Author: Nic Raboy

Connecting To A Detached Docker Container For Terminal Interaction

March 4, 2017 Nic Raboy

When I use Docker, most of the time I start my containers in detached mode, meaning that the container will deploy in the background without any further interaction from myself. However, every once in a while I find myself needing to connect to the container to view log information.

So how do you connect to a detached container that is already running? We’re going to take a look at how to do this with minimal effort.

Track The Device Geolocation In A NativeScript Angular Mobile Application

March 3, 2017 Nic Raboy

I get a particular set of questions quite a bit on my blog and other social media outlets. One of these questions includes how to use geolocation features such as GPS tracking within a NativeScript mobile application for iOS and Android. Many people want to be able to gather location information and in many cases use this information for mapping.

So what does it take to make use of the device GPS hardware for location tracking?

We’re going to see how to create a mobile application for Android and iOS using NativeScript and Angular that makes use of geolocation in a few different ways.

Use A Side Drawer And Feature Rich List View In A NativeScript Angular App

March 2, 2017 Nic Raboy

I release a lot of content and build a lot of mobile applications using the NativeScript mobile framework, most of which includes Angular. Lately I’ve been getting many requests for information on using a side drawer within the application. These side drawer components can improve the user experience significantly so I figured I would explore the topic.

We’re going to see how to include a side drawer in our NativeScript Android and iOS application, built with Angular. To take things to the next level, we’re also going to include a feature rich list view as our core content.

Nested Routing In A NativeScript Angular Application For Android And iOS

March 1, 2017 Nic Raboy

When building mobile applications you’ll often find yourself needing to create child components. What do I mean by child components? Take for example a mobile application with two different screen groupings, one where the user is not signed in and the other where the user is signed in. In each of these groupings you could have multiple screens where the user is signed in and multiple screens where the user is not signed in. Each screen under the parent grouping can be considered a child component and they could possibly share a template from the parent. These child components often require nested routing to occur for a successful navigation.

We’re going to see how to create nested routes in a NativeScript mobile application built with Angular. You’ll see that things aren’t much different from creating standard routes in an Angular application.

Automatically Apply A WiFi Network Configuration To A Raspberry Pi

February 27, 2017 Nic Raboy

As you probably know, I’m a fan of the Raspberry Pi and Pi Zero Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Well, I recently had a moment where I felt like a total newbie. I go through a lot of installations of Raspbian Linux and during every installation I go through a network configuration process. This process of configuration is either by Ethernet or UART connection. Well, it turns out there is an easier way.

It is actually possible to apply a network configuration through the FAT mountable partition saving the hassle of having to connect over UART or Ethernet first. We’re going to see how this is possible.

Use Social Media Sharing Prompts In A NativeScript Angular Application

February 24, 2017 Nic Raboy

Social media can be huge towards building your brand and promoting your mobile application. It can also make a difference in the user experience of your application. Allowing users to share text and media on their own social media profiles could be huge, no matter how you look at it. A while back I had demonstrated social media sharing in a vanilla NativeScript application for iOS and Android. While vanilla NativeScript is still a very valid option, I’ve been going the route of Angular lately, so I figured this topic could be revisited.

We’re going to see how to implement social media sharing features in a NativeScript mobile application build with Angular.

Solar Flare For Cloudflare Released On Android And iOS

February 23, 2017 Nic Raboy

I am pleased to announce that Solar Flare for Cloudflare, my first mobile development project in a long time, has been published to the iTunes App Store and Google Play!

So what is Solar Flare and who is it designed for? This is a free application for managing data stored in Cloudflare on iOS and Android. If you’re unfamiliar, Cloudflare is an amazing service that acts as a content delivery network (CDN), among other things related to web performance and security.