DropKit Documentation

What is DropKit?

• Post photos, messages and audio to the web,
• Send emails with attachments via Drop.io,
• Create mobile blogs or podcasts on-the-go,
• Share documents and links with friends or coworkers,
• integrate all the great features of Drop.io!

Getting Started with DropKit

1. Register your API key, typically in your app delegate's applicationDidFinishLaunching: method.
   

       [DropIO setAPIKey:@"...yourAPIKeyHere..."];
   

   
   
2. Get a reference to an existing drop.io drop, or create a new drop.io drop. To get a reference to an existing drop, call one of the DropIO class's findDrop... methods, like so:
   

       NSError* error = nil;
       DropIODrop* addedDrop = [DropIO findDropNamed:@"myDrop" 
                                           withToken:@"yourTokenHere" 
                                               error:&error];
   

   
   To create a new drop, call one of the DropIO class dropWith... methods, like so:
   

       DropIODrop* newDrop = [DropIO dropWithName:@"myNewDrop"
                                      andPassword:@"mySuperSecretPassword"];
       NSError* error = [DropIO lastError];
   

   
   Check for any errors returned from the drop.io API. Use the kDropIOErrorAction, kDropIOErrorMessage, and/or kDropIOErrorResult key constants to access the error values returned from drop.io in the NSError.userInfo dictionary, like so:
   

       if (error != nil)
       {
           NSString* msg    = [[error userInfo] objectForKey:kDropIOErrorMessage];
           NSString* action = [[error userInfo] objectForKey:kDropIOErrorAction];
           NSString* result = [[error userInfo] objectForKey:kDropIOErrorResult];
           NSString* desc   = [error localizedDescription];
           
           // Use error strings here...
       }
   

   
   
3. Get a reference to existing assets, or create new assets on the drop.
   
   1. To load all assets in the drop, call , like so:
      

          [myDrop loadAllAssets];
      

      * Note that in DropKit 1.1 you must first check to see if the drop is small enough to load all the assets. Some drops may contain thousands of assets and thus loading all assets is not an option. Call the new method [DropIODrop canLoadAllAssets] to check if loading all assets is feasible.
      
      If you cannot load all assets at once, call [DropIODrop loadAssetPages:] instead, passing a Cocoa NSIndexSet object as the parameter. In the drop.io API, assets are loaded from a drop in "pages". Currently the API defines a "page" as a set of 30 assets. An NSIndexSet object specifies the first and last page index to load into memory.
      
      To determine the number of pages in a drop, call [DropIODrop lastAssetPageIndex].
      
      
   2. To get a reference to a specific asset in the drop, call [DropIODrop findAssetNamed:loadIfMissing:], like so:
      

          DropIOImage* asset = (DropIOImage*)[myDrop findAssetNamed:@"My Portrait" loadIfMissing:YES];
          if (asset == nil)
          {
              NSError* error = [DropIO lastError];
              // Handle error here...
          }
          // Use asset here...
      

      * Again in DropKit 1.1 this method is deprecated in favor of the new method [DropIODrop findAssetNamed:inAssetPages:loadIfMissing] which lets you specify a range of asset pages over which to search using an NSIndexSet, instead of loading all assets.
      
      
   3. To create a new asset on the drop, you must call one of the DropIODrop asset creation methods listed below.
      

         - (DropIONote*)noteWithTitle:(NSString*)noteTitle
                             contents:(NSString*)text;
      
         - (DropIOLink*)linkWithTitle:(NSString*)linkTitle
                                  url:(NSURL*)linkURL
                          description:(NSString*)linkDesc;
      
         - (DropIODocument*)docWithFilename:(NSString*)fileName
                                       data:(NSData*)docData
                                   mimeType:(NSString*)docMimeType;
      
         - (DropIOImage*)imageWithName:(NSString*)imgName
                                  data:(NSData*)imgData
                                format:(NSString*)imgDataFormat;
      

      
      The docWithFilename... method can be used to upload any type of file to drop.io. For movie and audio files, you may simply typecast the returned object to either a DropIOMovie or DropIOAudio object.

License

The DropKit source code is released as open-source software under the terms of the Apache License 2.0.

Help Me Out

I work a day job as a Java developer. Writing software for the iPhone is my passion and a second job for me, for which I am currently getting paid very little. DropKit is an attempt to generate some extra revenue for me and my family.

Please consider making a donation if you have found DropKit useful in any way, whether you are using it in your own projects, or if you just browsed my code for help with some other problem you may be having. Your payments help me to gauge the level of interest in this project, and encourage further support and development.

I have set up a PayPal account to accept payments. Just click the link below... and if you have already donated, thank you very much!

-- Chris Patterson, DropKit author

Generated on Thu May 21 13:52:19 2009 for DropKit by  1.5.8