Downloading the files and making them executable

Download the Perforce Server (P4D) and the Perforce Command-Line Client (P4) from the Downloads page on the Perforce website. Be sure to download the versions for “Mac OS X for PPC/X86″.

Once they have been downloaded, you’ll need to change their file permissions. Using Terminal, you can change the permissions with the chmod command to make them executable, as follows:

chmod +x p4
chmod +x p4d

If you’re using Path Finder, you can also just use Get Info and change the properties there. As far as I know, it just the owner needs to be able to execute the file so -rwxr–r– or chmod 744 should be fine.

Creating a Perforce server root directory

The Perforce server needs a place to store all user-submitted files and associated metadata. I’ve found that a good place to put that is in /Developer/Perforce, although you could put it anywhere you’d like. Assuming that’s the same location you want to use, create the following two folders:

/Developer/Perforce
/Developer/Perforce/p4root

Once you’ve created the folders, move the p4 and p4d files you downloaded earlier to the /Developer/Perforce directory.

Configuring Perforce to start at boot time

You’re going to want to use the launchd service to start Perforce at boot time. This is done by creating a Property List (plist) that contains the required paths and information used by Perforce.

Create a text file named com.perforce.plist, and place it in “/Library/LaunchDaemons/“. This file must be configured with “root” as the owner, and “wheel” as the group. Using Terminal, you can change the owner and group with the chown command, as follows:

chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.perforce.plist

With Path Finder you can also just duplicate one of the existing plist in the /Library/LaunchDaemons directory and then rename it to com.perforce.plist. Either way, once you have created the file, edit it with a text editor such as TextMate, or with Apple’s Property List Editor. This is what I used for my setup:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
	"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>Debug</key>
	<false/>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>com.perforce</string>
	<key>OnDemand</key>
	<false/>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>/Developer/Perforce/p4d</string>
	</array>
	<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
	<dict>
		<key>P4LOG</key>
		<string>/Library/Logs/Perforce/p4log.log</string>
		<key>P4PORT</key>
		<string>1666</string>
		<key>P4ROOT</key>
		<string>/Developer/Perforce/p4root</string>
	</dict>
	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
	<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

As you can see in the plist, the P4LOG environment variables is set to /Library/Logs/Perforce/p4log.log. By placing it there instead of with the other Perforce files, you’ll have a dedicated log entry in Console and Time Machine automatically excludes files in /Library/Logs.

The Perforce daemon

Although it should now start automatically when you restart Max OS X, you can manually load and unload the p4d daemon via Terminal with the following commands:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.perforce.plist

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.perforce.plist

You’ll need to enter your admin password to execute either command.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions regarding the steps or suggestions on how to improve the process, security, or any other related issue.

Prepare Unity iPhone

Unity iPhone Project Wizard

Create the VS2008 Solution

Visual Studio Project Folder

1. Download the iPhone-compatible version of Lucas Meijer’s Visual Studio integration package from the Unity forum thread “Visual Studio and Unity iPhone“. The file is called ‘CreateVisualStudioSolutioniPhone.unityPackage’, and is attached to the bottom of the first post. If you don’t see the download link, log in to the forum first.
2. Copy the package to the “/Applications/Unity iPhone/Standard Packages” folder. While you can just import this package into an existing project, placing it in the Standard Packages folder will add it as an option when creating all new Unity iPhone projects.
3. Load Unity iPhone and create a new project (File > New Project…)
4. When the Project Wizard appears, specify the project name and path, and make sure “CreateVisualStudioSolutioniPhone” package is selected. For the purpose of this example, I used “/Users/mryan/Development/Unity/Projects/Project1“.
5. Once the project has been created, click on the CustomTools menu and select CreateVisualStudioSolution to automatically create the Visual Studio 2008 Solution. The solution is conveniently located in the “VisualStudio” folder beside the “Assets” folder within your Unity project. In this example, it was placed at “/Users/mryan/Development/Unity/Projects/Project1/VisualStudio“.

VMware Fusion Setup

VMware Settings

While you don’t need to share folders through Fusion settings, I prefer to keep them enabled so that I have easy access to my Mac OS X folders.

The image to the right just shows how you would enable or disable the shared folders. When the folders are enabled, they can be accessed in Windows Explorer via “\\VMWARE-HOST\Shared Folders“.

Symbolic Links

Explorer Symlink Comparison

Under VMware, Mac OS X Symlinks will not work under Windows unless you have enabled SMB sharing, and created an active folder share pointing to the VisualStudio folder in Unity Project.

