how can i get and istall apps on a jailbrocken wp7?! - Windows Phone 7 General

now the wp7 is jailbrocken we are able to install apps but where can we get some ...and how do we install apps ?

well i've found out that you can deploy apps from visual basic express for windows phone directly to your phone when it's unlocked.
so if some of the app developers can upload their apps as a visual basic project you can deploy it to your phone.
Yesterday i've downloaded some apps from the apps hub of MS and deployed it to my phone.
Just for testing purpose but they work
Now it's time for me to learn to create programs, but i don't know what to create
i''ve made the standard apps from visual basic express, but they aren't very usefull...

The chevronwp7 tool has 2 purposes and not the third...
1. For developers to test their apps without needing to pay the developer fee, this is more beneficial for those regions that don't yet have a way to pay for a developer account, but want to start working on it anyways
2. For apps that may use native code which won't get into market place, and in this case they can provide the xap which you can deploy.
In these two and all other cases, no developer in their right mind would hand out their intellectual property (their source code) unless they were doing it for others to learn from. Especially with a paid application, why would they give the source code out when it is in the market place?
The creators of chevronwp7 have already stated that this will not help in loading paid apps from market place either.
Hope this clears things up for you.

I have no intention to "steal" apps from their developers.
I just want to create my own programs, and learn from others.
There are dozens of free apps in the marketplace, and there were plenty of developers in the time of wm 6.5 which were programming for fun, and release their apps here on XDA so others can benefit from.
I think when time goes by these developers will release their apps here, because of the fee MS charges for developers to release the apps on marketplace.
So if your app is free, why not release the xap? No hassle with marketplace and native codes, and people who aren't interested in the code won't even think to look at the code.
I hope I made my point clear, it's not to install paid apps for free, but to help the developers who don't have acces to marketplace.

yea, which was it's original intent which is good. though given that chevronWP7 has now been taken down by it's creators we have to wait and see as to what they're doing with MS. MS has started negotiations with them to try and encourage the homebrew. lets see what happens of it all.

mtem1985 said:
well i've found out that you can deploy apps from visual basic express for windows phone directly to your phone when it's unlocked.
so if some of the app developers can upload their apps as a visual basic project you can deploy it to your phone.
Yesterday i've downloaded some apps from the apps hub of MS and deployed it to my phone.
Just for testing purpose but they work
Now it's time for me to learn to create programs, but i don't know what to create
i''ve made the standard apps from visual basic express, but they aren't very usefull...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure developers will release commercial apps in source form Even *most* free app developers won't do it, because of the way others like to copy code and create redundant apps. That has never been a popular trend on any mobile OS, and I don't see it becoming such.
@ OP: The unlock that came out for WP7 is not a jailbreak. It does nothing but allow you to use you device to test and deploy applications, instead of the emulator.

Related

OEM SDK

I've gone to a couple WP7 training courses and whenever the developers ask about having access to parts of the OS and things of that nature, the microsoft rep mentions theres a OEM SDK. That SDK is unavailble to normal developers and only available to OEMs. If any very resourceful xda members got ahold of that SDK and leaked it, we would see some very interesting apps! It would be a great start to a jailbroken/rooted app store or something of that nature. Just offer all the great apps that wouldn't normally get approved by MSFT. ie wifi tethering, emulators....
Unless you can magically make sideloading happen, this will not work.
Skatingn330 said:
[...] It would be a great start to a jailbroken/rooted app store or something of that nature. Just offer all the great apps that wouldn't normally get approved by MSFT. ie wifi tethering, emulators....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that the OP is counting on some kind of "jailbreak" will solve that problem
(and so am I)
Actually if you have your phone registered as a dev phone, you kind of have a jailbroken one. Because you have the freedom to put any xap on you want.
It's just going to be the standard WindowsCE dev environment, right? All the WinCE libraries are on the phone, anyway. If you have Visual Studio, I think you can download the WindowsCE version from Microsoft, at least the trial version. Look around, you'll find it.
There's still a limit on the number of apps you can load. I believe it's 10 apps.
Skatingn330 said:
Actually if you have your phone registered as a dev phone, you kind of have a jailbroken one. Because you have the freedom to put any xap on you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Iridox said:
Unless you can magically make sideloading happen, this will not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, but it will still require you to stay in the silverlight/XNA jailbox, right?

