Develop Bugs

Silverlight/XNA App development section of the forum

As per title,
Having never writting apps before, I thought I'd have a go at downloading Expression studio (mainly due to it being free for students )
Seems pretty easy to get the hang of and these tutorial videos to follow are pretty handy http://microsoft.com/design/toolbox, it would be nice to maybe have a section of the forum for developing apps in Silverlight
Espescially seeing as deploying apps directly to your phone in Visual Studio seems to be the only way to side load apps at the moment.

This is the right section, as soon as I can make clear that this section is not intended for general chat but actual software development questions

ok so, pulling the silverlight and xna libraries out of the emulator and cooking them into wm6.5.5 i now need a way to test if these libraries are valid.
anyone interested in compiling a simple test for these? it seems the xna game, input and core libraries are there as well as silverlight browser and ui stuff.
very interested to see how valid these libraries are if at all

norgan said:
ok so, pulling the silverlight and xna libraries out of the emulator and cooking them into wm6.5.5 i now need a way to test if these libraries are valid.
anyone interested in compiling a simple test for these? it seems the xna game, input and core libraries are there as well as silverlight browser and ui stuff.
very interested to see how valid these libraries are if at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha love this way of thinking, how to get new stuff running on old stuff.
Reminds me of this big community i have heard of.

Sorry dude but I'm very sure this won't work.
First up, the files have dependencies (namely CE7 and other core files must use the CE7 API). You can't get around this without source code.
Secondly, the files from the emulator have ARM headers but use x86 code, as far as I know.

Thanks!!
You can find a whole bunch of silverlight projects to download here http://silverlight.net/community/samples/silverlight-samples/

Noonski said:
Ha love this way of thinking, how to get new stuff running on old stuff.
Reminds me of this big community i have heard of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thinking without restricted boundaries, it may not work and i may be waaay off, but then again....it may just work lol and if not i've lost nothing.
the silverlight causes issues and i am sure there is more to xna than just the framework dll's. will be interesting to try and call functions within them and see what happens either way.

Transition from Android to Web App?

Namaste my fellow developers.
I am a rather young developer, who started off with Android and have developed about 10-15 apps till today out of which 2 are up on Google Play.
Just to increase my knowledge and sector I was planning to make a shift into web apps. I did learn Java specifically for Android but want to get my hands on the other platforms as well. So my questions, Sirs and Madams, are:
1.Technically, How is Android and Web Apps different?
2.Should I make the transition?
3.How do i start? (some resources would be helpful)
All and Every feedback would be appreciated. Thank YOU!

hi karantrehan, my two cents on the matter
1. you can think of a web app as a web site running inside an Android Webview, with all its files (html, images, javascripts, css, ...) bundled inside the app. The enclosing app just launches an Activity with a webview, everything else is done by html and javascript (although you can bind java code to javascript function to exploit Android's APIs).
2. It depends: I think web apps are a viable choice in two situations:
you're a web developer that want to build an app without having to learn Android
you want to build a cross-platform app, reaching Android, iOS, WP without learning every single language
Otherwise, I would not advise it, I don't see particular advantages... unless you want to learn something new!
3. for the Android integration part, take a look here: developer.android.com/guide/webapps/webview.html
For the html/css/js part.... well, web development is as old as the web itself, there are tons of guides out there Don't miss some helpful projects like jQuery Mobile.

karantrehan said:
Namaste my fellow developers.
I am a rather young developer, who started off with Android and have developed about 10-15 apps till today out of which 2 are up on Google Play.
Just to increase my knowledge and sector I was planning to make a shift into web apps. I did learn Java specifically for Android but want to get my hands on the other platforms as well. So my questions, Sirs and Madams, are:
1.Technically, How is Android and Web Apps different?
2.Should I make the transition?
3.How do i start? (some resources would be helpful)
All and Every feedback would be appreciated. Thank YOU!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Web Apps are made using multiple languages. Front-side/Client-side, they are developed in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Out of the three, JavaScript is the only programming language. HTML is a markup language, and CSS is used for UI and UX. You could also use the Dart language. Dart is a new client-side language developed by Google. Currently, however, no major browser supports it (not even Google Chrome), and so in the end, it gets compiled into JavaScript.
Server-side (backend), there are a multitude of programming languages you could use. Java (through JSP), PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python. Typically you're using PHP and SQL for anything in regards to a database.
Web Apps can be hosted in a browser, or you can submit them into App Stores using things like Apache Cordava.
2. As a developer of any sort, you should always improve and learn new languages. Its better for marketability, improves your skillset, and overall can make you a better developer. So, in the end, the choice is up to you. I would highly recommend you to do so.
3. There are tons of resources available. You can search for tutorials on google or youtube. When I got started, I used w3schools to learn HTML, CSS, and PHP. I would really recommend using YouTube as well if you are a visual learner like me.

