TL;DR: If your Apple Developer Program expires then your apps are taken off the App Store as well 

So the other day I got an email from Apple saying that:

You are no longer a member of the Apple Developer Program and any apps you had on the App Store or Mac App Store are no longer available. Renew your membership to reinstate your apps for download, submit new apps, and get personal technical support.

I’ll be honest and tell you that I initially thought that you can’t upload any new apps if you don’t have a Developer Account since that seemed totally logical. However, I didn’t think that they would also take down any existing apps that you have in the App Store.

Ah, dear Apple, live and learn I guess…

Your #Apple Developer Program membership has expired https://t.co/19pv6Rg3du pic.twitter.com/8cFO73c4x9

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) February 13, 2016

In this post I’ll show you how you can quickly turn any website into an executable with nativefier in a single command.

I just stumbled upon an awesome npm package called nativefier that lets you (as stated by the author):

to easily create a desktop application for any web site with succinct and minimal configuration. Apps are wrapped by Electron in an OS executable (.app, .exe, etc.) for use on Windows, OSX and Linux.

At first I must admit I was a bit sceptical, but I tried it immediately and installed it with:

npm install nativefier -g

And, then I tried it out on my Carcassonne Scoring Board web application (run the command from the command line, OFC):

nativefier http://carcassonne-scoring-board.com/

And sure enough, after just a few seconds I got a response:

C:\Users\Nikola\Desktop>nativefier http://carcassonne-scoring-board.com/
Packaging app for platform win32 x64 using electron v0.36.4
App built to C:\Users\Nikola\Desktop\Nikola Brežnjak's Carcassonne Scoring Board-win32-x64

The contents of the created folder looks like this:

The app (just double click the Application file – has the nice electron logo) looks like this when run:

and like this in action:

I’m truly impressed with this and my thanks to the author!

Wrap your #web application into an executable with #nativefier in a single command https://t.co/Y01YDfokGr pic.twitter.com/9iP7AfUrkL

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) February 11, 2016

In this StackOverflow question I asked why doesn’t window.something throw an error

I’m a big fan of Stack Overflow and I tend to contribute regularly (am currently in the top 0.X%). In this category (stackoverflow) of posts, I will be posting my top rated questions and answers. This, btw, is allowed as explained in the meta thread here.

As you may know, I’m really into Ionic framework lately and am helping out on StackOverflow with the knowledge I gained so far with the framework. I’m currently #3 in the top All time answerers list.

I actually asked this question myself:

I’m using an AdMob plugin in my Ionic application, and one way, as you can see in the documentation, to test if the plugin is properly loaded is to do:

if(AdMob) {
    ///other config code...
}

Now, this works perfectly fine on a device. However, it doesn’t work in the browser; it throws an error in the console log: AdMob is not defined.

I have found a solution to test the existence of plugin like this (without throwing an error in the console):

if (window.AdMob){...}

And I have seen this usage on multiple questions here on StackOverflow. However, I wasn’t able to find an explanation to as why this doesn’t throw an error.

I have a vague reasoning to as why this would be so, but I would really appreciate it if someone experienced could explain it in more detail.

edit: I made additional tests like this:

var a = "hi";
console.log(a); //shows "hi"
console.log(b); //throws an error that b is not defined

var c = {};
c.b = "hi again";
console.log(c.b); //shows "hi again" as expected

//and now for the grand finale
console.log(c.something);//doesn't throw an error, please explain to me in more detail why?

The answer by T.J. Crowder was:

I wasn’t able to find an explanation to as why this doesn’t throw an error.

In the first example, you’re trying to read the value of a completely undefined identifier. In the second example, you’re trying to read a property from an object that the object may not have.

Trying to read the value of an undefined identifier is a ReferenceError; the JavaScript engine has no idea what that identifer is. In contrast, trying to read the value of a property that the object doesn’t have yields the value undefined.

It’s just how the language is designed, where Brendan Eich drew the line: It’s okay to read the value of a non-existant property from an object, but not okay to read the value of an undeclared identifier.

I should point out a third option: typeof. You’re allowed to provide an undefined identifier as the operand to typeof:

if (typeof AdMob === "undefined")

That won’t throw a ReferenceError even if AdMob is undeclared; instead, typeof will yield "undefined". (It will also yield "undefined' if AdMob is a declared identifier with the value undefined in it.)

In a comment on another answer, you said:

…it would just indeed help to see the exact official specification which confirms this.

