Windows 8 Store App Development
being fresh and a new ecosystem lacks apps a Microsoft is trying ever bi the can to get developers into it and offering some great opportunities.
Why windows 8?????
#1 Its free:
Unlike other platforms which require you to pay to publish applications on there stores Windows on the other hand doesn't ask you a cent to publish your apps
#2 Multilingual(Script Wise) Support:
If you know web development technologies, you can develop a Windows Store app using HTML5, Cascading Style Sheets, Level 3 (CSS3), and JavaScript.
If you have developed .NET, Windows Presentation Foundation, or Microsoft Silverlight applications, you can develop a Windows Store app using XAML, with code-behind in C++, C#, or Visual Basic.
If you know DirectX, you can develop a DirectX Windows Store app using native C++ and HLSL to take full advantage of graphics hardware.
Lets get started:
Windows 8 introduces a new type of application: the Windows Store app. Windows Store apps have a brand new look and feel, run on a variety of devices, and you sell them on the Windows Store.
You can develop Windows Store apps in a variety of languages as mentioned above.
This guide tells you why you want to develop Windows Store apps, where to get the tools you need, and how to build your first app
Note: Windows Store Apps can only be developed on windows 8
Get The Tools:
To develop Windows Store apps, you need to install Windows 8 and some developer tools. They are available for free #GenrousMicrosoft
1. Download Windows 8
Important as windows 8 apps only run on windows 8
2. Download Developer Tools
These a the only tools required to build store apps #win8+1
Not to mention the need no setup just installation is need and NO ADDITIONAL CONFIGURATION.
This download gives you Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8, Blend for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 for Windows 8, the Windows 8 software development kit (SDK), and project templates for creating new Windows Store apps.
Visual Studio gives you everything you need to create code, debug, localize, package, and deploy a Windows Store app.
Blend is another tool you can use to create Windows Store apps. It provides effective support for designing a great-looking user interface for your Windows Store app.
Visual Studio and Blend were designed to work together. You can move seamlessly back and forth between them to develop your app.
Getting a developer license
Microsoft was smart enough and to prevent illicit acts it does not allows sideloading apps with exception to developers who will find handy:good:.
To get your self approved as a developer you need to get a free developer licence which can be done via following methods.
Through Visual Studio
When you run Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 on your local machine for the first time, you are prompted to obtain a developer license. Read the license terms, and then click I Agree. In the User Account Control (UAC) dialog box, click Yes to continue.
After you install a license on a local machine, you won’t be prompted again on that machine unless the license expires (or you remove it) and you try to run an uncertified Windows Store app or create a project. You can run uncertified Windows Store apps on your local machine by pressing the F5 key in Microsoft Visual Studio or Blend for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 for Windows 8.
Note If you choose not to acquire or renew a developer license, you'll receive an error (DEP0100) when you attempt to build or deploy a Windows Store app in Visual Studio.{Courtesy MSDN}
Getting a developer license at a command prompt
If you aren’t using Visual Studio 2012, you can get and manage developer licenses at a command prompt by running these commands in
Windows PowerShell:
Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration. This command opens a dialog box from which you can get a developer license and install it on the local machine. To run this command, you must have a valid Microsoft account. You also must run this command in a command prompt with elevated permissions.
Get-WindowsDeveloperLicense. This command returns an object that has two properties: ExpirationTime and IsValid. ExpirationTime is a System.DateTime structure that contains the date and time when the license expires. IsValid is a System.Boolean that indicates whether the license is valid. You can run this command from either a non-elevated command prompt or a command prompt with elevated permissions.
Unregister-WindowsDeveloperLicense. This command warns you that some Windows Store apps will stop working if you remove the developer
license from the local machine. If you choose "Yes" (the default) to confirm that you want to remove the license, the license is removed from the local machine. You must run this command in a command prompt with elevated permissions.
Code:
C:\PS> Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration
C:\PS> Get-WindowsDeveloperLicense
C:\PS> Unregister-WindowsDeveloperLicense
Read full detaild artile @MSDN also for TNC
Build Your First app!