.XAP Marketplace apps free (illegal) downloadable?

According to WPcentral:
Sounds like an innocent blog that reviews apps right? Well the concerns from the Twitter posts is that not only does the site review apps but it also contains download links for the .xap file that is residing on Microsoft's servers.
Even if you download the .xap file, it's going to take some effort to get it installed to your Windows Phone 7.
You will need the developer tools and device that is unlocked for development. While the developer tools are free, you have to be a registered developer to get an unlocked device. You CAN however download the .xap and rename it as a .zip and look at the structure of the app, though we're 99% sure that the real "code" of the app is compiled/encoded/encrypted.
Not many will be able to do much with this downloadable file. That is unless you're a developer looking to download free apps from other developers. Still, one has to wonder why it's so easy for a third party site to provide download links to Marketplace apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are talking about the website: http://winmobile7.apphab.com/
Kind of a strange site. They are offering free downloads of paid marketplace applications. Unless you are a developer, you can't do anything with it. But it's still strange...
This sounds like a good way to get in a lot of trouble. I would bet Microsoft can see what apps are installed when the phone checks for marketplace app updates even if you side load it as a developer.
And its still live and offering files to download. Shoddy MS security on display, extremely troubling for devs.
Hopefully Microsoft will look into that site and any similar sites.
We cant have developers loosing money because of these people.
I can't see where you download apps - if its real why not post a link on http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsphone7/threads ?
It says it's for free and trial versions. Isn't it pointless to provide download files anyway since you can only install apps via the Marketplace?
****, they have my app on there, not happy
my app does support trial, I'm not seeing anything about xap downloads, hopefully this means the breach has been fixed and not that I'm looking in the wrong place
I don't mind free publicity, but I put many hours into that and don't want it spread around in such a way (free, unauthorized downloads, raw code)
Definitely not cool for developers. One issue is that all the apps are silverlight and are only compiled to MSIL. Pop open the binaries with Reflector and you've basically got the source code. All devs should utilize Dotfuscator to at least help with this.
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...-with-preemptive-solutions-for-analytics.aspx
ckacey said:
my app does support trial, I'm not seeing anything about xap downloads, hopefully this means the breach has been fixed and not that I'm looking in the wrong place
I don't mind free publicity, but I put many hours into that and don't want it spread around in such a way (free, unauthorized downloads, raw code)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like the site that had the links (http://winmobile7.apphab.com) took down the link to the XAPs but I bet the issue is still there. It was a pretty simple URL to the Microsoft server. You just had to know the application's GUID and you could download the XAP.
I don't see how this makes them free... you can easily see you need a registered dev device, I doubt it makes the app "free" because there is a fee you must pay.
efjay said:
And its still live and offering files to download. Shoddy MS security on display, extremely troubling for devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft can check your device and see if you have pirated software on it, just like they do for XBox live. They already have the infrastructure in place and if you pirate be prepared to have your phone banned from Marketplace, Zune, XBox Live, etc.
RustyGrom said:
Definitely not cool for developers. One issue is that all the apps are silverlight and are only compiled to MSIL. Pop open the binaries with Reflector and you've basically got the source code. All devs should utilize Dotfuscator to at least help with this.
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...-with-preemptive-solutions-for-analytics.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any decent develper will Obfuscate the code. If they didn't, they were kind of asking for it since it's hot hard to intercept data being downloaded over WiFi, etc. The fact that it can only come from the market was never enough to stop people from getting their hands on the files downloaded from said market.
It's no different than any other platform that uses a VM architecture (Android, WP7, WM 6.x .NET CF, Java ME, etc.).
I found my own app there. I don't however see a download link?
--edit: Nvm, should've read the thread to its end.
What is the URL? To replace with GUID or XAP filename? Could always use archive.org.
i guys!i have a mega pack xap installers with games and apps.
i poste for everyone previous.
sorry bad english...
cmpts
is a method to decrypt files xap
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34246750&postcount=3

Windows Phone 7 DRM for Apps Cracked with Proof of Concept Program [Video]!

