NSXMLParserErrorDomain error 5

Trying to parse an XML file I came across this error message. According to the error message the parser could not parse the XML file so I suspected that my XML was malformed. But it wasn’t.

It turned out the problem was that I used the wrong method to load the XML file.

Instead of using:

NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"demo.xml" ofType:nil];
NSXMLParser *xmlParser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:filePath]];

I tried to do this:

NSXMLParser *xmlParser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:@"demo.xml"]];

So the problem was that the Parser could not really load the XML. Strangely enough the parser loaded something because otherwise the parser’s init method should have returned nil. But whatever the parser loaded, it surely was not the right stuff. So be sure to get the XML file’s path from the main bundle and feed that to the parser’s init method.

UIFont: Problem when using more than 2 custom fonts of the same Font Family.

When you add custom fonts to your iPhone or iPad App you might experience the following problem: If you add more than 2 font variants of the same font family (e.g. “Normal”, “Bold” and “Extended”), only the last two font variants that you added to the project will be usable. The first variant (the one on top of your list) just won’t show up and is replaced by one of the two variants that were added last to the project.

The reason is quite simple: The iOS SDK apparently allows only 2 custom fonts of the same font family!

As a solution you could change the font-family of your font, so that not more than two font variants have the same font-family. Just to be clear: it’s not enough to change the file name of your font. You have to change all the references to the font-family inside your font files.

You can do this with with fontforge. Fontforge requires that you installed the X11 server on your system, but that should not be a problem as it is automatically installed when you install Xcode.

Make sure that you find all references to the font family name after you opened the font in Fontforge:

1. Open your Font in Fontforge
2. Goto ‘Element’ -> ‘Font Info’ and change the ‘Family Name’ field
3. Goto ‘Element’ -> ‘TTF Names’ and change the fields ‘Family’ and ‘Preferred Family’
4. Goto ‘File’ -> ‘Generate Fonts’ and save your edited font

With this little trick you should be able to use more than two variants of one font.

cocos2d: unofficial installer solves installation problems

When installing the cocos2d framework with the method described in Steffen Itterheims Book “Learn iPhone and iPad cocos2d Game Development” (using the sudo command in the Terminal) the installation did not work properly and threw some errors. When creating a new project in Xcode, the cocos2D templates just would not show up.

After some googling I found this “unofficial” installer that does the dirty Terminal work for you and that works like a charm.

Thanks Steffen for writing that installer!

How to find an iPhone / iPad’s Document folder in Xcode

Sometimes during development when you are writing or reading files from the Documents folder of an iOS Device it is quite useful to have a look at the devices filesystem. Or to the sandboxed Documents Folder of your app to be precise.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Developing on the Simulator

If you are using the iPhone / iPad Simulator for Development, the Documents folder is stored on your Mac’s harddrive:

/Users/user/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/E599AF8C-D765-41A8-B593-A05D242CB701/Documents

You can also find the contents of the app’s “tmp” folder and the app’s preferences in the folder with the long and cryptic name. The only problem is to figure out what cryptic folder belongs to the current version of your app, because Xcode adds a new cryptic folder everytime you build your app in the simulator. So you probably have to find the right folder by looking at the folder’s timestamp.

2. Developing on the Device

Sometimes you have to use a “real” Device for Development. For example if you are using the iTunes File Sharing Feature which does not work on the Simulator. To find the device’s Document Folder for your app, follow this steps:

Xcode 3

1. Open the Organizer Window in Xcode.
2. Mark your Device in the left Column.
3. Find your App in the “Applications” section on the bottom right.
4. Click on the little triangle left of your App’s name.
5. Drag the “Application Data” Bundle to your Desktop (or download it by clicking on the black arrow on the right)
6. Open the downloaded folder (named something like: “com.yourcompany.appname 2011-02-24 10.50.14.277”) to find the Document Folder

Xcode 4

1. Open the Organizer Window in Xcode.
2. Mark your Device in the left Column.
3. Click on “Applications” below your device (you might have to click on your device’s disclosure triangle to see these rows)
4. On the right side you will see a list of your apps that are installed on this device.
5. Click on your app’s “Download” Button
6. Specify a save location and a folder containing your apps document folder will be saved.

Missing Email service in Addthis plugin?

When you use Addthis.com’s share plugin and you are wondering why the email service won’t show up in the share options, here’s what I did wrong:

Apparently the email service needs the “username” parameter to be set. Normally when you generate the addthis code by clicking the button on their site, the username will be a parameter in the URL to the javascript. While I was tempering their code the adjust it to my needs, I somehow lost the username. That made the email service disappear in the addthis layer. As soon as I added the username to the plugin’s setting variable “addthis_config” the email option reappeared.