I was wondering if there is a complete documentation for creating PWA and SPA Web Applications which could be added/installed to Apple Watch
I mean a web application which has manifest(name, icon, etc) and can be added to Apple Watch menu
As of WatchOS 5, Apple have added webkit support to WatchOS and i guess it’s not a deal to render web pages because there are several web browsers for Apple Watch like parity and etc
I would be happy to hear your answers
One way to make a PWA or SPA as an app on mobile platform is to use a framework that uses the webview component of the platform to show the content as it was a native app.
Unfortunately [1] my source about a cordova apple watch plugin says, that
It is not possible to run a Cordova app directly on the Watch, as there is no support for a WebView [..]
Though, the source [1] is a project that gives some help on communicating between iPhone app and the Watch, but as the solution here is to write the showing of the data on native language anyways, I would probably more likely give a try for Xamarin [2] or any other native code generating framework, which DOES support Watch OS. I think your final goal anyways is to write an app for Watch, so that is the way to do so.
My source:
[1] https://github.com/leecrossley/cordova-plugin-apple-watch
[2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/ios/watchos/
Related
I'm currently developing a little project, i've bought a "smart lock" with works with Bluetooth and uses an open platform called TTLock. The resources are here: https://open.ttlock.com/doc/userGuide
The idea is to create my own App to control this "smart lock" using the methods created by TTLock.
The web page gives SDK resources for Android and IOS, but i want to program my App in Xamarin.Forms. My question is, can I "add" the Android SDK and the IOS SDK to my Xamarin.Forms solution and work with that methods, or i have to program first in Android Studio and later in an IOS IDE?
Thank you so much for your time and your responses. I'm learning about programming APPs on IDE, so all knowledge will be appreciated.
My question is, can I "add" the Android SDK and the IOS SDK to my Xamarin.Forms solution and work with that methods,
The answer of the first question is Yes. You could refer to Binding a .JAR document to use it in Android, and refer to Binding iOS Libraries document to use it in iOS.
or i have to program first in Android Studio and later in an IOS IDE?
The second question is depends on you. You will not need to use native IDE to do that.
For Android, there are two ways to get the native library:
Using Android Studio to download it
Going to Source repository website to download it
First method, I think you already know that, from the document you will find the sample steps:
The Second method, the shared document is chineses language. Therefore, you could find the source repository website here: https://maven.aliyun.com/mvn/search, and search by typing tongtonglock you will see the navtive libraries as follows. Then you can pick one to download.
For iOS, you could refer to its sample link to get the framework.
since I am new in the world of developing apps for watches, and the fact that it exists for smartphones the following frameworks:
Xamarin
PhoneGap
appcelerator
kony
Cordova
...
I wonder if there exists for watches apps similar frameworks? So that you code once but run overall.
Thanks
Edit 1:
At this day (12.05.2015) regarding to the answer of a nativescript maintainer here. I will go with nativescript to start writing app for wearables.
Cordova/PhoneGap apps don't work directly on the wearable devices/watches. Cordova/PhoneGap is basically a javascript API which can run on WebKit/WebView on all the mobile OS's. But the Android Watch and Apple Watch doesn't support WebKit and so the apps developed with Cordova don't work directly on Watch devices. But if want to extend some of the features from the existing Cordova app to the wearable app, you need to create the extension app in native language and the extension should be able to communicate with the paired app on the mobile device. The extension on the Watch will have only UI and the bussiness logic etc runs on the Cordova app on the mobile. It is possible to establish communication between these apps which will drive the display on the watch devices.
I am not sure about the other frameworks you listed above on how much they support wearable devices.
As #kiran and #NRimer have mentioned, these cross platform frameworks are relying on the WebKit/WebView which is the almost universal layer supported on every mobile device. They dont run directly on the device, but device runs WebKit platform that runs these cross platform apps. So comparing the capabilities of the native app with cross platform app, native app is bigger, because it can have a hands on device hardware related features. The thing particular to the smart watches is that they mostly rely on other smart phone device, and it uses it's communication protocols, that are hardware specific, and WebKit doesnt have its hands on it.
It depends on what you're looking to do with the framework. Watch apps build off data provided by their containing app. For example if you want to provide custom notifications on the watch, the app (or server for remote notifications) constructs them. When your watch app needs information, it makes a request to the containing app. Lets say you have a group of apps that you want to provide the same notifications or functions on each of their watch apps, you could make a framework that handles these functions for the containing app. As for the watch portion, think of it as more of a display of information provided. Unfortunately i dont think there's a way to generate frameworks for watch apps yet. If you're looking to have a lot of code within the watch app this might be more difficult but for simple display of information you should be alright.
Yesterday I've received a mail from the Apple Developer Center, stating:
Make sure your apps work seamlessly with the innovative technologies in iOS 7. Starting February 1, new apps and app updates submitted to the App Store must be built with Xcode 5 and iOS 7 SDK.
Will this mean the end of developing apps cross-device off of non-Apple devices?
It sure is a heavy restriction and I'm very disappointed with this news!
Could someone shine a light on this painful news?
I don't believe this is the case.
