nextInterfaces.. what it provides for Mobile development? - iphone

I've recently heard about nextInterfaces..
I need to know if any one had an experience with this framework?
What is it provide? (I notice it don't provide mobile-specific features like other frameworks like PhoneGap)
I feel it is simulate some APIs for iPhone? I am not sure...
I just need to know if any one played with it before .. Thanks

Seems to be Java GWT library optimized for Mobile. I am considering using it as it have nice UI, yet still waiting for the GWT UiBinder to be implemented. Otherwise looks very promising.

Related

Deploy GWT app into Google Play

I want to deploy my GWT app into Google Play (and maybe App Store in the future). I don't need to use native functions in my app. Just user, password, and I will show one report.
I found mgwt project(http://code.google.com/p/mgwt/). Is mgwt + gwt phonegap the best approach?
Google blog: http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/gwt-support-for-mobile-app-development.html
I actually build mgwt and gwt-phonegap and so its kinda hard for me to say that it is the best way, because I am somewhat biased.
But what I can say is that I know many many developers who have built their applications with mgwt and gwt-phonegap and have put it into the play store and the app store as well. The framework works very nicely. Since I am on the GWT Steering Committee I sure hope that I know how to build GWT frameworks, so mgwt should be doing most of the things just right.
If you are looking for other mgwt developers take a look at our mailing list: https://groups.google.com/group/mgwt and feel free to take a look around at http://www.m-gwt.com

Reuse code in iPhone, Android and a Web applications

I'm about to develop an app for iPhone, Android, and for web too. I think there must be some "standard" way for doing this, in order to reuse as much code as possible.
Which is the best way for doing that? Webservices? (only if the app uses internet) Maybe an API? Another way?
Just for the record, the web application will probably be developed in Ruby On Rails 3.
Thanks!
There are a few cross platform development tools out there that let you write once and compile for multiple platforms. I know I've seen questions on both tool here on SO, so others might have some good advice on these specific products.
PhoneGap
http://www.phonegap.com/
Appcelerator
http://www.appcelerator.com/
Barring that, if you are looking at doing native development on each platform, the web services APIs are a good way to go. I've built an App that is heavily data driven, and I built out RESTful services over JSON that do the heavy lifting for the iPhone, Android and Web versions.
There still is quite a bit of work that goes into implementing a feature on each platform, but once I architect code on one platform the hard, creative work is done and it's just porting it to the next platform (Same applies, mostly, to the graphics as well). Since I am coding for each platform individually I do try to take advantage of both code and UI conventions for that platform to give the user a native experience (say building menus for the menu button on Android, something not supported on iPhone). To me that's a benefit of developing for each platform individually, however, it also greatly increases time to market for each version.
Since you're looking at Objective-C, Java and Ruby, 3 completely different languages, there's not an easy way to develop a shared library without using a intermediary layer like those linked above.
Well, all three are different languages, so anything you write for one won't work for the other. An API on a server may be able to get you the same data to all, but its highly unlikely that you'll get any reusable code. I'm doing the same thing, and realize that, so I am just sharing common things such as UI and code-design between them.

