Fill Empty Space With UI Elements Using The NativeScript GridLayout

So recently I found myself needing to create a screen in a NativeScript Android and iOS app that had a ListView that sat below, or above, a Label UI element. The problem I faced was that there were issues with element sizing. On my first attempt I ended up with a Label and ListView that only took up a small portion of the screen, when I wanted the ListView to take up all remaining space. This is where the GridLayout comes in with its ability to have custom row and column sizing.

Using a GridLayout you can specify how rows and columns are fit around the screen.

Create A Full Stack App Using Java & Couchbase Server

Full stack development is all the rage right now. Knowing how all the bits and pieces of an application works is a necessity in modern development. Previously I demonstrated how easy it was to create a full stack application using the Couchbase, Express, AngularJS, and Node.js (CEAN) stack, but this time we’re going to be swapping out Node.js for Java.

We’re going to look at creating a full stack application where Java and Couchbase Server acts as our back-end and AngularJS, HTML, and CSS acts as our front-end.

Plagiarism Among Programming Blogs And How To Resolve

With the success of my blog over the years, it was only time before people started plagiarizing my content. Plagiarism is a nasty thing and it really hurts the people who put time and effort into the content that they produce. In case you’re unfamiliar with what plagiarism is, it can be defined as below:

Plagiarism via Google Dictionary:

The practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.

I’m going to share some examples on how my content was plagiarized and what can be done to help eliminate the problem if it is found.

Create A Screencast With QuickTime And iMovie 10

I publish many video tutorials to YouTube and Udemy, but have you ever wondered how I created them? I know there are a ton of people out there that have serious skills worth sharing, but may not know how to make a video tutorial. I plan to clear things up and demonstrate that making video screencasts isn’t all that difficult.

We’ll be using free software that ships on every Mac computer. We’ll be using QuickTime for recording our screens and iMovie 10 for editing the videos that were recorded.

Creating a Real Time Chat Application with Ionic and Socket.io

Have you ever wanted to build a mobile real-time chat application? Previously I demonstrated how to build a real-time chat application using the CEAN web stack using Socket.io. This is essentially part two to that tutorial.

We’re going to take a look at what it takes to create a chat application using Socket.io and the mobile web framework Ionic 2.

Use The Android Palette Class With NativeScript

I’m a big fan of Material Design, the ripple (ink) effect and the use of color are my favorites. According to the Material Design spec in regards to color:

Color in material design is inspired by bold hues juxtaposed with muted environments, deep shadows, and bright highlights. Material takes cues from contemporary architecture, road signs, pavement marking tape, and athletic courts. Color should be unexpected and vibrant.

The other day I wanted to change the action bar color to style with a user’s profile picture. Since there is no way to guess what color the picture is going to be, the Palette class and its methods to extract colors from the image were exactly what I needed.

My Experience Developing with Ionic Framework

I’ve been developing with Ionic Framework since it was beta at the beginning of 2014. Since then I’ve published two applications and done other things that I cannot talk about due to non-disclosure agreements that I’ve signed over the years.

I wanted to take the time to do something that I should have done after my first year, but never got around to. I want to share my experience with using Ionic Framework so anyone who reads this can get a rough idea about what they’re getting themselves into with the platform.