<script> window.open(url, 'window-' + Math.rand(), 'menubars=no, toolbar=no'); </script>

Well...

Because you can't use a dash (-) in a window name stupid (and neither can you use a dot (.)) ! :)

Fwi, the w3c state that a window name is a DOMString, and the definition of DOMString is http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/core.html#ID-C74D1578 where dashes and dots are allowed..

After a few hours of investigation, I finally found that the code generated by @synthesize for getters is returning a new autoreleased ref to the property and not the property itself. I dont understand the reason yet, but I trust Apple to have a perfectly good explanation for doing this.

This was causing an issue in my code as I was doing [self.prop release] in my dealloc methods instead of [prop release] _all the time_. I also don't remember why I took this habit in my early obj-c days but it's a bad habit to have and it can cause very tricky bug to track down. So now you know :)

Well, another "gotcha": http://stackoverflow.com/questions/761140/wifi-connection-is-dropped-after-user-inactivity-period

Basically, you must set UIRequiresPersistentWiFi key in the Info.plist to TRUE, otherwise, after 30 minutes, the wifi will be shut down no matter what.

Thanks to the wisdom of the internet.

So because It looks so good, I went a little crazy and added a lot of them in my game. Unfortunatly, that's how I discovered a nasty performance issue with it, as each new instance would parse the font definition file, taking a few very noticable ms (look like hicups).

The fix is of course caching, but I wasn't sure the singleton "manager" design pattern would be in the spirit of the cocos lib and also, it would be a very small class so I searched for something else.

The final solution is a static NSMutableDictionnary on the BitmapFontAtlas class itself + a little bit of rerouting in the init method.

You can take a look at the issue & my patch here.

I'm interrested in comments on this trick :)

I'm using a state machine design pattern so in my "init game" state class: here is the code:

- (id) init
{
    self = [super init];
    if ( self )
    {   
        // Add the Label (in cocos2D universe)
        BitmapFontAtlas *label = [BitmapFontAtlas bitmapFontAtlasWithString: @"Initializing Game" 
                                                                    fntFile: @"comic_atlas.fnt" 
                                                                  alignment: UITextAlignmentCenter];
        label.position = ccp(240, 160);
        label.opacity = 0;
        [self addChild: label z: 0 tag: kInitializingLabel];
    
        // Add the UIActivityIndicatorView (in UIKit universe)
        self.activityIndicatorView = [[[UIActivityIndicatorView alloc] initWithActivityIndicatorStyle: UIActivityIndicatorViewStyleWhiteLarge] autorelease];
        activityIndicatorView.center = ccp(190,240);
        [activityIndicatorView startAnimating];
        [[self battleView] addSubview: activityIndicatorView];
    
        [self schedule: @selector(loadingInit)];
        
        // At this point, the cocos2d rendering is fine.
    }
    
    return self;
}

- (void) loadingInit
{
    [self unschedule: @selector(loadingInit)];

    // Fade in nicely
    BitmapFontAtlas *label = (BitmapFontAtlas*)[self getChildByTag: kInitializingLabel];
    [label runAction: [FadeIn actionWithDuration: .25]];

    [self schedule: @selector(loadingStep0) interval: .25];
}

- (void) loadingStep0
{
    [self unschedule: @selector(loadingStep0)];
    
    // Add you own code to load texture, sounds etc...
    // The cocos2D thread will be waiting (since it's the same as the main thread) but the UIKit thread will keep running in parallel
    
    // Can do multiple steps or just one
    [self schedule: @selector(loadingStep1) interval: .5];
}

- (void) loadingStep1
{
    [self unschedule: @selector(loadingStep1)];

    // Add you own code to load texture, sounds etc...

    [self schedule: @selector(loadingDone) interval: .1];
}

- (void) loadingDone
{
    gameIsReady = YES;
    
    [self.activityIndicatorView removeFromSuperview];
    
    BitmapFontAtlas *label = (BitmapFontAtlas*)[self getChildByTag: kInitializingLabel];
    [label setString: NSLocalizedString(@"Tap to start!", nil)];
    
    [label runAction: [RepeatForever actionWithAction: 
                       [Sequence actionOne: [EaseInOut actionWithAction: [MoveTo actionWithDuration: .6 position: ccp(210, 160)] rate: 2] 
                                       two: [EaseInOut actionWithAction: [MoveTo actionWithDuration: .6 position: ccp(270, 160)] rate: 2]
                        ]       
                       ]
     ];
    
}

- (BOOL)ccTouchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    if ( gameIsReady )
    {
        [self openGame];
    }
    
    return kEventHandled;
}

If you need more explanations, please let me know.