Time to say hello to HELLO WORLD!
Using Javascript and HTML with CSS
Follow These Great Tutorials On MSDN JavaScript and HTML
Using C# or with XAMLVisual Basic
For Android or Java Developer I prefer C#
Follow These Great Tutorials On MSDN C# or Visual Basic and XAML
Using C++ with XAML
My favorite preference.
Follow These Great Tutorials On MSDN C++ with XAML
Using C++ and DirectX
DirectX i dont know anything about it
Dont expect support on this by me altopgh others might be able to help.
Follow These Great Tutorials On MSDN C++ with DirectX
Creating a project and choosing a template
When you create an app, the first thing you need to do is decide which language to use. You can choose JavaScript, Visual Basic, Visual C#, or Visual C++.
To create a project for a Windows Store app, click File > New Project (or press Ctrl+Shift+N).
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
You'll see the New Project dialog box.
Click one of the language nodes in the left pane. You'll see various app templates in the center pane. Some important templates, like Blank App, Grid App, and Split App, are shared between all four programming languages. A few templates are language-specific.When you create a project for a Windows Store app, Visual Studio creates a solution, which is a way of managing the various source elements of your project (code files, images, style sheets, settings, and so on). A solution container can contain multiple projects, and a project container typically contains multiple items that represent the references, folders, and files that you need to create your app.
Solution Explorer displays solutions, their projects, and the items in those projects. In Solution Explorer, you can open files for editing, add new files to a project, and view solution, project, and item properties. Here's what Solution Explorer looks like for a JavaScript project: courtesy MSDN
In addition to source code files appropriate to the language, each project also includes the package.appxmanifest file, which describes the app package for Windows. Each project also includes several image files, like splashscreen.png for the splash screen image and storelogo.png, which is used for Windows Store. A project source certificate (.pfx) file that's required for signing the package is also included in each project.
Designing a UI
When you plan your user interface, it's important to select the most appropriate Visual Studio project template for a starting point, and to learn about adding re-usable item templates such as Search contracts. You can develop your UI by writing code or by using a visual designer. A visual designer provides a designer-oriented interface for app design that includes a drag-and-drop interface for building the UI.
For Windows Store apps, you can use the visual designer provided in Blend for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 for Windows 8. You can open a Visual Studio project in Blend by right-clicking the project in Solution Explorer and clicking Open in Blend. Alternatively, open the solution file (.sln) from within Blend.
image courtesy MSDN:
Updating the app manifest
unlike android working on mainfest of win 8 apps is a breeze
You can use the Manifest Designer in Visual Studio to edit the app manifest file that describes your app package. The app manifest file is present in Windows Store apps written in all languages.
The Manifest Designer has five tabs:
Application UI. Configure UI settings, including the logo, splash screen, and initial orientation.
Capabilities. Specify system features or devices that your app can use, such as Internet access, current location, and music library access.
Declarations. Add declarations for app contracts, like search and share target contracts, and specify their properties.
Content URIs. Specify URIs that your app either can or can't access. This tab appears only for JavaScript projects.
Packaging. Set properties that identify and describe your package when it is deployed.
To open the Manifest Designer, double-click the package.appxmanifest file in Solution Explorer, or right-click the file and click View Designer. The Capabilities tab of the Manifest Designer is shown here:
image courtesy MSDN:
Writing code
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 includes full-featured editors for the following languages: JavaScript, HTML/XML/XAML, CSS, C#, Visual Basic, C++, HLSL. The editors provide many language-specific features that you can customize to help create your app:
IntelliSense, which provides features such as statement completion and parameter Help as you type code. This illustration shows a member list in the C# Code Editor. Note that the list also displays a Quick Info box for the selected item.
image courtesy MSDN:
Using inellisense:
Code snippet insertion, available by right-clicking in a code file and clicking Insert Snippet.
Navigation aids like Go To Definition, Bookmarks, and Navigate To.
