Building Apps with PhoneGap

Andrew LunnyNitobi Software

@alunny

Sunday, August 22, 2010

• Vancouver BC

• Web and Mobile development/consulting

• small-ish: ~18 employees

Nitobi Software

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

One Good Bit

http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/08/how-do-native-apps-and-web-apps-compare/

Sunday, August 22, 2010

There are some things the web does very well.

There are also some things native apps do very well.

PhoneGap aims for the union of these.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

What is PhoneGap?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open source mobile development framework for using front-end web technologies to build (and sell!) native mobile apps.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open source mobile development framework for using front-end web technologies to build (and sell!) native mobile apps.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cross-PlatformWrite once, test/debug/rewrite everywhere

Sunday, August 22, 2010

• Today

• iOS, Android, BlackBerry 4.6+ (forwards compatible), Palm WebOS, Symbian WRT

• Soon

• Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry widgets (5.0+, not backwards compatible)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cross-Platform != One Codebase

back button? menu?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open source mobile development framework for using front-end web technologies to build (and sell!) native mobile apps.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

MIT Licensednow and forever

“The MIT License states explicitly the rights given to the end-user, including the right to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or se" the so#ware.”

Just include the copyright notice in your source code, and you’re done

Sunday, August 22, 2010

github.com/phonegap

The license grants the right to:

• Build apps• Sell apps• Build and sell services using PhoneGap• Customize PhoneGap

• Contribute back• Not contribute back

Sunday, August 22, 2010

PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open source mobile development framework for using front-end web technologies to build (and sell!) native mobile apps.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

It is a requirement of the project that PhoneGap will not get your app rejected by Apple.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

PhoneGap plays by the rules

• for iOS, PhoneGap is an Objective-C static library, built with XCode, using techniques Apple devs have recommended

• jailbreaking is not required

• additional software on the device is not required

• same for all other platforms

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Your app can still be rejected• It probably will if

• your app is just a wrapper around a mobile web site

• you load all application code from a remote server

• it violates the TOS

• It probably won’t if

• you take advantage of native functionality

• you offer unique content

• you offer a great user experience

Sunday, August 22, 2010

It can also be featured on the app store

Sunday, August 22, 2010

PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open source mobile development framework for using front-end web technologies to build (and sell!) native mobile apps.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Remember Wired?Sunday, August 22, 2010

What PhoneGap gives you

• Offline by default

• Access to hardware sensors (device-dependent)

• Accelerometer, GPS, Orientation, Compass

• Media integration

• OS integration

• Camera, Contacts, File System, etc

Sunday, August 22, 2010

And anything else you wantPhoneGap is a native

project, and it’s all open source. If you need any

native code, dive right in.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open source mobile development framework for using front-end web technologies to build (and sell!) native mobile apps.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

• HTML(5), CSS as usual

• JavaScript handles all of the application logic

• persistent storage (SQLite db, localStorage)

• network requests (cross-domain XHR, since we’re running from file://)

• view templating

Sunday, August 22, 2010

We use what’s there

• Browser/web view on the device

• (A) WebKit: iOS, Android, Palm, Symbian

• BlackBerry: pretty bad - will be WebKit in OS 6.0

• Windows Phone 7: “evolved” IE7 (between IE7 and IE8)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

What isn’t PhoneGap?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

UI Framework - a bit of a mixed bag

• jqTouch, Sproutcore Touch, Cappuccino

• Sencha Touch (licensing permitting)

• jQuery Mobile (when it ships)

DOM framework

• your favourite one will work (jQuery, Prototype, Dojo)

• we develop and recommend XUI - github.com/xui

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Solution for all problems

• Don’t write games, video editing, VNC apps - the performance won’t be there

• Similar when dealing with large datasets and files

• Not a replacement for a mobile web app

Sunday, August 22, 2010

@alunnyandrew.lunny@nitobi.com

nitobi.com / phonegap.com

Thanks!

Sunday, August 22, 2010