How does PhoneGap work? (I'm still going through all their faqs, etc.) I downloaded the andriod sdk and installed PhoneGap stuff and also got the Hello World working on the Android emulator. Now how do I port that to actually test in say on an iPhone?
Using PhoneGap you done all your work using only HTML/CSS/JavaScript. PhoneGap has different builds for different architectures and your project is just WebView for architecture you want to. Simply if you need to port your PhoneGap app for iOS you need to download project template for XCode and move all your HTML/CSS/JS code into the project. Just remember that portability of PhoneGap is just because of WebView and solid JS interfaces for different phones. You actually does not need to know what lies under PhoneGap just use WWW technologies.
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Please, am a web developer. I just built a web app for a school to manage their results and fees.
Now, i intend to build an app on android and ios so its 'easier' for both staff and students to get notifications and interact better.
Is JQuery mobile the asnwer?
Thanks for your reply
jQuery Mobile doesn't create an application for Android nor for iOS, it only makes websites look better on said platforms.
To create a real, native, application for Android you should use Android Studio. To do the same for iOS you need XCode and MAC OS X.
But, if you prefer to write websites, Apache Cordova does what you need. Allows you to create apps for any platform using your usual HTML, CSS and Javascript.
I'll drop the link here so you can check it out.
https://cordova.apache.org/
Another approach is creating a basic Android and iOS app that simply opens a web page (your website), but it is most of the time lacking in performance. If this last approach interests you, just look up "WebView" for Android, "UIWebView" for iOS (Obviously you'll need Android Studio and XCode)
EDIT
This is an old answer, now a ton of different technologies exist to build multiplatform applications, without even losing out on performance (for example, see react-native)
If you have already built the app using JQuery mobile and want to make it into an app I recommend looking at Cordova (PhoneGap) https://cordova.apache.org/
For notifications etc I found https://www.pushwoosh.com/ to have the best integration
I have a problem understanding how phonegap works and i cannot find the answer in docs.
I installed phonegap on windows and phone device and played around with codes in www/* folder.
However, when I use phonegap-build to make my android app it extracted the files from platforms/browser but not the www/*
I know it sounds stupid but should i make different apps for different devices in different folders?, i know this cannot be true. so my question is:
If I make an app inside www/index.html how can I convert them to android .apk app?
Android WebView used to display web pages in native applications. But, Phonegap is a tool which is used to develop hybrid applications using html and javascript. Don't confuse with Android webview and phonegap. Both used for different purpose. You have to use separate folder for each projects.
Converting Your Phonegap App to an Android App w/ PhoneGap
Difference between a native application and a cross-platform mobile application
I have tried some App Builder to build the mobile application such as Seattle Cloud, now I want try to build an android application without using the App Builder, but I figured out the page's extension is .HTML in the App Builder, but when I using Android Studio to build the app, the layout is using XML. I have experience to develop web application using PHP and now I want try to build an Android Application to view information from my web application, I feel confused, How should I start?
You can use Phonegap for hybrid app development using web technologies such as CSS, HTML, JavaScript and jQuery.
Other similar options available are Titanium SDK and Sencha Touch, but you will take time to get well with them. They are better than Phonegap in some areas, also device api support is available.
Whatever framework you use to build hybrid apps, you will have their respective js files and css to achieve functions. Some combine with PhoneGap in the end to use device api's, so it is better to go with PhoneGap or something like Titanium or Sencha. You may also have a look at Ionic framework, it uses AngularJS, HTML and CSS.
Use WebView. It's a view that displays web pages. You can use local html files as well as a URL. For more information:
http://developer.android.com/guide/webapps/webview.html
Android works in a very different compared to web apps. the design of the application is done in XML which will create native UI components and will be much faster the HTML counterparts.
There are different frameworks for developing an android app based on HTML/JavaScript
Sencha touch
Phonegap
Appcelerator Titanium (Although this may not be a pure HTML framework)
see: How to create an android app using HTML 5
But compared to apps based on HTML frameworks, native apps will be faster, consumes lower memory.
Visit http://developer.android.com/training/index.html to get started.
I am developing a native SDK which is integrated into a native app ("host app"). The app is calling my SDK method and this method will open a Webview (both for iOS and Android).
I looked into Phonegap as a solution, and saw that it gives me a platform for opening a Webview and communicating with the device. While this is ok, I cannot find a way to build this as the "SDK app" that I wanted, triggered by host native app, without writing the native code for that myself (duplicating my code for iOS and Android and dealing with native code).
Does Phonegap (or other platforms) have the ability to add a native logic (and not only webview) without the need to duplicate my code?
tnx!
Yaniv
PhoneGap is for developing apps. It is not really for third parties to create a library for others to use. While you can try to twist PhoneGap (and similar solutions) to serve that role, that will add extra baggage for anyone who would want to integrate with your library.
Hence, I suggest that you just create a library, sans PhoneGap.
I'm new to mobile development and since I run a PC I plan to develop in Android. I wanted to fully understand the benefits of mobile framewors, particularly PhoneGap.
If I build an Android app using PhoneGap, can I easily port that to make an iOS app using PhoneGap build?
Does PhoneGap's api allow access to all the gestures and multitouch from the native applications?
If I build an Android app using PhoneGap, can I easily port that to
make an iOS app using PhoneGap build?
yes, very easily as u just have to manage the js, html part of the app
Does PhoneGap's api allow access to all the gestures and multitouch
from the native applications?
Thats not for phonegap to do. Phonegap just opens up a webview with your html in it. After that its just js and css. Use libraries like sencha touch or jquery mobile to harness gestures and touch events.
Yes it's quite easy.
Once you've created your Android app you just need to create a PhoneGap project on Xcode and then copy/paste your www folder from your Android project to your iOS Project.
Then, maybe there will just be a few modifications to do to make it work but not that much.