The Go To Definition command enables you to find the definition of a class or function by right-clicking the identifier and clicking Go To Definition. (Visual Basic and Visual C++ use the Object Browser to display information about Windows Runtime types.)
This illustration shows options like Go To Definition and Insert Snippet in the JavaScript Code Editor:
You can customize the behavior of the Code Editors, and enable or disable features like indentation, word wrap, and statement completion. To customize the behavior of the Code Editors, click Tools > Options, expand Text Editor, expand the appropriate Code Editor to configure, and then select the appropriate category of options.
Building an app
To build an app, click Build Solution (or press F7) or Rebuild Solution (or press Ctrl+Alt+F7) on the Build menu. You'll see the results of the build process in the Output window.
Debugging
Read The MSDN article
Design Using Blend for VisualStudio 2012
Blend for Visual Studio 2012 helps you design and build user interfaces by providing you with an accurate design surface and tools that let you visually create and edit Windows Store applications. These new design tools take advantage of Windows 8 technologies to create dynamic applications that run on a wide variety of Windows-based hardware. You can choose to design your user interface using HTML or XAML.
image courtesy MSDN:
Designing in HTML
A Windows Store app built using HTML uses the same technology that a web site uses. However, a Windows Store app is not deployed page-by-page from a web server. Instead, it is installed locally on the user's computer. Like any native Windows application, a Windows Store app built using HTML has direct access to the underlying platform and is able to share information with other applications.
Visual design Visually edit HTML, CSS, and Microsoft design style controls. What you see in Blend is what users will see in Windows 8.
Interactive Mode Design your app in states that would otherwise be available only at run time, without having to endlessly compile and run.
App building Drag and drop Windows app controls onto the design surface, set their properties, and style them.
Powerful code generation When you add a new style or element to an app, Blend takes care of all the syntax and generates concise, reliable, and predictable code.
Debugging Visual Studio can debug JavaScript, but only Blend lets you visually debug HTML and CSS. The Winning Properties virtual rule shows you the CSS cascade for any element. The Computed Values virtual rule shows you how Windows 8 will compute CSS property values for each element. The Live DOM panel updates to display run-time changes.
learn more @MSDN
Designing in XAML
A Windows Store app built using XAML gives you more control over the styling and animating of controls. Visual Studio also provides a XAML Designer. Much like Blend, the XAML Designer in Visual Studio provides a main design surface and a toolbox to drag-and-drop controls.
Animation Use the Objects and Timeline and States panels to create complex animations for your app. The visual state design features in Blend also enable you to work with the new Windows 8 theme animations.
Visual States Use the States and Device panels to create a Windows app UI that takes advantage of view states and orientations supported in Windows 8.
Transitions Add pre-defined or create custom transitions for your app by using the States panel.
Styles and GroupStyles Customize the default control styles by the comprehensive styling and editing features available in Blend. You can also customize Windows 8 GroupStyles.
Template editing Edit control templates by using the Objects and Timeline panel or the Breadcrumb bar. While in template editing mode, you can add Windows 8 theme animations by using the States panel.
Data Binding Data binding tools support the following binding types: DataContext, DataSource, ElementName, RelativeSource Self, RelativeSource TemplatedParent, and StaticResource.
Layout Create Windows app layouts using built-in layout containers such as GridView, ListView, StackPanel, WrapGrid, and more, all of which can be customized to suit your needs.
Control creation Create controls on the artboard quickly and easily by using the Tools and Assets panels.
Property editing Modify and edit objects quickly and easily by using the Properties panel.
learn more @MSDN
The Last Word
A few Handy Links:
*Selling Apps
*Concepts and Architecture
*API Reference
*Language Reference
*Samples
Credits:
MSDN For amazing article and helping me to dev on win8.
Microsoft for their beautiful OS
Visual Studio Amazing IDE
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Support My work:
Hit the thanks button in the op and/or all the posts you find useful.
