I want to write a small Android App and also a small Google Chrome App, which should keep their data synchronized. I decided to use Google Drive to synchronize the data.
Like Google Keep seems to do it :
Google Keep saves all your notes to your Google Drive, so everything is backed up and available, should anything happen to the original device or computer on which the notes were made.
Currently I am only working on the Android App. After searching for a way to create a hidden folder to store the data I found the Application Folder.
While this seems to be perfect for my Android App my question is: can I also access this app folder from a google chrome app?
If not is there a good way to synchronize data between an Android App and a Chrome App using Google Drive?
Thanks for your help
"question is: can I also access this app folder from a google chrome app?"
yes
"If not is there a good way to synchronize data between an Android App and a Chrome App using Google Drive?"
There are numerous sync strategies you can employ, eg ...
Full refresh
Poll changes feed
Set up a push notification
Which is right for you depends on your specific preferences
Chrome Apps for Mobile (using the cca tool) have an implementation of chrome.syncFileSystem that will use Drive storage to sync data between a chrome desktop and hybrid android app automatically for you!
The downside is that chrome.syncFileSystem does not currently use Drive Application Data folder (it wasn't available when we implemented the API).
The upside is, if you only care about syncing data, and not necessarily how it is synced, and you already want to implement a chrome app anyway, using the cca tool should really be an awesome solution for you.
Related
I have been trying to learn how to create an app that allows people to upload images via the web or android.
I know that Android uses content providers to implement a mechanism for the sharing of data between applications. More specifically, Android uses the MediaStore API to make use of this functionality. However, that is limited to other Android devices.
I was wondering how I would go about connecting a web app made using reactjs to an Android app preferably using firebase. However, if it isn't possible in firebase that would be okay too,
I am a beginner in web app development, so I am not particularly sure about how the software's architecture will look like.
I have been struggling to find an updated concise solution online. Can anyone point me in the right direction and if not point me to some resources that will guide me in the right direction.
Thank you!
Attach/configure both of your application to use same database and storage bucket in firebase
As you can see I connected my android application as well as web administration application to same firebase project.
As you can see there is an add app option in firebase console where you can select platform. Register both of your application on same project and thats it.
I am using Ionic and Cordova to build a mobile app which will go on the iOS and Android stores. I have done this many times, and I really hate the process of having to update the app (specifically with Apple).
Would it be safe to dynamically load all of my templates and controllers from my server when the app loads, potentially caching them or having a server call to check if there is a new version? Basically, I would have all images and styles saved locally to the phone, but load the templates and controller code on app load.
And, if it was ok to do programmatically, are there any rules against this in Apple or Android's terms of use?
This is possible and there are tools like Cordova Hot Code Push to help you accomplish it. As long as you don't use this to break other app store review rules or significantly change the purpose of your app it's fine with Apple.
I am trying to understand BlobCache.UserAccount option using akavache. So far I could successfully implemented BlobCache.LocalMachine which works only offline.
Accoridng to akavache documentation;
Xamarin.iOS will may remove data, stored in BlobCache.LocalMachine, to free up disk space (only if your app is not running). The locations BlobCache.UserAccount and BlobCache.Secure will be backed up to iCloud and iTunes.
Windows 10 (UWP) will replicate BlobCache.UserAccount and BlobCache.Secure to the cloud and synchronize it to all user devices on which the app is installed
I guess this is something done automatically by the OS when you place the data into the certain folders, it is being backed up and this is what akavache is doing. Is that correct?
If yes, Is there a way to have something similar with Android. Nothing is described for Android. Is there some backup happening on google drive or we can implement easily?
I think this is iOS specific indeed. I tried to look it up into the code, but couldn't find something specific for the UserAccount. So, I think your assumption is correct. It might be for a different reason though, but I honestly think its iOS specific.
It looks like with android it doesn't store into google drive
https://github.com/akavache/Akavache/blob/master/src/Akavache/Android/AndroidFilesystemProvider.cs#L40
I haven't done that much with saving files into google drive but it doesn't seem quite as straight forward as it is on Windows or iOS. On Windows just save into a Roaming Folder and run with it. Where as with Android it seems less plug and play
https://developers.google.com/drive/android/get-started
Creating a new Android application that uses the Google Drive
Android API requires several steps.
I think in theory you could register your own IFileSystemHandler into Splat if you want to wire that connection up.
I need to create an application that does the following:
Is available for Android and iOS devices primarily, Windows phone support would be nice
Allows the user to use the app offline
Allows the user to download files (PNGs and HTMLs) from a webserver to be displayed later within the webapp (needs to be able to be viewed offline)
Doesn't require user to redownload all the PNGs and HTMLs if they clear their browser cache (would be nice if there was a way to keep them from clearing the web app cache too, but I understand if this is not possible)
What tools do I use for this? So far, I'm at HTML5 web app and I understand how to cache the site, but how do I get the files (PNGs and HTMLs) to be saved locally and not subject to being cleared should the user clear the browser cache? Is native for iOS, Android, and Windows the only way to go here?
Any help is appreciated...
If you want your app to work on multiple platforms and be available offline, your best bet would be to wrap your app in something like PhoneGap and package it up for the various platforms.
This allows for one common "HTML-based web app" code base but will require compiling for the different platforms respectively.
We will be developing a free tool for our existing customers. I have no experience with iPhone and Android but as far as I'm aware you can't just put a file online and add a download link to it.
I'm wondering what are the best options to deliver this application to our customers? Should we just place it in App Store and Android Market (even though it might confuse the people who stumble upon the app and have no idea what or who it's for)?
I'm also aware of Apple's Enterprise Program. I'm not sure how it works technically but it sounds like it can be distributed from local network only, or am I wrong? The app should be obtainable online.
Is it possible to put app in App Store/Market without making it searchable & browseable in the app list of the Store/Market but accessible via direct link only?
Thank you for any suggestions.
For iPhone you need to use the iOS Enterprise Program to create your private market as long as the devices are not jailbreaked.
For Android you can distribute the installation file (.apk file) over your website. You have to tell the users to check the option "Install apps from unknown sources" (look here) in their preferences.
It really sounds like a "mobile web app" is what you're looking for.
There are several toolkits for styling web pages to look and act like an iPhone/Android app.
The user simply navigates to your site, and you can detect if they're browsing from a mobile device and render the page(s) based on that or redirect them to device specific sites.
Users can bookmark your site to create an icon on their home screen.
If your app doesn't depend on a remote connection, you can also just do everything in Javascript and the user can use your app offline.