Writing own Android Apps for personal use? - android

I am interested in coding up some interactive apps for personal use on my Samsung Galaxy tab running the Android OS. Ideally I would like to write a program in C++/Haskell/Python on my desktop, test them out with a simulator in an IDE such as Eclipse, and then transfer the compiled
executable onto my Tablet to be used like any normal Android app.
Can this be done? All sites I have come across so far are about writing android apps on your PC and then publishing them to Google Play
after meeting some quality criteria as mentioned here
The closest question on SO I could find is this one but it does not seem to answer the question.
If so, can someone tell me the workflow for doing this? In particular to which folder must I transfer my executable to?
Note: I will be coding these apps on Ubuntu 14.04 in the languages mentioned above.

You can build and run your own apps without uploading to anywhere. Android allows apps to be installed from the computer to device using the adb executable (Android Development Bridge). You can develop the app and push it directly to your device.
If your interested in python android you might want to checkout: https://kivy.org/
For more information on building apps and installing locally checkout here: http://developer.android.com/training/index.html

Related

Easiest way to create mobile apps on official Meteor for Windows

I want to develop a Meteor app that will be deployed for web and mobile app (Android & iOS). I will use Windows on my dev machine. I will use WebStorm as my IDE.
What are the easiest ways to get my app deployed into the app stores?
I want to minimise extra configuration effort and duplicate code.
=== Supporting info ===
Some possible solutions I've come across are:
nitrous.io - but costs money
Vagrant - but looks complicated
When I run >meteor install-sdk android I get This command is not yet available on Windows. since it's not supported.
I'm asking this questions in March 2015, when official Meteor for Windows is still a release candidate and there are no plans to for mobile support on Windows in the near future. (See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/27698104/1369798)
Buy a Mac.
As much I loathe, them, I got a bottom of the range Mac Mini. I discovered there are many aspects of Meteor that don't work on Windows. Another one is their testing framework, Velocity.
Testing? Who needs that... :/
I am using http://www.macincloud.com since a couple of days, you can pay per hour. Those remote desktoped Macs have almost everything pre-installed you need for developing (besides the actual meteor stuff).
Definitely not a good idea if you want to check weather your app runs smooth in the ios emulator. But good enough for building and deploying iOS & Android apps!
I am using Nitrous.io for anything not compatible with Meteor Windows. When you register you get enough credits to run a small VPS like the one you can have at Digital Ocean for 5$. You can also refer friends and do some other stuff to get extra credits.
They also have a great desktop tool to synchronize files between the Nitrous.io and your computer.
So, I think it is a good choice and definitely easier than the Vagrant option!
In December 2015, the situation is still the same. I had a hard time today deploying my Meteor app on Android. I wrote down my findings, I hope it helps you too. It's here: https://geekycarrot.blogspot.com/2015/12/deploying-meteor-app-on-android.html
In a nutshell: It is possible without buying a Mac, but you need a Linux operating system, at least in a virtual box. You need to install an Android SDK on the Linux system. Building the app from the Linux console is somewhat tricky, but it can be done by the steps I described. Deployment can be simplified to one click with a short Linux-side and a Windows-side script.

Developing cross platform app

I have developed a phonegap app (android) using Eclipse IDE. Is there any way by which I can use same HTML, CSS and Js to develop IOS app? I do not have a Mac system to do that. Do I need Mac System or can it be done on windows? Do I need to have developer account? Can It be done without having Developer account? How can I create .ipa file without using Mac system?
you can put your code on this it will generate IPA for you
https://build.phonegap.com/
Do I need Mac System or can it be done on windows?
Yes, you will need a Mac computer in order to compile it for iOS. You might want to use Xcode for the compilation purpose or test/deploy the application on device. You also need a Mac to configure certificates and provising profiles. Moreover, iOS Simulator does not run on Windows. Hence, Mac is a must one even if you develop app using web technologies.
Do I need to have developer account? Can It be done without having Developer account?
You won't need to have a developer account for writing applications for iOS. However, you will certainly need to have one when you want to test the app on your device. You will not be able to test your application on a device unless you have a developer account.
How can I create .ipa file without using Mac system?
Without a Mac system, this will not be possible. But, you might want to see more info on PhoneGap Build from this link.
I just find the following in which he can explain setting up building iOS apps without a Mac
1)http://community.phonegap.com/nitobi/topics/detailed_guide_for_setting_up_building_ios_apps_without_a_mac
2)http://www.iandevlin.com/blog/2012/11/phonegap/building-an-ios-signing-key-for-phonegap-in-windows

Is there any way to run an application direct to the device on Corona SDK?