That would be the ECMAScript specification, specifically §6.2.3.1 for throwing a ReferenceError on an unresolvable symbol, and §9.1.8 for returning undefined for a property that doesn’t exist. But I should warnin you that the spec, especially this 6th edition spec, is very heavy going. 🙂

Why doesn’t #window.something throw an #error in @ionicframework? #javascript https://t.co/e0vMYiHJAU pic.twitter.com/lPHcStpDA5

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) February 11, 2016

In this StackOverflow question I answered what to do when you get an unexpected token ‘\u0000’ error when using npm install -g to install some package.

I’m a big fan of Stack Overflow and I tend to contribute regularly (am currently in the top 0.X%). In this category (stackoverflow) of posts, I will be posting my top rated questions and answers. This, btw, is allowed as explained in the meta thread here.

As you may know, I’m really into Ionic framework lately and am helping out on StackOverflow with the knowledge I gained so far with the framework. I’m currently #3 in the top All time answerers list.

I answered this question by user Bruce Whealton:

This is probably a Windows specific issue but I haven’t found any information when googling this issue. I had been using ionic framework which relies on Cordova (or Phonegap). However, the problem is not specific to any of these packages. I see this error quite often. So, the error is when I run a command such as the following:

npm install -g cordova

However, I could substitute various other packages and get the same error. I’ll paste the snippet (very brief) below of the error message. What is strange is that I had an ionic project working in that directory earlier. Then today it told me that ionic could not be found. My hunch is that this is a different issue than the main issue I am describing here.

I installed git bash so I do have a linux-like environment that I could try. I would just select Git Bash for a bash window with various bash commands. If there is an easier way to fix this for Windows users, please let me know. I have seen courses on Pluralsight where the instructors seem to be happily using npm with no problems. Also, when I use yeoman, I also at some point, in many cases, get the same error.
The error is

npm ERR! Failed to parse json
npm Unexpected token '\u0000' at 1:1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! ^
npm ERR! File: c:\Users\Bruce\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\amdefine\1.0.0\package\package.json
npm ERR! Failed to parse package.json data.
npm ERR! package.json must be actual JSON, not just JavaScript.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! This is not a bug in npm
npm ERR! Tell the package author to fix their package.json file. JSON.parse.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice, Bruce

My answer was:

Via this question on SO it could be that you just have to do:

npm cache clean

But, also try the other methods suggested there like adding the registry option:

npm install <packagename> --registry http://registry.npmjs.org/.

Or, if you’ve been mingling with the package.json file by yourself, check if it’s valid.

Why am I getting Unexpected token ‘u0000’ when using #npm install -g package #node https://t.co/mjvmpMKuAT pic.twitter.com/HlqJ5S7PZ5

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) February 9, 2016

In this StackOverflow question I answered what do actually Yeoman Generators add to the Ionic projects.

I’m a big fan of Stack Overflow and I tend to contribute regularly (am currently in the top 0.X%). In this category (stackoverflow) of posts, I will be posting my top rated questions and answers. This, btw, is allowed as explained in the meta thread here.

As you may know, I’m really into Ionic framework lately and am helping out on StackOverflow with the knowledge I gained so far with the framework. I’m currently #3 in the top All time answerers list.

I answered this question by user qizzacious:

I don’t understand why the generator-ionic (along with other ionic + Yeoman project)s are so popular.

I don’t see what the advantages are in using a yeomen generator in this case, this is.

I understand why the Ionic framework is useful in a Cordova project (as we all know, the UI, ngCordova plugins, it uses AngularJS, ect) but what specifically does the Yeoman component add that a basic Ionic project doesn’t already have or that cannot be easily added with a bower install.

It seems to me that the Yeoman ionic projects just seem to be unnecessary bloat and can lead to more errors and library issues. I just do not see how components like karma and grunt (as opposed to ionic using gulp) fit into help with development.

My answer was:

True, you can set all this up by yourself. However, imagine setting this up on each and every project that you start. Kind of cumbersome, don’t you think?

That’s why some people tend to create these generators – to save you (if you like) the time of having to scaffold your application every time from beginning. Usually they provide some features (about which you can read on the Github pages) or they may even enforce some kind of project directory layout (which may help with big projects).

All in all, you don’t have to use them, or stress about them. For instance, I personally don’t use them on every project, but I appreciate the community effort and when I want to try something quick I tend to test them from time to time to see how they’ve evolved.

Don’t hate, donate 😉 (Sure sure, I know you’re not hating, the statement just seemed appropriate).

