Icon generation at App Startup

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Level 1

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Icon generation at App Startup

I'm a new Apple Developer doing design work on a few ideas. My questions are:

1. Can an App program read a file "external" to itself (not in the App program itself) and change the number of icons painted on the screen at startup? And if so, can the icon names and pictures be changed by whats in this external file? Here is an example.... I'm looking to design one App that the screen "appears" different for each user of the program. Lets say User 1 wants his screen to show his picture and 5 icons on his screen with info unique to him... User 2 wants 2 icons with his info.... User 3 wants 9 icons with their data displayed. The key here is none of this is "hard coded" in the App programming itself, but held in a user file (maybe a CSV file), that is read at startup and then paints the screens accordingly. Otherwise, I need 3 different apps to complete this idea. I hope this makes sense to some of you out there!! Thanks so much for any input you might have!

iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Nov 25, 2013 1:31 PM

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Answer 1

Llessur999

Level 4

1,214 points

Nov 26, 2013 9:05 PM in response to pittmanco

Yes, you can provide the the ability for the user to configure how information within your app is displayed. Example: In the Music app, the user can specify which tabs should appear in the tab bar. A CSV file is probably not the best approach. Read the Preferences and Settings Programming Guide.

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/UserDefau lts/Preferences/Preferences.html

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Answer 2

pittmanco Author

Level 1

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Nov 27, 2013 4:55 AM in response to Llessur999

Thank you Llessur999. I hadn't thought about using "tabs" within the App... was thinking along the lines of maintaining the "icon" appearances throughout the program. But your suggestion could work also. The important aspects of the program was that it be customizable at the user level, by a configuration file that could be emailed to them to change the screen painting to suit their needs. Your idea has me thinking though. The CSV file was just an example I thought about using because so many programs can read and process those type of records. I'm not tied to it. Thanks so much for your response. I meeting with a Programmer next week to try to get this thing started. You were very helpful.

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Answer 3

Llessur999

Level 4

1,214 points

Nov 27, 2013 9:41 AM in response to pittmanco

To be clear, I was not suggesting you use a tab bar, just showing an example of an app that includes the capability for a user to configure the user interface.

The approach you describe above "a configuration file that could be emailed to them" will require additional design features you should discuss with your developer. For example, how will your app access the email attachment.

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Answer 4

pittmanco Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 28, 2013 6:12 AM in response to Llessur999

Yep. I have a meeting with them on the 9th to get things started, but wanted to answer some basic questions before dishing out the startup fees for something that may, or may not be possible. Thank you again for some of your insight.... it obviously looks doable based on your input! So that is exciting. I'll probably put a scroll tab for the purchased input configuration files in the App itself as opposed to placing it in the Settings tab. But I have a pretty good feeling that what I'm trying to do will work.

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