This Week in NativeScript—July 18th, 2016

It’s time for another This Week in NativeScript—our weekly compilation of articles, plugins, and other things that you, the NativeScript community, creates. This time we have a surprise MEGA SUPER DOUBLE BONUS THIS WEEK IN NATIVESCRIPT. That’s right folks, because of some totally unintended procrastination, this week’s issue will feature not one, but TWO whole weeks of amazing NativeScript content  🎉. Get pumped.

So without further ado, here’s are this weeks’ links. And as always, if we missed your link in our comprehensive fifteen minutes of looking at Twitter notifications, please include the link in the comments so we can retroactively include it Marty McFly style.

Books

• NativeScript in Action

  I don’t normally get to include a “Books” heading in an article like this. Books are hard.  Which is why we’re super excited that NativeScript in Action by Mike Branstein and Nick Branstein is now available in Manning’s MEAP (Manning Early Access Program). In fact, I’m going to drop a few celebratory emoji in here for the occasion 🍻🎂✨

  Chapter 1 is free, so check it out. Congrats guys!

  Links

• NativeScript Angular 2 Introduction: Why NativeScript Matters

  Simon Reimler discusses why NativeScript matters, which is cool and well-written and all. But guys/gals, Simon totally built a Pokedex with NativeScript—yes, a freakin’ Pokedex. He even claims to have started the work before Pokemon GO was released.

• LokiJS 1.4 includes a NativeScript adapter

  LokiJS, a pretty slick looking in-memory JavaScript database, recently added a built-in NativeScript adapter that we’re pretty excited about.

• NativeScript Maps Demo

  Nick Coury published an awesome demo of using Angular, Google Maps, NativeScript, and your device’s GPS. I’m pretty sure Nick is half way to re-implementing Pokemon GO 🙂

• Use NativeScript Plugin nativescript-background-http To Send And Store Camera Pictures On PHP Server

  Chris Flannagan wins the prize for most descriptive title of the week. Also the article is a good look at how to solve a very practical scenario—it’s worth bookmarking if you intend to work with the camera at all.

• NativeScript on the FrontFlip podcast (Russian)

  Alex Ziskind, the author of the NativeScript PluralSight course, reveals that he can speak Russian.

• An Introduction to NativeScript

  Wern Ancheta provides a nice comprehensive introduction to NativeScript from a web/hybrid developer’s perspective.

• Josh Sommer in a NativeScript chef’s hat and apron

  You might think to yourself, huh, this entry doesn’t seem relevant to the collection of high-quality NativeScript learning material that has been presented thus far. And you’re right. But Josh posted an image of himself in a chef’s outfit, and we’re not intending to let him forget that. You’re welcome Josh.

  Oh by the way, Josh won this outfit (and more) by winning the NativeScript weather app challenge. If you haven’t already you should congratulate Josh—and try out his app 🌞🌧❄ as well as the other amazing entries. Don’t forget to rate them, it helps their discoverability in the app stores.

  Plugins

• NativeScript Mapbox Plugin

  The prolific Plugin Ninja Warrior Jedi Master Eddy Verbruggen added offline support and custom marker support to his NativeScript Mapbox plugin.

• NativeScript Ripple Plugin

  Brad Martin, Plugin Ninja Warrior Jedi Master #2, published a plugin for adding Material Design ripple effects to any layout. Plus there are Batman gifs in the README, so yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

• NativeScript Firebase Plugin

  Eddy Verbruggen, whom we do not allow to sleep, also added a whole bunch of functionality to the NativeScript Firebase plugin—including the ability to download and upload files, setup remote configuration variables, automatically perform crash reporting, and Facebook logins. Seriously, if you haven’t checked out the Firebase plugin yet you’re missing out.

• NativeScript Coachmarks Plugin

  Nathan Walker, god of all things Angular, built a neat little plugin that places shape cutouts over an existing UI to teach users as part of an onboarding process.

• NativeScript Bored Rudolph Plugin

  I’m a little concerned with how much time Brad Martin must spend searching for obscure Android libraries, but he consistently finds amusing ones. This one adds a custom, hidden game where a Rudolph character eats snowflakes within a pull-to-refresh layout. You can’t make this stuff up.

• NativeScript Toolbox

  Marcel J. Kloubert added crypto-js, Moment, and JS-YAML support to his NativeScript toolbox module 🔨🔧 Handy!

• NativeScript HockeyApp Plugin

  Todd Anglin released an initial version of a HockeyApp SDK for iOS. As a lifelong Detroit Red Wings fan I was a bit sad to learn that this plugin has nothing to do with ice hockey, but after trying it, I will say that HockeyApp is a pretty slick tool for app deployment.

  NativeScript Snacks

• Accessing NativeScript controls in Angular 2 with ViewChild

  Josh Sommer, our apron-wearing NativeScript expert, published a snippet on how to access NativeScript controls in your Angular 2 apps.

• Implement iOS native ActionSheet

  Dinh Le provided a snippet on how to implement an iOS native ActionSheet.

• Getting Started with NativeScript and Firebase

  Eddy Verbruggen, who is seriously hogging this list, also created a video about getting started with NativeScript and Firebase.

• 3D Touch Shortcuts for your iOS Icons - It’s Eddy again, this time with a quick useful video on how to add 3D Touch shortcuts to your iOS app.

http://stackoverflow.com/tags/nativescript/topusers

Until next week, happy NativeScript-ing!