Blog

(Reposted from Maxa Blog)

If you have have done native mobile app development on Android or iPhone (iOS) then you probably know that testing native apps is not that simple. On the other hand, testing traditional Web applications is pretty straightforward: Launch a Web browser, and you see exactly how the application works and how it looks. Read on and I will show how to test a native app in a similarly straightforward fashion after considering various alternatives.

Option 1: Installing the app on the mobile device

This option is great in that you can test the app on the actual device. However, getting the app on the device can be very time consuming. And, for each testing iteration, the app would have to be built, sent (or copied) to the phone, installed, and launched on the device. While you get to test on the actual device, the process is very slow. Just imagine if you need to make just a small change in the app.

Option 2: Using device emulators/simulators

Getting the app on a device emulator is simpler than getting the app on the actual device. However, now the app is not tested on the actual device, so you may not be getting exactly the same behavior or look-and-feel that you would get on the actual device. Now, this is more of an Android problem than an iOS problem. The Android emulator runs a bare-bones Android version. Most Android phones from HTC, Motorola, and Samsung have their own, slightly modified builds of Android (even the same browser can be slightly different on different devices). Another problems with emulators (mostly Android) is that they are usually much slower than the actual devices, for obvious reasons. While the iOS simulator is pretty fast, the Android emulator is notoriously slow.

The Best Option: Launching the app on the device without installing

I consider this final approach the fastest and most straightforward. It doesn’t require installing the app on the device each time, but you still get to test on the device. This approach uses the Appery.io Mobile Tester app on the device while the mobile apps themselves are developed using Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder.

This tester app only needs to be installed once. The Android version is here and the iOS version is available as an open source version. The app is rather simple. After signing in to your Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder account, it will show a list of all mobile apps (native and Web) created in your Appery.io account. Here is how it looks:

The most interesting part? Clicking (or tapping) on any project will launch the app. Make any changes to the app in Appery.io? Save the changes, and click the app in Appery.io Mobile Tester. You now get the new version, with all the changes. With this approach we get the best of everything. We don’t need to install the app each time, the app is tested on the actual device and last but not least, it’s very fast.

Still not convinced? Then sign up for Appery.io, create your first mobile app, install Appery.io Mobile Tester (Android or iOS) and test the app.

This video shows how to build a Twitter search mobile app in just 5 minutes using Appery.io.

Yesterday we published a new Android Getting Started tutorial. It’s a very easy to follow, step-by-step guide on how to build a Hello World app and test in on an Android device.

We’re ex­cited to be a sponsor of the Mobile Merger event coming up on September 15th on­line. It’s an in­ten­sive 1-​​day event to bring you com­pletely up to speed on in­cor­po­rating the in­cred­ible promise of mo­bile into busi­nesses now. All without having to travel any­where – it’s an on­line event!

It will in­clude 36 ses­sions cov­ering all as­pects of mo­bile in busi­ness: mar­keting, ad­ver­tising, de­sign, de­vel­op­ment, and more. Attendees have ac­cess to hours of on­line con­tent (in­cluding some from us) and the ability to in­teract live with speakers and other at­ten­dees. Find out more and then reg­ister. We’ll “see” you there.

Article posted on jaxenter.com: 15 Reasons Why Appery.io Deserves Your Attention.

We just published a new step-by-step tutorial: Building Weather App.

Want more? You can also try our Building Twitter Search App step-by-step tutorial.

As we continue to add new features to Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder, we have also launched a new help site: http://docs.appery.io. It has documentation, getting started guides, how-to’s, release notes and road map. It’s work in progress. If we are missing something, do let us know via email support@appery.io or http://getsatisfaction.com/apperyio.

Recent Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder reviews:

• Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder
• Appery.io – Cloud-based Mobile Application Development

In trying to figure out the best way to keep our com­mu­nity in­formed, we’ve de­cided to try some­thing dif­ferent. We try to put on webinars that span about an hour, but that’s a big chunk in someone’s day. We wanted to shoot for some­thing that would need less of a com­mit­ment — more like the length of a break. For us, this length of time would allow more focus and be easier to produce.

So, we’ve started a weekly se­ries of “Appery.io Bites” to zoom in on dif­ferent as­pects of Appery.io as it con­tinues to evolve. Each one will last for no longer than 20 min­utes. Here’s what we’ve done so far and what’s on the schedule:

This is only the be­gin­ning. We’ll be adding more topics in the next few months.

Earlier this week we released Appery.io version 2.3.2. Most of the updates are for Mobile Apps Builder. There is a new services editor, new jQuery Mobile theme editor and we launched a new help site.

New services editor with test feature

New services editor is now easier to use, it clearly separates service setting (such as name, URL ) and service request parameters and response parameters into separate panels.

What’s really cool is that you can now test the service right from Appery.io. When entering the request parameters, there is a Test button. This allows you to check that the service works and what soft of output (JSON) is returned.

But, there is another very cool feature. Every service returns data and you need to define response parameters (which later can be mapped to components). Some services return many parameters and manually creating each parameter can be tedious. When you test the service there is Populate Response Button. When the button is clicked, all the output parameters from the service will be automatically created. Here is how it looks using Twitter’s search URL (http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=html5):

Lastly, you can also paste the response from a service to auto create response parameters. This works sort of like an “echo” test. This is useful if you are not able to invoke the service but do know its response format. In Response Parameters panel, click Populate from Sample Response. Then, paste the response.

New jQuery Mobile theme editor

Mobile Apps Builder comes with 6 jQuery Mobile themes out-of-the-box. Now you can also create custom themes. To create one, in Project view, click Add > Theme. You will see the theme editor:

As you modify the theme (on the left), the phone on the right will instantly be updated with the changes.

New help site

We launched a new help and developers site: http://docs.appery.io. It’s still work in progress but do let us know if there is content you want us to add.