Security is an important aspect of anything that gets used by anyone, at any given moment around the world. For developers of applications that get purchased through a digital storefront, like Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, making sure that it’s not easy, next to impossible in fact, to steal apps and put them on a device free-of-charge is just as important. But, as WPCentral reports, it looks like the Digital Rights Management (DRM) security tools set in place by Microsoft have been cracked!
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Fortunately, though, the program that is being used to do so is not known to the general public. In point of fact, the “white hat” developer that created it is just showing it as a proof of concept. If the program were to make it out into the world, then it would be possible for some people out there to strip the DRM from applications available in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, and then download them for free.
As of the time of this writing, Microsoft hasn’t made an official comment regarding the security hole. WPCentral has been in contact with Brandon Watson from Microsoft, but so far they have not heard back from him. The video demonstrating the proof of concept program making short work of DRM for the Windows Phone 7 applications can be viewed below.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=flqB9WCkGiQ
The depressing thing is it's so disturbingly easy. I stumbled on it getting HTC Apps to work on my Samsung, and it's far too easy. I think it'll probably be a matter of time before piracy becomes public on WP7, so to speak.
And for any doubters as to whether it is genuine (seen a few in my travels) - It works. A paid-for, commercial application running in the Windows Phone 7 emulator, after being deployed from a cracked XAP.
Still, it's good to see that WP7 seems to attract the sort of user that isn't a rabid pirate. Despite the ground being laid for some time, and despite people having independently developed methods of piracy, No-one has yet put such information into the public domain, seeking a way of solving the problems, rather than exploiting them.
Microsoft have made an official comment, by email to every developer, on the 16th November, titled "Windows Phone 7 App Protection". It included a white paper on the topic which pretty much said it was easy to steal apps but was a limited risk because of a developer unlocked phone is needed, a limit to how many side loaded apps, basically a couple of steps which would turn off the casual pirate.
I suppose what's new here is a simple one click tool that exploits MS's oversight in this statement: "all signed applications on an unlocked phone still require a license acquired through Marketplace to run". Basically they didn't realise that if you strip the signature, no license is required.
Another thing is they shouldn't have made paid apps on unsecured URLs, they should have put more effort into a secure download system like Apple or pretty much anyone else has.
I guess the main problem, that was a fatal flaw in the design of the platform, is they don't allow native apps only .NET apps, which means almost every single app available can easily be decompiled back to source form. It's a much bigger problem if other developers can steal your code than a few users stealing your app. It's for this reason WP7 can't be taken seriously as a development platform. Oh also it means 3rd party apps launch too slow compared to the built in ones, 1 minute to launch Tetris what a joke.
If you could somehow exclude the paid apps from this "FreeMarketplace" it would be really helpful for people who live in countries where the marketplace isn't as good content wise as in the usa.
That way everyone could download those free apps without the region problems.
These are just my thoughts on this. I'm not a developer or anything so I don't really know if this is actually possible without hurting the developers in any way.
indiekiduk said:
Microsoft have made an official comment, by email to every developer, on the 16th November, titled "Windows Phone 7 App Protection". It included a white paper on the topic which pretty much said it was easy to steal apps but was a limited risk because of a developer unlocked phone is needed, a limit to how many side loaded apps, basically a couple of steps which would turn off the casual pirate.
I suppose what's new here is a simple one click tool that exploits MS's oversight in this statement: "all signed applications on an unlocked phone still require a license acquired through Marketplace to run". Basically they didn't realise that if you strip the signature, no license is required.
Another thing is they shouldn't have made paid apps on unsecured URLs, they should have put more effort into a secure download system like Apple or pretty much anyone else has.
