENDED 
        if not __longPressDetected then
            touchesEnded(touch)
        end
        
        -- clear the long-press flags
        __longPressDetected = false
        __longPressStarted = false
    end
end


-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- distanceWithinRange()
--
-- Given 2 points calculate their distance for both X and Y.
-- If the distance of BOTH X and Y are less than distanceRange
-- then return 'true', otherwise return 'false'
--
-- Params:
--            p1x, p1y       First point to check
--            p2x, p2y       Second point to check
--            distanceRange  Minimum distance between p1 and p2 to check for
--
-- Return:
--            true        Distance between p1 AND p2 is less than or equal to'distanceRange'
--            false       Distance between p1 AND p2 is greater than 'distanceRange'
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function distanceWithinRange(p1x, p1y, p2x, p2y, distanceRange)
    local result = false
    
    -- calculate the distance between p1 and p2
    local dx = math.abs(p2x-p1x)
    local dy = math.abs(p2y-p1y)
    
    -- if the distance between BOTH p1 and p2 is less than or equal todistanceRange
    -- then set result to 'true', otherwise result will be the default value
    -- of 'false'
    if dx 

What are your thoughts - how could this problem be solved in an elegant way? My first idea would be to save all instances in a table and save this table to LocalData. Any other ideas? Any suggestions how to approach this?

I thought I'd share this. It was inspired from @Jvm38 and his Window library. Most of the code is his, I just edited it for my needs. This places a simple bar that can be dragged around the screen. It shows basic info that I like to see when I'm working on a project. The last location is saved and it can be toggled on and off.

I would also like feedback on the installer. Simply copy into main, set the name of the project you created and run it twice. All the code will be there. You can delete the json file when done, I haven't added to code to remove it yet.

Code if you prefer not to copy off gist

--StatusBar Single Install
--Installer created by @acp edited by @Briarfox
--- This will pull the StatusBar project into Codea for you
-- Instructions:
-- * Create a new project in Codea named StatusBar If you chose another name please change the variable Below
--This is case sensitive
ProjectName = "StatusBar"
-- * Paste this into the Main (not from the raw view, as iSafari will escape special characters)
-- * Run, run again, 
-- If all went well, you should have a StatusBar project now



function getJsonLib()
    local tabs = listProjectTabs()
    if #tabs == 1 then
        print("Pulling JSON library into project...")
        local handleSuccess = function(data)
            saveProjectTab("json", data)
            sound(SOUND_POWERUP, 42179)
            print("Success! Please relaunch this project")
        end
        http.request("https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/9e4nvqeu4hsux2q/Json.lua?token_hash=AAFyMB98j4bnt_1gawf9wSke52hsoC7hsIvARcTuZNeOEw&dl=1", handleSuccess)
        return false
    else
        return true
    end
end

function setup()
    local handleSuccess = function(data,i,j)
        if listProjectTabs(ProjectName) == nil then
            sound(SOUND_EXPLODE, 32351)
            error("AutoGist project must exist first")
        end
        local gist = json.decode(data)
        local projName = ProjectName
        for k,v in pairs(gist.files) do
            local name = projName .. ":" .. string.gsub(k,".lua","")
            saveProjectTab(name, v.content)
        end
        sound(SOUND_PICKUP, 11797)
        print("Success!")
    end
    local handleFailure = function(data)
        sound(SOUND_EXPLODE, 32351)
        print(data)
    end
    if getJsonLib() then
    http.request("https://api.github.com/gists/5578103",handleSuccess, handleFailure)
    end
end

--# Main

--# Main
function setup()
    photo = {}
    photo[1] = readImage("Cargo Bot:Codea Icon")
    photo[2] = readImage("Cargo Bot:Codea Logo")
    t = 5
    i = 1
    previousi = 1
    twop = 0
    onep = 0
    parameter.watch("percenttwo")
end

function draw()
    background(255, 255, 255, 255)
    t = t-1
    if t==0 then
        i = math.random(1,10)
        if i==previousi then t=1 else
            t = 5
            previousi = i
        end
    end
    if i<=8 then
        p = 1
        onep = onep+1
    elseif i>8 then
        p = 2
        twop = twop+1
    end
    percenttwo = (twop/(twop+onep))*100
    sprite(photo[p],WIDTH/2,HEIGHT/2)
end