What do #Yeoman #Generators "really" add to #Ionic Projects? @ionicframework https://t.co/GIbcndBiIQ

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) February 2, 2016

My notes from the great book REWORK by Jason Fried and David Hansson which I rated 5/5 on my Goodreads account. Yes, they merged Shelfari (which I loved) with Goodreads (which I don’t like too much) and I guess I need some adjustment period.

If you build software, every error message is marketing.

Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is home because she figured out a faster way.

What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.

Plus, if you’re a copycat, you can never keep up. You’re always in a passive position. You never lead; you always follow. You give birth to something that’s already behind the times—just a knockoff, an inferior version of the original. That’s no way to live.

What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.

Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier.

Unless you are a fortune-teller, long-term business planning is a fantasy.

There are four-letter words you should never use in business. They’re not fuck or shit. They’re need, must, can’t, easy, just, only and fast. These words gets in the way of healthy communication.

Until you actually start making something, your brilliant idea is just that, an idea.

Press Releases are spam.

Think about it this way: If you had to launch your business in two weeks, what would you cut out?

My notes from the awesome #book #Rework by Fried and Hansson https://t.co/H5eTr7CjeF pic.twitter.com/cSne01TMpI

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) February 2, 2016

In this StackOverflow question I answered which Cordova plugins you can test without the actual device.

I’m a big fan of Stack Overflow and I tend to contribute regularly (am currently in the top 0.X%). In this category (stackoverflow) of posts, I will be posting my top rated questions and answers. This, btw, is allowed as explained in the meta thread here.

As you may know, I’m really into Ionic framework lately and am helping out on StackOverflow with the knowledge I gained so far with the framework. I’m currently #3 in the top All time answerers list.

I answered this question by user Chris Lawrence:

I think I know the answer to this question already but thought I would throw it out there incase there was a workaround….

Just built a ionic app with ngcordova, which works fine and I have tested on my android device and deployed to playstore.

Just in the process of deploying to the apple app store. I currently don’t have an apple ios physical device to test the cordova plugins.

I am using sms, camera and local notification. These as far as am aware cannot be tested in the ios simulator in xcode.

Don’t really want to spend £400 on a tablet to test one app.. any one had the same problem and found a means of testing?

My answer was:

You can test plugins in iOS simulator.

edit: I just stumbled upon the official documentation where it states that even with Ionic View you can test these plugins:

• com.brodysoft.sqlitePlugin 1.0.3 “Brodysoft SQLitePlugin”
• com.ionic.keyboard 1.0.3 “Keyboard”
• com.phonegap.plugins.barcodescanner 1.1.0 “BarcodeScanner”
• org.apache.cordova.battery-status 0.2.12 “Battery”
• org.apache.cordova.camera 0.3.4 “Camera”
• org.apache.cordova.console 0.2.12 “Console”
• org.apache.cordova.device 0.2.13 “Device”
• org.apache.cordova.device-motion 0.2.11 “Device Motion”
• org.apache.cordova.device-orientation 0.3.10 “Device Orientation”
• org.apache.cordova.dialogs 0.2.11 “Notification”
• org.apache.cordova.geolocation 0.3.11 “Geolocation”
• org.apache.cordova.globalization 0.3.3 “Globalization”
• org.apache.cordova.network-information 0.2.14 “Network Information”
• org.apache.cordova.vibration 0.3.12 “Vibration”
• org.chromium.zip 1.0.0 “Zip”

How to #test #Cordova plugins without device https://t.co/iKTKzYyTfI

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) January 26, 2016

My notes from the truly awesome book The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. This is a huge book, but nevertheless packed with action. As a matter of a fact, Brandon Sanderson along with Patrick Rothfuss is now my favorite fantasy author.

The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.

Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination.

Sometimes the prize is not worth the costs. The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.

Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.

To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child.

In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.

Somebody has to start. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right.

Too many of us take great pains with what we ingest through our mouths, and far less with what we partake of through our ears and eyes.

Authority doesn’t come from a rank. Where does it come from? From the men who give it to you. That’s the only way to get it.

There are two kinds of people in this world, son. Those who save lives, and those who take lives. And what of those who protect and defend? Those who save lives by taking lives? That’s like trying to stop a storm by blowing harder. Ridiculous. You can’t protect by killing.

https://twitter.com/HitmanHR/status/691894634025480193

TL;DR: This post is leaned toward how and where someone would find freelancer software engineers. Nevertheless, you can also check these sites out in order to find a great place to work at.

Finding the right freelancer developer for your project can be a daunting task, especially for those without much development experience. There are always a couple of considerations to keep in mind:

• What particular skills are you looking for?
• What’s the length of the job you have in mind?
• What sort of personality and habits mesh best with your work environment?
• How soon do you need a developer?