I guess the main problem, that was a fatal flaw in the design of the platform, is they don't allow native apps only .NET apps, which means almost every single app available can easily be decompiled back to source form. It's a much bigger problem if other developers can steal your code than a few users stealing your app. It's for this reason WP7 can't be taken seriously as a development platform. Oh also it means 3rd party apps launch too slow compared to the built in ones, 1 minute to launch Tetris what a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still need a dev unlocked device to sideload the cracked apps. Chevron7 doesn't really do the job as the phone relocks itself every week? which gets a bit annoying and might put people off, and also delete all the sideloaded apps with it. Imagine that, all your save games, app settings and history being reset every week.
Unless someone improves on Chevron7 I don't think piracy is much of a danger.
thats a great revolution, wp is now jailbreaked )) have funnn
digger1985 said:
You still need a dev unlocked device to sideload the cracked apps. Chevron7 doesn't really do the job as the phone relocks itself every week? which gets a bit annoying and might put people off, and also delete all the sideloaded apps with it. Imagine that, all your save games, app settings and history being reset every week.
Unless someone improves on Chevron7 I don't think piracy is much of a danger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it relocks, it doesn't delete any sideloaded apps, it just prompts you to uninstall when you attempt to run them (though you can escape from the prompt of course). Also, you can avoid it relocking by putting the phone in Flight Mode before syncing.
hounsell said:
I stumbled on it getting HTC Apps to work on my Samsung, and it's far too easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THAT is very useful. Sharing HTC, LG and Samsung oem apps across platforms should be allowed.
hounsell said:
If it relocks, it doesn't delete any sideloaded apps, it just prompts you to uninstall when you attempt to run them (though you can escape from the prompt of course). Also, you can avoid it relocking by putting the phone in Flight Mode before syncing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any chance of sharing the (Free) HTC Youtube app? That's the only I desire desperately.
This "proof of concept" shows only one thing (according to youtube video) - guys intercepted search requests from Zune, parse the responce and make a simple app to duplicate Zune's functionality. Anyone who can spend 30 minutes to WireShark and couple hours for coding can do the same app (actually, I've already posted a direct URL's to the marketplace apps on this forum).
As far as I understand, that's it, nothing more. No DRM crack, no "apps cracked", no "security hole" - just nothing!
As for .NET apps vulnerability: does anybody here have an experience to disassemble and compile back a really complicated and large application, obfuscated by the latest commercial version of Dotfuscator (actually, the wp7 devs can obtain it for free until March 2011)? I've tried once (of course I'm not a "some hat - white or black, just a pro developer)... Results are negative. In theory it's possible but... We saw a lot (no, A LOT!) of commercial native apps for win32, mac etc. successfully cracked and hacked. Just visit any pirate tracker for proof. So, it's not a "big .NET problem".
digger1985 said:
Any chance of sharing the (Free) HTC Youtube app? That's the only I desire desperately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without real hack (hacking license verification etc.) it's not possible. Simple downloader described here as "WP7 ultimate crack" can't help. If you want you may search my posts here, I've already posted direct link to HTC's youtube xap...
I think it's real.
Another guy also did the same
http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/70704.aspx
He cracked an app on request and loaded into the emulator.
sensboston said:
Without real hack (hacking license verification etc.) it's not possible. Simple downloader described here as "WP7 ultimate crack" can't help. If you want you may search my posts here, I've already posted direct link to HTC's youtube xap...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe Hounsell managed to run the HTC stocks app on a Samsung
http://www.neowin.net/news/htc-wp7-app-ported-to-other-wp7-hardware
digger1985 said:
I think it's real
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Real what? Read my post above... If someone "hacked" non-obfuscated small application by removing or blocking IsTrial() requests, it's not a real hack.
Ask this guy to "hack" NeedForSpeed Undercover ;-)
sensboston said:
As for .NET apps vulnerability: does anybody here have an experience to disassemble and compile back a really complicated and large application, obfuscated by the latest commercial version of Dotfuscator (actually, the wp7 devs can obtain it for free until March 2011)? I've tried once (of course I'm not a "some hat - white or black, just a pro developer)... Results are negative. In theory it's possible but... We saw a lot (no, A LOT!) of commercial native apps for win32, mac etc. successfully cracked and hacked. Just visit any pirate tracker for proof. So, it's not a "big .NET problem".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't see any source code for commercial native apps because there are no automatic tools that do it, but you can see source code for all WP7 apps, using a free utility called Reflector. You choose the app, and it generates a visual studio project containing the code, simple as that.
