mobile musings from a fellow developer

MGSplitViewController for iPad

Matt Gemmell, known by many developers as the creator of the popular MGTwitterEngine, has produced yet another amazing solution for iOS developers. MGSplitViewController is an open source replacement for UISplitViewController, and includes several cool features that Matt feels should have been in Apple’s own UISplitViewController. Options such as being able to manually adjust the width of the master column, display the master column on either the left or right side of the detail pane, insert the master column alongside the detail pane in Portrait mode without a popover, and even choose to display the master column above the detail pane instead of the default side-by-side placement.

For a better idea of how MGSplitViewController works, watch Matt’s demo video here (or on YouTube).

You can download the source at:
http://github.com/mattgemmell/MGSplitViewController/

After watching the video or playing with the code, I’m sure you’ll agree that MGSplitViewController is simply awesome! If you find the code useful, then show your appreciation for Matt’s hard work by sending him a PayPal donation.

THE BIG QUESTION:
With MGSplitViewController offering so many new custom features not found in Apple’s UISplitViewController, will it pass the scrutiny of the App Store review process? There are several iPad apps in the App Store with graphically enhanced split views, but I can’t think of any approved app UI’s that dramatically alter the split view functionality the way MGSplitViewController does. I’m sure Matt and a large following of developers will be anxiously waiting to see the review fate of the first iPad app that gets submitted to the App Store utilizing MGSplitViewController. I know I’ll be curious. If Apple approves iPad apps that use MGSplitViewController, then I predict a lot of iOS developers will be taking advantage of this cool new split view replacement in their future iPad apps!

Big thanks to Matt Gemmell for contributing such great code to the iOS developer community!