Will all javascript libraries work with Iphone? Aptana question - iphone

I am trying to use Aptana to build an IPhone web application. I've never use Aptana. I downloaded the iphone support and started a new project. It is now asking me if I want to import a javascript library and lists the "big ones." Will IPhone's Safari be able to use these, specifically jquery? I saw that jquery had a special iphone library so my guess is no.
Should I tell it to use jquery (or other library) or should I download the special iphone javascript subset manually and try an integrate it in my project?

As far as I know JQuery should work fine on the iPhone. The specific libraries you are talking about must be additions to take advantage of iPhone only features like being able to handle the display orientation event or maybe use the webkit css animation extensions.
Although you will need to be careful with events since most mouse related events on the iPhone behave a little different from what you might expect. This presentation by PPK offers some clues about it:
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2009/04/27/video-ppk-jsevents/

Yep, iphone should run jquery just fine. The javascript support is surprisingly capable. Although you may want to look at some of the iPhone specific libraries out there. I forget their names. iUI I think?

Related

Developing Cross Platform Mobile application in latest frameworks (Rhodes, PhoneGap, jQTouch)

We have recently developed an iPhone, iPad, Android application with the Rhodes framework and have found it to be painful to say the least. As we are approaching the finishing stages and now testing the app in mobile devices we find more bugs than were apparent in iPhone simulator and would like to change the development direction as it seems most of the Apps even showcased on the Rhodes site are super buggy and not as smooth as they should be.
Can anyone lend any insight on how we may take already developed front-end files with prepped JSON data to apply it to another framework to produce the application. We have learned how the jQTouch framework operates and feel comfortable developing but need to package this into an application.
Rapid development is a key concern as we are approaching a deadline on this project. Note our proficiencies are Ruby, ROR3, JQuery, Modern front-end (HTML5/CSS3)
I'm not familiar with Rhodes, but it seems like Phonegap might be a good solution for you. I'm not sure what your app needs to do, but your skills (HTML/CSS and jQuery in particular) would translate well.
Phonegap lets you create an app for both iPhone/Android, while using the same code. There's some tweaking when setting up your files... but the overall intent is that you're working with the same code (as opposed to having to create two separate apps).
For both iPhone/Android apps developed with Phonegap, you're basically working with files within a folder (much like you would work with files inside a folder on a server). It's a basic group of file types - image, javascript, css, etc. You build like you would for a browser.
jQTouch provides more of a look and feel, in terms of the buttons, UI and animation/transition between sections. Phonegap more or less wraps up all the code, and lets you bundle it as an app for iPhone/Android.
Additionally, if you need to access device-specific functionality like GPS, camera, etc... Phonegap has a nice library you can tap into. Again - same code for both iPhone/Android.
A quick reference to review (to see if Phonegap + jQTouch is a good fit for you) is Jonathan Stark's book: Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You may also want to refer to the example files referenced in his chapters, here.
Final note: jQtouch is meant for smaller handhelds. Not sure how well it translates over to iPad, but just an FYI. I know less about Sencha Touch, but it's made by the same folks and might be another approach for larger screens.

extend jquery draggable/droppable to support on iPad and iPhone

I've been using JQuery draggable/droppables in my application from last 1 year. Now, the application needs to be supported over iPad and iPhones.
Known, above JQuery won't support drag/drop over iPads...
I'm looking for a some JQuery plugin or so which I can connect to my existing JQuery codes for drag/drop over iPad.
After googling, I found some alternate ways like, JQTouch, jquerymobile etc.. But, it looks I would then need to do massive changes (or, write a complete drag/drop things from scratch) in my application :(
My application is very heavy and hence looking for some quick/easy way to connect my existing JQuery solution into iPad touch events etc....
Please help
Thanks in advance
This project will allow you to use jQuery UI on the iPad:
http://code.google.com/p/jquery-ui-for-ipad-and-iphone/
https://github.com/furf/jquery-ui-touch-punch
this will work with draggable.. dont even need to change your code when using draggable!

develop iphone application - is the GUI HTML?

I want to start developing IPhone application.
I need to understand something about it - I am working with a graphic designer.
If she supplies the GUI in HTML - will it be easy for me to develop with it?
How does it work? like regular web development?
Apple uses Objective C and Cocoa for iPhone applications. Neither uses HTML; you'll instead be using interactive controls like you'd find in a desktop application. Whether it's easy for you to develop using an HTML mockup will depend entirely on your skills with Cocoa. (In the same way I encourage designers to give me mockups in Photoshop knowing that I can easily build HTML versions of them.)
You might want to start with some of Apple's documentation on iPhone development: http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action
For GUI development of your own apps you have several options:
Code: UIKit framework in Objective-C
Interface Builder: Tool to click
your GUI together, but the logic
will be coded like in 1 in C, Obj-C
or C++
You can build a HTML gui and
present it in a web view, but for
native apps, this will only bring
you so far.
Oh, and no native Flash on iOS. :-)
You could write an app that uses HTML for its UI - in essence you'd simply be wrapping a webkit widget and driving your app from events generated by that UI. However, that's not going to give you a UI that really takes advantage of the phone.
For that, you need to get down and dirty with Objective C and the Cocoa Touch API for iOS. Another option is using Flash CS5, which is ActionScript based.
Strictly speaking, the answer is no, your HTML skills are not transferrable.
That said, there are two projects that deserve looking into, both of which are about producing native (or "native-ish") apps from HTML and JavaScript. The first is PhoneGap, and the second (which I think is more robust and promising) is called Appcellerator.
Neither of them give you really-and-truly full access to to the iPhone API, but they do allow a significant flattening of the learning curve for people who already have well developed web app skillz.
If you go the native route, bear this in mind: it took me about a month to go from being a web developer to being a slightly competent iOS developer, and six months or so to feel solid and reliable and productive with iOS.

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...

IPhone application in HTML 5

I have got a assignment to develop a IPhone application in HTML 5 & I really don't have any idea from where I have to start.
Please let me know which editor I have to use to develop IPhone application in HTML 5.
also, as I am a pure .NET developer, what other skills I need to write the program in HTML 5.
Thanks in advance.
When they say develop an iPhone application in HTML 5, what they are really saying is develop a web application that fits in the dimensions of an iPhone. So you do not need to know any Apple centric technologies. You can use your ASP.NET/HTML/Javascript/CSS skills.
If you need any rich interactions in your app, you will then need to use HTML 5 with the canvas element. I recommend using the library Processing.js which makes working with the canvas element much easier.
HTML5 isn't that different from HTML. For a great resource, check out Apple's developer site. Here's the section on Safari: http://developer.apple.com/safari/.
In terms of what editor you should use: You can use whatever editor you want! Notepad for Windows works fine ;) On the Mac, I prefer Coda or Textwranger. Dashcode will work too! In order to write HTML5, you just need to know HTML, CSS and Javascript (jQuery would help too).
And, what's more, since this is just HTML, don't forget you can test it in the browser on your desktop before you test on the iPhone or the iPhone Simulator (included in Xcode). I'd recommend testing in Safari first and Google Chrome second.
Good luck and welcome to the wonderful world of HTML5 and iPhone development!
Please let me know which editor I have to use to develop IPhone application in HTML 5.
Any you like. I usually go to Komodo Edit.
What other skills I need to write the program in HTML 5.
HTML, JavaScript and DOM are key, along with the new JS APIs introduced in the HTML 5 Drafts. CSS is all but essential and you'll probably want some skill at graphics editing. SQL will be useful if you want to use a database.