Rate give 5* rating to this thread
great guide..
publishing in windows is free??
will start it today...
thanks for the guide:good:
mysticsaver said:
publishing in windows is free??
will start it today...
thanks for the guide:good:
Click to expand...
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It's FREE 100% NO HIDDEN COSTS
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Hit Thanx Button if i helped you!
sak-venom1997 said:
It's FREE 100% NO HIDDEN COSTS
Sent from my GT-S5302 using Tapatalk 2
Hit Thanx Button if i helped you!
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is it just like publishing in google play??
can we publish them as paid apps???
mysticsaver said:
is it just like publishing in google play??
can we publish them as paid apps???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For paid apps I don't know but I ll let you know soon
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Hit Thanx Button if i helped you!
sak-venom1997 said:
For paid apps I don't know but I ll let you know soon
Sent from my GT-S5302 using Tapatalk 2
Hit Thanx Button if i helped you!
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okie will be waiting
mysticsaver said:
okie will be waiting
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So so sorry for being absent here but the answer to your query :
Yes Yes its free they'll charge you a small amount which will be refunded this is just to confirm that your payment source is authentic
More on this here.
Must the host machine i use to develop be on win8? Or i can use win7 to develop
sianzb0i said:
Must the host machine i use to develop be on win8? Or i can use win7 to develop
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Click to collapse
Only win8 machine can be used can't dev on win7
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Just wanted to say thank you for all this great info!
jackrabbit72380 said:
Just wanted to say thank you for all this great info!
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Your welcome
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thank you very much, just started to make some windows 8 apps and this was very helpfull
WarBorg said:
thank you very much, just started to make some windows 8 apps and this was very helpfull
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You're welcome
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Related
I've just started using Phonegap to develop Android apps and found it ridiculously easy (for simple stuff). I've got a background in Windows development for many years, and also a long-standing history of web development, both client and server-side, so for me Phonegap is an answer to many prayers.
I thought this would be an ideal place to share ideas and thrash out problems for anyone that's developing using Phonegap.
If you're not familiar with it but you have web development skills then you really need to look into it...
http://phonegap.com/
I also currently use adobe builder at to build my apps...
https://build.phonegap.com/
That will change when I start integrating my own plugins, using Java and Eclipse, but for now it's awesome as it builds my app for 6 different platforms, including Android, iOS and WP.
I'm new to this so I'm hoping this will be a good place for us to learn together and pick up any tips from each other. There's also the most awesome stack overflow where help can be garnered, as they have a phonegap tag for asking questions. Between there and here we should be covered
I may also use phonegap for my next project. It's either that or Xamarin/Mono. I'd be more comfortable out of the box with the latter, but it's probably more "useful" for me to start prodding HTML5.
Have you taken a look at VSNomad? Lets you work in Visual Studio if you're already familiar with that.
jmbillings said:
I may also use phonegap for my next project. It's either that or Xamarin/Mono. I'd be more comfortable out of the box with the latter, but it's probably more "useful" for me to start prodding HTML5.
Have you taken a look at VSNomad? Lets you work in Visual Studio if you're already familiar with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had a look at VSNomad and it does look very interesting, but it's damn pricey! I'm certainly not used to paying subscription costs to develop software.
Some of the tools and tech I use to develop phonegap app
APTANA 3
GIT GUI
bootstrap.js
ADT
Dreamweaver CS 6
AppLaud - Mobile Developer Solutions
Best of all and universal tools to develop.
some other useful tools with phonegap
I usually develop applications with PhoneGap using the following tools:
Eclipse
ant scripts for packaging and javascript compression
jasmine for javascript module testing
karma for test in real time
I found very useful to use the last tool for testing on multiple browsers and mobile emulators because it allows to detect possible errors in real-time.
salamanred said:
I usually develop applications with PhoneGap using the following tools:
Eclipse
ant scripts for packaging and javascript compression
jasmine for javascript module testing
karma for test in real time
I found very useful to use the last tool for testing on multiple browsers and mobile emulators because it allows to detect possible errors in real-time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Karma sounds great for compatibility and debugging. I searched online and there are tons of results. Could you share more info so I can find it?
