So, yes, this is probably 1000th question on the subject. However, my question is somewhat different from others that were asked about this, so please bear with me:
I am looking to develop a single mobile-app that targets the three/four popular and/or growing mobile platforms (Iphone, Android, WinPhone7, RIM). This application is an extension of an existing SaaS system that my startup currently offers. This mobile-app would provide a quick-and-simple way to view up-to-date status & chart & report information for the data that SaaS application collects. Connection to the internet is required 100%. No data entry besides username/password. App is very simple with 5-6 "pages".
In phase 1, all that would need to be supported is for user to log in, get to see current status of his data stored in the cloud, get access to a few live reports
In phase 2, I'd like to be able to offer push-notification of certain key events from my servers in the cloud
My goals are:
1) The back-end processing that generates data for reports is already written in ASP.NET MVC2. I want to re-use it. It can be exposed as either a WCF service or published on a mobile-friendly website
2) I'd like to be able to deploy the patches faster than through the official app-stores/marketplaces.
3) I cannot afford to spend a lot of resources to target three-four proprietary platforms, for an app that is auxiliary to the vertical purpose of the business. I want to develop it once for all 3-4 platforms.
4) I do not have access, nor do I want to purchase a Macbook
5) I do want to deploy thru the vendor-specific application marketplaces
6) I'd like to stay way from proprietary languages/frameworks/lock-ins
Sounds like what I need is a shell around a mobile-friendly site that can be packaged as an app. Are there existing products that can make it REAL EASY for me to do so? Will doing so, preclude me from doing push notifications in phase 2?
Can anyone recommend a "shell" product that would make a wrapper around the website as well as Javascript library that would look the best across all 4 platforms. I've seen the names like Jqtouch, Jquery Mobile, etc... but not sure which ones are better for what I need.
Do I need PhoneGap? I am not 100% sure here. Can PhoneGap use online-only html/javascript pages to translate into native code or must html/javascript files be distributed with the application? I'd rather have the website itself drive the UI completely, as I can keep changing the website without various version approval processes from vendor market-stores.
Thank you for help
I don’t think you need Phonegap after reading about your project goals. You might consider a Web App instead of a native one if you 1) dont want to buy a mac (required for iOS even tho you can compile it in the cloud: https://build.phonegap.com/), and 2) want to apply and deploy updates anytime without going thru those platform independent marketplaces and approval processes.
jQuery Mobile would be an excellent choice, currently (at this very moment) in Alpha 3 but a very stable one and you can deploy your system on any of those platforms. Note that if you focus your efforts in a Web App you can’t target the second phase you mentioned: Push Notifications.
If you decide going Native, then Push Notifications services can be deployed into your Phonegap project once you setup the proper web services and certificates (take a look # http://easyapns.com);
..and one quick note, the idea of phonegap is that all resources (html, js, images. etc) have to be distributed locally within the app and then getting online data (like reports, etc) using JSON from another web service, and that’s another easy task to accomplish. Phonegap DOES NOT compile your HTML files into native code (ObjectiveC or Java), it just load your Web App into a UIWebKit component at run time (in the case of an iOS app)
Another alternative could be using Titanium - http://www.appcelerator.com but this approach is more javascript oriented and your final app looks much more native. (not HTMLs here so I think thats a drawback for you)
Hope it helps :)
Related
I am looking for the list of blockchain projects which are implemented in mobile apps natively. If you can find some, please point me to the list. If not, please let me know why there are no much blockchain projects implemented in mobile natively. Could it be due to performance, gas cost, complexity etc?
There are many risks that you as mobile app developer need to take care of when you ship your DApp in a form of mobile application.
1: Security - building your own app for blockchain means you have to built key management by yourself.
In current state of DApp, we have MetaMask, Cipher browser, Status browser, Trust browser and many others. The main problem that they're trying to solve is account management, the private key management, recovery process & good UX.
All of these need to be taken care of by yourself if you want allow your users to sign up for an account aka creating private key and store it securely in the phone. If hackers managed to reverse engineer and exploit your mobile app, they will be able to crack down the private key vault (the place where you store the private keys for your customers in their phones). You are screwed.
MetaMask and the gang above have experts that know what they are doing and always put security as their main pillar in the engineering process. Apart from that, they also have design team that always come out with better UX ideas so that everyone can adopt blockchain easily.
Bottom line, if you have security and design experties in your team that know well how to handle the key management, recovery process (mnemonic/seed phrases) & etc, it's probably a good idea to build your own inside your mobile app. Otherwise, I strongly recommend you just build web DApps and leverage MetaMask or DApp browsers above.
2: Trust - the idea of blockchain itself it to make everything decentralize and transparent. When you build a mobile app for your DApp, means you making it centralize. Your solution lives somewhere, in a server.
