Mobile Application Development Tools and Softwares

Mobile Application Development Tools and Softwares

There are a lot of mobile application development tools and softwares coming in the market everyday as mobile application development is becoming popular. I will just talk about Phonegap, Sencha and Titanium mobile apps development tools as I have some experience on them. All these tools use web development languages like HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript to make the mobile apps cross platform which can run on iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Palm with single codebase.

These mobile apps development tools like Phonegap, Sencha and Titanium are giving tough competition to traditional approaches of mobile apps development languages like Objective C (for iPhone, iPad), Java (for Android and Blackberry) etc. In traditional approaches you have to develop different mobile application for different platforms and its very hard to maintain these types of mobile apps and also its very costly and complex.

So, there is a great need of mobile apps development tools which provide a single development platform for each mobile application across all mobile operating systems and devices.

1. PhoneGap

PhoneGap is a free and open source mobile application development framework that allows mobile apps developers to create mobile apps using standardized web APIs for all the platforms like Android, Palm, Symbian, BlackBerry, iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices. 

Phonegap uses  HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript to make cross platform mobile apps.

PhoneGap allows the developer to work with device hardware features like Accelerometer, Camera, Compass, Contacts, Files, Geolocation, Media, Network, Notifications and Storage.

PhoneGap has been downloaded over 1 million times and is being used by over 400,000 developers. Thousands of apps built using PhoneGap are available in mobile app stores and directories. 

2. Sencha 

Sencha also uses web technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript to make cross platform mobile apps. Sencha was started in 2008 and claims over 2 million mobile application developer worldwide.

Sencha is the leading provider of open-source web application frameworks and tools to major enterprises and independent developers. Thousands of enterprise customers — including over 50% of the Fortune 100 — rely on Sencha technologies to power their most critical internal and external business applications.

Sencha has an active and growing developer community of over 450,000 users. There are Sencha developers in nearly every country of the world, so you’re certain to find one in your region. Not only does our community create amazing web applications with sencha frameworks, they also actively contribute to forums — answering technical questions and assisting other developers.

3. Titanium

Titanium Studio simplifies the mobile development process, allowing community developers to rapidly build, test, package and publish mobile applications across multiple devices and operating systems. The resulting native applications perform and behave just like they were written in Objective-C (iPhone and iPad) or Java (Android phone and tablets) to deliver rich user experiences.

The Eclipse-based Studio IDE enables you to build compelling cross-platform, native mobile applications – all from a single code base. You can build applications for tablets, smart phones, smart TVs, faster and at lower cost than any other environment.

With integrated mobile backend as a service (MBaaS) capabilities, as well as on-device debugging and an MVC framework (Alloy), Titanium Studio is the most comprehensive mobile development platform.

Phonegap Development Interview Questions and Answers for Mobile Developers

Phonegap Development Interview Questions and Answers for Mobile Developers

We have compiled a short list of phonegap development interview questions and answers for mobile developers. A phonegap mobile application developer must know the answers of these following questions of phonegap before going to phonegap interview.

1. What is PhoneGap and why should mobile developers consider using phonegap?

PhoneGap is a mobile application framework that allows developers to use HTML, JavaScript and CSS to create mobile apps that are present as first-class applications on the phone. That means the mobile apps have their own icons and operate similarly to native applications without a browser frame around them.

They are distributed via the application stores, such as the Android Market and the Apple App Store, and they have access to a set of native functions to further make them work like native apps.

Mobile developers use PhoneGap because it allows them to have a common codebase for all their application code. It doesn’t force developers to reinvent the wheel every time they move from platform to platform.

2. Are there downsides to using PhoneGap? or Limitations of Phonegap

You are subject to the limitations of the browser and the JavaScript engine that comes with your device. On Android 2.3, this isn’t too bad. Earlier versions of Android don’t support certain features, and many of them use older JavaScript interpreters, which can impact an application. Also, there are certain things that are better implemented in native code, like cryptography or 3-D graphics. Most apps don’t use features like this — they simply display information, which the web does well.

3. What’s the best way for PhoneGap developers to handle device-specific needs?

It depends on the feature set. Most mobile applications don’t need many device-specific features beyond the user interface, but there are numerous plugins that can help with this approach. The best approach is to decide what features you need and to use only those features. There are many applications that have permissions turned on that they don’t need. For example, a simple ebook doesn’t need access to your phone state, GPS or contacts.