In my experience developers don't readily use .NET obfuscators because they generally introduce instability which leads to increased development time.
indiekiduk said:
You didn't see any source code for commercial native apps because there are no automatic tools that do it, but you can see source code for all WP7 apps, using a free utility called Reflector.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? HexRays has an ARM decompiler which can produce readable C. It is possible to get back to similar to the source equivalent (with a lot of manual tweaking). If MS used a strong packer on the native code then it would make reversing it much harder/time consuming. At the end of the day it still needs to execute.
I've used .NET Reflector for years (and I do have another one, for Java/.NET written by my friend - sorry, can't announce it here).
My question is: have you ever tried to disassemble and re-assemble big, obfuscated application? Or you just theorizing? I did, and it's very complicated/not possible (at least by using Reflector tool only). This method is good for small non-obfuscated application only.
For the topic: here is my "proof of concept"
- use this url to browse Zune market for apps:
http://catalog.zune.net/v3.2/en-US/apps?q=Ebook Reader&clientType=WinMobile 7.0&store=zest
replace Ebook%20Reader to any your search term, don't exactly know about "store" field and en-US. You'll get an XML in response with found apps info.
To get an app full download url, I believe, you'll need some additional requests but I don't have time (and interest!) now to play with Wireshark and track Zune's and WP marketplace requests...
sensboston said:
This "proof of concept" shows only one thing (according to youtube video) - guys intercepted search requests from Zune, parse the responce and make a simple app to duplicate Zune's functionality. Anyone who can spend 30 minutes to WireShark and couple hours for coding can do the same app (actually, I've already posted a direct URL's to the marketplace apps on this forum)
As for .NET apps vulnerability: does anybody here have an experience to disassemble and compile back a really complicated and large application, obfuscated by the latest commercial version of Dotfuscator (actually, the wp7 devs can obtain it for free until March 2011)? I've tried once (of course I'm not a "some hat - white or black, just a pro developer)... Results are negative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? You should be able to decompile it and recomplie it with Reflector though, right? Even if the actual meaning of the code is hard to deduce after that point.....The CIL is stack-based, so you should be able to break it up into functions if nothing else.....
sensboston said:
This "proof of concept" shows only one thing (according to youtube video) - guys intercepted search requests from Zune, parse the responce and make a simple app to duplicate Zune's functionality. Anyone who can spend 30 minutes to WireShark and couple hours for coding can do the same app (actually, I've already posted a direct URL's to the marketplace apps on this forum)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, this guy is lame. Let's ignore him and get back to work getting real stuff done.
n0psl3d said:
It is possible to get back to similar to the source equivalent (with a lot of manual tweaking) ... At the end of the day it still needs to execute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This ^^
Reflector is great, but it's not a one-stop-recompile-shop. It still takes a massive amount of restructuring to get even an un-obfuscated application back together.
Also, WP7 business logic is almost always in the cloud. For 90% of applications, XAPs are basically just UIs - especially with the intense restrictions imposed on development right now.
digger1985 said:
Any chance of sharing the (Free) HTC Youtube app? That's the only I desire desperately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got it running, but it doesn't function at the moment because HTC decided to use their own native functions tied to their driver, rather than the inbuilt .NET classes. All the network requests the app makes fails. Thinking of possible ways round this, but it would probably end up being so much work, it might just be quicker to create a clone.
Blade0rz said:
This ^^
Reflector is great, but it's not a one-stop-recompile-shop. It still takes a massive amount of restructuring to get even an un-obfuscated application back together.
Also, WP7 business logic is almost always in the cloud. For 90% of applications, XAPs are basically just UIs - especially with the intense restrictions imposed on development right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Reverse-engineering, and even modifying an existing app is one thing in Reflector, but copy/pasting code will never work in large quantities, it's just not that accurate in my experience. So sure, your tips and tricks might not be safe, but your app as a whole isn't going to be just duplicated and reuploaded to the marketplace.
Of course, "cracked" for piracy is a whole other matter.

