iAppCat - Developer's blog feed

Compress Your repo XML

I thought it had been already done by everyone, but it turned out not... In this post I'll describe a method of compressing an AppTapp Installer repository XML file, both static and generated by a PHP script. I think there is no need to say that this will save traffic and speed up the refreshes to end users :) 1. Compressing static repo XML (Method is correct for Apache webserver with mod_rewrite turned on)

Simply gzip Your XML file. Lets assume it's named repo.xml
Then in MacOSX/Linux/FreeBSD You can simply run
```
gzip -c repo.xml > repo.xml.gz
```
in a command shell. And in Windows You can use the free 7-zip program to compress Your file (make sure to select the GZip compression method) So, now we have repo.xml.gz, nearly 10 time smaller than original one.
Put repo.xml.gz in the same directory where Your original XML file resides.

Create .htaccess file (or modify the existant one) and put it next to Your repo files. Put the following lines into it:


    RewriteModule on
    RewriteRule repo.xml repo.xml.gz
    ForceType application/x-apptapp-repository
    AddEncoding x-gzip .gz

Your repo will still be available at the old address, e.g. http://domain.com/repo.xml 2. Compressing output of a PHP script

If You use PHP script from Nullriver or similar, then You need to search index.php for the row
```
die(generateIndex(__PLISTS_PATH__));
```
and replace it with two rows
```
header("Content-Encoding: gzip");
die(gzencode(generateIndex(__PLISTS_PATH__)));
```
That's all!
The other way You need to add
```
header("Content-Encoding: gzip");
```
before the output starts, and pass all the output through gzencode() (as a single piece, i.e. accumulate output in a variable and pass it through the function at once)

Please feel free to ask question and suggest Your improvements on our forum!

Customized Installer folders

At least a possibility to manipulate customized Installer categories/folders appeared. The folder mode is switched on in settings, the list of folders is managed in settings/folders. When the mode is on you'll be able to apply customized folders in the selected package list.

French migration tool

Dualcore from www.SOSiPhone.com made a French translation for the iAppCat migration tool. SOSiPhone.com is famous for French localizations of different popular iPhone applications. And the migration tool is made for those who have lots of alredy installed applications and wants to switch to using iAppCat. Thank You, Dualcore!

Follow me on Twitter

I've signed up for a Twitter account. If You are interested in watching the process of developing the iAppCat on-line feel free to follow me up: http://twitter.com/outofscope

Italian translation

iAppCat speaks one more language from now! Fabiano Confuorto from iSpazio.net translated iAppCat's interface to Italian. Many thanks to him!

Further traffic reducing

Today I turned on archiving of source XML files. Now they come gzipped to Installer. The volume of traffic of Installer refreshes is estimated to be reduced 8-10 times. Dear iAppCat users, have you noticed the changes? Is your iAppCat source refreshed faster now? Or did you experience any problems? Please leave your opinions in the comments.

Spanish translation

Jhonny Ayrout kindly translated the iAppCat's interface into Spanish. Many thanks to him!

iPhone application rating

I managed to release a TOP 10 iPhone application chart. Currently it lists only User applications but I'm going to make a sub-chart for each category and package type. The chart is updated daily. As usual, it is based on the iAppCat users' preferences. I hope the rating will help to monitor and catch most interesting and hot iPhone apps.

Right-to-left Hebrew translation

Livne Berebi made Hebrew translation of iAppCat interface. Many thanks to him! To implement it the best way the site supports right-to-left text orientation from now. Dear native speakers, please, help translating iAppCat to even more languages!

More iAppCat translations

I�m glad to preset two more localized versions of the site. Thanking to Dimitri Gogelia we have Georgian translation. And yours truly Outofscope at least translated the site to his native Ukrainian. I still ask for help in translating iAppCat to any other languages. The priorities are Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

Meet the 10000th user!

User with ID 10000 has been successfully registered and activated! It would be very kind of him, if he introduces himself in the comments :) Although the actual number of activated users is slightly less than 10k, it is a matter of days to reach that threshold too.

iAppCat video tutorial

iPodTouched.net posted a video tutorial on how to use iAppCat for creating of personalized Installer source repository. It is highly recommended for those who want to quickly become familiar with our service.

Please, no giant repos!

Although I encourage iAppCat users to share their personal repositories with everyone, I also ask not to abuse the service with gathering to much packages into one repo. The leading "collector" had 789 packages in his repo. So I made a decision to temporarily limit the size of personal repository by 128 packages. I believe, everyone can be happy with 8 iPhone screens of applications. If someone needs bigger sources right now, please, inform me, we'll try to discuss it. UPDATE 2008-03-26: Limit was increased to 256 packages. Soon I'll remove it at all. UPDATE 2008-05-12: Limit was removed. Create as large sources as you can download.

Begin sharing the screenshots

It is now possible to submit screenshots for the Installer packages. The first to go is one for Pianist application. I think this feature will help to explore the growing number of native applications more effectively.

Have you noticed the changes?

I've made a few improvements of the site's interface, including a slightly facelifted design. Hope you'll like the logo as well as other changes. Any comments are welcome! Also the search results are orderd more close to so called relevance. E.g. if you ever search for "Customize", the Customize app will be first, followed by Customize (old) and then Themes for Customize. And don't forget to subscrige to our new blog rss feed!

We know what's inside

A new level of package taxonomy is available from now. I hired a team of little gnomes to perform opening of each package and checking, what's inside it. Now the list of recognized package types is short, but nevertheless informative. I have investigated, that among Games and Toys there are other, maybe useful, User applications. Also resources for different application are detected: Books, Dictionaries etc. If anyone can suggest adding a type for recognition, I encourage to do it on the forum! I hope this new feature would be helpful in iPhone applications discovery. PS: More than 500 applications is not bad, as we still have the official iPhone SDK only in dreams...

The silent month

While there are a lot of important improvements still under development, I think it's time to summarize the changes made after the first blog post (also, I hope to post more often in future). First of all, a small but growing community gathered by the forum made it possible to translate the site interface into Chinese, French and German. I'm still looking for help in translating site to other languages! Secondly, the recent package updates page and rss feed were introduced. These features were suggested by the community members. The things will be improved in the nearest future according to the discussion. The side effect of one of the developments is the disclosing of the icons for packages containing user applications. Here is an example: Apollo IM. More to come soon...

Initial post

Hi! We're still in Alfa, but the situation will change the other day. Today we opened account registrations, which allows to comment blog posts and distinct applications from the catalog, and, more important, to use the key feature of our site - personal repository compilation. Now, after short registration procedure, You'll be able to check out those applications which are important, and have them in your own, constantly updated repository. To manage Your own repository, while signed in, use checkboxes next to application name in the list, and links "compilation" and "repo" in the top site's toolbar. Don't forget to add the repository to Installer.app Waiting for the first comments. Yours, Outofscope