I came across this link:
http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9780596805784/
which seems to suggest web app can be converted to native iphone without writing a single line
of objective-c code. But the book mentioned there is outdated now and things may have changed a lot.
Are there open source software that will allow me to automatically convert my web application to native iphone ( or android) application? By the way my web application is html5 canvas based animation application with lot of html and css as well.
PhoneGap doesn't generate native code for you: it creates an application consisting of a WebView and throws your HTML code on it. From personal exerience I can add that the performance is quite slow, on both iPhone and Android, compared to a native app.
jqTouch creates a nice way to access your web application, but the application remains a web application residing on your site, plus you have to use some jquery for styling.
Apparently the only one that actually does generate native code is Appcelerator Titanium. On RhoMobile I never managed to get to the point to actually write some Ruby code because you have to know all the Ruby in he word just to install it on your Mac.
So the verdict was to sit down and develop the app in objective-c.
Have you looked at PhoneGap?
Simple steps to put your html app into iOS native container, without coding:
Download xCode
Download simple web view app from https://github.com/nomtek/iOSWebViewApp
Open simple web view app within xCode
Add your HTMLs to the project file structure
Run your app and voila :)
This approach is good if you don't need access to any phone specific features, just a standard Web View. Loading time will be short as this approach doesn't load any extra libraries.
Related
I have one html file, I will set the html file in iphone based application by using mgwt .. Please help me to set the html files in phone ...
Thanks in advance..
Based on what I was able to grasp from you question you have an HTML file and you want that file to act as an iPhone hybrid app using mGWT. If that's the case, then there is an huge abyss to cover before getting to that point. This is the list of general steps you would need to cover to get all the way there.
Get a grasp of GWT Basics
Configure a simple mGWT application with PhoneGap support.
Understanding the way GWT MVP works will also be very helpful but not required
Once you have that working its time to wrap the web app into a iOS cordova webview with PhoneGap
Please note that you will require an Apple Mac to acomplish the last step. You will also reequire to be registered as an Apple developer if you intent to get your resulting app into a real device. Also you will require a good understanding of Java application development and a good grasp on how Web applications work (HTML, JS and CSS at least).
You have a long way ahead of you.
I am new to this iPhone development.I would like to create a hybrid application or iPhone.I want to know is it possible to develop hybrid application without using any of the external frameworks or libraries like phonegap or quickconnect or titanium .I just want to know is it possible to create an hybrid application with just HTML file JavaScript files and CSS file and x code?
The idea behind phonegap (can't stress this enough titanium is NOT the same), is that a webview is created in the app and the HTML, CSS, javascript etc. is added to this. Then some other logic allows you to access some of the underlying features like the camera.
So creating a native iPhone application where you create a webview and code the HTML is basically the same idea (as phonegap not titanium, titanium cross complies into native code).
I wrote an app for iOS on iPhone and iPad. I would like to make the app (a children's game) I wrote available on my website through Flash. I don't know if this is possible...
Would I just have to write the application in another language? I can't find any tools that would help me make it available.
If you wrote your app in HTML5, then you can make it available to your website, but if written with obj C, I highly doubt there is any easy way out solution beside re-write the app in another language.
There are no tools to make an iOS application run through Flash Player.
Probably your best bet on writing an application that will run as a native app and within the web is to pursue writing a web application optimized for smartphones. This way you could use a UIWebView to run it within a native application (and thus still have it in the App Store) but also make it available via the web. You could even consider leveraging tools like Phonegap to help with this. But of course this means re-writing your application.
EDIT:
See my answer
I saw some interesting frameworks to build applications for mobile platforms like Android and iPhone with HTML and Javascript so you can use your current web-development skills without learning a new platform language. That's very interesting because you can write just ONE application for many platforms. Very easy to maintain.
But, you cannot sell it in the App stores, so I’m wondering if it is possible to use an embedded webbrowser in the application that loads an external/included html file.
I have seen that it is possible to create Android and iPhone apps with flash, that's is easy, so i want to create a simple 'host' application that only loads content and I can use it over and over again to distribute a new app.
So the question is, is it possible to create a simple app with flash that embeds a webbrowser to load a html file?
When it is possible, next question is, it possible to communicate with the embedded webbrowser? Also a question is, will Apple allow such application in it app store?
I hope my question is understandable.
In a very strict sense, yes, you can make an app that is just a simple WebView wrapper pointing to your web-hosted app.
This is usually frowned upon though in the android market community, and i'm fairly positive such an app won't make it through Apple's closed-doors decision committee.
On the iPhone, if your app only consist of a UIWebView it is very likely that you app is going to be rejected. What you could do is ask your users to bookmark your webapp adding an icon to the home screen. Think Basecamp for iPhone.
After all this time i got the answer.
Phonegap uses a WebView to display the HTML content. It is a compiled native App with embedded WebView.
Apple accepts phonegap generated applications but it still not sure if it made it to the AppStore, it depends on what you doing with it. I think simple apps will made it. See also: http://www.phonegap.com/faq
EDIT/UPDATE:
I tried allot of tools/solutions to create crossplatform apps but all of these seem to do the same thing: It's a executable for the specific platform with an embedded browser. None of them compiles HTML to native code.
Flash (Builder) is something different, it requires AIR (can be compiled into the executable). When you using a WebView (only) with Flash, it is overkill because in fact you do not need AIR to display the HTML in a WebView. I think it is better to use phonegap to 'compile' the executable.
I was looking into PhoneGap and Titanium framework, and I did not clearly understand how to they work, let's suppose I have already developed an app for android or iphone, can I run this app on another mobile with a different OS with PhoneGap or Titanium help?
Or I have to develop again my app with PhoneGap/Titanium framwork?
In this case I have full support at all the features like thread, JSON or XML parsing and so on?
Thank you
PhoneGap basically takes a client-side web app (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and wraps the whole thing in a native device's web view control. You can hook to some of the device's native functions, but as you can guess, it's pretty limited compared to native development. But easy, and brings in a whole range of skills that a lot of people already have. That's really the appeal of PhoneGap.
Titanium is also html/javascript oriented, but it actually claims to compile to native code. Their sample "kitchen sink" app demos quite a lot of the native APIs, at least for the iPhone. I doubt you'd be able to deal directly with threading, but JSON for sure, and I'd think XML as well.
Titanium has full support for JSON or XML parsing.
You can see Titanium examples - Kitchen Sink - for more details.
The idea behind phone gap is that you can take a browser based client app that is written in html/css/javascript and use phonegap to gain access to some native mobile hardware like contacts, gps, accelerometer, etc. Phonegap allows you also to build this web app for different mobile devices all using the same web app code.
To answer the first part of your question, no, you would not be able to take a developed app and use PhoneGap or Titanium to run the app on another device.You would have to write the app in either the PhoneGap or Titanium Framework and then build the application to the devices you want to support through the tools that each give you.
For example, you would write your code in JavaScript(Titanium) or HTML/CSS/JavaScript(PhoneGap), then use the app's build tool to create the file that would be released onto the phone.