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.
I want to learn developing Android app. I don't know much about java, however, I am skill at web design. PhoneGap seems an easy way for me to start learning developing mobile app. I'm not sure apps that build upon PhoneGap are good choice?
any help?
While Phonegap may be a tempting framework, try not to fall into it's trap. No matter what you'll do, it will get slow. Trust me, I've been there. Just try to display a table with 200 rows and it starts to lag.
You can forget your web experience because what you'll be doing is trying to get a normal web code to work on mobile. Most things will not work as you would expect it to work in Firefox or Chrome. You'll end up doing frustrating optimizations. 95% of your time will be wasted on shouting with your computer
Nothing compares to the look and feel of a native app, especially a native Android app. iOS did not really have a uniform design before version 7 but Android always had one. And there is no need to try and reproduce it with laggy html pages. Go the native way
Do not forget about browser touch lag http://updates.html5rocks.com/2013/12/300ms-tap-delay-gone-away
There are ways to remove it for example with http://ftlabs.github.io/fastclick/
From my experience - if you can write native app - do it. Web apps are slower and less responsive.
Wicia said:
Do not forget about browser touch lag http://updates.html5rocks.com/2013/12/300ms-tap-delay-gone-away
There are ways to remove it for example with http://ftlabs.github.io/fastclick/
From my experience - if you can write native app - do it. Web apps are slower and less responsive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was of the understanding that Chrome and Firefox for android removed this touch lag with one of their recent updates.. I may be wrong though.
Edit: link
http://www.geek.com/android/google-removes-300ms-touch-input-lag-in-chrome-32-for-android-1579721/
I would also highly recommend Codenameone for creating native apps for BB, IOS and Android that compile from Java..
crisdo98 said:
I was of the understanding that Chrome and Firefox for android removed this touch lag with one of their recent updates.. I may be wrong though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, but Phonegap apps run inside a WebView, not in the browser, and I think WebView still has this lag, even in Android 4.4 where it is based on Chrome 30 (this tweak comes in Chrome 32).
and also note,
WebView in GB behaves lil bit differently than webView in ICS and soo on...
for and android app, almost all of us developer try to support GB/ICS at minimum, but webview are not consistent.
I really am struggling to support my app on GB. and I think on KitKat Webviews are awesome, but the market share of KitKar are minimum so its not much of more use to us until few couple of months more
PhoneGap
According to me PhoneGap is a good choice for developing cross platform mobile apps. PhoneGap gives a extreme support for HTML5 language which enable developers to create hybrid apps with less amount of knowledge of other language.
hire phonegap developer
Phonegap ruled the mobile application development world by launching a platform on which universal app can be developed. The application developed on PhoneGap is widely recognized as cross platform mobile development framework which is known as single app accessible to multiple operating systems. PhoneGap considered being a king of app as its combination of HTML 5, JavaScript and CSS3 to produce hybrid applications.
It really depends on what kind of app you are developing. If it is an app just displays some static data or pic, the phonegap should work just fine.
hi am looking for a good commercial windows software package which allows the design and creation of android apps with a minimum amount of coding knowledge required and is drag n drop / templates/ friendly ui / graphical based. After searching a found a number of websites which allowed this however did not allow exclusive rights to the app. also there where many strings attached. If there is a good, user friendly, commercial studio app creator much like serif web plus for making web sites, can you please recommend me. i don't mind whatever the price is. Am looking to slowly expand my knowledge and build apps for fun. so if you know of any software please let me know!
i am familiar with web design, photoshop, android rom development, windows os development and many other things and as a full time law student, have no time to learn app coding. so please advise tell me to learn how to code in android.
thank you kind regarrds
Build an app without coding
Apphinge is a commercial can build an app without coding ... No technical knowledge or coding required to make an app. visit apphinge.com
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.
You may ask your suggestion from App Development Company in Bangalore which helps in developing innovative apps according to your ideas
Hey everyone! In response to a recent suggestion by a colleague, I've determined Cordova may be the best course of action for my current project. The reason we determined this, is because what I'm developing is already a web-app, that is complete, in which I can make a responsive style for mobile browsers & use Cordova to use a webview to access the app. So I'm looking for advice from experienced developers to see if this would be a viable option.
Let me start by giving you a run-down of the project. The project is called SecurSend. It is a private messaging platform that allows the user to submit sensitive information, without the worry of being monitored or keylogged. The end-user will compose a message which will generate a unique URL to the content, the recipient will receive this URL, and when accessing the content, it is permanently destroyed from the server. I don't currently have the site live, or it'd be much easier to show you, but the premise is security.
There is no current mobile theme for the site, however, it wouldn't be too difficult to implement. For something like this, do you feel Cordova would be the best option? Also, if you have any advice on Cordova, I wouldn't mind!
AutonomousHC said:
project is called SecurSend. It is a private messaging platform that allows the user to submit sensitive information, without the worry of being monitored or keylogged. The
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
re: the app:
thinking some combo of xmpp + OTR and webrtc might do it
(OTR adds end-to end encryption to xmpp and as browser support for webrtc improves there's peer-to-peer udp possibilities in webrtc)
Re Cordova:
. not yet sure but from looking at some javascript-based apps I've seen done with it what I've seen of it looks like an easier place to start for installable web apps (curious too)
Yes cordova is great for this. The only thing Cordova is not great at is high performance games but that is changing soon.
wowbro said:
Yes cordova is great for this. The only thing Cordova is not great at is high performance games but that is changing soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounds like an interesting concept, but I have heard you don't get the full native experience with Cordova (the UI seems different than that of native applications).
Do buttons and dialogs look the same as native apps?
Can you, for example, create transparent action bars, or side bars?
Or, notifications or watch faces for Android Wear?
wowbro said:
Yes cordova is great for this. The only thing Cordova is not great at is high performance games but that is changing soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternatively, you could use Steroids.js which has most native features built-in -- even Native UI components, MAPS API, Camera API, etc.
Cordova can achieve this, but as stated before, you will suffer some performance issues (especially Android 4.4 and lower)
I believe that doing web apps is the best for trying new ideas on all major platforms. The effort is very low compared to native development and performance is sufficient.
Ionic Framework has great performance and is continuously improving.
Though I wouldn't recommend web apps for games I recently released an open source zombie game called zland (zland.io).
Maybe React Native could be interesting for you as well. You will get true native performance.
With React Native you can share a code base between platforms but have to rewrite platform dependent thinks.
They recently released it for Android so you can deploy to both iOS and Android.
I estimate the effort somewhere between web apps and native apps.