JavaScript based iPhone UI framework

We have a push based web-application. Recently, we planned to make an iPhone app for it. Much like Facebook has it's iPhone application as well as web presence. We are looking for a UI framework that can get us going quickly. I've leafed through PhoneGap and couple other JS based UI frameworks mentioned here. I am bit unsure what can suit us the best. So, I am looking for your suggestions.
Our constraints are as follows:
The framework should be JS based. We all are web-devs and want to avoid learning Objective C.
Framework should support iPhone's capabiilities as smoothly as a native app does. If not, we will prefer a JS framework which is the smoothest of all JS frameworks. So, this is the most important constraint.
It should support smooth swipe through screens, support rotation. Nice, if it can capture shake as well. But shake does not take preference over a better framework without shake support.
Nice to have -- with little or no modification in code, if the framework is supported on other touchscreen phones as well. Android and Symbian would be suffice. But again, we are focused on iPhone for now.
I am a bit curious to know what can be the best choice to start development with. I will be thankful if you share your experience with pros-and-cons of the framework that you have used.
Thanks
Nishant
I have been playing with following frameworks.
Jo
Sencha Touch
jQuery Mobile
These are for serving Web based mobile sites, they can then in turn be made into Apps for Android or iOS using PhoneGap
Of the 3, Sencha is the more mature project and has the most things out of the box. Jo looks very promising and would probably directly compete with Sencha. jQuery mobile is very interesting but just far to early to do any production code with it, too rough around the edges. jQuery mobile takes a different approach to the others as it is html based and it interperates the attributes on tags to turn things into tableviews or menus.
jQuery mobile is quicker to hack together and get your head around, where the other two take a little bit more thinking. But once you figure them out its easy enough.
If you don't want to serve the site via a url at all and want to just build an app then Appcelerator is the way to go. You write code in JS and it makes native Android or iOS apps for you. You will get access to pretty much the full Android/iOS api.
I have coded with appcelerator, however I am no longer going to use it and use one of the above frameworks, probably Sencha for just now. I can get access to the device native apis via PhoneGap and for simpler apps give a great experience cross device via a url.
In about 6 months, or sooner, I think jQuery mobile will be the daddy...

Mobile UI that works well for both iPhone and Blackberry Web Applications

Can someone recommend a good Mobile UI Javascript/jQuery framework that works well with both the iPhone and Blackberry? I'm developing the core app from ASP.NET.
Thank you in advance.
I don't have any personal experience with any of these, but I thought I'd mention a few that I've heard of. It will probably depend more on the features you require for your specific application, to determine which framework suits you best. Also, this is by no means an exhaustive list - the "cross-platform" mobile frameworks seem to be popping up all over the place recently!
Rhodoes
PhoneGap
ramp
appcelerator
As it is today, the BlackBerry browser is not very friendly to these libraries. But the upcoming version will support HTML 5, which will allow you to use most popular js frameworks. From personal experience I can recommend Sencha and jQuery.
I would recommend Sencha Touch or Sproutcore.
Sencha Touch is very similar to EXTJS, which a lot of front end developers really like. Check out
http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/
It is probably more mature than SC, and you will have a larger developer base on which to draw. You are gonna wanna try out the demos on that link, on a phone or ipad if you have one.
However, I personally like the strong MVC pattern that Sproutcore enforces. The mobile framework exists, but I don't know of any major clients adopting it, yet. The founder of SC, Charles Jolley, recently left Apple to push his framework; its gonna be big.
BlackBerry has very basic browser.
But for iPhone, you can try jQTouch. Its lightweight and amazing.

Is anyone using Sencha Touch for mobile development?

We're evaluating Sencha Touch for mobile development. Has anyone used this yet (I realize that it's still in beta), and if so, what are its strengths / weaknesses? How does it compare to alternatives?
It certainly sounds compelling.
Thanks!
I'm playing with Sencha Touch, I have a project up at GitHub. If you're comfortable with ExtJS it will be familiar. The examples are impressive (requires WebKit browser). You might be interested in this question as well.
I've used it only briefly. It looks very good and has a nice array of tools to make pseudo-native apps. One of the larger concerns is the licensing (the inclusion of ExtJS and the requirement to purchase a license to use the software). Now ExtJS and Sencha have merged - so I am unsure of what the impact will be. Also, as for alternatives, Sencha has merged in JQTouch (a primary alternative). See this post for more information
I think currently it is only optimized for safari-browser. I tried in on Android Phone (HTC Magic, Android 1.6) and the examples didn't work.
but it is a beta of course....
Currently ,i'm using sencha-touch in my project and pretty easy to use and understand especially with the documentation that comes along with it . As compared other mobile fameworks whose documentation is limited