question about chevronwp7

Erm sorry but can someone explain to me what's chevronwp7 in simple words? I know it's like a jail break or something and it can sideload apps or something. can someone explain to me these few things:
1) what's sideloading?
2) are there any risks involved using it?
3) does it allow me to download any apps from the marketplace or something? if not, what can I do with it?
sorry I'm kind of a noob about wp7. just asking this coz I was thinking of getting a new phone, either android or wp7. Thanks in advance!
This really belongs more in the Q&A forum, but...
Sideloading is the process of installing an application onto your phone directly from a PC, instead of using the marketplace. Apps for sideloading are packaged in ZIP files with the extension changed to XAP. They work almost exactly like marketplace apps (there are a few small differences).
In order to sideload applications, your phone needs to be developer-unlocked. There are multiple ways to do this. ChevronWP7 Unlocker, which only works on the first two versions on WP7 (not on any build 7389 or higher), is an unofficial technique, which some have referred to as jailbreaking. There are other techniques, such as registering for a marketplace developer account (or getting help from somebody who has registered), or using the forthcoming ChevronWP7 Labs (same guys, different project), or using the registry editor built into LG phones. That's all that dev-unlock is, incidentally - a registry edit. It is a perfectly normal change, nothing close to the level of lackery of jailbreaking in iPhone.
Technically, there are no risks to dev-unlocking your phone, although I suppose using some of the unofficial methods do carry risks if done incorrectly. However, there are definitely risks to sideloading applications. Sideloaded apps can make changes to your phone - in some cases, big changes, potentially including malware or making your phone not work - and they haven't gone through the verification process that Microsoft uses to keep harmful software out of the marketplace. In general, the apps published through XDA-Developers are reputable, but there is no guarantee. Even an app that is not intended to be harmful could mess something up by accident. I and some other developers post the source code to our apps, partially as a way of allowing people to check and ensure that our apps do only what they say they do.
Developer-unlocking does not allow you to install marketplace apps without paying for them. That's not at all what this forum is about, and asking about it is not a good idea - at best, you'll probably just get the thread locked. Please go elsewhere if you want to talk piracy.
What sideloading is useful for is installing apps that, for whatever reason, Microsoft doesn't allow in the marketplace. These apps range from small tweaks to the phone (adding a custom theme color or changing notification sounds, for example), to adding features that aren't officially available (things like Internet tethering for a PC), to opening up the phone's security completely and allowing you to do nearly whatever you want with it.
I hope that answers your questions. As to WP7 vs. Android, that really depends on what you want out of the phone. In either case, it's not a good topic of discussion for the development and hacking forum.
so in a way, chevronwp7 enables the phone be able to download third-party apps from the net? like how android can download .apk files?
Right now, ChevronWP7 Unlocker typically doesn't enable anything - it hasn't worked since the first versions of WP7, nearly a year ago. If you have a really old phone or flash a really old ROM, I guess you could still use it.
However, you're correct that developer-unlocking a phone (which is what ChevronWP7 Unlocker did) allows you to download third-party apps off the Internet (or develop them on your own PC) and install them to the phone using USB. Unless you're using a custom ROM, you can't install them straight to the phone; instead you use one of the many XAP deployment tools.
WP7 application packages are files with the .XAP extension (I believe it originally stood for "XNA Application Package). I believe they are similar to Android's .APK files, though I haven't actually cracked one of those open to look.

