I know is hard to develop web application and make a individual app versions in each device.
But i just want to know how that works with big companies.I want to know how they write there code
The best example is Evernote and Google Drive.
They make a cloud application and individual apps for each device.
So the questions are..
How do sync the data with the cloud apps ?
Do they use version control ?
Can i get software requirement specification anywhere ?
Platforms and Languages:
iPhone and Mac - Objective C
Android and Other Mobile Apps - Java
Windows 8 - C#
Web Apps - PHP or Python
How do you solve this solution languages differ?
I guess i it's not possible with version control..
How to minimize coding ?
I recommend you use a version control tool.
make a individual app versions in each device.
I assume you mean developing different versions with few differences. The branch feature in a version tool can help you manage these versions easily.
How do sync the data with the cloud apps ?
You can use the web deployment feature to upload the applications/modifications to your web server.
I list some version control tools here for your reference:
Git
SVN
SourceAnywhere (I work for the company)
Team Foundation Server
We have developed a WPF application (VS 2010 C#, .NET 4.0, MVVM, CaliburnMicro, Agatha) that mostly deals with selling tickets for different transportation types.
Now i need to start developing an application for a handheld device that will be used alongside this WPF application (buying tickets on bus/train, printing, searching etc). Handheld device has an integrated printer + touch display.
The application will have it's own local database (probably SQLite) on the handheld device, but will also need to communicate with the main database (PostgreSQL) using the WPF application's host (WCF service).
Our client has initially picked out a device with Windows Mobile 6.5 / Windows CE 5.0.
I have no experience with handheld devices/developing for them. Now, i’ve been digging around and understand that
WPF/Silverlight type development is supported only for Windows Mobile 7.0 + and Windows CE starting from 6.0 (with latest version).
If we are to develop for older OS, we cannot use VS2010 with all the latest tools etc, since .net compact framework is not supported there anymore.
Developing for older OS can be more time consuming and problematic, CE 5.0 support has already been dropped.
My questions:
If we manage to find a device that supports Mobile 7.0+ / CE 6.0+, what tools, frameworks would be best suited for our development? Or could someone suggest some up-to-date books?
If we need to use Mobile 6.5 / CE 5.0, what are our best options for development?
I understand we need to downgrade to VS2008, but which frameworks/tools are best suited for UI / communication with the WCF service?
Can someone with experience on this subject foresee any problems communicating with the WCF service?
How much more time consuming (ballpark figure) or complicated it would be to develop for these older operating systems? i.e. i would like to know how hard we should push our client for switching to a device with a newer OS (since it’s quite problematic to find a suitably built/priced device with newer OS).
Thanks in advance.
It seems like the Pocket version of Internet Explorer is going to be what you'd want to develop for. I'm not sure how it supports Silverlight and other newer technologies, though. One of the answers in >>THIS QUESTION<< shows how to do some HTML stuff, if that helps.
Windows CE and Windows Mobile (WM) require different SDK downloads. I only use WM here, and I'm not sure what you'd gain by going one route verses another. I was given WM, so I develop for WM.
Are you looking to decide which way to go (CE verses WM)?
The bigger problem is that most newer devices running Microsoft operating systems are all phones. It seems that if you want an industrial style device, you are either stuck with old Windows devices or turn to something running a newer Android platform.
As far as WM platforms, the newer they are, the more features you have access to (like turning on the radio, getting battery status, etc.). WM 6 and up has these features. WM 5 and down does not. Older than WM 5 is referred to as PocketPC.
I am researching using silverlight 4 to develop a desktop application that can be installed from a browser window, now the tricky part is that I want a lightweight database embedded into the application. The database should install with the rest of the application and it should ideally work on both windows and mac systems. Originally I was thinking sqlite would be suitable for this but I have learned that it is not compatible with silverlight. Does anyone know of a solution for this?
There are some available silverlight databases such as:
siaqodb - uses LINQ, available for WP7 - commercial.
effiproz - available for WP7 - commercial.
Perst - open source.
These utilizes silverlight local storage, comes with their own database engine.
There is also Ninja Database Pro that works for Silverlight and Windows Phone 7:
http://www.kellermansoftware.com/p-43-ninja-database-pro.aspx
Nowadays SQL Lite is a viable option for SL4 / SL5.
You could also team that up with DevArt LinqConnect product (http://www.devart.com/linqconnect/) that is an EF / Linq-to-SQL like wrapper over SQL Lite.
I've also looked at alternatives Siaqo DB and Ninja DB (as mentioned by others).
While not exactly a database, the upcoming release of the Sync Framework will support offline caching for Silverlight 4 on the desktop/browser, and Silverlight on Windows Phone 7. As Liam Cavanagh mentions in this blog post before TechEd:
I have a TechEd session this week where I will be demonstrating all of this as well as how we will be extending the capabilities of the sync framework for creating offline applications, specifically allowing Silverlight, Windows Phone 7 and even non-MSFT platforms to be used for the clients.
Link
Does anyone have experience in developing a standalone app with Silverlight using SQLite database? App should be distributed on CD or DVD for Windows OS and has to have autorun, with possibility to install .NET Framework if needed.
How difficult is to develop that kind of app for someone who has two years experience in Asp.NET web forms apps?
Thanks in advance for your answers.
Please double-check what your goals are:
SQLite does not run on Silverlight, or at least there aren't widely used ports of it available in any form
Silverlight can't install .NET Framework, and in fact does not even require it
I need to develop some programs for mobile devices but haven't decided the platform to build upon. I'm looking for Palm or Pocket PC devices that have Touch screen and Wi-Fi connection and are cheep because I'll need to buy several of them.
