The last two weeks I've been been writing a chrome app in order to update a microcontroller using the chrome.serial API. Now beeing almost ready with the main functionality and trying to publish the application the web store says "The app runs only on Chrome OS".
I'm afraid during development I missed the hint that chrome apps will no longer be supported. Unfortunately I can't easily port it to an extension or progressive web app since the app depends on the chrome.serial.* API
Does somebody know how to publish the app for Windows/Mac/Linux anyhow?
Or maybe how to port to a native app using the chrome.serial api?
Thanks
You can continue using the same Chrome App codebase with NW.js, but you will need to distribute to those platforms another way.
https://nwjs.io/blog/chrome-apps-support/
https://nwjs.io/blog/whats-new-in-0.13/
Related
I have trouble finding information about how to develop a Google (Marketplace) Chrome Web Store Web App.
I want to develop a simple "list info about all users in the domain, and let them add info about themselves through some web interface"-web-app.
And eventually i want to publish it in the Marketplace/Chrome Web Store.
How and where are those web apps hosted when published? How do i develop and test it before, do i use the App Engine simulator for that?
I want to be able to install the app in our domain in such a way that noone else has to "install" it.
You should start here: https://developer.chrome.com/home/platform-pillar
About the App store: https://developer.chrome.com/webstore
I think this is the jumping off point you want.
We will develop an app that we would like to distribute in through the following channels:
Android and iOS apps through Google Play and iTunes (the app will
use notifications extensively and presence in Google Play and App store is required)
Web app to run in web browsers on mobile devices
Web app to run in web browsers on laptop and desktop computers. We would like to support Chrome, Internet Explorer (starting from IE9),
Firefox and Safari browsers.
Our understanding is that Ionic is developed targeting primarily 1. and that the web apps in 2. and 3. above are not really what Ionic is intended for. We have looked around to try to understand if Ionic likely works for 2. and 3. and also made some quick tests ourselves.
From one of the links at the end: "Your webapp will run in desktop browsers yes, as it is made of html, css and javascript. The phonegap specific javascript calls (accelerometer, compass, file, etc) won't. Basically, if you stick to standard yes you will be able to port relatively easily your app to most browser, the job at this point being mostly a work of theming."
From another one: "I do know that FireFox is simply not supported. I don't know how well Ionic works in IE X."
To try it out we have built a limited version of our app in Ionic. From what we can see the app works for 1, 2 and 3. For example, it runs without issues on FireFox that is mentioned as not supported in the quote above. This means that to us it looks like the first quote saying that the web app will work in desktop browsers is correct.
I understand that this is a fairly generic question and might be hard to answer, but since we have found contradicting information when looking we are trying to understand more before making a decision.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Markus
Is it a good idea to use ionic to build mobile web version of a website?
Can Ionic Framework run in desktop web browser like Chrome, Mozilla, IE9+?
http://forum.ionicframework.com/t/ionic-components-on-ie/1826
Phonegap web app in regular desktop browsers
http://ionicframework.com/docs/overview/#css-sass
Ionic is tested for mobile only. Internet Explorer for example is not tested and does not properly handle a number of features in Ionic. Desktop browsers act differently than mobile browsers.
Ionic is focused on building native/hybrid mobile apps rather than
mobile websites.
As such, our browser support tends to be whatever Web View API is
available to native apps on a given platform. For Ionic 1.1.0
"xenon-xerus", that means UIWebView for iOS 7+, and Android 4.1 and
up. Windows Phone and FirefoxOS support is on our roadmap.
If it's cheaper for you to test everything on all different desktop browsers than to develop a version for it sharing the same controllers and services --- go ahead but it won't come "out of the box".
Also, I recommend looking at Electron to build desktop apps from webapps.
ionic is targting mobile apps only , but you can develop your desktop app using node webkit and angular material for example and share some code between your apps
I have tried looking for some answers but could not get anything concrete from the other questions in here.
I am looking for an answer to these two questions:
Using PhoneGap, if I create an iPhone web app, can I use it as
plain web app (i.e. without using iTunes to deploy it)? Just via a
web url?
Using PhoneGap, can an iPhone web app check for wifi
connectivity? i.e. If wifi/3g is available, if wifi is available,
can it scan for ssids.
Thanks for any help in advance.
You can create host the web app on your own server (or local). Then it is accessible via web url. If you want to use it as a normal app (there are differences - phonegap uses few native plugins for better experience), then you must have a developer license from apple and then deploy it to your device. Otherwise you can only use the simulator. You can also use Safari + USB to debug your app using the browser.
It is possible but limited. Only certain functionalities are available. Check out the following plugin for cordova (phonegap):
cordova-plugin-wifi
Good luck!
This is a very general question, i would solve it myself if i had a device on me.
Does the facebook app (for IPhone and similar question regarding the Android platform) has non-native features in it, or is it completely local, meaning operating entirely on the device?
Android
The Native App is not redirecting you to the mobile version of the website.
The only exception I had found are event invitation messages that, when opened within the native app, will forward me to the website. I just checked again and links are not working anymore in messages when being received on the native client. Strange.
And if I may ask: Why? ;-)
I am building a hosted mobile application so I can write once and deploy to many mobile platforms. My plan is to write a native application with a single screen that is a browser that navigates to my hosted application. Of course this is so our application is in the App Store, Android Market, etc.
Is it possible to use the PhoneGap JavaScript so my hosted applications can use local APIs? For example, I would like to be able to upload pictures taken from the camera.
Short answer: no.
More information: PhoneGap: It's possible to use only the phonegap.js and it's functions only in a Website (doesn't want an App only a Webpage)?
Short answer
No. You need to add pctures upload logic in each framework
In addition to what has been answer it will also depend on your application store offering. If you're intending to offer the app in the iPhone App Store, these kind of apps aren't permitted. In the guidelines it states that apps that basically launch a browser or UIWebView will be rejected.
Additionally, you could always create the app as a "home screen" app, that runs without the chrome, etc on the iPhone. Hope this helps.