Can Windows Azure Mobile Services provide access to native mobile device functions? - android

I have a few project requirements for hybrid mobile apps. And in the quest of best thing I came across the Windows Mobile services. But my concern is whether it is providing any API for accessing native device function such as the camera or accelerometer along with Push Notifications.
I appreciate if any one can reply to my question as soon as possible.

No.
Windows Azure Mobile Service is just for Client-Server communication, implementing data backend, full CRUD operations, and authentication.
Windows Azure Mobile Services is not cross-platform mobile application development solution. It is cross platform mobile development helper/sdk/add-in to help with data and authentication. For the rest, you have to chose the cross platform development environment from the wide range of such platforms: PhoneGap, Icenium, Xamarin to name a few.
Please note that none of the currently existing platforms (that I know) for cross-platform development currently provides the services that are available via Windows Azure Mobile Services. If you need to store data on a server, if you need to authenticate your mobile users - then you have to implement these features yourself, or use Azure Mobile Services in addition to the platform of your choice.

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How to test mobile apps on Azure platform?

I have a mobile app written native for each platform(Android, IOS and windows).
I want to test my application on a cloud based real mobile devices using Microsoft's Azure platform. I have no Idea if Azure provides such service.
Does Azure provides mobile app testing on real mobile devices for apps written on native code for IOS, Android and windows ?
Does Azure provides mobile app testing on real mobile devices for apps written on cross platform codebase(Xamrin, phonegap, ionic etc) for IOS, Android and windows ?
Please provide the link and name of the service.
I do not want to host any web apps or the matter of fact I do not want any other service from Microsoft like the Saas etc. I just want a plain mobile app testing service from Azure.
Does Azure support all the platforms. Please provide me a link for the proof.
Thank in Advance :)
Azure does not provide testing services for mobile apps.
One of the better app testing services out there is Xamarin Test Cloud. Feel free to check it out here - https://www.xamarin.com/test-cloud

Is it possible to use Nodejs in mobile application?

I already did some applications in computer using Nodejs and Mongodb. Is it possible for me to use this projects and run in mobile platforms. Or should I write all the project in Android starting from the scratch?
This question is kind of vague. A mobile application would be written natively (iOS, Android, maybe Xamarin or Unity for cross-platform), or could be written as a web app (a HTML5 web page), and turned into a "mobile app" via PhoneGap, Cordova, Crosswalk or just opening a web browser.
As far as running nodejs and mongo natively on the device, you need to explain more. Those are server-side technologies and I'm not sure why you'd want them on a mobile device. So the answer is "no" without it just being some tech experiment.
Can mobile apps talk to and utilize your Node server application? Absolutely!
Any apis specific to these platforms won't work within mobile application.
There is plugin on-boards very limited NodeJS apis by translating them to their native equivalents.
For Example : NativeScript-Nodeify

Decide concerning the technology I should use for developing an Android app based on an eCommerce domain

I need to develop an application related to C2C communication in which manufacturers can directly start communicating with retailers for bulk orders and maintain the order in an easy and fast way. Please suggest what framework i can use. For example: Native android developement, PhoneGap, Appcelerator Titanium.
PhoneGap: I have read that you cannot provide rich interactive applications and that it's not good in communicating with Android native apis.
Appcelerator Titanium: I need to purchase it and it requires a lot of money to develop an application.
Native development API: I have to provide a lot of time and it will be hard to communicate with my database and my web application using web services and it will be for the Android apps only
Which should I use for my app?
I'd say it depends on:
Your skills...
HTML: PhoneGap, Titanium (our Alloy MVC uses XML)
JS: Titanium, PhoneGap
JAVA: JAVA
Your plans...
One platform: Android
Multiple platforms: Titanium, PhoneGap
Your requirements...
Good UX: Titanium, Android
Titanium is open source and free (appcelerator.org) but we do provide paid (starting at $39/month) services, including Arrow, which is great to quickly build mobile web services to connect apps with any remote data source.
When you only want to develop an Android app you should use the native API. It offers most features, the better documentation (IMO) and is easier (and therefore cheaper) to maintain. Additionally it should be easy to communicate with databases and/or web APIs.
The only advantage Titanium offers is the multiple platform support. But when you only want to develop for Android use the native APIs.

front-end technology stack for e-commerce applications

I am planning to develop an ecommerce application for web browsers and mobile platforms. I am a java developer. I will prefer java as a backend technology but I am not confident which technologies are best for front-end.
can anyone tell me which technologies are best suitable for front-end for below platforms:
1. browsers web application
2. android app
3. ios app
First of all, AFAIK you should choose those technologies that will help you be more productive!
According to me, native-fan, I suggest you use PhoneGap (CSS, HTML5 + Javascript FRAMEWORK) for your purpose.
PhoneGap helps you to write one application which you will deploy for android ios or browser. You may also need to adjust your UI Features (such as width/height etc) to match a given device.

iOS/Android Syncing with Delphi/C# Desktop Application

Not sure if this is the correct Stack Exchange website but here goes..
A client has asked me to look into the possibility of having a iOS or Android App for typing in information storing that in a SQLLite database and then syncing up with the main desktop application when plugged in by cable or something other syncing technology.
The desktop application is a Windows one written currently in Delphi 7.
Are there any API's to sync data from a SQLLite database on iOS/Android that Delphi can use?
If not, then would it be better if the desktop application was written in C# as its a newer language that can consume the API's easier?
For unidirectional sync (device to desktop), I would start with a simple web service (HTTP based). The new Web Sockets standard, also based on HTTP, is a little more complicated, but would allow for bidirectional communication.
The devices can HTTP POST database changes to the server, and the desktop client can pull new data (using HTTP GET) or receive push notifications, for example using a Web Sockets client.
For desktop to device you could also check out Apple Push Notifications and the corresponding Android technology.
For high availability I recommend a cloud-based solution like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Google App Engine (GAE) or Azure.
This question is rather broad, there are many things you could do here. There aare so many technologies to use it's blinding.
The prevailing technique for transferring information from mobile devices is REST (over http).
You could also whip something up rather swiftly in node.js or WFC to create a service to collect information from the mobile devices.
I'm not sure about Delphi libraries available but perhaps by including REST in your search term you may have more luck. You may want to take a look at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3959851/using-rest-with-delphi for a start.
The mobile side may be more tricky. If you are developing for multiple devices you may wish to explore the cross platform developer framework by PhoneGap as there seems to be a few projects that aim to sync local databases to the cloud. How you tie these together will be an interesting task.
Good luck!!!

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