I started the implementation of my dissertation on week 8 of term 1.
Initially I created the iPhone project in Xcode and started working on creating a basic GUI. Using Interface Builder I was able to create an initial design and arrange interface components on screen, before synthesizing references to them from inside Xcode.
I then got the iPhone to connect to the internet. This allowed me to connect to ELR's server and download the latest track information. I added the following code that downloaded the required XHTML document, and then using an XML parser, extracted the track title and track artist from the website. The on screen data was then instructed to update.
When I ran the application it was able to successfully display the correct track information, (note: album art is just a sample image that is hard coded for illustrative purposes at this stage). However the application didn't yet automatically update the track info e.g. every 15 seconds.
I promptly added added support for the additional download of the album artwork. This was a simple matter of extracting an URL provided on ELR's website that linked to an image.
The interface now correctly dispays the relevant album art to the currently playing track.
I decieded then to revamp the general look of the GUI to create a more unified look for the application. I added player controls for the audio stream. The "No Volume Available" is a flaw in the iOS simulator. The message is replaced with a volume control slider when the application is ran on an iOS device.
After futher devolpment and refinements, the final version of the application user interface is located below.