I currently use Eclipse with the Phonegap plugin and Firefox for basic debugging until I near final production.
Hello guys,
Today I'm going to provide an easy and step-by-step guide (With support) to develop your very own first native Windows app!
I'll also provide screenshots and code snippets, so it's easier to understand.
This guide and app will be written in the simplest language I know and I use, Microsoft Visual Basic. Now, before anyone starts hating; Visual Basic is a programming language which works with and on top of the .Net framework. As the name states, you can visually design your application and code it with very basic code.
Visual Basic is also very powerful, as it can be used to communicate with the Windows OS and with the computer's hardware (And especially COM ports)
This guide will focus on the use of the WinForms (Win32) API, so we won't be using any old command prompt (As I think tutorials using the command prompt are quite hard to understand and pretty stale)
#1. Prerequisites:
Before we can begin creating our first app, you'll need some software:
Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 (For Windows Desktop)
Windows 7 or 8 (For Windows Vista-, you can use Visual Studio 2010 or earlier!)
A cup of your favorite hot beverage
Some patience
and courage
Once you have acquired all of those, you can start download- and installing the software (All other prerequisites are provided in the package), this is where your hot beverage will come in handy (Alternatively, you can go for a nice cigarette or for a quick pop-down-the-shop).
I decided to create a series of videos on YouTube, for this thread.
So, here we go, I guess
Episode 1; Performance Counters and Progress Bars:
If the YouTube video is not visible/available, try watching it here: http://youtu.be/geePfZzjYCA
Episode 2; XDA-String-Loader:
If the video is unavailable, watch it here: http://t.co/LO1q1jTIfE
Downloads
Note: All downloads in this post are just VB source code. They are licensed under either GPL2.0 or GPL3.0 - So feel free to download, experiment and post what you've done!
GitHub Source Code Repositories: https://github.com/Beatsleigher/XDA_Visual_Basic_Tutorials/
Good Qs and As
This post is reserved for good questions and answers.
User Contributions
This post is reserved for user contributions.
Post your code and show the others what you have achieved!
Reserved..
--- Reserved ---
Reserved..
--- One more reserved post ---
develop your very own first native Windows app
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Visual Basic is a programming language which works with and on top of the .Net framework
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And there you go, feel free to experiment with this code and play around with it. It is licensed under the GPL v2, as of now. I will create more posts in this thread over time and add more projects for you to work on.
Click to expand...
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I'm crying blood, sorry D:
Yeah, you do kinda contradict yourself by calling it a native application and then using Visual Basic .NET (I must say, I have little faith in the tutorial being accurate if you cant even name the language properly). All .NET languages are run in a VM which by definition is not native I would hardly call it powerful either, it offers nothing that any other .NET language can't do faster and manages to **** things up in the process. Your statement about COM. Wtf??? VB.net makes COM access no easier or harder than anything else. The fact it is easy to access COM (which is something rarely used these days, although I do use it) is purely down to system.io.ports which is a generic .NET library and not a VB.net feature.
There is a good reason for command prompt based programs being the first step. They are simple. You dont have to worry about events and OOP programming early on. You can just sit down, learn wtf an integer is, bit of flow control and what iteration is etc.
SixSixSevenSeven said:
There is a good reason for command prompt based programs being the first step. They are simple. You dont have to worry about events and OOP programming early on. You can just sit down, learn wtf an integer is, bit of flow control and what iteration is etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And of course to use much simpler language, like Pascal. Console.ReadLine can confuse beginners.
Guys, maybe I... phrased things wrong.
It uses the .Net framework, but the language itself is native code.
The only things that run on top of the .Net FW are the new tools. Everything else is native code.
Whoops.
Beatsleigher said:
Guys, maybe I... phrased things wrong.
It uses the .Net framework, but the language itself is native code.
The only things that run on top of the .Net FW are the new tools. Everything else is native code.
