Rearchitecting existing Desktop application to technology that support multiple platforms - android

We recently confronted a challenge where we got to port an Existing Desktop (.NET 3.5) application (Which communicates a WCF service and a Webservice) to the technology that can meet following:
Should support IPAD
Should Support IPhone
should support Android
Should Support Window Mobile
Should be on WEB based, so that can run on DT.
Optimized in Performance.
Cool UI.
With so many technologies available to support them all. Its become a challenge for us to finalize one upon other. So far, we are thinking about a Web based application in ASP.NET MVC-4 (As we are .NET engineers). We are open for suggestions.
Thanks for your suggestions and time you devote in helping me.
Regards
Sumeet

Take a look into the MONO Project it is a open source project that aims to bring the .net framework to linux/mac os Mono Website mobile development does come with a licensing fee in order to deploy to a device or distribute the application tho there is also phonegap which lets you use javascript and html5 markup to create native cross platform applications for mobile platforms PhoneGap Website

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Management web-app and mobile version

I am building a management web application based on php + mysql, developed with CakePhp framework.
Now I have been commissioned to develop the mobile version, mainly for android and ios devices (no windows, until now...)
leaving apart that right now i have to study from scratch mobile apps development, the questions are:
I figured out that mobile version of the app cannot be written in php...i know that android is based upon java, but what about ios?
it seems that I have to develop the mobile twice (waiting for windows os request...), so the second question is if there is a tool that could help to write once and to port everywhere (it seems the original java definition...)
Cake, even early version of it, takes to themes very gracefully. Just add to your existing website a mobile-friendly template, customized a bit for your brand look, and you won't need to learn a thing about mobile apps.

Can i build an android and ios app with jquery mobile

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

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.

Example of Firefox OS cross-platform compatibility?

From what I had heard of Firefox OS, one big advantage was that you could build an offline, locally-stored "app" that works on Firefox OS, Android, (and Windows/Mac/others?) with one code-base. However, after looking at the MDN Howtos, I can't seem to find the instructions on cross-compiling for other platforms.
With the Firefox OS simulator installed, I was able to install Firefox OS apps like-native with Windows and Ubuntu, but is there a guide to creating installers for non-FirefoxOS devices, or is this just a technology preview?
Are there any good examples of cross-platform apps written in Firefox, and compiled for multiple platforms, Ubuntu store, Windows store, and/or Android Market?
If you develop a FirefoxOS app it will be relatively simple to port that into various different mobile platforms, because FirefoxOS apps are mostly standard web technologies. However, currently FirefosOS API's include some new and not yet standard API's as well that are available only in FirefoxOS, for example SystemXHR.
If you want to write an app for FirefoxOS and want to be able to compile the same codebase for Android, iOS, Blackberry etc. your best bet right now is to use Apache Cordova project. They have a nice set of command line tools that make building for various mobile platforms slightly less painful. But you should keep in mind that developing hybrid apps in this way can be pretty daunting process (each native platform has their own quirks and pain points and needs some configuration). FirefoxOS support in Cordova is pretty new, but I am sure it is already better than many native platforms.
That being said, if you are just getting started with mobile web app development, I highly recommend using FirefoxOS as a target platform. They have excellent tools that help you test and develop your app and focus on the open web technologies. FirefoxOS community support is really strong too, which I find very helpful.
For Windows/Mac/Linux/Android that Firefox Browser is reached,
you can put your webapp in Marketplace and chooce your app to support all platform.
Then you could browse Marketplace and install your webapp in Windows/Mac/Linux/Android.
Your webapp will be shown in launch menu and appear in application folder in windows/mac/linux/android. The webapp will have a standalone window, just like native application, and can be uninstalled as the native application.
That's what Mozilla called cross platform.
With web technology, you could adopt Apache Cordova for the platform that Firefox not reached out yet, though your app performance will be constrained by the supported browser engine (webview) per target system.

Deploying an application as a web application and as a native application on either Google's Android or on Apple iOS

I have a regular web based application written using JSP, HTML, Javascript. Can I use some of the mobile development platforms to deploy it as a native app on either Apples's iOS iPhone or on Android platform?
The idea is to "develop once and run everywhere" - meaning, be able to deploy the same application on multiple platforms such as Web based application, iOS based app and Android based app.
While this would be great, I am unsure if this can be done. I understand that this may be accomplished if the front end part is written in HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript. However, it would be very cumbersome to write the application front-end only using these technologies without either Java or ASP .Net.
To a point: no.
Precisely, you might be able to get a servlet container running on an Android device, but you almost certainly won't be able to pull it off on an iOS device.
Actually writing a front-end application without using server side technologies isn't that difficult with JavaScript and HTML5. Rewriting an existing application is certainly a complex project though.
The currently popular "develop once, run anywhere" platforms for mobile devices are Apache Callout (previously PhoneGap) and Appcelerator Titanium.
Callout is based on making a thin Webkit shell as a native application, and then injecting interfaces towards the phone's features into the JavaScript context of that Webkit instance. It's easier to get into than Titanium, and it is completely free.
Titanium is also JavaScript based, but partially compiles your JavaScript code into native code which is then compiled by your native development stack for each platform. The upside is somewhat more responsive program. Some features require buying a license.
Having tested both during the last two weeks, I believe that depending on such solutions at this time amounts to technological suicide. Both of these systems are slow, buggy and even require licensing. Users will recognize apps made with them and generally reward you with poor ratings and reviews on markets.

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