Once you’ve sorted out these questions, rather than walk down the street and hope that you bump into a solid software engineer, it’s generally best to use a hiring website. Though the list below is by no means extensive, these sites are great places to find developers for whatever sort of project you’re working on. Check them out, and see what works best for you!

Toptal

Unlike other freelance marketplaces, Toptal focuses on working only with elite software engineers and only with clients who have the budget and need for top talent. Toptal screens both clients and developers, and only accepts those that they feel will thrive within its community.

Besides English and personality tests, Toptal puts prospective developers through a battery of timed tests, live interviews, and sample projects to make sure they’re the best of the best. Clients will work very closely with Toptal’s team to make sure their needs are fully understood and met. Clients also can enjoy a no-risk trial period of up to 2 weeks, and if they’re not fully satisfied that the engagement will proceed according to plan, they won’t pay, and Toptal will cover costs out of their pocket.

Rent a Coder

Rent a Coder allows you to post a project for free, and then wait until you receive bids to decide whom to employ. By using a reverse-auction method, through which developers compete to offer the lowest price for the job, you’re guaranteed to get a competitive price.

Though the initial post is free, you can’t share contact details unless you pay for membership. One downside of Rent a Coder, aside from its somewhat unprofessional website, is that there’s no verification process: Rent a Coder doesn’t have a screening system for determining good developers, so you run the risk of getting someone who’s not up to the task. You also can’t make payment over the website, which is a bit inconvenient.

Hirable

What immediately stands out about Hirable’s website is its sleekness; unlike many hiring websites, Hirable’s is professional, user-friendly, and clean. Once you sign up, you can see profiles of different developers with their skills, location, contact information, website, and workplace preferences.

Though there’s no independent verification, you can definitely get a feel for different sorts of developers by sorting through some profiles and picking out the skills you need. What’s unique about Hirable is their “availability” feature: you can see whether developers are currently hirable, will be hirable soon, or are busy, so you get your project done as quickly as possible. Ultimately, while Hirable might not get you the best developer in the world, it’ll definitely get you a solid one within a convenient time frame.

Workmarket

Workmarket makes it incredibly easy to hire developers from all over the United States. Their website and process is fairly easy to use, and helps you organize all your tools into a single dashboard.

They also offer several screening tools, including their Learning Management System, and give you access to background checks. One advantage of Workmarket is that it automatically adds freelancer engineers to your queue who match your needs. You can pay employees however you want, and even see other customers’ ratings to determine which freelancers have the best record.

Workmarket’s website also has some useful information about how to hire freelancers, along with some interesting webinars. While Workmarket certainly offers better support than Rent a Coder, it doesn’t appear to offer access to developers from outside of the U.S., unlike Toptal, which probably reduces its talent pool. Still, it’s definitely a great option for those looking to hire local developers who come well-recommended.

10x Management

10x Management, which you may have seen on Ted Talks, helps connect you with some of the best tech talent from around the globe. Like Toptal, they have their own verification process, and they choose from 1,000’s of applicants to determine the best developers.

After matching you with a developer, they’ll offer support for the entirety of the job. For anyone not convinced, you can read their “Case Studies” section to see how successful businesses have used their services. Also, they have a phenomenal blog with some tips on tech, hiring, and software engineering. Ultinately, 10x Management is a great option for those looking to get the best tech talent available.

5 Great Places to Find #Top #Freelancer #Software #Engineers @toptalllc https://t.co/IolMNr8XPY pic.twitter.com/o2eLK1ZmDi

— Nikola Brežnjak (@HitmanHR) January 20, 2016

TL;DR

This is the simplest example which shows how to POST data from an Ionic 2 app to a PHP server.

The tutorial covering the Ionic version 2 can be found here. The tutorial covering the Ionic version 3 can be found here.

Quickstart

To see it in action:

1. Clone the finished project from Github
2. Make sure you’ve got the newest Ionic beta CLI (see below for instructions)
3. Run ionic serve
4. You should see something like this:
   

If you want to make it work from your server:

1. Make sure you’ve got the newest Ionic beta CLI (see below for instructions)
2. Clone the finished project from Github
3. Upload the PHP/api.php file to your server
4. In the app/pages/home/home.js file adjust the link variable (line #18) to point to your server
5. Run ionic serve

Getting started with Ionic 2

By now you probably have heard that Ionic is in beta for its version 2, which closely follows Angular 2.

You can find a lot more Ionic 2 related tutorials on my friend Gajotres site.