You will be relying on Apple and Google everytime you want to push app updates. Imagine you are an iOS developer and Apple is taking very long time to review and approve your app update submission? There's nothing much you can do because you are in centralized/close loop environment.
If you make it as web based DApp, you can deploy your DApp updates at any time you want. In addition to that, you also can host it to IPFS or Swarm to make it really decentralized application.
The beauty of not making it as a mobile app here is, your users can browse the code because all they have in their browser are static files; HTML, CSS and JS. Your users can tell if you are doing something bad in your code. Because they can right click on your web DApp and see the page source.
But if you are doing this as mobile app, your users can't really know what is 'behind' the app and you will find hard times to convince them later that they are in a good company.
3: Development - Web3JS is the most popular and stable project right now. It acts like a bridge layer between your DApp UI and the blockchain. And of course, it's written and needs to be implemented in JS.
Even now we started to see Web3 has been ported out to many other flavors i.e. for Swift and Kotlin, they are still new. Means, you will spend a lot of man hours later trying to debug and solve issues that only less people know to help/fix it.
To share my experience, I'm a Rubyist and there are some Web3 flavors for Ruby now. But, from what I've tested, they are still far from perfect and stable and at last, I decided to port everything to Web3JS for front-end components and Go for back-end. components.
FYI, the Ethereum Geth client is written in Go, check-out go-ethereum project. That means, everything that you need to do later i.e. creating transaction, signing transaction, querying blocks/transactions, creating/retrieving private key & etc has been tested and being used in real production. At any time when you are stuck, you can go ahead, read the source code of go-ethereum to learn how they do specific thing (the list above).
I'm not going againts all these new flavors. What I'm trying to tell you here is, it's going to take time for all this new flavors to get matured and stable enough. My advice for you now, if you want to do DApp, use Web3JS. If you need some back-end work (your centralized server <> blockchain), use Go.
I hope this helps!
I know that all these components exist, however I really am trying to figure out if someone has brought all these together.
Here is what I need:
JavaScript/NodeJS core application boilerplate/framework
With a website, HTML app (aka PhoneGap or even better Ionic), and ideally option to add something like a desktop app (like electron) client flexibility
All with possibility of different/specialized frontend code so all assets and HTML could be packaged into the app
Ideally kept in one GIT repo
With shared code amongst all UIs
Ability to use Angular 2 in all environments (or something similar)
Realtime? standardized data connection with data source (like meteor's DDP), I really dislike polling and I don't want to have to write my own data protocol
Have some kind of authentication capacity
Already exist in some way
What I have been eyeballing thus far is Ionic2 on top of Meteor, however it is remarkably difficult to find an actually working example of them playing together and I have not found any with separate codebases between the two interfaces.
To clarify, below is sort-of what I envision for a folder structure:
public/
common/
models/
business-logic/
server/
web/
desktop/
mobile/
And in that, all UIs and server can import from the common folder.
The end goal is to have something like Slack where they have 3 different ways of accessing the same data using the same rules but can really specialize in each interface type.
Does this exist?
I am really looking to have something that can be started with:
git clone http://github.com/a/bc
npm install
# do some other things that are documented
meteor run ios
Or am I not gonna have my cake and be able to eat it too?
I know I am shooting for the moon, but I know I can't be the first person looking to do this
For the backend I think that LoopBack may be a good bet if you want fast developement.
They have some examples for iOS, Android and Angular apps on their website:
You may get some ideas from their documentation or several example projects on GitHub.
LoopBack is currently backed by IBM.
There have been a few articles and questions about how to do this but they all seem to have a bias to iOS.
So first of all I am currently using PhoneGaps database functionality:
http://docs.phonegap.com/en/1.0.0/phonegap_storage_storage.md.html
I have a database I need for the app to run from as it contains a lot of information, probably about 1mb worth (can be exposed as .db/.sql). So I want to be able to make my PhoneGap app and build it for as many platforms as possible. However I want it so that as soon as the user has installed the app it automatically installs the database for them.
Some of the solutions seem to recommend creating the database on first boot, but this just seems a bit hack-ish and sidestepping the problem.
I am more than happy to switch over to use webSQL if Android, iOS and other providers support it, however as PhoneGap wraps any available native OS DB functionality it seemed more realistic that you can get an app to pre-populate an Android database and access it via PhoneGap than pre-populate a web database and access it via webSql.
Hopefully this question makes sense and there have been advances since mid last year, which seems to be the last up to date post on this sort of thing.
I just answered another similar question on this topic. First PhoneGap doesn't implement the Storage function that is documented. In fact we take advantage of the sqlite and localStorage functionality that is implemented in all webkit based browsers.