It is very time-consuming to build an application, copy the apk on the device, install it and run it, just because you want to change the value of a variable. Is there any way to run an application straight to the phone (like in Unity) ?
Does Gideros or any other similar SDK offer this capability? I read that ZeroBrane offers on device debugging but I didn't find any more tutorial/information how can you do it.
Gideros provides exactly such capability, you just install Gideros Player on your device, enter IP address on your computer, and instantly run your app on device, without any exporting or building, just click play.
Additionally with combination of ZeroBrane you can achieve live coding
http://bowerhaus.eu/blog/files/live_coding.html
Corona cannot do that without ZeroBrane LiveCoding.
Gideros do that by default.
There are tutorials and documentation at the ZeroBrane site for doing remote device debugging (and even live coding for some frameworks).
Generally remote debug requires that the on-device code be able to load the modules mobdebug (provided with ZBS) and luasocket.

How can I automatically test the functionality of iOS and Android applications?

I have to regularly test the availability and functioning of a movie rental website. I wrote a Windows program which is able to automate a web browser according to a script, so this task is basically solved. Now I have to automate the mobile version of this web application: a native iOS app and a native Android app.
These apps are closed source, so cannot be modified in any way. I think the test app should be deployed on the test devices (iPhone, iPad, Galaxy Tab, Galaxy S II), but I must be able to remote control it. I mean, I would like create a connection between the test devices and a PC, upload test scripts from the PC to the devices, run them, and download the test results to the PC. The test script should start the app to be tested, manipulate its GUI (fill editboxes, push buttons etc.), and follow its response somehow, for example by analyzing the GUI (the existence of some GUI elements, their caption, etc.), analyzing screenshots, and/or inspecting IP packets.
I wrote lots of similar test programs for Windows: I used ShellExecute, PostMessage, FindWindow, the WinPcap library etc., so I know how such a program should work. But since I never wrote applications for mobile OS's, I don't even know whether there are similar APIs and libraries for iOS and Android.
I would like to know where to start, I mean, which SDKs and developer tools could be used to write such an application. I'm also interested in commercial solutions. I would really appreciate any help.
I like "Calabash-iOS/Calabash-Android" by LessPainful. That is the best for me.
free
available on iPhone and Android
record and playback
test on native and simulator
They doesn't have a GUI IDE. They are Ruby-based solutions and it is very easy to write test case script, like this:
Then I swipe left
And I wait until I don't see "Please swipe left"
And take picture
Also it can be
Then I touch the "login" button
to tap a button, or
Then I fill in "placeholder" with "text to write"
to write something to a textbox.
And the script can be shared by Calabash-iOS and Calabash-Android. That feature is convenient for developers who make both iPhoneApp and Android App.
I thought MonkeyTalk was nice but actually unstable, at least in my environment.
Sometimes MonkeyIDE crashed, so we have to do debug of MonkeyTalk...
I hope this helps you.
MonkeyTalk looks promising. Features from the Gorilla Logic website:
Free & Open Source
Automated testing of iOS, Android, HTML5 and Adobe Flex applications
Cross-platform recording and playback
Test native, web, or hybrid apps, on iOS simulators, Android
emulators or real devices (no jailbreaking required)
Everything from simple "smoke tests" to sophisticated data-driven
test suites
Packet tracing: iOS, Android, Android
Selenium offers drivers for mobile devices and emulators. It is a Google project. They have good documentation. It has an IDE for rapid prototyping of testing suites and support for many languages like ruby, PHP, c#, etc.,
If scripting is your preffered solution on android you can easily import and run scripts after you install the Scripting Layer for Android. Just download the latest apk file, import the script and run it. This isn't available on iOS but half of your problem may be solved with this.
I know this is an old post but any one reading in 2016 first choice for automation should be Appium ( works on both IOS /Android). All the tools mentioned above have to be built with the App. Appium does require any build up with App code. Its hugely popular with variety of programming language support ( PHP/JAVA/RUBY/PYTHON). [Link]: appium.io and [Link]: https://github.com/appium/appium

Blackberry Android runtime vs. NDK

I'm trying to repackage an Android app for Blackberry, as suggested here. The app has a native (NDK/JNI) library in it. When I try to build for the App World, I get several errors of the following kind:
uses-access-native:impact=5:com.myapp.MyClass
So on the face, it looks like NDK is not compatible with Blackberry, period. However, I could not find any official word on that. The list of known issues says that Google APIs are not supported, but not a word about NDK. What's the official line, please? Did anyone ever repackage an app with an NDK library?
There is a note here: https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/apisupport
Under 'Unsupported Software Features'
•Apps that utilize native code bundled into their APK file
My understanding is that it's not possible to do this - as per the link paulkayuk posted, and also:
http://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/bb10/porting_from_android_ndk.html
However this story popped up in the news this morning:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/07/skype-blackberry-android/
which references:
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10251/is-skype-available-for-blackberry-devices?frompage=search&q=blackberry&fromSearchFirstPage=false
which says:
If you have a new BlackBerry smartphone powered by the BlackBerry 10
platform, you will soon be able to download and run Skype on these
devices. We are working closely with BlackBerry to ensure the Skype
for Android app runs great in the BlackBerry 10 environment.
My understanding is that Skype on Android has a big native library accessed via NDK, so you presume for this port to have happened they are in the process of opening up a way for Android apps running on blackberry to access native code. ie. sit tight and watch this space :-)

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