To install the Ionic SDK and create Ionic 2 projects, you need to install the latest beta release:

npm install -g ionic@beta

You don’t need to worry about this messing up your current ionic CLI since the beta release has all the functionality to work with both V1 and V2 projects.

Step by step on how to create this yourself from scratch

1. Create a new blank Ionic project with:

   ionic start Ionic2ServerSendTest blank --v2

2. Copy the following code in app/pages/home/home.html file:

   <ion-navbar *navbar>
       <ion-title>
           Home
       </ion-title>
   </ion-navbar>
   
   <ion-content padding>
       <ion-list>
           <ion-input floating-label>
               <ion-label>Username</ion-label>
               <input type="text" name="username" [(ngModel)]="data.username">
           </ion-input>
   
           <button round block (click)="submit()">Submit to server</button>
       </ion-list>
   
       <ion-card>
           <ion-card-header>
               Response
           </ion-card-header>
           
           <ion-card-content>
               <b>{{data.response}}</b>
           </ion-card-content>
       </ion-card>
   </ion-content>
   

   Here you basically created a form with an username input field and with a button which acts as a submit button.

   As you can see, the syntax is a bit different since Ionic2 uses Angular2. Once the button is clicked AngularJS should handle it within the submit() function which we will define in our app/pages/home/home.js file (shown below).

   Input username uses  the new syntax for ng-model as well, and it binds to the variable data.username, so that you can then use it in your submit() function (shown below).

   Also, components are a bit different in Ionic now, and I encourage you can take a look at the official documentation.

3. On your server, create an api.php file with the following content:

   <?php
       //http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18382740/cors-not-working-php
       if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_ORIGIN'])) {
           header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin: {$_SERVER['HTTP_ORIGIN']}");
           header('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials: true');
           header('Access-Control-Max-Age: 86400');    // cache for 1 day
       }
   
       // Access-Control headers are received during OPTIONS requests
       if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'OPTIONS') {
   
           if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCESS_CONTROL_REQUEST_METHOD']))
               header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, OPTIONS");         
   
           if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCESS_CONTROL_REQUEST_HEADERS']))
               header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers:        {$_SERVER['HTTP_ACCESS_CONTROL_REQUEST_HEADERS']}");
   
           exit(0);
       }
   
   
       //http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15485354/angular-http-post-to-php-and-undefined
       $postdata = file_get_contents("php://input");
       if (isset($postdata)) {
           $request = json_decode($postdata);
           $username = $request->username;
   
           if ($username != "") {
               echo "Server returns: " . $username;
           }
           else {
               echo "Empty username parameter!";
           }
       }
       else {
           echo "Not called properly with username parameter!";
       }
   ?>

   As you can see from the code, the first part is explained in detail in this StackOverflow question, and it basically solves the CORS issue that you would otherwise run into.

   The second part, explained in detail in this StackOverflow question,  deals with the way you POST data from Ionic to your PHP server. The gist is that since we POSTed in a JSON format, we have to json_decode  the data that comes to your PHP server.

4. In app/pages/home/home.js file adjust the link variable to point to the file on your server
5. In app/pages/home/home.js file copy the following content:

   import {Page} from 'ionic/ionic';
   import {Http} from 'angular2/http';
   
   @Page({
       templateUrl: 'build/pages/home/home.html',
   })
   
   export class HomePage {
       constructor(http: Http) {
           this.data = {};
           this.data.username = '';
           this.data.response = '';
   
           this.http = http;
       }
   
       submit() {
           var link = 'http://nikola-breznjak.com/_testings/ionicPHP/api.php';
           var data = JSON.stringify({username: this.data.username});
           
           this.http.post(link, data)
           .subscribe(data => {
               this.data.response = data._body;
           }, error => {
               console.log("Oooops!");
           });
     }
   }

   Again, as I said, some (a lot) of things have changed in Angular 2, and at first glance you really may not like it (tbh, I know I didn’t). But, that will change with usage, so no worries.

   First thing that we do here is we import Page and Http components from Ionic and Angular, respectively. Then we’re setting the Page templateUrl to our home.html file.

   Inside the HomePage class we now have a constructor where we’re setting some default values. Important to note, see how we’re passing in Http via the constructor parameter. Again, I won’t go into details of using this, as I mentioned you can take a look at a lot more in depth tutorials on Gajotres.

   Inside the submit function we use the http service to post to our API endpoint with some data. Make note of how we use subscribe to handle data once it  arrives.

6. Run ionic serve  from the root directory of your Ionic app
7. Hope this tutorial helps you in starting your journey towards (Ionic + Angular)_2