My recommendation is for you to pre-populate a SQLite DB and on application startup copy the DB to the correct location so your app can access it. There is a good blog post on this topic at:
http://gauravstomar.blogspot.com/2011/08/prepopulate-sqlite-in-phonegap.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GauravSTomarBootstrappingIntelligence+%28Gaurav+S+Tomar+%3A+Bootstrapping+Intelligence%29
Is there a good solution for A|B Testing in mobile apps like online? I know with iOS it's against the TOS to have different user experiences with identical actions, but what about Android? And what about firms like Apsalar which claim to offer A|B Testing in their analytics for apps? How would one implement that?
Artisan mobile makes an A/B testing solution for iOS and Android.
The basic idea is that you drop the SDK in your app and then put it out in the app store. You can use the service to create A/B tests and optimize your application without having to touch the code or go back through the app store for each test.
For mobile apps, A/B testing basically works by replacing static, hard-coded objects with dynamic objects that can be controlled from a remote server.
This methodology raises a potential performance issue: What if the end user's device is not connected to pull configuration data for an object being tested? We've built Splitforce (http://splitforce.com) to seamlessly setup and manage A/B testing in mobile apps while controlling for performance risk.
Los details
Once the SDK and experiment has been integrated, non-technical product or marketing folks can setup new tests or tweak existing tests on-the-fly - without having to resubmit to the app stores or hassle engineers.
On first app launch, the mobile app requests configuration data from the server and then caches that data locally on the device. This is to both ensure a consistent user experience on subsequent app launches, and prevent corrupt test results by guaranteeing accurate attribution of conversion events to variations.
If the end user's connection fails or is timed-out on first app launch, the library displays a hard-coded 'default' variation. And to make sure that everything is looking good before you go live, we've built a 'shake to preview' functionality in debug mode that does just that :-)
Once the app is deployed with Splitforce event data are stored locally and sent back to the website to be displayed for each variation alongside measurements of observed improvement and statistical confidence.
Instructions on integration of the SDKs and new tests can be found at https://splitforce.com/documentation.
And how is it used?
We've seen Splitforce used to A/B test:
UI elements + layouts (color, text, images, ad/menu placements)
UX workflows
Game dynamics + rules
Prices + promotions
We've also seen the tool used to control mobile apps remotely, by essentially setting one variation of a test subject to 100%.
Yes there is: E.g. the company Leanplum offers a Visual Interface Editor for iOS and Android: This requires no coding, and Leanplum will automatically detect the elements and allow you to change them. No engineers or app store resubmissions required.
Apple must have updated their TOS (https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#user-interface) - At least I am not aware of anything that prohibits altering the UI in a way that the Leanplum Visual Editor is doing it.
Generally that is achieved by method swizzling (iOS) and reflection (Android).
To learn more about the Leanplum Visual Interface Editor, check out leanplum.com. They offer a free 30-day trial.
(Disclaimer: I am an Engineer at Leanplum.)
I wrote a small open source project called Switchboard.
It let's you A/B test, remote configure and stage rollout things in your native mobile app. It contains a server component that specifies what information the application should have and 2 native clients for android and iOS.
You can find the codebase at github.com/keepsafe/switchboard and a blog post about how you can use it HERE
The new kid around the block is Arise.io. They provide an A/B testing service for iOS and Android.
I wrote MSActiveConfig, an extremely flexible framework to do remote configuration + A/B testing on iOS, with a portable format to be able to implement clients on other platforms: https://github.com/mindsnacks/MSActiveConfig.
This framework is being used in applications with more than 5 million users.
There have been a spate of new entrants in this field...you could check out Swerve, Appiterate, leanplum...all of them seem to be having SDKs for iOS as well, not really sure whether and how Apple TOS allows for that, but since there are some many of them doing it, there must be a way.
Yes, new entrants are showing up in app A/B testing practically every week! But, I think Appiterate has gone two steps ahead of other competitors by creating a visual interface, without any need to re-write code. I have seen their platform (you can ask for an invite. I got a demo within 12 hours) and believe me, it is actual WYSIWYG that they are providing.
I just heard that a company I do work for may be bringing in the Pyxis Mobile application development system. When I google it most of what I find is from the company's web site and that is not very informative from a geek perspective. Can any one shed some light on what sort of programming environment it is and what programing language is involved (please let there be a text based language). Any additional information would be great.
Note: the company/product changed their name to Verivo in January.
Full Disclosure - I work as an engineer at Pyxis Mobile. However, I have been in the mobile space for 7+ years and have evaluated several approaches to mobile so hopefully this is helpful.
Pyxis Mobile provides a set of tools and components to build cross platform mobile applications. Let me outline them first.
1. Application Studio - All application development, backend integration, user provisioning and application maintenance/debugging is done w/in this tool. Application Studio (for now) is a Windows based desktop app.
2. Application Clients - Pyxis Mobile provides native client runtimes for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android devices. These runtimes get branded for the customer through a build service and are primed to point to a specific Application Server URL.
