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I am about to jump into Phonegap and realize that it doesn't have an IDE of its own. I know that I could use Eclipse to create Android-centric Phonegap apps, but what about the iOS and perhaps Windows Phone and perhaps Blackberry "versions" - can Eclipse be used for all of it? What do most Phonegappers use as an IDE?
Does PhoneGap Build make it possible to do it all in Eclipse, and then throw it up to the cloud for the iOS, etc., builds?
I'm currently using intel-xdk and it's been great so far. It has the ripple emulator embedded which is great to test your app quickly.
Yes, Eclipse is more than enough to target all the platforms.
Using PhoneGap Build, you could write the entire app using any text editor - no IDE required - and upload to their service. Their service handles the compilation in all the target mobile environments for you, and then provides the final files to download for each platform.
From their FAQ:
How do I get started with PhoneGap Build?
Simply upload your web assets - a ZIP file of HTML, CSS and
JavaScript, or a single index.html file - to PhoneGap Build, point us
to your Git or SVN repository. Then we’ll undertake the compilation
and packaging for you. In minutes, you’ll receive the download URLs
for all mobile platforms.
For ease of development I'd recommend installing one of the IDEs (probably whatever matches the physical devices you have for testing or prefer). This way you get IDE assistance like Intellisense, but as I said it's not strictly required to have one.
Your alternative if you want to compile for all those platforms locally is pretty ridiculous:
iOS - install Xcode
Android/BlackBerry - install Eclipse
Windows Phone - install Visual Studio
Even if all you have is a web browser you could edit your code in its repository directly through GitHub.com's web interface, and then tell PhoneGap Build to clone the repo and build, then download the builds for each device.
It seems Visual Studio would be better for someone more familiar with that:
1) http://kencenerelli.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/extending-phonegap-for-visual-studio-to-android-devices/
Excerpt:
"PhoneGap:Build. The online service can take your HTML, CSS and JavaScript files (everything the PhoneGap templates create using Visual Studio) and compile them into apps that are ready for a vendor’s app marketplace."
2) http://anindita9.wordpress.com/tag/visual-studio-phonegap/
3) - you can use Visual Studio Lightswitch and Nomad, too:
https://www.facebook.com/vslightswitch/posts/658678164147712
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/phonegap/_eNL6viCFhs
4) Also, tip on Android/Eclipse:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/phonegap/-wYLoYWwp-I
5) PhoneGap tutorials:
http://vsnomad.com/documentation/learning-phonegap.html
http://pieterderycke.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/developing-mobile-applications-with-phonegap-and-jquery-mobile/
6) PhoneGap/Cordova vs. Nomad:
http://brantleclercq.com/2012/12/15/vs-nomad-vs-phonegap-build/
UPDATE
But, for somebody more conversant/fluent with Eclipse, perhaps Aptana Studio, an open source IDE based on Eclipse but web-centric:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptana_Studio
I develop apps plus web-service backends (mostly in PHP). Some of my "apps" are designed to run as apps on phones/tablets and as Chrome plugins (or just webpages) on desktop/laptop systems.
I currently use JetBrains PHPStorm (buggy, and service isn't great, but it hassome cool IDE features and reasonably priced) and Eclipse together. In Eclipse, I have Aptana plus web tools platform, and of course the Android ADT plugins installed.
I've got another guy who does builds/plugins for iOS using a Mac/Xcode/etc.
We try to do as much debugging in browsers as we possibly can and just use the simulator/emulator (and devices) for testing plugins and other device-specific stuff.
We're just moving to PhoneGap 3 and are evaluating PhoneGap build as an alternative. (We're particularly interested in the debug capabilities. It's not clear how much they really add over what's already out there.)
It certainly sounds good on paper, but we'll have to see.
If you're doing plugin development, you'll need the appropriate system for development (PC or Mac) and testing.
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I would like to integrate notifications and bluetooth via phonegap to my web app built with famo.us. Is it possible?
Famo.us includes the Famo.us Toolbar which itself is a mod of Cordova (similar to Phonegap) and includes all of the plugins Cordova supports. It's driven from the command line.
I've emailed the CEO of Famo.us and his response was:
We are alpha testing the Famo.us Wrapper now. It's a mod of Cordova
with all of the plugins from Cordova. The difference is that it's
much more performant, especially on Android, than PhoneGap or Cordova.
To achieve better performance than the standard Android webview, you could try to wrap your application with the Crosswalk runtime, it works with famo.us:
download the Crosswalk archive, e.g. https://download.01.org/crosswalk/releases/crosswalk/android/stable/5.34.104.5/crosswalk-5.34.104.5.zip
unpack the downloaded archive
from the unpacked crosswalk folder, run ./make_apk.py --name="Your App" --package="com.example.app" --app-root=/your/app/root/folder --app-local-path=index.html
This will produce an .apk that you can install to the device.