I've decided to give Codea a try and found an issue I can't resolve. Simply put, does Codea notify the running script that the user has pressed the home button or that the app has transitioned to the background? This is assuming the script was exported to xCode and compiled to a native app. Is there an equivalent to 'applicationWillResignActive' or 'applicationDidEnterBackground'? I'm an experienced iOS developer and would rather use Codea than Objective-C for quick app ideas.

I ask because in my app I would like to save the current data (tables) so the user doesn't have to re-create the data each time they run the app (assuming I've exported the app to xCode). I've looked at serializing the table structures after each change is made, but that's a lot of overhead which I'd rather push to a 'shutdown()' method if possible.

Thanks for any suggestions!

-Brian

Random photo code

Any help is much appreciated! - Mike

After a couple hours I have a reasonably playable version (I will share the code when done), and several problems or doubts about Codea:

I know this has probably been discussed, but I couldn't find it, I've seen the Cargo-Bot game in the App Store, and I was wondering if there is a known process (hopefully simple) to export apps from Codea to the AppStore

Another thing is, Codea is great for games, but it doesn't really have many options to either interact with the user (Form creation for example), the iPad (more os functions) or the Internet. I would love to code some Apps for some of my websites, but right now Codea doesn't really provide the tools for that. Is it possible that the developers will add such features in future releases?

Thanks a lot! Chevi

The program draws several balls floating in a 2D space, the color depends on each ball's speed (blue to red, as speed increases) You can tap anywhere to create a new attraction point (white circles) that slowly fades away until it dissappears. You can also drag attraction points to relocate them.

You can see it working here:

And the source code: https://github.com/aurbano/Attraction

example = {}
example.pos = {}
example.pos.x = 0
example.pos.y = 0
example.dim = {}
example.dim.w = 10
example.dim.h = 10

tween(2, example, {pos.x=10, dim.w=20})
-- or
tween(2, example, {pos["x"]=10, dim["w"]=20})

Endless is a "roguelike" adventure game where you troop through randomly generated levels facing... well, endless numbers of monsters, discovering endless keys, opening endless chests, and descending endless staircases to the next level. Each level has a different sets of creatures, with difficulty that is always increasing. Likewise, weapons become more powerful and your character's abilities increase.

I've stripped the statistics down to a bare minimum (attack, defense, health) so at the moment there are no ranged weapons or magical attacks. I hope to work those in later. At the moment, all the graphics come from standard sprite packs. I'll improve on that with time, but don't really have plans to take this beyond the traditional 2D view..

Hopefully, I'll get an initial version out in the next week or so. Soon you too can discover a Balanced Sword of Unyielding Vorpalness and face off with a Deadly Whispering Spider.

Suggestions are welcome.

http://db.tt/m22Cd66f

--# Main
-- do three tap finger to bring up buttons to exit no button mode
function setup()
    displayMode(FULLSCREEN_NO_BUTTONS)
    gameover = false
    Power = 0
    vy = HEIGHT + 6
    playing = false
    score = 0
    s = {}
    l = {}
    h = {}
    pow = {}
    p = 0
    lives = 5
    level = 1
    physics.pause()
    physics.gravity(0,0)
    bullets = {}
    misses = {}
    ball = {}
    for i = 1,5 do
        ball[i] = Ballons(level)
    end
    sound(DATA, "ZgNAUwAwQEBAYEpAvYbyPnuCCD8JSd8+WQBAf0BAQEBAbUBA")
    parameter.watch("#misses")
    parameter.watch("#ball")
    parameter.watch("score")
    parameter.watch("level")
end

function draw()
    if not playing then
    MainScreen()
    end
    if playing then
        background(255, 255, 255, 255)
        strokeWidth(2)
        stroke(81, 31, 31, 255)
        line(75,0,75,HEIGHT)
        physics.resume()


