Jesse Feiler - Dashcode For Dummies

DashcodeFor Dummies

by Jesse Feiler

Dashcode For Dummies

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030-5774

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Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010941223

ISBN: 978-0-470-88473-7

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Jesse Feiler provides consulting services to small businesses and nonprofits. He is the author of a number of books on FileMaker and Mac OS X as well as on new technologies such as Mashups, Facebook, and Bento. Active in the community, Jesse serves on the boards of HB Studio and HB Playwrights Foundation; he previously served on the board of the Mid-Hudson Library System (including three years as president), founded the Philmont Main Street Committee, and chaired the villages Comprehensive Plan Board. His Web site is http://northcountryconsulting.com .

His books include Get Rich with Apps!: Your Guide to Reaching More Customers and Making Money Now (McGraw-Hill), Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours (Sams/Pearson), Database-Driven Web Sites (Harcourt), How to Do Everything: Facebook Applications (McGraw-Hill), How to Do Everything with Web 2.0 Mashups (McGraw-Hill), iWork 09 For Dummies (Wiley), Using FileMaker Bento (Sams/Pearson), and FileMaker Pro in Depth (Sams/Pearson). He also wrote the iWork minibook of the book iPad All-in-One For Dummies (Wiley).

His iOS apps include MinutesMachine from Champlain Arts ( http://champlainarts.com ).

Authors Acknowledgments

Carole Jelen at Waterside Productions has, once again, provided great support and advice in the development of this book.

At Wiley, Kyle Looper, Acquisitions Editor, guided this book through the approval process and offered very welcome input in its structuring. Kelly Ewing patiently shepherded the manuscript through production and editing.

Publishers Acknowledgments

Were proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com . For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

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Project Editor: Kelly Ewing

Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper

Technical Editor: Dennis Cohen

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Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister

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Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant ( www.the5thwave.com )

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker

Layout and Graphics: Lavonne Roberts, Vida Noffsinger

Proofreaders: Melissa Cossell, Rebecca Denoncour, Evelyn C. Wellborn

Indexer: Christine Karpeles

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

D ashcode was developed initially to make it easier to build Dashboard widgets lightweight apps that run on your Mac and that can be summoned at the touch of a button (usually F4 or F12) to appear to float in a layer on top of your desktop and your open applications. These widgets were built on open standards such as JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) even though they were designed for use on a Mac and did not necessarily have any interaction with the Internet. With the development of Dashcode, people were able to build these small light-weight widgets quickly and easily.

With the release of iPhone, the Dashcode technology was pressed into service again this time to develop Web-based apps that, when running in Safari on iPhone, could access iPhone features such as telephony and, in the second release, geolocation (where you are in the world).