More information: https://crosswalk-project.org
Yes,
Famo.us DOES support phoneGap. It's just HTML, CSS and javascript so it can be wrapped like anything else. The main difference is that PhoneGap and Cordova use an old version of Chromium which gives it bad performance on Android, which is why Famo.us's own wrapper will be more performant.
Specially on Android.
Right now The Famous Toolbelt has not been released publicly (only to a small subset of testers) but if you've used the Yeoman Generator you can quite easily wrap the compiled code into a normal Phonegap project. The only thing you should avoid doing is directly manipulating the DOM (i.e not using Famous to modify the layout & contents)
The rest is the same as writing any other Cordova app from a Javascript perspective. Just make sure to include and initialise Cordova and your plugins correctly beforehand.
I have tested famo.us with phonegap and it works. However the performance when starting up is terrible. Some reason phonegap takes a long time to load. But after that it works just fine. Basically these are the steps:
1. Install phonegap
2. Create the project
# phonegap create helloworld
# cd helloworld
3. Build the project
Then copy the famo.us project folder into www folder
# phonegap build ios
(or android)
Being a newbie to phonegap development I have question for which i have not been able to find the answer yet. I have developed an using Xcode and phonegap. I used the IOS simulator and my iphone as a test device. After getting the development certificate, I could install the app using Xcode on my phone to test the app. I also submitted the app to the app store via Xcode.
I obviously want to deploy my app on other platforms like the android and windows. I know I can submit the app to phonegap build and it returns me all the executable files for different platforms.
But, instead of developing the app for IOS, if I had developed the app for android, I assume that phonegap build will give me a .ipa file.
How can I submit the app developed for android using phonegap submitted to the apple store for distribution.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Great question. I think the heart of this question lies at the differences between PhoneGap and Cordova. Cordova is sometimes thought of as the Open Source version of PhoneGap, but in reality, Cordova is the Open Source core of PhoneGap.
What does this have to do with PhoneGap Build? I'm getting there. When Adobe wanted to Open Source PhoneGap, they wanted to keep the branding for a few value added features that they could monetize. The Apache foundation had them rebrand the open source version, which is now known as Cordova, and Adobe retained the rights to use PhoneGap for their value added features, one of which is PhoneGap build. The PhoneGap Build FAQ might be useful info.
But, instead of developing the app for IOS, if I had developed the app for android, I assume that phonegap build will give me a .ipa file.
Actually, no. When you're developing with XCode for iOS, XCode itself produces the .ipa based on the Cordova (PhoneGap) template project. If you were to build for Android for instance, you would produce a .apk, which is, more or less, the Android equivalent of a .ipa. If you were to develop for Windows phone, you would produce a .xap file. The one problem with you doing this yourself is that you would need to have a template project for each of the different ecosystems that you then set the configuration, and add your resources to the www folder (or equivalent). This could be tedious, and a little time consuming. To make this process a little easier for developers, in comes PhoneGap Build, designed to take care of this step for you. You give them your universal PhoneGap app, based on your HTML, CSS and JavaScript (and possibly a little money, depending on your price plan), and they return you the signed apps, ready to be submitted. Awesome!
So in reality, there is nothing in PhoneGap Build that you couldn't do yourself (given enough time and effort), but they just make it easier for you to focus on the important thing, solving your original problems, and not spending time dealing with builds.
So to answer your final question, you have two choices: Use PhoneGap build to have it generate (pretty much) everything you need for both Android and iOS (As well as others), or set up new Template Projects for each, and drop in your resources in the associated www folder, and build it yourself. Check out the PhoneGap Download and the projects for the different platforms.
If you have any questions, comment on this answer, and I'll try to update as needed.
Update 1
Yes, PhoneGap Build provides app-store ready builds (See second advantage).
Get app-store ready apps without the headache of maintaining native SDKs. We do the work for you in the cloud and your app will always be built with the most up-to-date SDK for the platform you are targeting.
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Can anyone recommend a good cloud-based IDE for Android development?
I use Eclipse/ADT on my desktop and AIDE on my Android devices, but it is a hassle to sync the two.
If there is not one available, would anyone recommend using AIDE's premium features to host my application on GIT?
I never found a good cloud-based Android IDE, but here is what I did (an idea for anyone reaching this from Google). This works with Windows, Linux, and (I think) Mac. Please confirm for others if this works for you on a Mac.