Whoops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have just perfectly demonstrated that you don't have a clue what the .net framework is or how VB.net relates to it.
quick description of what really goes on when you hit F5 in visual studio (and for simplicities sake I am assuming we are in release mode not debug mode).
You hit f5.
The Visual Basic .net compiler analyses the source code, links it all up etc.
It then output MSIL. MicroSoft Intermediate Language.
The .NET framework is then a JIT dynamic recompiler (read, interpreter) which interprets the MSIL and executes the output.
It is not native code. The .NET framework is not just a set of tools.
only confusion which may arise is that .NET is now a part of the windows runtime, but it is not native any more than java is (same principal operation).
JIT compilation != dynamic recompilation != interpretation. Please don't confuse them.
JIT compilation ("Just-In-Time", what .NET and Java do, as well as recent JavaScript engines) takes data that is *not* machine code (it can be a binary intermediate language, such as Java bytecode or .NET Common Intermediate Language ("MSIL" is obsolete; it's a public standard now), or it can be normal source code, such as JavaScript) and turns it into machine code immediately before the program runs. This introduces a delay at program startup, but thereafter the program runs almost as fast as it would if written in C and compiled directly to native code.
Dynamic recompilation takes machine code for one processor, generally already loaded into memory for execution, and translates it to machine code for a different processor before it is executed. The translated machine code is then stored back into memory so that the next time that code would be executed (for example, if it's in a loop or a function that is called multiple times) it doesn't need to be translated again. Dynamic recompilation operates on machine code, which (unlike intermediate language) is processor-specific and is not intended to be further compiled; this makes it significantly slower in most cases. It's largely replaced outright emulation (in which an entire CPU's state is modeled on some other CPU, and each instruction is run through the emulated CPU unmodified) as a way to execute a program written for one instruction set architecture on another ISA because it's faster than emulation, but it's still very slow.
Interpretation is like emulation, except it operates entirely on instructions which aren't machine code at all; you can write an interpreter for intermediate language (and that's basically how early versions of Java worked), but it's typically used for script languages (until recently, interpretation is how JavaScript was executed). An interpreter is a program that takes the interpreted language and figures out what it means in terms the CPU understands, then does that. For example, a CPU doesn't understand that "+" means addition; to a CPU, + is nothing except a number, just like any other ASCII character. It's up to an interpreter to recognize that + is supposed to be an operator, and that the 1 and 2 in 1+2 are supposed to be operands, and that they need to be converted from ASCII characters to the actual values 1 and 2 (which aren't even printable values in ASCII) and then to do the operation and store it somewhere. As you might expect, interpretation is *extremely* slow.
thanks for the videos. don't let the trolls get you down!
squeezyb said:
thanks for the videos. don't let the trolls get you down!
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No worries, man
I tend to ignore such posts, as I don't see reason to argue
CyanogenModded Very China-like, from my Samsung Galaxy S III
LG Familyguy59/Beatsleigher
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
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You may ask your suggestion from App Development Company in Bangalore which helps in developing innovative apps according to your ideas
Hi everyone. I'm new to developing apps. I want to create a simple app, and I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the options that I have .
I am looking for software / language that:
- Has a visual interface so that I can add buttons, lists, textbox, checkbox, etc, and then program the actions of each.
- Can test the result with my android device, or with an emulator.
- Can create a final apk
- Optional: Can migrate to IOS and Windows phone. This isn't quite necessary though.
- Is free / opensource. If this is impossibe to find, then I'll take a look at commercial ones.
What do you recommend? I tried App inventor, the idea is awesome, but it is quite buggy and pretty basic. I'm looking at Montage Studio and Mosync, but even though they can show me a preview on my phone, they don't have a visual interface in wich I can drag and drop components (Yes, my first steps in programming where with visual studio, that's why I love this).
What do you suggest? I have no problem to start learning to code, but at least I want to create the visual aspect of the app, in a visual way.