When the Visual Studio project was created, a Symlink called “AssetsLink” was created. This link points to the “Assets” folder within your Unity project. If you access the VisualStudio through a non-SMB share, AssetsLink shows up as an ordinary file.

As you can see in the Explorer Symlink Comparison image at the right, the top Explorer window accesses the “VisualStudio” folder using AFP sharing via the VMware Fusion Shared Folders mentioned above (”\\vmware-host\Shared Folders\mryan\Development\Unity\Projects\Project1\VisualStudio“). The bottom explorer window uses SMB sharing via “\\SYSTEM\Unity\Projects\Project1\VisualStudio“, and the item “AssetsLink” correctly appears as a folder.

SMB Folder Sharing

System Preferences - Sharing

1. Under OS X, open System Preferences, and click on Sharing.
2. Make sure the “File Sharing” service is enabled by placing a check in the box to the left.
3. Add a shared folder that points to either the newly created “VisualStudio” folder inside your Unity Project folder, another folder further up the tree. I have my share pointing to /Users/mryan/Development/Unity so that only one share is needed for all of my Unity iPhone projects.
4. You can optionally remove the Users group, and set the Everyone group to have “No Access”.
5. Click Options. When the panel appears, make sure there is a check beside “Share files and folders using SMB”. You should be able to leave the other check marks as they are, although if you continue to have difficult getting the AssetsLink to work, disable AFB Sharing. Click Done.
6. Close System Preferences.

“The project location is not trusted”

Project location is not trusted

.NET Admin Tools

From within Windows, when you load the VS2008 solution or project file, you may receive a warning that says the project location is not trusted. I believe this occurs because the project is on a network share, and is considered less secure than the local file system.

To fix this, you will need to user the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration tool that is part of the .NET Framework 2.0 Software Development Kit. If you don’t already have the SDK installed, you should do that first.

1. In Windows, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Administrative Tools.
2. Double-click Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration.
3. Expand the Runtime Security Policy node, the Machine node, the Code Groups node, and the All_Code node.
4. In the right pane, click Add a Child Code Group.
5. Choose Create a new code group, enter a name for the code group (e.g., “VS Development“), and then click Next.
6. Choose a condition type of URL, and enter the UNC path to the share location of your project, using the format \\servername\sharename\*, for example \\SERVER\Unity\*. Click Next.
7. Choose Use existing permission set and select FullTrust, and then click Next.
8. Click Finish.
9. Select your new code group, right click, and select Properties.
10. Under the General tab, check the two boxes under the “If the membership condition is met” statement, then click Apply.
11. Close the configuration tool, and reboot Windows.

Restart Visual Studio – You will now be able to open or create a project without “The project location is not trusted” dialog box appearing. However, you will not be able to Debug until you choose a zone for your partial-trust application

1. From the Project menu, choose ProjectName Properties.
2. In the ProjectName property pages, click the Security page.
3. Select Enable ClickOnce Security Settings.
4. Under Zone your application will be installed from, click the drop-down listbox and choose the zone you want to simulate the application being installed from. The Permissions required by the application grid shows all available permissions. The check mark indicates permissions granted to your application
5. If the zone you choose was Custom, select the correct custom settings in the Setting column of the Permissions grid.
6. Click OK to close the property pages.

Mapping a Network Drive

Map Network Drive

Mapped Drive

The last thing you should do is map a network share to a drive letter for convenient access. In the images at the right, you will see that “\\SERVER\Unity\Projects” is mapped to Drive P. This mapping allows me to very quickly access any of my Unity iPhone projects from within Windows.

Finished!

You should now be able to use Visual Studio to write and edit your Unity iPhone scripts.

At this point, you can just add files and folders to the AssetsLink folder in VS2008, and they will automatically appear in Unity. If on the otherhand, you add, remove, rename, or otherwise modify files in Unity, all you need to do to get VS2008 back in sync is to run the “CreateVisualStudiosSolution” once again. You may need to close Visual Studio before running that command, but the file updates will be there when it’s next opened.

This is a list of some of the apps that I frequently use. It contains both free and commercial apps, and its contents will likely change over time.

If you have any comments regarding a particular app, or have suggestions for alternatives, you know what to do. The comment box is at the bottom of this page.

BetterZip Quick Look Generator

BetterZip Quick Look Generator

SimplyRAR

On Windows, I prefer the RAR compression format. It doesn’t seem as popular on OS X, but it tends to generate smaller archives. Unlike UnRarX, you can open archives and view their contents, but also create new archives. I really like being able to look at the archive without having to decompress it first. SimplyRAR appears to be the best WinRAR alternative on the Mac. It’s not as feature-packed, but it gets the job done.