    if collision ~= nil then
        ball[collision[1]].ballon:destroy()
        table.remove(ball,collision[1])
        bullets[collision[2]]:destroy()
        table.remove(bullets,collision[2])
        collision=nil
        score = score + math.ceil(level/3)
    end

    pushStyle()
    fill(0, 0, 0, 255) -- drawing the bullets
    for i,b in pairs(bullets) do
        sprite("Documents:arrow",b.x - 37,b.y,74)
        if b.x<1 or b.x>WIDTH or b.y<1 or b.y>HEIGHT then
            table.remove(bullets,1,b)
            table.insert(misses,1)
        end
    end

    sprite("Documents:female",25,y - 34)
    for i,b in pairs(ball) do
        if b.ballon.y > HEIGHT + b.radius then
            table.insert(misses,1)
            table.remove(ball,i,ball[i])
        end
        if b.ballon.x > WIDTH + b.radius then
            table.remove(ball,i,ball[i])
        end
    end
    popStyle()

    for i,b in pairs(ball) do
        pushStyle()
        fill(b.colr)
        ellipse(b.ballon.x, b.ballon.y, b.radius*2)
    end
        popStyle()

    Misses()
    p = level*2
    table.insert(pow,1,p)
    table.insert(l,1,level)

    for i = 1,1000 do
        if level == 5*i then
            pushStyle()
            fontSize(25)
            font("MarkerFelt-Thin")
            fill(0, 203, 255, 255)
            text("improve arrow speed -- score cut =", WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2)
            text(pow[1], WIDTH/2 + 179, HEIGHT/2)
            text("continue without the boost",WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2-150)
            popStyle()
            PowerUp = true
            physics.pause()
        end
    end

    if #ball == 0 then
        level = level + 1
        table.remove(misses,1)
        for i = 1,5 + level/2  do
            ball[i] = Ballons(level)
        end  
    end

    pushStyle()
    fill(255, 28, 0, 255)
    lives = 5 - #misses
    table.insert(h,1,lives)
    table.insert(s,1,score)
    fontSize(20)
    text("Lives left   ", WIDTH - 103, HEIGHT - 50)
    text(h[1], WIDTH - 50, HEIGHT - 50)
    text("Score       ", WIDTH - 105, HEIGHT - 75)
    text(s[1], WIDTH - 50, HEIGHT - 75)
    text("Level        ", WIDTH - 103, HEIGHT - 100)
    text(l[1], WIDTH - 50, HEIGHT - 100)

    end
end

function touched(touch)
    x = touch.x
    y = touch.y
    if not playing then
        if touch.state == BEGAN then
            if x>=WIDTH/2 - 30 and x<=WIDTH/2 + 30 and y>=HEIGHT/2 - 105 and y<=HEIGHT/2 - 85 then
                playing = true
            end
        end
    end

    if x<=75 and playing then
        if touch.state == BEGAN then
            createBullet()
        end
    end

    if PowerUp then
        if touch.x>=WIDTH/2-200 and touch.x<=WIDTH/2 + 200 and
           touch.y<=HEIGHT/2 + 30 and touch.y>=HEIGHT/2 - 30 then
            PowerUpBullets()
        end

        if touch.x>=WIDTH/2-100 and touch.x<=WIDTH/2 + 100 and
           touch.y<=HEIGHT/2 - 120 and touch.y>=HEIGHT/2 - 180 then
            PowerUp = false
            level = level + 1
            physics.resume()
        end
    end

    if gameover then
        if touch.x>=WIDTH/2-100 and touch.x<=WIDTH/2 + 100 and
           touch.y<=vy - 10 and touch.y>=vy - 90 then
            if touch.state == BEGAN then
                setup()
            end
        end
    end
end

