a few prospective questions

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Hi,

I’m new to Corona and I was wondering whether it supports some of the things I want to do.

  1. Is it possible to record the device’s mic and process the recorded data? I’m fairly sure it is possible using the media Library ( but I have a few questions. How do I access the sensor data afterwards? Also, would it be possible to record in a streaming fashion and process the sensor data periodically (every seconds for example) without having to interrupt the recording?

  2. Is it possible to play sounds while recording? (I seem to remember reading somewhere that this is not possible, but I can’t seem to find this back.

  3. I’d like to process the recorded data using C/C++ code. My app needs to run on both Android and iOS. Are there any alarms going off is more experienced people’s head when they read this plan? How hard is it to maintain C/C++ libraries for use on both iOS and Android? How does the build process look like? Do I have to compile those libraries myself or can that be part of the Corona build process?

  4. I’d like to show a scrolling image. I.e. part of the screen will be a ‘box’ in which I want to show a certain part of an image. The part of the image that is shown needs to change over time in a scrolling fashion. What would be the best way to achieve this? Treat the big image like an image sheet and cut out a different piece of it every fraction of a second? That does not seem like the best way to do this in a event-driven framework right?

Thank you for your time.

#2

Hi Karel,

4 is simple: the scrolling part couldn’t be more easier. Most likely you would use one or more big images and just move them. That takes about 5 minutes to code.

All the other stuff does not come right out of the box and will require you to develop extended code in C++ and learn how to hook this into Corona. Corona as is has only the most basic OpenAL interpretation that in essence just plays back sounds, and not even with perfect timing. So that’s not super-straightforward.

  1. Recording is not supported out of the box. Check for plugins on the Corona site, maybe some exist with this functionality. Processing the recorded data: not supported out of the box, so same deal: search plugin or develop one yourself in C.

  2. Play while recording: no supported out of the box.

  3. Processing, see above. I have no experience using C/C++ code in conjunction with Corona. If you’re good with C/C++ you’ll probably manage. If you still need to learn C/C++ as well as Lua, I would say “forget it, it’s not realistic”.

#3

Actually, recording is supported. See: http://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/media/newRecording.html

However, it’s a fairly basic implementation. You can also look in the SampleCode/Media/SimpleAudioRecorder sample project as well.

Corona doesn’t offer any audio processing features through the simulator. You would need to use Corona native builds (Xcode for iOS/macOS, Android Studio for Android, or Visual Studio for Windows) to write your C/C++ code and bind it to Lua callable functions, in other words make a plugin.  

Rob

#4

Aha, good to know Rob, and sorry about that Karel. Are you Belgium-based, by the way? I am! :slight_smile:

#5

thank you for the answers guys. I’ll think about what direction to take.

Thomas, I’m Belgian yes. Good to see someone ‘local’ on here :wink:

#6

Alright! Where are you located? I’m from Leuven, currently live in Mechelen, work in Antwerpen Noord ( at www.pinkeye.be designstudio ) and also lived in Brussels for a couple of years. So I guess I still need to do Gent and Hasselt, and then move to the southern part of the country! :smiley:

If you do decide to go for Corona, feel free to shoot me some questions.

#7

Hi Karel,

4 is simple: the scrolling part couldn’t be more easier. Most likely you would use one or more big images and just move them. That takes about 5 minutes to code.

All the other stuff does not come right out of the box and will require you to develop extended code in C++ and learn how to hook this into Corona. Corona as is has only the most basic OpenAL interpretation that in essence just plays back sounds, and not even with perfect timing. So that’s not super-straightforward.

  1. Recording is not supported out of the box. Check for plugins on the Corona site, maybe some exist with this functionality. Processing the recorded data: not supported out of the box, so same deal: search plugin or develop one yourself in C.

  2. Play while recording: no supported out of the box.

  3. Processing, see above. I have no experience using C/C++ code in conjunction with Corona. If you’re good with C/C++ you’ll probably manage. If you still need to learn C/C++ as well as Lua, I would say “forget it, it’s not realistic”.

#8

Actually, recording is supported. See: http://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/media/newRecording.html

However, it’s a fairly basic implementation. You can also look in the SampleCode/Media/SimpleAudioRecorder sample project as well.

Corona doesn’t offer any audio processing features through the simulator. You would need to use Corona native builds (Xcode for iOS/macOS, Android Studio for Android, or Visual Studio for Windows) to write your C/C++ code and bind it to Lua callable functions, in other words make a plugin.  

Rob

#9

Aha, good to know Rob, and sorry about that Karel. Are you Belgium-based, by the way? I am! :slight_smile:

#10

thank you for the answers guys. I’ll think about what direction to take.

Thomas, I’m Belgian yes. Good to see someone ‘local’ on here :wink:

#11

Alright! Where are you located? I’m from Leuven, currently live in Mechelen, work in Antwerpen Noord ( at www.pinkeye.be designstudio ) and also lived in Brussels for a couple of years. So I guess I still need to do Gent and Hasselt, and then move to the southern part of the country! :smiley:

If you do decide to go for Corona, feel free to shoot me some questions.