For a while, I have been personally reviewing each submitted comment, and approving only those that are not obviously spam. I always welcome comments, especially those that add to the topics being covered. If you’re interested in sharing comments that include a link back to your blog or a third-party site, that’s fine with me. Of course, if you’re interested in linking back to this site or one of its posts, that’s even better.

A number of small improvements will be introduced in the coming days, most likely related to the portfolio pages. In the mean time, if you discover any issues with this site, its content or layout … please drop me an email with all the details or leave a comment below.

Also, I’m interested in knowing how people feel about the navigation links at the right side of the page. Are the icons sufficient in describing the linked page? I was considering rolling out text labels when you hover over each button, but haven’t yet decided either way.

The following is nothing new. Similar commands can be found on many webpages if you know what to search for. Nevertheless, I like to keep things easily accessible, and that’s why I’m posting them here.

You will need to use Terminal to enter adjust the settings (Applications → Utilities → Terminal). After typing one of the following commands, press Enter.

You’ll need to restart the Dock for the changes to take effect. Just type “killall Dock”, and press Enter. The Dock will close and reopen with your changes.

Dock Icon Size

You can set the icon and magnification size in the Dock to specific values. I prefer to use 24 or 32 for the tilesize. I’ve read that you can enter a value as high as 256, but shouldn’t go beyond that.

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 256

The Dock magnification size can also be set, but don’t go higher than 512.

defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -int 512

Dock Bar Appearance

Disable the 3D glass effect on the horizontal dock:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES

To re-enable the effect:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO

Dock Auto-Hide Shortcut

Lastly, while I tend to dislike auto-hiding the Dock, it’s easy to toggle the setting by pressing Command+Option+D.

Further Reading

For additional tweak and hidden settings, check out the following pages:

• Secrets – A database of hidden settings for Mac OS X
• Terminal Commands for Hidden Settings in Leopard

Notes

• All fonts in the list are included with Mac OS X 10.4 and the WWDC 2007 seed of Mac OS X 10.5
• American Typewriter includes Bold, Light, Condensed, Condensed Bold, and Condensed Light, but does not include any italics on iPhone.
• Arial Rounded MT does not include italics.
• Courier is not included on iPhone, but if specified, MobileSafari will substitute Courier New.
• Helvetica Neue is not included on iPhone, but if specified, MobileSafari will substitute Helvetica. (Also, even on Mac OS X, the Condensed Bold and Condensed Black weights of Helvetica Neue do not have italics.)
• Times is not included, but if specified, MobileSafari will substitute Times New Roman.

The first thing you should do is connect your test device to you machine running Xcode. In Xcode, press Shift-Cmd-O to open the Organizer panel, then select the Screenshot tab.

Note: The Console and Screenshot tab will not appear in the Organizer unless a properly provisioned development device is connected. Also, I’ve read that Xcode still won’t let you see the screenshots if the device is running an OS version newer than Xcode knows about.

When you click the Capture button, it will save the contents of the device screen to an image. There is a short delay between when you press the button and the image is recorded, so you may need to do it a few times if you want to record screens in motion.

All captured images will appear as thumbnails at the left. The current selected full-size image will appear at the right.

To access the captured images or save them to a specific folder, you can click the full-size image in the Organizer panel and drag it to the Desktop or another folder. That’s probably the easiest method if you’re dealing with just a few images.

You can also access all captured images directly at:

~/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Screenshots

Alternate Method

If you’re not an iPhone developer, you can still capture screen images directly on any iPod Touch or iPhone device by simultaneously pressing the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button for less than a second. The screen will flash white when the image have been saved. To view these images, open the Photos app, and click on the Saved Photos menu item.

Unfortunately, while the video played fine from that point on, the audio track accompanying it would not. Quicktime was identifying the audio codec as ‘ms ‘, yet other applications in Windows said it was AC-3, Dolby Digital. After messing around with a few “universal” AC-3 codecs that either crashed Quicktime or failed to produce sound, I came across Perian, the self-proclaimed Swiss-Army Knife for Quicktime.

Well … like any fine tool with such a moniker, it got the job done. After installing the Quicktime component, the video played well and the audio sounded great.

Perian enables QuickTime application support for additional media:

• File formats: AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6, and VFW
• Video types: MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, Sorenson H.263, FLV/Sorenson Spark, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Snow, NuppelVideo, Techsmith Screen Capture, DosBox Capture
• Audio types: Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), and MPEG Layer I & II Audio, True Audio, DTS Coherent Acoustics, Nellymoser ASAO
• AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
• Subtitle support for SSA/ASS and SRT