CoronaViewer (for CoronaCards)

CoronaViewer lets you edit the contents of a CoronaView instance and preview those code changes in real-time on your device.

In this workflow, your native app does not have to be recompiled/relinked/reinstalled onto the device. You can edit your Lua code from your desktop editor/IDE and your Corona-related project files will automatically sync and update in the corresponding CoronaView in your native app. (This also works with apps you build in the Xcode Simulator.)

NOTE: Corona SDK/Enterprise developers should go here.

Getting Started

Installation

The CoronaViewer.framework should be installed so that its path is:

/Users/Shared/CoronaLabs/ios/CoronaViewer.framework

Code Integration

There are several simple steps:

1. Add CoronaViewer.framework to your Xcode project.

2. Use CoronaViewerController instead of CoronaViewController. The former is a drop-in replacement for the latter. Note that the two differ in spelling just slightly — there is an 'er' in 'CoronaViewerController'.

3. Disable your call to the run or runWithPath:parameters: selector of your CoronaView instance.

4. Instead, you run via the controller. Specifically, call CoronaViewerController's run selector.

5. Ensure that launch url's are handled correctly by adding the following to your implementation of the UIApplicationDelegate:

   - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)app openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)source annotation:(id)annotation
   {
   	return [CoronaViewerController handleOpenURL:url];
   }
   

6. Modify your Info.plist so that Dropbox can interact with CoronaViewer properly:

   <key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
   <array>
   	<dict>
   		<key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
   		<array>
   			<string>db-l1q0pln8qsi8qyp</string>
   		</array>
   	</dict>
   </array>
   

Dropbox

CoronaViewer requires a Dropbox account. You'll also want to install Dropbox on your desktop computer so that you can sync edits from your desktop to the device.

Where Files Go

Your Corona project files (e.g. main.lua) should go in the following location in order to be shared:

${DROPBOX_FOLDER}/Apps/CoronaViewer

NOTE: Only files in this location will be synchronized with your device. The rest of your Dropbox folder is not visible to CoronaViewer.

Running on device

Build the Corona project in this repo and install it on your device. (Corona Enterprise users, see below for additional info.)

You'll be prompted with Dropbox's standard login interface:

This enables the app to synchronize with your Corona project files (i.e. files that are in the above location.)

Xcode Simulator

You can also build this app for the Xcode Simulator instead of for your device.

Limitations

File Updates

Files are updated based on modification time. To get the device to update the file, you must make sure the modification time is newer.

Availability

Supported Platforms

• iOS
• Android (TBD)

Product Tiers

CoronaViewer is available to the following subscriptions/tiers:

• Corona SDK (Pro) uses a slightly different workflow. Learn more
• Corona Enterprise uses a slightly different workflow. Learn more
• CoronaCards