I've used Apache Cordova in the past, but I find it to be a headache. Spent a lot of time just to get it to compile correctly, almost more than developing the HTML5 app itself.
Is there some simple stand alone (offline) tool that takes a HTML5 project (HTML, CSS,JS, PNG, JPG files) and converts it to an APK with a simple press of a button?
Or is there some other way to piggy-back on some existing Android app, that just hosts a web browser, and then loads my HTML5 app?
Or is there a way to zip up the HTML5 project and distribute it as an app on an app store?
Or is there a way for the Android chrome browser to "appify" the current visited web page? The idea would be that the user presses a button to save down the current web page to the file system, and he can then access it offline as a regular app.
You can use Webview to show html files inside Android App. You can also show a particular website by giving its link. More Details here..
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/android/android_webview_layout.htm
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Is it possible to create a mobile app for both Andriod and iOS which will display the same data as on a website written in HTML CSS and js?
The site only displays information but this info is used regularly by users. I have been asked if it's possible to create an app that the same info would be available on? Ideally, any changes made to the website would be reflected in the app without having to change the code for the app as well.
edit - The page on the app will still need functionality i.e being able to open modals when a button is clicked.
You could embed your site in a native app using a WebView. Nowadays you have several technologies as React native and Flutter that could help publishing your site as a multiplatform app.
I'm building a web app for internal use of a company that uses Samsung tablets (Android 9 and Chrome latest versions). I have a page with a list of links to PDF documents and the problem is that when I click any of them, they do not open automatically but instead show an Open button asking to open the document. If I click Open, the document opens as expected with the default viewer (Google PDF Viewer). When I go back, the Open button is still there. If the document has already been downloaded, the browser asks whether to download it again. These images show the situation:
http://www.maresme.net/stackoverflow/chrome_android_pdf/open_button.jpg
http://www.maresme.net/stackoverflow/chrome_android_pdf/allow_auto_downloads.jpg
Is it possible to bypass this step and have the docs open automatically without showing this button? I want to avoid this button and that when users go back from reading the doc they find again the list of links to other PDFs.
I've tried different methods of embedding PDFs (embed, object and iframe) without success. Also, I considered using pdf.js with the canvas tag but my webapp must also work offline and this solution uses too much resources.
Searching the net I found references about an option in Chrome under "Privacy and security" to allow automatic opening of the PDFs but this option does not appear in the tablets I'm using. Is it a security restriction that can't be bypassed?
I will really thank any help with this, it's driving me nuts.
I'm going to answer myself: the problem with Chrome mobile is that it has no support for extensions, so there is no PDF plugin that allows to view this kind of files within the browser. When you intend to open a PDF file the browser has to open it in an external app, be the default viewer (if defined) or any other which is capable (a list will be presented). This is why it asks permission, which I suppose it's a security measure and don't know how/if it can be circumvented.
With pdf.js (and other commercial kits) you can parse the PDF file using JavaScript in the browser, so no plugins are required. However, you must include all this code in your PWA for offline use (and there is some). Another approach that has worked for me is to use the Kiwi browser which supports extensions (I have a closed group of users and I can force this) and then use a plugin, for instance, the plugin version of pdf.js.
Hope this helps someone.
I have built a chrome extension that works fine. I know I can't deploy it to android. So I would have to build an app. The app may or may not have anything to do with chrome; I don't know. This isn't a chrome extension question.
But as to the integration between the app and the on-board browser, I see the android api doesn't have any functionality for browser or web integration? Is that correct?
I'm just making sure because building an app that is essentially it's own proprietary browser, just to get my functionality onto android, is not really something I think a lot of people would download. I'm looking for a more integrated way than that. Is there one?
For those who say impossible, I know for a fact there is an app which added a context menu inside chrome on android but I have no idea how they did that or what other integration is possible. It was a webpage pdf converter. Upon clicking that menu it converted the webpage to pdf, and opened the pdf in the app.
I am a .NET guy, so I am developing apps for WP7.
On Windows marketplace, they do not approve applications if it only opens a
WebBrowser control and a mobile website in it. You have to write main functionality with Silverlight, C# and XAML.
For android I just want to use m.myapplication.com in a WebView control,
so as soon as you will open app it will show that url to you.
Will this application be OK for android market? Or will they require me to write
java code to fill the content?
P.S: I also wonder is there any basic android template that I can take for eclipse, and fill url for my mobile website, and it will run on my phone?
There is no "review" process for any apps that get uploaded to the market (other than checking to see that they are signed with a valid release key)
So yes you will be allowed to upload your app to the market. Even if it is just a webview pointing to a mobile site.
I know of no such template, but that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. if you search around online for things like "Android WebView example" and have worked your way through the Hello World tutorial you should be able to implement your webview without too much hassle.
I have a fully-working web app that is accessible using Android's browser.
The annoying part is the url bar uses a lot of the screen. Is there a way to make this web app a native Android app? I've read that webview can be used to embed a web site within the Android App.
Unfortunately, I only know web programming languages and have no Java experience. Will I still be able to do this on my own?
You certainly will need some learning in java, you can start with reading the following :
Webview documentation
A very detailled tutorial (quite hard if you haven't any java basics)
A basic tutorial on webview usage.
Have you looked at phonegap. It comes with a standalone app with a WebView embedded in it and with native android functionality support. You just need to provide your html/javascript app to it and you're done.
You can use a web app called MIT App Inventor
and get it done in less than 10 minutes, it's very easy, intuitive and requires no programming skills at all.
all you need to do is create a new project,
drag and drop a WebViewer component, on the right set the home url,
and your done! just connect to an android phone via USB to install the app
and you can even download the .apk to your computer, sign it and publish it on Google Play