I don't really need camera, mp3 players, video players, pdf readers or anything else since the apps are going to be simple data collection to feed via wireless to a server database.
I'm proficient with C and C#. I could learn Java if I had to.
What devices do you recommend? Linux devices maybe?
PS: Changed the title because I don't want a flamewar between platforms. Please, don't answer with Windows Mobile sucks/rules. I'm looking for devices instead.
Thanks
Windows Mobile
It supports C#, and Visual Studio comes with the mobile SDK. So if you know C# you probably already have the tools you need. And in spite of the iPhone/iPodTouch buzz, the Windows Mobile deployment is still 10X greater.
In order of preference
Neo Freerunner
Maemo & the N800 (cheap)
Beagleboard
If you are comfortable with Visual Studio then programming for windows mobile is extremely easy. The SDK for mobile comes with emulators for all the latest and popular versions of windows mobile- and you can even debug on teh device itself using a USB cable.
On windows mobile you have a choice: Develop a .Net application or develop native (likely MFC based). Either one gives you a great development environment.
As far as iPhone development goes- you would need an apple computer to install and use iPhone SDK- and you can't run an iPhone app on your phone. You would have to go through the process of getting it registered with iTunes for you to install your own apps on your own phone!
When I first started playing with mobile development I had a few questions:
Can I develop using my favorite IDE- Visual Studio. Will it be as easy as developing a desktop app: yes.
Will I be able to access the internet from my application without 'unlocking' or in some other way enabling the phone that was not intended by the service provider? yes.
Will I be able to access device specific functionality such as GPS easily? Is there good support for doing so within the API? Yes.
You should probably target the Windows Mobile platform. The Palm platform is rather archaic and no longer widely used. The development environment is also rather spartan, while Microsoft has full IDEs available for Windows Mobile development. You might also consider the iPhone/iPod touch platform - I have a feeling the number of devices will multiply at an exponential rate and I've heard that developing applications is much easier due to the completeness of the system stack.
You should probably at least evaluate the Apple iPod Touch. It certainly meets your basic "touch screen + WiFi" spec, and your users presumably won't object to all the the other nice features that will come along for the ride.
I don't know what your cutoff for "cheap" is, but $299 for the base model seems pretty reasonable for a high-quality touch screen and WiFi in a pocketable device.
Windows Mobile and CE used to suck, really, really badly. These days however it's definitely passable and worth checking out, especially if you code C#.
Just remember that it is the baby brother of the full framework and has nowhere near enough toys and throws a lot of NotImplementedExceptions. :)
Blackberry publishes its SDK on its web site. Its apps run J2ME, so with some Java experience it shouldn't be too difficult to get started. They also give you an emulator. Disclaimer: I have no experience in writing Blackberry apps, but I looked into it once.
I would not recommend a PalmOS based handset. I have written code for PalmOS and it's about as painful as writing raw Win32 code in C. Since Palm has switched its high end handsets to Windows Mobile, PalmOS will just remain stagnant and only run on the slower, less capable hardware.
If I were to write a mobile app, I'd agree that Windows Mobile is worth checking out.
It all depends on the users who you are targeting at, If you are looking for a wide market then you should be fine with J2ME/Blackberry . However most of them lack the touchscreen and wifi features ( The HTC range of phones [WIFI/TouchScreen/Windows Mobile] have a JVM built with it),so it would work on most of the Windows devices also.
If you are making a more niche product, moving with the current buzz 'iphone' will be good . Windows Mobile is also worth checking out
The best option here would be the Neo Freerunner, with that device you can build a dedicated unit were every aspect is made especially for you're needs. The Freerunner is WiFi enabled, and has a touch interface. If you use the Qt SDK, a lot of the work is already done for you. It comes complete with emulator, as a Live linux cd. You can run in a WM, such as wmplayer. Everything is included.
I'm not gonna lie, it will take tweaking. But the final product would be really nice and intuitive.
Looking at Windows Mobile devices, your requirement of touchscreen pretty much sets your pricing at the higher end of the spectrum. You'll get those things you say you don't need just because of that.
Here's expansys's selection of touchscreens.
Mobdeal is a handy one too as that effectively filters all phones by features.
I've developed against the HTC TYTN 2, HTC Touch Diamond and randomly a PSION Teklogix Ikon
There's generally very little difference between these models, some manufacturers have SDKs that can help sometimes.
I think your cheapest option will probably be something like getting HTC TYTN 2s on ebay. They're pretty old now (hence cheap) but have Wifi, camera, touchscreen, qwerty keypad all the things you seem to be after.
you can target iPhone "touch" platform with Apple's iPhone SDK. the development environment requires a Mac, but you can get the entire IDE + tool chain + excellent debugging and profiling tools for free. And the free documentation is top notch.
As a registered iPhone developer, it is free (no cost) to target the simulator, which is sufficient for most learning and development you'll likely need to up front.
To target the actual hardware device (and up to and including release/selling your app on the Apple's AppStore) is only $99/yr. If you got an iPod Touch for your hardware target, most of the SDK applies and you are not tied into a service contract for an iPhone.
iPhone app development environment is in Objective-C, but it is a really productive, object-oriented environment so do not concerned that that may be a language you are unfamiliar with.
If you decide that your mobile app(s) would be better suited as webapps, the iPhone/iPod touch platform again is an industry leader in this space, and you have the additional benefit or being able to target other mobile platforms (and not necessarily be tied to one mobile SDK).