function collide(contact) 
    if contact.bodyA.info~=nil and contact.bodyB.info~=nil then
        for i,v in pairs(ball) do
            if v.ballon==contact.bodyA or v.ballon==contact.bodyB then
                for j,bb in pairs(bullets) do
                    if bb==contact.bodyA or bb==contact.bodyB then
                        sound(DATA, "ZgNAXS4wQEBAQEBA/9iePiN3mD64nKs+cgBAf0BAQEBAb0BA  ")
                        collision={i,j}
                    end
                end
            end
        end
    end      
end
--# MainScreen
function MainScreen()
    background(255, 255, 255, 255)
    pushStyle()
    font("MarkerFelt-Thin")
    fontSize(25)
    fill(0, 199, 255, 255)
    text("no more than 5 lives", WIDTH - 380, HEIGHT - 50)
    text("waste an arrow or miss a balloon and lose a life", WIDTH - 250, HEIGHT - 75)
    popStyle()
    pushStyle()
    fontSize(100)
    font("SnellRoundhand-Black")
    fill(192, 26, 18, 117)
    text("BALLONS", WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2)
    popStyle()
    pushStyle()
    font("MarkerFelt-Wide")
    fontSize(30)
    fill(0, 198, 255, 255)
    text("Start", WIDTH/2,HEIGHT/2 - 95)
    popStyle()
    pushStyle()
    font("MarkerFelt-Thin")
    fontSize(25)
    fill(0, 199, 255, 255)
    text("Touch behined this line to shoot arrows", 350, HEIGHT - 250)
    strokeWidth(3)
    stroke(0, 200, 255, 255)
    lineCapMode(ROUND)
    line(160,HEIGHT-250,75,HEIGHT-250)
    line(75,HEIGHT-250,85,HEIGHT-245)
    line(75,HEIGHT-250,85,HEIGHT-255)
    popStyle()
    pushStyle()
    strokeWidth(2)
    stroke(81, 31, 31, 255)
    line(75,0,75,HEIGHT)
    popStyle()
end
--# Ballons
Ballons = class()

function Ballons:init(l)
    self.lev = l
    self.radius = math.random(25,50)
    self.ballon = physics.body(CIRCLE,self.radius)
    self.ballon.x = math.random(150,WIDTH - self.radius)
    self.ballon.y = math.random(-HEIGHT/2,-self.radius)
    self.ballon.linearVelocity = vec2(0,math.random(50,50 + 10*self.lev))
    self.ballon.sensor = true
    self.ballon.info="ball"
    self.colr = c or color(math.random(255),math.random(255),math.random(255),math.random(100,150))
end
--# CreateBullet
function createBullet()
    local bullet = physics.body(CIRCLE,5)
    bullet.x = x
    bullet.y = y
    bullet.linearVelocity = vec2(750 + Power,0)
    bullet.restitution = 0
    bullet.type = DYNAMIC
    bullet.info = "bullet"
    table.insert(bullets,bullet)
end
--# GameOver
function Misses()
    if #misses >= 5 then
        gameover = true
        vy = vy - 3
        pushStyle()
        fill(255, 0, 0, 255)
        font("HoeflerText-BlackItalic")
        fontSize(50)
        text("Game Over: Score", WIDTH/2, vy)
        if vy <= HEIGHT/2 then
            vy = HEIGHT/2
        end
        if vy >= HEIGHT then
            sound(DATA, "ZgBAKgBLQFRAQEBAAAAAAK5T+j46fh4/UwBAf0BAQEBAZEBA")
        end
        pushStyle()
        fill(255, 0, 0, 255)
        text(s[1] ,WIDTH/2 + 300, vy)
        popStyle()
        physics.pause()
        popStyle()
        pushStyle()
        fill(255, 0, 0, 255)
        fontSize(50)
        text("Restart", WIDTH/2 + 20, vy - 50)
        popStyle()
    end
end
--# PowerUpBullets
function PowerUpBullets()
    Power = 50*level
    PowerUp = false
    level = level + 1
    score = score - level*2 + 1
    physics.resume()
end

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dnkd3aczm2eg082/Photo Apr 27, 11 46 33 PM.jpg (arrow) and https://www.dropbox.com/s/757dijs5c7gx334/Photo Apr 27, 11 42 14 PM.jpg (female)