Any help will be much aprecciated! :/
Android Studio, which is the official android IDE, and also Eclipse IDE have a visual editor, in which you can add layouts, views, buttons etc.
serknor said:
Hi everyone. I'm new to developing apps. I want to create a simple app, and I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the options that I have .
I am looking for software / language that:
- Has a visual interface so that I can add buttons, lists, textbox, checkbox, etc, and then program the actions of each.
- Can test the result with my android device, or with an emulator.
- Can create a final apk
- Optional: Can migrate to IOS and Windows phone. This isn't quite necessary though.
- Is free / opensource. If this is impossibe to find, then I'll take a look at commercial ones.
What do you recommend? I tried App inventor, the idea is awesome, but it is quite buggy and pretty basic. I'm looking at Montage Studio and Mosync, but even though they can show me a preview on my phone, they don't have a visual interface in wich I can drag and drop components (Yes, my first steps in programming where with visual studio, that's why I love this).
What do you suggest? I have no problem to start learning to code, but at least I want to create the visual aspect of the app, in a visual way.
Any help will be much aprecciated! :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work for Kinetise.com, a web-based mobile app creator. Here's what it has for you:
- visual interface - check
- Can test the result with my android device, or with an emulator - double check
- Can create a final apk - check
- Optional: Can migrate to IOS and Windows phone. - check, Kinetise compiles to Android and iOS at once, Windows coming soon.
- Is free - the editor, emulator and 24h test apps are free, but in the end, Kinetise is a commercial solution.
Hey!
I am starting with a project to develop a multiplatform app with phonegap. I have minimal experience about webapp development and I have been searching for an editor especially for phonegap projects. So far I have been getting suggestions between notepad++ to eclipse, but none has satisfied me so far. It would be nice to be able to open the project and browse the structure from the editor. Also something like ctrl-clicking to jump to javascript codes etc. Hopefully you get the idea what I am looking for.
These are some editors I have found so far:
- Brackets
- Chrome dev tools
- Intel XDK
I mainly am looking for something to edit the sources. Building and debugging can be done separately. These things are a good thing to have, but not necessary:
+ WYSIWYG
+ Possibility to build the project
+ Possibility to launch the project in a device
+ Device emulator
+ Debugging possibility
+ Free
Edit:
+ SVN
I am used to something like eclipse/netbeans for coding. What editors do you usually use for PhoneGap/web app projects? I am also taking suggestions for debugging environments.
Intel XDK is pretty neat IDE for Web App development.
You should try Ionic Framework (Build and manage project)
+ Ionic View App (Launch project in device)
+ Ionic Lab (Basic WYSIWYG/Building/Deployment)
Personally I use Notepad++ +CMD btw ....It suits my style...
Also I don't use any emulators. Testing in View or on live device.
Emulators are just painful ,though I have heard good stuff about genymotion.
Use Chrome dev tools for debugging...
I suggest you to try Atom Editor or Visual Studio code. Both are free.
I forgot to mention that I have to start working with an already existing project. I think Ionic does not work for this. It seems like I would use it for my personal projects however. I should add subversion feature to plusses also.
Atom Editor and Visual Studio code are maybe the best editors I have tried so far.
VilleI said:
I forgot to mention that I have to start working with an already existing project. I think Ionic does not work for this. It seems like I would use it for my personal projects however. I should add subversion feature to plusses also.
Atom Editor and Visual Studio code are maybe the best editors I have tried so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried phonegap for netbeans ?
https://netbeans.org/kb/docs/webclient/cordova-gettingstarted.html
karandpr said:
Have you tried phonegap for netbeans ?
https://netbeans.org/kb/docs/webclient/cordova-gettingstarted.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I don't know why I did not realize there is a plugin for Netbeans for this. This is awesome.
I worked cordova (same with phonegap) in visual studio and netbeans. netbeans is better in autocomplete but visual studio is more feature than. All of them are both good ide.
Netbeans can run in linux, mac, visual studio code version can too.
Hi,
Visual Studio Code or Atom or WebStorm