4. What is a hybrid app?

A hybrid application is one that has features of both a web application and a native application. Certain features, such as Image Capture, NFC or Android OpenAccessory, may be implemented natively since there is currently no way to do this in JavaScript. But the application logic and the UI are implemented using web technologies to allow for a consistent and unique user experience across devices.

5. How phonegap simplifies mobile development?

Mobile development is a mess. Building applications for each device--iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and more--requires different frameworks and languages. One day, the big players in mobile may decide to work together and unify third-party app development processes. Until then, PhoneGap will use standards-based web technologies to bridge web applications and mobile devices. Plus, because PhoneGap apps are standards compliant, they're future-proofed to work with browsers as they evolve.

PhoneGap is an open source implementation of open standards. That means developers and companies can use PhoneGap for mobile applications that are free, commercial, open source, or any combination of these.

Phonegap on Blackberry: 2 Programming Tips

I am creating an application using phonegap which will run on blackberry, android and iPhone. For now, I am just trying to run it on blackberry. I found two things important which I thought I must share. Maybe someone can give me better idea and more tips!!

1. Add type and order of the transport methods to be used by blackberry device in the config file.

<rim:connection timeout="25000">

<id>TCP_WIFI</id>

<id>BIS-B</id>

<id>TCP_CELLULAR</id>

<id>MDS</id>

<id>WAP2</id>

<id>WAP</id>

</rim:connection>   

Find detailed article on Blackberry Page

2. Always use deviceready event listener to check connection on the blackberry device

document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);

function onDeviceReady() 

{

   checkConnection();

}

function checkConnection() 

{

var networkState = navigator.network.connection.type;

var states = {};

states[Connection.UNKNOWN]  = 'Unknown connection';

states[Connection.ETHERNET] = 'Ethernet connection';

states[Connection.WIFI]     = 'WiFi connection';

states[Connection.CELL_2G]  = 'Cell 2G connection';

states[Connection.CELL_3G]  = 'Cell 3G connection';

states[Connection.CELL_4G]  = 'Cell 4G connection';

states[Connection.NONE]     = 'No network connection';

if(states[networkState]=="No network connection")

{

alert("No Connection Available");

navigator.app.exitApp();

}        

}

Find detailed article on Phonegap Page

Note: While running your code on web browser, you need to comment the above code as deviceready event listener is meant only for device not web browser. It may throw a javascript error while running on web browser.

Phonegap: An amazing combination of HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript

Phonegap (Cordova) = HTML5 + CSS3 + Javascript

What a great combination!! How easy is Phonegap to learn!!! A great enhancement in mobile technology....

If you are an iPhone developer, you use Objective C....if Android or Blackberry, you use Java...But is there any technology which can make applications for each platform? Phonegap gives the answer..

Lets discuss what features Phonegap possesses?

Features of Phonegap:

1. PhoneGap is an open source framework.

2. Phonegap supports all the mobile platforms like Apple iOS, Google Android, HP WebOS, RIM BlackBerry, MS Windows Phone, Nokia Symbian OS and Samsung bada.

3. Phonegap supports many mobile hardware features like Accelerometer, Camera, Capture, Compass, Connection, Contacts, Device, Events, File, Geolocation,

Media,Notification (Vibration, Sound, Alert), Storage etc.

4. Phonegap is easy to learn as you only have to learn HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript which I think every developer would be knowing. Just you have to learn the framework

which you can learn within half a month.

5. There are a lot of IDEs which support phonegap framework like CS5.5, Eclipse, XCode etc.

History:

Lets go back in history how phonegap took birth? Idea of developing Phonegap came in iPhoneDevCamp event in San Fransisco because there were less developers who knew Objective C for iPhone as compared to web developers which were expert in web development. Nitobi first created the Phonegap and then Adobe bought Nitobi in October 2011. Phonegap is currently supported by Apache Software Foundation (ASW). When phonegap was developed, it was called Apache Callback but now it has been renamed to Apache Cordova.

Further readings: I am creating a mobile app for blackberry and android using phonegap. I am learning a lot from there. While delvelopment, I am facing a lot of challenges. I will keep you updated with all the information which I get or learn. For now, you can refer Phonegap Official Website.