Here's the official introduction video about the plugin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqWSyJyjMLQ&feature=plcp Here's a link to the current documentation (PDF) http://idevdepot.com/storybookdocs More videos will follow this weekend (today most likely), including : How to setup sound effect files in your project Done: http://youtu.be/meeBZRc8jYs How to customize your buttons Done: http://youtu.be/Nf9eYDo7i0U Other uses for the plugin When the videos are done, I'll give a link to them in this post, and I will also have them linked directly in the plugin's control panel page. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I've just watched the video: it's an awesome plugin. I have some ideas to use it... ;-)

Nice! If only a BC dog tag was included with each purchase... This is def iPad only? any plans at all for iphone? just curious what makes it so different. Is it an image sizing thing, or something to do with some popover controllers, navigation, etc...? and that is sound effect audio, not full on background audio integrated here? Super curious to take a look at it next week. Thanks for sharing the hard work and look forward to the videos!

So far it's iPad only. Mostly because I didn't think anyone would make a storybook for iPhone. And also partly because I didn't want any users to run into any problems with apple approval for locking rotation on an iPhone app. And yes, in this version there is a single sound effect file. Background audio would be a good idea for an update.

This plugin really looks promising and has a lot potential to build storybook apps. Well done mate.

As always great job @Stobe! LA

Excellent plugin Stobe!! Very professional. Having background audio or some type of auto-loading of an audio file would definitely be a plus - you could have a talking storybook then. And, of course, if there were a way to make a sound recording, save it in-app, and retrieve it with the plugin, well then you'd have those Hallmark recordable storybooks for your very own app :) Chris https://www.churchphoneapps.com

That is Brilliant!

Any way you can make a video of just the demo so we could show it off to potential clients?

I agree background audio would be useful for narration purposes! @chris1 -- you could always buy the plugin and do the demo yourself :) Especially with your church app niche!

Loving the new plugin!. will be making a purchase tonight. How easy would it be to have multiple invisible interactive buttons? would it be as simple as duplicating the interative button code and just changing the co-ords? thanks!

@bonzo: If you can hand code the JSON into Xcode (offline app), then yes. Otherwise, you could use a JSON snippet keeper plugin to add additional hot-spots. Both of the above would require the modification to the plugin source, as you had suggested. Sounds like another tutorial movie I could make :)

Great plugin! Even though I haven't a use for it just yet, I'm going to buy never-the-less.

Hey @Stobe - awesome plugin! But super confused, are book based apps usually rejected by apple and suggested to be submitted as a iBook? I know Trace (client) told me he was rejected multiple times for: - Suitability For iBooks - Another reason that Apple has rejected book apps in the past is due to insufficient functionality – in other words, the app could have easily been a basic iBooks ebook because it didn’t have enough animation or interactivity to justify a release on the App Store when Apple’s iBookstore would be more appropriate. For a book app to be on the App Store, it has to be app-like enough not to disappoint iPad users, who have come to expect enhanced experiences from their apps. In Apple’s words: "Apps that are simply a song or movie should be submitted to the iTunes store. Apps that are simply a book should be submitted to the iBookstore." Any comments on this? I see people would might use this plugin as the "main" feature rather then a "side" feature - if that makes sense? Again awesome awesome plugin! Looks like you put some time into it, super stoked to purchase it asap. Need to find my debit card again.. Cheers mate, David https://buzztouchmods.com

I hear ya Mr. David. Definitely a concern when making this. Since we have access to a wide variety of plugins in buzztouch, it wouldn't be hard to add plenty of other interactivity. Perhaps in the middle of the story, it goes to a video plugin page. Or a quick quiz that leads to the next story page. This is why I didn't want to design this as a single page with multiple childItems. I wanted control of where the pages go, and where they lead to. In future versions, I'll be looking at adding multiple types of hotspots, for animations, videos, etc. As like every project we build for the Apple store, it is our responsibility to create something worthy of being approved. This plugin is just another "tool in the toolbox" to achieve that goal. Great question, and everyone who uses the plugin should consider your valid points when designing. Keep the debit card handy!

Hi, Well congratulations on your new plugin Chris. Looks awesome!!!! Best regards, Danny

Thanks Danny. I updated the video links in the top post to include two new tutorials. Happy Storybook Making!

Thanks for clarifying mate, totally get what you mean. Unfortunately some people used my paint plugin as the main feature - they did not get far with apple. Looking forward to using this beauty! Congratulations! David https://buzztouchmods.com

Wow, this is a must have plugin. Allow me a plugin suggestion. This Story plugin has the ability to swipe to another storyboard plugin. I would suggest a plugin for the html doc, for example, with the ability to swipe from one html doc to another. It could be done for many other screens. Swipe option is a big step forward. Thanks. Miguel

@strobe Any suggestions or tips as to how to make users aware of exactly where the interactive buttons are on the page. Looking at your demo, I'd have no idea unless I spent all day clicking all over my iPad where the button is that makes noise. I guess I'm thinking along the lines of a subtle glisten or strobing light, nothing overpowering, but something that attracts the users attention to a specific area on the screen that they know does something more. Any ideas on how to execute this?

from what i can see in the tutorial, you can set an image that could appear on the screen. that way the users would see where the button was because your image would appear?

