Author: Nic Raboy

Connect To A Raspberry Pi And Pi Zero With A USB To TTL Serial Cable

February 6, 2017 Nic Raboy

When it comes to configuring a Raspberry Pi for the first time, there are a few options, many of which can be a pain. This includes configuration of a Raspberry Pi and the smaller Pi Zero. Previously I had written about using a Raspberry Pi as a headless unit, but in that tutorial there was an ethernet requirement. Recently I had written about connecting to a Pi Zero through a standard micro USB cable and SSH, which wasn’t difficult, but it required a few potentially time consuming steps.

Is there a better way to connect to and configure these Internet of Things (IoT) devices?

I wouldn’t necessarily call it a better way, but more of another option towards Raspberry Pi configuration. You can actually connect to the Raspberry Pi and Pi Zero through the available GPIO pins with a USB to TTL serial cable. We’re going to see how to do that.

Build A Full Stack Movie Database With Golang, Angular, And NoSQL

February 1, 2017 Nic Raboy

With all the technologies and platforms available, it opens the door to infinite possibilities for development and further validates the need of being a full stack developer. There are many stacks in existence, but one of my personal favorites includes Golang, Angular, and NoSQL.

So how do you apply all these stack technologies towards a fully functional application? Let’s look at a possible usage scenario before we explore the technologies.

A problem I’ve found myself having recently is keeping track of all my movies. Can you believe I’ve purchased the same film multiple times by accident? From this spawned my need to keep a database of every movie I purchased. Using NoSQL, Angular, and the Go programming language, we can create such an application to keep track of what films we own and for what platforms.

Display Toast Notifications In A NativeScript Angular Application

January 30, 2017 Nic Raboy

Back when I had just started working with NativeScript, about a year ago, I wrote a tutorial for displaying Toast notifications in Android. While still valid, it demonstrated these notifications using vanilla NativeScript and JavaScript. Not only that, but the notifications were only for Android. Since the framework has become significantly better, I figured it would be a good idea to demonstrate these Toast notifications in a NativeScript Angular application.

We’re going to see how to use a plugin to display Toast notifications in a NativeScript Android and iOS application built with Angular.

Control An Onion Omega2 IoT Device With Websocket Communication

January 27, 2017 Nic Raboy

I’ve been all about websockets lately. Up until recently RESTful APIs have been my whole world, but they don’t accomplish everything and what they do accomplish may not be the best fit. Not too long ago I got my Onion Omega2 Internet of Things (IoT) device with a bunch of accessories and I’ve been playing around with them non-stop. Previously I had written about displaying system information on the OLED expansion, but I wanted to take it to the next level and display data received through a websocket.

Realistically you probably wouldn’t use a websocket to display data on an IoT OLED screen, but it opens the door to new possibilities. More specifically in the realm of home automation and anything else that needs to be very responsive or real-time. For example, what if you wanted to turn on the lights in your house, but are working with a low bandwidth and low spec IoT device that can’t process large RESTful payloads very fast. The Onion Omega2 is an example of such device and while we’re not going to explore home automation in this example, we’re going to see how to do websocket communication.

Using Modal Dialogs In A NativeScript Angular Mobile Application

January 23, 2017 Nic Raboy

Recently I was prototyping an application in NativeScript with Angular, but was feeling too lazy to set up the Angular Router to do multiple page navigation. Typically when I run into this scenario I use the prompt dialog, but this time I needed something more than data input. This lead me to the modal dialog.

With the modal dialog I can create a popup with pretty much anything on it and when I close it I can pass data back to the parent view. We’re going to see how to use a custom modal within our iOS and Android NativeScript application built with Angular.

Accessing The Device Camera In A NativeScript Angular Application

January 20, 2017 Nic Raboy

More than a year ago when I started playing around with vanilla NativeScript I encountered the camera module. Previously I had even written a tutorial on using the camera in a vanilla NativeScript application. The NativeScript framework has come a long way and now includes Angular support so I figured it would be a good idea to see how to use the camera with this framework.

We’re going to see how to access the native device camera and take pictures within a NativeScript Android and iOS application built with Angular.

Learning The Angular Platform As Well As NativeScript In Ng-Book 2

January 18, 2017 Nic Raboy

I’ve kept this on the down-low the past few months, but I’m pleased to announce that a chapter I’ve contributed has been included in the incredibly popular ng-book 2!

The chapter I’ve contributed is a deep dive into NativeScript development for the Angular developer. After learning every possible thing about Angular development you get to take your skills to the next level and apply them towards the development native mobile applications for Android and iOS.