As long as the app is compiled using XCode, and using the iOS7 SDK, you should be fine.
When they say "built" they mean, it has a corresponding XCode project. Not that every line of code has been written in XCode. At least, that's my interpretation.
Can a Flex application that was designed for use on a PC be run on an iPad, iPhone, or Android-based mobile device?
Seems like a simple enough question. Visiting http://www.adobe.com/products/flex.html yields a picture of a dude running a (presumably) Flex application on an Android. So at first glance, the answer would appear to be "yes." End of story.
but yet…
There is so much (mis)information out there on various tech sites that suggest Flash-based technologies simply won't run on iOS or other mobile platforms. Why is this? Perhaps they mean to say that Flex won't run "out of the box" and requires a plugin? Or do they mean it won't run at all?
Every time I think I've reached a definitive conclusion, some post on SlashDot or CNET directly contradicts it. So what's the scoop? Can one take an existing Flex application and run it on iOS/Android? (I realize there are screen size issues to consider so the app might not run effectively. I just want to know if the runtimes are available on the mobile devices to allow the Flex app to launch at all.)
Sorry for the noob question. My background is WPF / HTML5. Adobe technologies are completely foreign to me.
I wrote a lot below if you'd like to read it enjoy, if not sorry for taking your valuable bytes :) I directly answered the questions up here first:
Why is this?
It's a confusing matter read below for the why details.
Perhaps they mean to say that Flex won't run "out of the box" and requires a plugin?
Or do they mean it won't run at all?
Using the flash builder tools (the bin folder in the SDK) you can compile for native desktop application, desktop web browsers, native iOS application, native Android application. Android with FlashPlayer plugin installed will show Flash content within the web browser, iOS will only run the ones compiled with AIR, not in the the web browser but as a native app.
Every time I think I've reached a definitive conclusion, some post on SlashDot or CNET directly contradicts it. So what's the scoop? Can one take an existing Flex application and run it on iOS/Android?
Yes, if using AIR and run as a native app on all three platforms (the desktop Flex API is for the most part a superset of the web Flex API), your other points about performance and form factor are valid and should be considered though. The nice thing is you can write your model/controller code in a common library in AS3 then write separate presentation layer interfaces that all share the library.
Here's the very long version:
Using the flash compiler results in "bytecode" in the form of a file with a swf extension using the swf format, you can read a ton more about that here:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/swf.html
To interpret the file you need some sort of run-time similar to some degree to running WPF/XAML/C# within a .NET framework context (either desktop or using silverlight on the web). In the case of adobe technologies (rough equivalence):
AS3 = C#
MXML = XAML
Flex = WPF+WCF (client side RPC not server side)
Flash Player = Silverlight
AIR (Adobe integrated runtime) = .NET
Framework Redistributable .dll(s)/.so(s) for desktop OSes
(Read this list very loosely please, I know XAML is preserved in the MSIL or whatever which is different because MXML is compiled to AS3 and only if a debug flag is set on the compiler does it include the debugging symbols, there's certainly tons of differences but I think this is an easy and correct enough model to use)
On iOS the browser does not allow for plugins in the traditional sense of netscape browser plugins or ActiveX plugins. For this reason you'll not be able to execute a plugin ie flashplayer or silverlight in the browser. Since Adobe did release a flashplayer for Android devices that does run in the browser it will work on those devices in the browser, however they have essentially thrown in the towel for supporting this long term, as they have to support the majority mobile device platform, iOS, in order to remain relevant (this was I think more a collective throwing in of the towel by Google, device manufacturers, carriers, Microsoft, all just following suit and trying to make the best business decision, WebKit and V8 or SpiderMonkey can probably do 99% of what Flash can do and better in some cases and WebKit will hopefully not splinter and will remain open source... frameworks and the browsers just need to get fleshed out and stabilized).
If the user installs AIR (or the runtime is packaged with the app) then a Flex/Flash (that is stuff coded in AS3 and/or MXML and compiled to a swf) can be transcoded/packaged to be interpreted by the run-time for that device correctly (be it iOS or Android or whatever RIM did, I don't think they have AIR for Windows Phone 7 and Win8 on ARM won't support browser plugins either). Part of the confusion is possibly from the fact that Apple denied the distribution of Apps that were "cross-compiled" which kept AIR out of the list of options for iOS for a good year, just after Adobe started announcing it was usable for that purpose (kicking Adobe while their down). Another part of the confusion probably comes from real vids of people who have 1 hacked their device or 2 were able to get open source alternatives to the flash player run-time to work on their iOS device (gnash was one I'm aware of from some occasional Linux tinkering, also possibly FAKE vids).
You can run Flex applications on mobile devices, but you cannot simply run any Flex project.
In Flash Builder ( Flex Ide) or in Flash Professional you can create mobile projects. These projects generate native applications for iOS and Android.
Last time I tried, the result and the available components where less than what I expected. So, if you can, I'll much recommend you go for something like Appcelerator.com or similar, which turns HTML5/Js code into native apps. I tried them, worked a lot better than Flex.