@dakorpsta007 My little demo video was using 2 images that I did not create, and were never meant to be interactive storybook pages. I simply wanted to explain the options available to the developer using my plugin. With that said, I would imagine either putting something on the main page (part of the photoshop image) that would lead the reader to know right away to click on it. or You could use a transparent PNG file (a sprite, in other words) to create a "subject" of the story (or any item, person, etc) that stands out from the background. This would also be a good route to go, just in case additional options are added to the plugin, such as animating the hotspot, etc. i.e., its up to the developer to create the actual content. I'm just supplying the functionality.

Edit: In some of the above videos, I may have been saying "1024x800" for the image size. That should be "1024x768" DOH!

Hi, Great plugin and easy to use! Trying to add some sound as per your tutorial but the sound method where all the sound files were commented out seem to have disappear from the appDelegate.m file. Any new instructions to add sound to this marvelous plugin? I am guessing that it shouldn't be hard but all the things I tried failed. Cheers, Farcat

I am guessing that it has to do something with this method: //playSoundEffect... -(void)playSoundEffect:(NSString *)theFileName{ [BT_debugger showIt:self message:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"playSoundEffect %@", theFileName]]; if([theFileName length] > 3){ /* play sound effect logic a) Check the soundEffectNames array for the file name b) if it exists, we already instantiated an audio-player object in the soundEffectPlayers array c) Find the index of the player, then play it */ if([self.soundEffectNames containsObject:theFileName]){ int playerIndex = (int)[self.soundEffectNames indexOfObject:theFileName]; //we already initialized a player for this sound. Find it, play it. AVAudioPlayer *tmpPlayer = (AVAudioPlayer *)[self.soundEffectPlayers objectAtIndex:playerIndex]; if(tmpPlayer){ [tmpPlayer play]; } }else{ [BT_debugger showIt:self message:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"playSoundInBundle:ERROR. This sound effect is not included in the list of available sounds: %@", theFileName]]; } } }

I'd say you were only required to add the mp3 file to xcode

Tried that but it still doesn't work. My .mp3 is in the BT_Audio folder on xcode, I added the file in File/Media on my CP and I made the reference to the sound file in the plugin in my control panel (Interactive Button). So you think that we don't need to make reference to the sound file in the appDelegate.m? Cheers, Farcat

I would try adding it to the delegate if I were you. Try, it shouldn't hurt.

I thought I'd be clever and tried adding the following code that used to be in the appDelegate.m file but it is throwing errors. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //sound effect methods /* loadSoundEffects... the sound effects you want to use must be added to your Xcode project then added to this soundEffectNames array. See example on line 1110, 1111.. */ -(void)loadSoundEffects{ //this runs in it's own thread NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [ [ NSAutoreleasePool alloc ] init ]; [BT_debugger showIt:self theMessage:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"loadSoundEffects SEE appDelegete.m, line 924 %@", @""]]; //fill an array of sound effect file names... self.soundEffectNames = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init]; [self.soundEffectNames addObject:@"Water.mp3"]; [self.soundEffectNames addObject:@"Flower.mp3"]; [self.soundEffectNames addObject:@"pop.mp3"]; [self.soundEffectNames addObject:@"tink.mp3"]; //setup audio session for sound effects... [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory: AVAudioSessionCategoryAmbient error: nil]; [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setActive: YES error: nil]; //fill an array of sound effect player objects to pre-load with each audio track... self.soundEffectPlayers = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init]; for(int x = 0; x < [self.soundEffectNames count]; x++){ NSString *theFileName = [self.soundEffectNames objectAtIndex:x]; if([BT_fileManager doesFileExistInBundle:theFileName]){ NSURL *soundFileUrl = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@", [[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath], theFileName]]; NSError *error; AVAudioPlayer *tmpPlayer = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:soundFileUrl error:&error]; [tmpPlayer setNumberOfLoops:0]; [tmpPlayer prepareToPlay]; [tmpPlayer setDelegate:self]; [self.soundEffectPlayers addObject:tmpPlayer]; [tmpPlayer release]; } } //release pool [pool release]; }

sorry.. its now in the BT_loadConfigDataViewController.m file I forgot!! You'll see the other mp3 sound files by searching "mp3". Just place your file name there like you've done in the delegate

Thanks @mysps, It does look like it is the correct file, something strange is happening though. I don't seem to be able to add more audio files or even substitute to the default ones (bt_funk.mp3 and bt_glass.mp3) So if I replace: [appDelegate.soundEffectNames addObject:@"bt_funk.mp3"]; [appDelegate.soundEffectNames addObject:@"bt_glass.mp3"]; by [appDelegate.soundEffectNames addObject:@"bt_funk.mp3"]; [appDelegate.soundEffectNames addObject:@"test.mp3"]; the app won't run (simulator or device). There are no errors, the app just doesn't launch: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i65ggjq33czh0yg/app_error.png?dl=0 Any views? Cheers,

Is the file included in your project? Perhaps there is an issue with the file itself. Is it indeed a mp3 file and One question are you trying to load the file via url? I think it might work best if its included in the project by copying the file into the audio folder. Its hard to read the debug log because its not fully visible.

The file is included in the project, I tried several mp3 files just in case. The audio file is definitely in the Audio folder (not url) and my CP is definitely pointing to it. I have included all the data from the debug here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ylfrzmm0xlz52nq/Screen%20Shot%202015-06-10%20at%2013.07.07.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/lq6evu5vfrkpfsn/Screen%20Shot%202015-06-10%20at%2013.01.42.png?dl=0 Smug suggested not to touch "bt_funk.mp3" and "bt_glass.mp3" as they were used elsewhere but even adding a line doesn't work.