1. Like reProgrammed said, web apps are a bit different in that there's a couple of layers to them as opposed to Android apps. The back-end logic that does your database fetches and such is programmed in PHP, Python, ASP.NET (C#/VB.NET), etc. The front-end website, the pages and stuff you interact with, are done with primarily (X)HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. And for databases you've got SQL Server or MySQL, mainly.
2. Absolutely. I'm a developer myself, professionally and as a hobby, and it's never a bad idea to learn a new language or framework or environment. It'll make you a better developer and can get you jobs, or foot in the door, if that's your profession.
3. I don't really have many resources. However, in the past I've used:
W3Schools
MSDN (for C#)
Stack Overflow
Google
And then there's always books. They can get outdated but they can be great resources. I still sometimes refer to my "Android for Dummies" book when I'm working on my Android app, even though I Google search more often. Hope that helps.

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
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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

Where to begin for making useful apps?

Hey all
I have been building sites for a long time and I am pretty confident in modern frameworks like Bootstrap etc. I have played about with JQuery Mobile and UI. I know how to make mobile sites from a front end side. I understand that I could upload my site to PhoneGap and turn it into a native app.
However, I would love to know how to make useful, dynamic apps. For a very basic example, developing an app to find pizza shops in the local area.
I know how to make mobile sites easily enough. I just don't really understand how to link that up with APIs etc , or even where to begin. If someone could point me in the right direction for where I could experiment with this I would be really grateful .
I have read some API info, but I don't know how to use it at all.

I'd start with building a small app that uses some public REST api. Such as a reddit or craigslist client. This will let you learn how REST APIs work in general. Once you get the hang of it, you can build your own REST APIs.

Just pick some RESTful API to get data and then process it some way. For example you may try LinkedIn API (can't post links, lol - just google "linkedin rest api" and you'll get it).

Probably the most useful quick exercise for you would be to check the documentation of an easier API, get a tool which can be used for REST testing and just play around with it. For this purpose, I'm using Paw on my Mac, which is a really friendly tool, but after reaching a basic level of understanding how things work you can do the same with cURL, in Python or whatever you fancy. I bet there are good web tools for this purpose as well, I just never had to use any.

[Q] What do I need to know to start functional testing?

Hi everyone,
I just took an internship position in which my first project is coming up with ways to QA our company's mobile application, which we do not personally develop. I thought that thorough test cases run with some kind of automation framework (like Appium) would be the best way to do this, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't have any real Android application development experience. Our application is a client-side application, not web-based. I am assuming that I am going to need to teach myself a fair amount of Java, start looking into how to use the Android development kit, and then learn how to write and implement test scripts using an automation framework. Could anyone once over my thinking on how I need to progress here to make sure I'm heading down the right path to learn how to functionally test client side applications? Will I just need to know Java to write these test scripts, or do I need to learn Javascript?

cbutler94 said:
Hi everyone,
I just took an internship position in which my first project is coming up with ways to QA our company's mobile application, which we do not personally develop. I thought that thorough test cases run with some kind of automation framework (like Appium) would be the best way to do this, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't have any real Android application development experience. Our application is a client-side application, not web-based. I am assuming that I am going to need to teach myself a fair amount of Java, start looking into how to use the Android development kit, and then learn how to write and implement test scripts using an automation framework. Could anyone once over my thinking on how I need to progress here to make sure I'm heading down the right path to learn how to functionally test client side applications? Will I just need to know Java to write these test scripts, or do I need to learn Javascript?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could stick with Java if you wish. There may be more work involved. Android has a built in testing framework wrapped around JUnit. Check out the documentation on developer.android.com/tools/testing/testing_android.html.
Although I suppose JUnit is more suited for unit testing. It may be that using an automation framework like Appium may better suit your needs. It also looks like Appium provides support for testing in Java, so you may be able to skip learning Javascript.