Yeah, yeah, we know the hedgehog has nothing to do with libraries, but the picture was just too cute and we couldn’t resist. Forgive us, would you? :) We’ve been doing some research since our last Top 5 iOS libraries article, and found new kickass libs for iOS developers. Check it out, and don’t forget to share your favs in the comment section too! :)
1. Retry
There are lots of reasons your requests can fail. The server might be down, maybe a token has expired, or just bad Internet weather. As you might guess from the name itself, Retry provides an easy way to retry anything that can throw an error.
retry(max: 10) {
... do some throwing work ...
}
.finalCatch { lastError in
print("This simply won't happen. Failed with: \(lastError)")
}
.finalDefer {
print("Finished trying")
}Retry features an easy and concise syntax, but also provides simple customisation points for different delays and even implementing your own custom retry strategy. It also supports asynchronous retries.
2. KZFileWatchers
KZFileWatchers lets your app know when a file has changed, and calls a callback in your app. This means you can test out different content in your app in seconds, just by editing a text file. It also means designers and other non-code-savvy people can have a way to edit the app live and see changes. It also supports watching remote files, such as on an FTP server or Dropbox.
We’re already thinking about a few ways of how we can utilise this in our development process!
3. TwicketSegmentedControl
This is a cool springy UISegmentedControl replacement. We feel like we could play with the control itself, and wouldn’t even need the app to keep us entertained! You can create it trough code or Storyboard, and it has a nice API for listening to the currently selected segment and changing the selected segment easily.
4. PAPermissions
Apple advises against asking your users for permissions in advance, but there are cases where your app just wouldn’t make sense without giving certain permissions up front. This library provides a customisable ViewController with a native-looking UI with a list of permissions needed, and buttons to enable those. This means there is a unified way to request permissions, all in a single place in your app.
It will either send the user to the relevant Settings screen, or initiate the standard iOS permission request alert. You can also add your own custom permission requests.
5. 10Clock
It seems like that for every cool control that Apple builds in it’s own apps, there is an open-source variant for it. Apple is pretty good at designing things, so copying them can sometimes be a good idea.
This library gives you a control that is very similar to the time selection control in the new Bedtime feature in the iOS 10 Clock app.
What do you think about our newest picks? Share your favorites too, and we might include them in our November list. If you are more into Android, worry not! We also prepared the list of our fav Android libraries, and you can check it out here. COBE and hedgehog wish you happy October! :)