3. Application Server - Pyxis Mobile App Server runs on the .NET stack (on IIS). All client communication is proxied via this server. This server is able to connect to varied of backend systems (via the Plugin Framework listed below) and respond to the client in a mobile optimized manner. This server needs a SQL Server (2005 or newer) for configuration access, session management, logging and more.
4. Plugin Framework - The Plugin Framework is a backend component that provides system specific pre-built access to several of the enterprise and cloud based systems (Oracle, Siebel, SAP, Salesforce.com, social feeds, REST/SOAP web services, etc.) and also offers an API layer in .NET and Python (using IronPython) to allow even further customization. A plugin is essentially comprised of one or more DLLs or a Python file. These assets are then dynamically loaded to normalize communication between Pyxis Mobile and the customers' backend systems.
5. Push Services - This provides a cross-platform push layer that can poll a backend system for change and alert a mobile device via BlackBerry Push, Apple Push Notification Services (APNS) or Android's Cloud to Deice Messaging (C2DM).
6. OverWatch Analytics - This is an optional (but included) component to track users/devices and provide integrated analytics on what the users are using and what kind of devices and locales makes up your users.
The application itself is "coded" via configuration that is build in App Studio. Pyxis Mobile abstracts away from the code so that you can work at a higher level without having to worry about the wide array of device variances (GPS, touch screens, camera, accelerometer, push, screen resolution, etc.). You can drag fields onto a from, connect screens via menus or buttons, set up caching rules and more in this graphical utility. This configuration (essentially think of an XML like document) is interpreted by the native client layer to produce a rich application. There is also a scripting layer in Lua that allows to really customize behavior via code.
The real value of Pyxis Mobile comes up when you have change to make. The clients check for new configuration at app startup or if the server forces the client to get new configuration. This gives you great agility. Lets say once your application is deployed you want start using the swipe gesture to go next/prev through a set of records. This change on other platforms would mean writing some platform specific code to trap and interpret the swipe to perform a navigation (you couldn't trap a swipe on a non-touch screen). However, in Pyxis Mobile this is a simple configuration change that can be quickly deployed to the App Server and the clients automatically download and use the new configuration. No compilation, no redeployment or re-download for the end users.
I could keep going, but hope this provides some level of guidance.
Beware of Pyxis Mobile. While many of the things they say do work, there are some serious platform issues (as a geek) which I've experienced.
1) No version control system process. The Application studio can basically only be developed on by one person at a time or you risk having your changes overwritten by a fellow developer. The "principle of last save" is very much in play.
2) No unit test coverage. This isn't the biggest issue for a lot of people, but it's a concern for anyone who wants to work in the Enterprise world.
3) The middleware server gets you some value, but it's also a PITA to work with. There is no concept of "client side storage" unless you consider the middleware server the client side. If your phone goes out of coverage, your app won't work. Again, this might not be an issue for you.
4) The application has no true scripting language to work with. The middleware server allows you to intercept requests and responses and modify what you're doing there, but it's not the most elegant solution considering that a native application can have something as simple as "if this then X else Y." This can be accomplished with Pyxis, but the whole process is convoluted and more complicated than one would think it needs to be.
5) Lack of documentation. There's some training guides and the GUI is easy enough to get around for simple apps; however, when you need to do something with guts, you're left relying on Pyxis professional services. There's really no developer community to pose questions to.
I have more complaints, but they are more opinion oriented than Q/A oriented.
I just got note about the most recent comments. I don't want to turn this into a thread of back and forth, but did want to throw a couple of quick notes.
Regarding the points on version control and documentation/developer community - no big contest there. We are definitely working on these shortcommings. We have some basic pieces in place, but we have big plans to focus on this.
Regarding unit testing - we provide a very open interface to our middleware and backend components and they can be very easily unit tested with a bit of instrumentation. We run a ton of unit and integration tests internally. However, mobile unit testing is extremely difficult to get right. We'll investigate this further.
Regarding #4 around middleware and offline capabilities - things are a lot different now. With version 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 our products have increasing become more capabale offline and now features a secure local database if necessary. I can provide more details as necessary, but you can certainly login and operate the app even if you are out of coverage for weeks at a time!
Regarding #5, we've had a scripting engine for over 2 years. Its Lua based and its actually quite powerful and fast. It was BlackBerry only till the most recent release. Given Apple's change of stance on allowing scripting we now allow scripting on BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone and Android as well now!
#RockMeetHardplace - feel free to reach out to me directly and I'll be happy to give you more detailed live demos of our latest platform. I am at - arunSPAMNOTatpyxismobiledotcom (drop the "SPAMNOT" and replace the at and dot). I happen to be the Director of Software and interested in knowing more about the issues you had.