Text DeckCase studyWhat is Text Deck?Text Deck is a widget developed for the Mac Dashboard that allows Mac usersto simply and quickly send SMS messages from their computer. Text Deck Prois a full featured Mac desktop application that sends SMS messages, and storespreviously sent messages in a Mail.app like interface. Text Deck Pro integrateswith users’ AddressBook and Google Contacts to allow fast selection of the SMSrecipient, removing the need to manually enter phone numbers, although thiscan still be done.
How it worksThe Text Deck Widget was developed as a standardWidget to run within Dashboard on a Mac. Thisuses HTML, CSS and JavaScript to provide the userinterface, and communicates via a Javascript bridgewith a framework developed in Objective-C to abstractthe BlueVia APIs. The framework uses an open sourceOAuth framework that I customised, and the opensource JSON processing library YAJL.Text Deck Pro is a full Mac desktop applicationdeveloped in Objective-C. It reuses the sameframework that I developed for the BlueVia integrationof Text Deck. Integration with Google Contacts wasfacilitated via the GData Objective-C library thatGoogle provide. The UI on the Mac was created inInterface Builder and uses part of BWToolkit, and datastorage is provided by Core Data.The creation of a standalone framework was animportant part of the applications’ development, asnow accessing any of the BlueVia API services fromwithin an application on the Mac is a simple activity, andsignificantly decreases the development time required.
How is BlueViahelping Text Deck? Text Deck is exclusively powered by the and control that technologies such as OAuth offers BlueVia SMS API, allowing Glimmer Design makes it very clear what applications can and cannot do to directly monetise all the SMS traffic on their behalf, as well as giving them simple interfaces created by the application. In addition the to approve and deny applications access to theirBlueVia SMS API provides great functionality like accounts. I believe Telefonica are an innovator in theensuring the sender field in all the text messages mobile and internet integration space, and the BlueViagenerated are populated with the originators real APIs are ahead of other services I have seen.”mobile number.This ensures that the recipients’ phone or device can “On a personal level, I ameasily match the inbound text messages generated always keen to try out newby Text Deck to address book entries, producing areal name, rather than some off-putting machine technologies and platformsgenerated originator address. to understand the value they“As a developer who is very familiar with recent web could bring to projects I amtechnologies such as OAuth, REST APIs and JSON,I was excited to see that BlueVia supports these. working on.”From a developer’s perspective these technologiessimplify integration and offer access to services Hamish Rickerbypreviously unavailable. For consumers, the security Owner, Glimmer Design
About Glimmer DesignGlimmer Design began releasing online web basedapplications in 2006. From 2008, Glimmer Designhas released Apple App Store apps. The companywas incorporated in 2010 and currently has 11 appsin the app store (6 have been released under thehapptic brand), for both iPhone and iPad.You can contact Glimmer Design through thefollowing links:Glimmer Design: glimmerdesign.comhapptic: happtic.comBlog: hamishrickerby.comLinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/hamishrickerbyTwitter: twitter.com/rickerbh twitter.com/happticGlimmer Design Apps: itunes.apple.com/us/artist/glimmer-design-limited/id302871163happtic Apps: itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/happtic/id385076451
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Hamish Rickerby