From the Forum — Issue #106

15 January 2016

From the Forum — Issue #106

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!

Swiping through Composer

I’m always on the lookout for some sweet Composer transition magic. I think that having just the right scene change animation takes a simple storybook app or note-taking productivity app from a lump of coal to a diamond. All you need is a super-cool transition or mechanic, and the sky’s the limit!

Maybe it’s not that easy, but still, having that part is important for making your app look that much more professional. If you were struggling with just the right mechanic, RoamingGamer has you covered with the below forum thread. In it, he shares a module that you can snap right now. It’s a pretty sweet swipe mechanic for your Composer-based apps, so head on down to the original thread to download it right now.

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60980-composer-swipe-navigation-free-mini-module/

Tween your color

I don’t know about you folks out there in Corona-land, but I used to struggle with figuring out how to add color transitions to my objects. Whether it’s text or an image, I was baffled as to how I could accomplish this in an everyday use case!

But again, RoamingGamer came along to save me, as he always does, with his utility belt of fantastic toys. He already cooked up an elegant solution in the form of a module that one can plug in set yourself off to the races. Pretty nifty, and the best part? It’s absolutely free! Check out the original thread for more the download link.
https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/61073-rapidly-change-the-text-color/

Listing contents of your favorite directory

I’m all about “Getting Things Done”. Making sure that you have all of your ducks in a row when your productivity apps see the light of day is just as important as implementing the beautiful material theme to your UI. When I get started with any non-game apps, I always ensure that I can find my snippet for procedural directory iteration. I make sure I have this before even put my socks on in the morning.

I found a great thread that highlights a community-provided directory parser using the Corona-provided lfs API. Now, at this point, we might see a split as far as development philosophy is concerned. Some folks would say that, when coding your project, you already know which files are included in which directory, therefore negating the need to query a directory for the files contained therein. The other half is of the mind that, hey, if I can get a shortcut to populating a table without having to hardcode it, all the better!

Whichever way you lean on this most important of topics, taking a look at this quick tip might save you a few headaches down the link. Click through to the original thread and see what I’m talking about!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/61024-list-of-files-in-particular-folder/

About Alex

Alex Jackson is an indie developer and the founder of Panc Interactive, 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: @pancinteractive. Check out his new game Segreta on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Amazon devices.