How to create an Android app using HTML, CSS and JavaScript

Hello, I have a question on Android development. Personally, I know web development but I do not know JAVA programming because I am not into software development.
I want to develop an android app by using HTML5, CSS3 and JQuery Mobile. The app will be simple, it will be just an app on poetry where users will click some categories and read poems, and also search. That's all. It will be free, no registration, no ads and no server side. I want to use JQuery Mobile for this or even pure HTML5 and CSS3. In fact, HTML and CSS will be used of course.
Bear in ind that I am NOT converting an existing website into an app, but rather creating an app through HTML, CSS and JavaScript. So, the Web View tool is not appropriate here.
My questions are:
1/ Can we really create an APK with obly HTML, CSS or JavaScript?
2/ If we can create, what software (which is free) can I use to create the APK by compiling/converting my web pages?
Thank!
ali20142014 said:
Hello, I have a question on Android development. Personally, I know web development but I do not know JAVA programming because I am not into software development.
I want to develop an android app by using HTML5, CSS3 and JQuery Mobile. The app will be simple, it will be just an app on poetry where users will click some categories and read poems, and also search. That's all. It will be free, no registration, no ads and no server side. I want to use JQuery Mobile for this or even pure HTML5 and CSS3. In fact, HTML and CSS will be used of course.
Bear in ind that I am NOT converting an existing website into an app, but rather creating an app through HTML, CSS and JavaScript. So, the Web View tool is not appropriate here.
My questions are:
1/ Can we really create an APK with obly HTML, CSS or JavaScript?
2/ If we can create, what software (which is free) can I use to create the APK by compiling/converting my web pages?
Thank!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll need to go through the (sometimes painful) installation of Eclipse/Android Developer Tools and the Android SDK...
https://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/bundle.html
After that you can then do exactly what you are asking for with this...
http://cordova.apache.org/
I'm using that technology to create professional apps (as in, commercial apps for customers) using HTML5 & CSS, Javascript, jQuery and I opt for Bootstrap over jQuery Mobile as it's a lot lighter, but jQuery Mobile works fine with it too.
There's also PhoneGap, but that's just a rebranding of Cordova at the moment. They may branch out in different directions at some point, but at the moment there's no difference. The only advantage to PhoneGap is that you can point it at your source on GitHub and it will build online for you. Very handy if you want to do pure online development, but a bit messy.
Thank you for replying. I think I will try with the PhoneGap and Eclipse as you suggested. I have other questions:
1/ Even the APK will be developed using just HTML, CSS and JavaScript, how to notify the user an update is available through a notification method? I am not asking for tutorials, but just the steps.
2/ As you know, to view the source code of a website, a user will right click and view. As the APK will be developed using client side languages, will they be able to view the source codes in any other way apart decompiling?
ali20142014 said:
Thank you for replying. I think I will try with the PhoneGap and Eclipse as you suggested. I have other questions:
1/ Even the APK will be developed using just HTML, CSS and JavaScript, how to notify the user an update is available through a notification method? I am not asking for tutorials, but just the steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your best bet is to let Google Play Store do all that for you. It means paying for a developer account, but it's not expensive and it means that people can get your app from the Play Store, which looks a lot more credible than a link and instructions how to allow 3rd party apps. Also, you push an update to the Play Store, and that pushes the update to all your users. You can't really ask for better than that.
ali20142014 said:
2/ As you know, to view the source code of a website, a user will right click and view. As the APK will be developed using client side languages, will they be able to view the source codes in any other way apart decompiling?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They can't do anything as simple as "View source" as all the files are embedded in the application, but they can decompile it and get at your source that way, but there's nothing to stop someone doing that with an APK anyway. They best thing would be to develop your app till your happy with it, and then obfuscate the crap out of the html, css & js files. Sure someone could decompile the app and get your source, but they'd really struggle to do anything with it.
Have a play with it and see if it's any good for you. It really does make it simple for a developer with web experience to make apps.
Also, if this is of any use, I made a guide for developing and building Phonegap Android apps purely online, without any SDK or IDE installation. It's not ideal as debugging would be a nightmare. I mostly made it as reference for myself, but check it out anyway...
http://johncmolyneux.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/how-to-build-android-apps-online.html
Sorry for the late reply. Can I know where is the APK file is stored?
ali20142014 said:
Sorry for the late reply. Can I know where is the APK file is stored?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/data/app/packagename-1.apk
You tube is your friend
Just do a youtube search with these key words "html5 webview android" and you should be able to find everything you need to know on how to build your html5 powered app
