Blog

We are happy to share that we starting 2017 with a big platform update. Read this blog post to learn what’s new.

iOS 10 Support

This update brings full iOS 10 support. This means when you build a binary app for iOS, it should run on an iOS device running version 10 without any problems.

This support is possible with Apache Cordova library update.

Apache Cordova Upgrade

In order to provide full iOS 10 support, we have upgraded the Apache Cordova library. The latest Cordova library for iOS is version 4.3.0 and for Android is 5.2.2. This update brings many bug fixes, improvements to Cordova. Your hybrid app will be just a little bit better and that’s good. Please read the technical release notes about this update.

Automatically Sync Backend Services Changes with the App Builder

Integration between the App Builder and Backend Services is one of the core values in the Appery.io platform. Importing API services into an app is very simple:

Now, if you made any changes to the backend APIs, you had to either manually update the service in the App Builder or delete the service and then import it again. These approaches are not very good so with this update we are introducing an automatic sync feature between the App Builder and Backend Services. When you update a backend API service, simply click the Check for update button to update the service in the App Builder.

This is very nice as you no longer need to make manual changes or even delete the services. Right now this feature is available only in an Ionic app but we are planning to add this support to a jQuery Mobile app as well.

Organize with Folders Inside the App Builder

This is a great capability and has been requested by our community for some time. You can now easily create and manage folders inside the App  Builder project tree. This is important as folders make it easy to organize your app, you no longer need to place all the services into one big folder.

Backend Services APIs Are Now Placed in Folders for Easier Organization

With the introduction of folders in the App Builder, when you import more than one Backend Services API service, they will be automatically placed inside a folder to simplify organization.

Improved Media Manager

The Media Manager has been upgraded to make it simpler and faster to manage images. You can now easily sort images by name, data added and size. Need to delete multiple images? Just select any number of images and you will be able to delete them in one click.

Improved Media Manager

Improved Synchronization Between App and Server for Apps with Offline Support

Building offline apps is hard. Offline support has been possible when apps use the API Express services. With this release, we have made offline support even better by introducing a 2-way synchronization between the app and the server. You can learn about the new support here and don’t forget to check out the updated tutorial (part1 and part2).

New Page to Test API Express Services and Offline Support

We have a new page to help you test API Express services and offline functionality of your app. The page has been redesigned and has updated UI to make it simpler and easer to test your app. For example, you can quickly switch between online/offline and test how synchronization works. Check our the new test page here: https://appery.io/apiexpress/sdk/.

New Auto-login with Offline Support

There is a new auto-login capability. This means when you launch the app again, the app will try to log you in automatically (when app uses API Express). In addition to username/password support, auto-login now works when the original login was performed using a social network and even if the app is offline.

IPv6 Network Support

Although not directly part of the update, the platform now supports the modern IPv6 network protocol. This means your app (client) can utilize the IPv6 network protocol to connect and communicate with the Appery.io Backend Services (API Express, Server Code, Database, Push Notifications). Read more about IPv6 support here.

Improved Server Code on Demand Balancing

Server Code allows you to write custom app logic using JavaScript that is executed on the server. Server Code has integrations with the database, external APIs, Push Notifications and can be scheduled to run periodically. Due to Server Code’s power and flexibility to extend an app, its usage has skyrocketed. To handle this increased demand, we have greatly improved the backend infrastructure for the Server Code component. Our system is now configured in such way that when demand increases, the system will automatically add additional Server Code nodes to handle the demand. You won’t see any difference, your scripts will simply continue to work (as it should be!).

Bugs (less of them)

What update goes without fixing bugs? So yes, we fixed a large number of big and small bugs to make the platform better.

Release Notes

Please read the technical release notes about this release. If you run into any hiccups with this release (hey, we are not perfect), please reach to us.

Thank You

I want to thank our awesome Development, QA and Support teams for working tirelessly to push this release out. Thank you.