Desktop (w/ Eclipse):
Set up Dropbox
Create a new Android application project.
Uncheck the "Create Project in Workspace" option, and change the location to your Dropbox folder
Android (w/ AIDE):
Set up Dropbox sync
That's all there is to it. As long as you make sure you Dropbox before switching from desktop to Android device or vice versa, you essentially have a free, cloud-based Android IDE to develop from a desktop or an Android device.
Here's my workflow for developing for android on android:
Setup a android build server with the android sdk, ant, Ivy Or the new Gradle setup, using
an aws ec2 server or other free/cheap Cloud Server svc.
Setup dropbox Headless Install On That machine.
Setup A Git repo on that machine, put the repo inside Main Dropbox Directory.
---Home
---(User)
---Dropbox
---Repos
---App#1
Setup inotifywait on the dir the app repo Is In....
inotifywait -mr -e ATTRIB /home/user/Dropbox/path/to/repo/ |
while read dir ev file;
do
cd /home/user/Dropbox/path/to/repo;
git pull;
git add .;
git commit -m " something regarding code has changed. check .... for more info";
git push;
buildscript;
Install Dropbox On Your Android Tablet
Install a text/code Editor on Your tab like .....920 Text Editor.
So Now when you Make A code change on your tab dropbox Will Sync It obviously
And That Sync Which Is An attrib event will trigger a Bunch Of Scripts...git Stuff and The Build stuff and any other Scripts You Desire.
The Final apk That The Build Script Created will Be Saved To Your app Project Directory Which is in your Dropbox so Installing/testing on Your Tab is seemless And You Can Have Others Test Your Apk By sharing That folder With them Thru dropbox
Hooking the Code to a Git Repo is Cool B/c you Can Use a service like cloudbees To then build And Test your apk. Aswell As, have the Apk sent To Distributors And other cool services.
Hi I'd like to know how to compile an app source code on an android platform?
I know it's possible because I saw some apps that are doing it...
Thanx ahead!
I think what you are asking for is a way to compile android apps on an android device.
the way an app like this new IDE does.
If so what you would need to do is to take an open source java compiler such as the ejc (the Java compiler used within Eclipse) and use it to compile your java source. You would then need to port the dalvik compiler to be able to run, in order to generate dex from the class files generated by the java compiler.
An interview with he developers of AIDE has a little bit more info on how they did it.
UPDATE:
Actually I just came across an open source project which provides similar functionality but based on using vim and the existing SDK cli tools ported to run on a an android device. The project is hosted here.
UPDATE 2:
I found yet another open source project that also does on device compile/build which I think should provide you with examples of what you are trying to do...
More specifically, if you look in IDE.java, you can see how the individual tools (ejc, dx, aapt) are called/used.
Possible in a number of ways...
There have been apps - proprietary & open source - built for the purpose. I am not sure if these apps will be at least near the production quality. But they work:
It mainly depends on language you are writing - since cross platform app development is also possible on Android.
• Java: Java N-IDE, AIDE
• JavaScript: NativeScript CLI, Appcelerator Titanium CLI, Apache Cordova via CLI. [All these can be installed via node.js package manager (npm) which in turn can be installed via Dory NodeJS, GNURoot Debian or Termux apps..
• Linux CLI utilities can be installed on Android simply with a terminal shell or GNURoot / Termux. You can also Emulate complete PC OS using Limbo PC Emulator / Bochs [Although they should be lightweight]. In theory, by this way you should be able to use almost all Android development utilities. But Storage, memory & performance constraints come to play..
• There are other apps & web services for hobbyists: eg: Sketchware, DroidScript, Appy Pie, Monaca, PhoneGap Build and many others.... But don't expect professional quality apps using them..
Say I'm a windows dev, familiar with Visual Studio and with a need of developing an Andriod app. I looked at both the andriod and wp7 getting started guides, but found the windows phone version http://phonegap.com/start/#wp guide much simpler than the Android version (of course, as a windows dev I have already everything installed).
Then comes my question:
Could I develop my app using the Windows Phone environment, and then use the PhoneGap Build services to get the Android version build?
In case, what should I upload to the build service?
Sorry if I got this all wrong, and thanks for any help!
Larsi
The whole idea of phonegap is to develop a multi platform app writing the code once.
So the answer is yes, you should be able to build the app for wp, and then re-use your code for all the other platforms, only if you onlyuse the phonegap API and do all your programming in JS, HTML and CSS.
About what you should upload, I haven't doned it myself, but I think that It would have to be all the JS, HTML and CSS from your app. In android all is located on a folder called "assets".
Good Luck!