Google offers a "ProGuard" solution on how to mask your code by obfuscation. Good luck!
You can also use phonegap build to build your web apps without using eclipse.
You can't make an app using HTML and all these web developing languages but you can simply make a responsive website (I hope you know that) and then integrate that website into the android app. You may also add something like that once a user opens app once his app will connect to your website and then download the files offline for future offline use.
You can make fully functional games and apps with HTML + Javascript. Once you learn a the basic's you can use the framework I posted here to make a quiz game. As you learn more you can make small puzzle games and action games but that takes time to learn. Start by using this framework to build a game.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2785378
And if you dont know how to use eclipse then use phonegap build it will build the game for you and the 1st game is free with their service.
Sorry, just saw this now... i could have saved you a bit of hassle
If you really dont want to make a deep dive and stay with your current skills theres a really great way to do so (no, im not involed in the project and wanna advertise it i just use it and love it).
Theres really great tool from Intel, named Intel XDK. This thingy lets you easyly use either the Intel based framework (thats really fast and depending on how you "build" the app at the end you get native code, not just an simple AKP that displays content in a webview.).
The above mentioned Cordova is also a build option, so if you already learned about that, you can still use it in here. You can also make the userinterface of your app in a drag&drop IDE that saves you TONS of time.
Check here for some easy examples:
http://app-framework-software.intel.com/components.php
The very best comes at the end, you dont have to care ONE BIT about installing anything on your machine, all build stuff is done on Intel servers. You code the app, decide on a way to build it (Cordova, Android, iOS or whatever) and you get an APK out of it. Whats more, you can test/debug directly on device, in browser or any other possible way.
If you dont want to learn the appfraework (whats is basically just like jquery, you dont really have to "learn" it if your familiar with javascript) or use other known frameworks like jQuery mobile. Best is, you can still use the IDE-Designer even with jQuery. So you can for example choose jquerymobile framework and but in a nvigation layout just with drag&drop. Of course you als have a standard Code-View with autocompletion and all if you want.
Take alook, its awesome...
The reason why i post this here that tere is one flaw (in my opinion), the documentation is not the best (its there of course, full API guides and all) and the Intel foum is not really active, since noone really knows about it it seems. If more ppl use it the community could be great and starters have a really easy tool at hand to get into the world of mobile-development.
Hi,
You can create an Android app using the HTML, CSS, JavaScript by PhoneGap. PhoneGap is a free and open source framework that allows you to create mobile apps using standardized web APIs for the platforms you care about. You can learn it at: phonegap.com
Good luck!
Website 2 APK Builder
The all new Website 2 APK Builder for Windows is now available at sourceforge.
as i'm new and can't post external links,
so i'm unable to provide a link of it,
try searching "Website 2 APK Builder" on Google.
Just Launched Yesterday,
that's all.
Easy to use,
Generates ad-free apps.
and available for offline use.
Give it a try.
Oboy
oboy
If you're planning on making a update thingy like that basically use github for that where you have a text file and test for the version every time the app launches with window.onload in JS
ali20142014 said:
Hello, I have a question on Android development. Personally, I know web development but I do not know JAVA programming because I am not into software development.
I want to develop an android app by using HTML5, CSS3 and JQuery Mobile. The app will be simple, it will be just an app on poetry where users will click some categories and read poems, and also search. That's all. It will be free, no registration, no ads and no server side. I want to use JQuery Mobile for this or even pure HTML5 and CSS3. In fact, HTML and CSS will be used of course.
Bear in ind that I am NOT converting an existing website into an app, but rather creating an app through HTML, CSS and JavaScript. So, the Web View tool is not appropriate here.
My questions are:
1/ Can we really create an APK with obly HTML, CSS or JavaScript?
2/ If we can create, what software (which is free) can I use to create the APK by compiling/converting my web pages?
Thank!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if it's still a question for you but maybe try to search some helpful articles on this subject? They are usually easy to read and you'll an understanding of what you need to do.
we can create an APK with only HTML, CSS or JavaScript through new frameworks
CODENAME ONE
This cross platform framework enables in growing industry-based totally applications. The level underpins fast application development. The designer can compose code in Java and the software may be attempted and showed with Codename One’s test system devices and check mechanization devices. The system bolsters well known IDEs like NetBeans, Eclipse, and IntelliJ idea. The maximum captivating detail about its collect server is that the designer can fabricate local iOS applications simply as nearby windows packages with out a Mac gadget or windows pc. The degree is usually recommended for creating iOS applications.
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