Short answer: No
Long answer: You can use Adobe's tools to compile your Flash/Flex app for use as a native iOS app. So you won't be able to embed the app in a web page like you normally could with Flex, but you can build it as a native app. Note you have to have Flash Builder 4.5 to do this.
It won't run on iPhone as a .swf file, but it will run on Android based devices that have adobe flash installed. It will also run on the BB playbook, which also has flash.
Flex is a framework.( Anyway it is very beutiful one which even sometime looks like complete different language ).
As soon as you are building AIR application it can run on various platforms like : Windows, iOS, Android, upcomming TV's, PlayBook, even .. into the future ( maybe/hopefuly ) on Windows Phone, plus Linux ( which AIR future is not very clear anyway ( but hopefuly Adobe will reconsider ) ).
So - application created with Flash Builder 4.5+ would probably run everywhere as soon as it is AIR application.
The compilation methoods is really simple, and you almost simultaneously compiling for everything you wanna to.
And one of the most important things here - your applications will run, work, look and feel the same way you were designed on one device. Flex is the thing which is responsible for everything to looks beutiful on each platform it is running.
For instance i am compiling currently for Android, and without even test i can clearly say that it will looks and feel the same way under iOS and Windows, and it will.
Ive tried asking on the blackberry forums with no luck... Maybe there are some Blackberry/Adobe experts here...
Im just about to start a project using Adobe AIR/flex for the Blackberry Playbook, I have a few questions:
If I develop an application for the playbook, will the same application be able to run on a desktop? If so will there be any differences?
What is the difference between the desktop and mobile libraries? Can I only access a subset of the SDK on the mobile device compared to the desktop?
Can I create a playbook application that can call methods to a JAVA back end, located on my server?
Thanks
Phil
What’s different about developing a
mobile application versus a web or
desktop application? While many
existing Flex concepts and patterns
carry over directly to mobile
development, developers will need to
take into account the differences in
interaction patterns, screen real
estate, and performance
characteristics of mobile devices
compared to desktop computers. As a
result, we recommend using the new
mobile features in Flex to craft UIs
specific to mobile devices, while
sharing underlying model and data
access code with your desktop or web
application. Additionally, we
recommend certain best practices when
developing mobile applications with
Flex, such as using ActionScript and
FXG rather than MXML for creating item
renderers and skins.
Taken from http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex/mobile/faq.html#differences
As per my usual qualifying statement: I haven't tried this. Since this is of some interest to me and I've got a bit of free time I'll give making a hero app and running it as a desktop app versus as a mobile app a shot and post back here once I have it working or find a wall.
The runtime: Adobe AIR 2.5 on mobile
devices The initial versions of the
mobile development features in "Hero"
and "Burrito" are targeted at creating
standalone installed applications
using the Adobe AIR runtime for mobile
devices. By focusing on AIR, Flex can
take full advantage of the integration
AIR provides with each mobile
platform, such as the ability to
handle hardware back and menu buttons
and to access local storage.
Running on AIR Finally, it's important
to realize that in addition to all the
mobile Flex components listed above,
you can also directly take advantage
of all the APIs that are available in
AIR on mobile devices—geolocation,
accelerometer, camera integration, and
so forth. While some of these features
are not exposed as Flex components,
they are easy to access directly using
ActionScript. For more information on
developing using the APIs provided by
AIR on mobile devices, see AIR mobile
docs.
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/mobile_development_hero_burrito.html
Basically it's looking like the answer to all the questions is positive.
Yes and likely yes. (as they re-iterate throughout anything I've found on the topic the controls in Hero were made specifically for touch, taking into consideration the fat finger vs the mouse pointer, my guess is it will render slightly differently on the desktop and it's best to actually develop the UIs separately, although the web-services/model can be combined into a shared library/project)
You should have access to everything provided to the desktop (plus info from GPS/accelerometer etc., but obviously wouldn't get those on desktop), but don't have nearly as good a processor so what will work on the desktop may not on a lower performance computing device, but for low resource consumption tasks this shouldn't be a worry.
Yes this is a core feature of Flex, I don't see how it would be possible to make a (useful) RIA without web services. For confirmation on this one look no further than Adobe TV: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adc-presents/flex-mobile-part-1-beginning-a-mobile-application/ <-- that app is using a web service (doesn't really matter to Flex what the underlying server technology is so long as it can make HTTP requests against it, RemoteObject/AMFService should serve your purpose)
If I develop an application for the
playbook, will the same application be
able to run on a desktop? If so will
there be any differences?
Depends. the Air file for both desktop and Playbook is exactly the same, however for Playbook development, RIM has provided an Air library so that Flex developers can take advantage of the hardware further than just the normal Air capabilities. With that said, if your application is dependent on that extra library, it will not work on desktop.
What is the difference between the
desktop and mobile libraries? Can I
only access a subset of the SDK on the
mobile device compared to the desktop?
Desktop and mobile libraries? Do you mean the Playbook Air Library or something else? See above for the latter. Comment on this if you can clarify.
Can I create a playbook application
that can call methods to a JAVA back
end, located on my server?
Yes, you can, as long as you have internet connectivity on the Playbook.