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The seventh Developer Economics survey is here! We’re again partnering with VisionMobile for their new Developer Economics survey to enable more developers to voice their opinions on the trends and top development issues of the day.

The 10-minute survey reaches thousands of developers, and comprises the data that goes into VisionMobile’s well-known reports on the current state of app development. Results of the survey will be available as a free public download in July 2014.

What’s your take on the latest trends in app development? Which platform(s) should developers choose in today’s competitive market? Which is the right revenue model for your apps? Take the survey, and have your say on some of the most pressing issues in app development.

Survey respondents can enter to win some terrific prizes! Respondents will have a chance to win such prizes as an iPhone 5s, a Galaxy S5, a Sphero, a Lego Mindstorm robot, and many others!

Take the survey today!

OAuth is an open protocol to allow secure authorization from web, mobile, and desktop apps. However, making  OAuth work in your mobile app is not a simple task and often takes a lot of time and effort. Using the OAuth.io service is a great and simple way to save time, and make the authentication pretty much work out-of-the-box.

OAuth.io service can be easily integrated in Appery.io app. There are two ways to setup the OAuth.io plug-in in Appery.io app:

Include OAuth.js as JavaScript asset

This approach can be helpful when developing a mobile web app. Apps with OAuth.js included as JavaScript asset work from browser and can be quickly tested by clicking the Test button. Such approach saves development time because you don’t need to install the app on the device every time after making changes. These are the steps:

1. Go to OAuth.io web site and download the latest JavaScript library.
2. Upload this library to your Appery.io app by choosing Create New -> JavaScript -> Create from file.
3. You have to remove or comment the if statement on line 193 in that file because the Appery.io app already contains some methods with “OAuth” name.

Include as PhoneGap plugin

Apps with OAuth.io service included as PhoneGap plugin will not work from the browser. Such apps should be built as binary and installed directly on the device. Steps for adding OAuth.io as PhoneGap plugin are almost identical to adding any 3rd party PhoneGap plug-in:

1. Download repository from github plug-in page.
2. Create new folder for this plugin in the Appery.io app and upload oauth.js:
3. Add the following line of code to the very beginning of this file:
   • cordova.define(“com.phonegap.plugins.oauthio”, function (require, exports, module) {
     and the closing bracket to end of file “}”.
   • Edit the cordova_plugins.js file by adding plug-in description.

Once the OAuth.io included in Appery.io app the same code can be used to initialize and authenticate. See the OAuth.io documentation for code examples.

Examples

Adding Oauth.io service to your app is pretty simple.  See our detailed tutorial where we describe how to authenticate with Google and how to post to Facebook.

Being able to launch the native dialer app or SMS app from the app you are building might be a very useful feature. For instance, the app you are building might display a list of restaurants in the area with a phone number. You want to be able to click the number and call the restaurant. This functionality can be easily done with calling the “tel:” or “sms:” and passing the needed values. Here is the simple Appery.io app that contains just a two buttons:

Here is the JavaScript code for the “Send SMS” button:

window.location.href = "sms:+375292771265?body=Hello from Appery.io!";

Such code will open the SMS typing window with predefined text and phone number as following:

Second button has the following JavaScript code:

window.location.href = "tel:+375292771265";

Clicking on that button will open the dialer with pre-populated phone number:

It is not possible to programmatically call or send SMS without opening the appropriate window due to the security reasons.

iOS has some nuances when dialer or SMS window should be opened. Try to use such code for iOS platform:

window.open('tel:+375292771265', '_system');

Or for SMS:
window.open('sms:+375292771265?body=Hello from Appery.io!', '_system');

Please also note that these protocols (tel: and sms:) might work differently depending on OS/browser versions. On Android, you might get different functionally depending what app is selected for sending SMS messages.

Instead of using the native SMS app, a number of services such as AT&T and Twilio provide APIs to send SMS messages. Appery.io has plugins for AT&T and Twilio SMS API.

An app that has multi-language support is always better than the same app that supports just one language.  Appery.io app can be easily upgraded with multi-language support by using the i18next plug-in. This post will show you how to do it.

There are few steps to add the multi-language support:

1. Download i18next.js from the i18next web-site and upload it to WEB_RESOURCES folder in Appery.io app builder.
2. Create folder structure that corresponds to i18next structure and upload translation files in JSON format:
   
3. UI components that should be translated must be marked with special attributes: data-i18n, and data-i18n-target. Read more about it in our detailed tutorial.
4. Initialize the plug-in via JavaScript specifying needed options as initialize language (can be retrieved from the browser or device language) and fallback language. Fallback language is very handy feature and it’s define what language should be used in case of missing language or translation.

Downloading of translation files will take some time on initial app start up. There is no need to create any preloaders as all the files will be loaded automatically. It’s a good idea to use launch images to show that the app launching/loading. Once the translation files are loaded, properly marked components will be automatically translated accordingly to the initialized language.

To build an app with multi-language support, try the multi-language tutorial and read the i18next documentation.

Every modern app consists of two parts: front-end UI and backend. Backend services can greatly extend your app logic and help implement many useful features.  Appery.io provides a possibility to create your own server scripts without the need to maintain servers yourself.  Server code scripts (that’s how this feature is called in Appery.io) can be invoked from the app via a REST API and will  run on the Appery.io servers.

Using server code scripts provides the following advantages:

• Broader app logic
  Use server code services to extend your app logic. You can implement various backend features such as Restore password and others.  Some code logically belongs on the server.  For example, if you need to process data retrieved from multiple sources before presenting the results to the user, its more efficient to perform that logic in the server.
• Reusable code base
  Appery.io server scripts can be self-contained app modules which can be used from different apps. You can implement one handy feature and re-use it from all of your apps instantly and without any additional coding.
• Code accessibility 
  As Appery.io provides powerful a collaboration feature, server code can be shared with other users too. This makes team development much easier and faster.
• Extend with powerful 3rd party libraries 
  Server code supports several predefined libraries such as Underscore.js, moment.js, handlebar.js and others. You can also upload your own or other 3-rd party library and use it from the Appery.io. Libraries can be shared too!
• Keep your users on the latest version of the code.  Another important advantage of server code is the ability to modify your app without having to redistribute your app to your users.  If you make changes on the client side, that requires an update in the app store, and an update by all your users.  But if your logic is server based, you can be sure that all your users always have the latest version of your app.

The server code console can help test and debug your scripts from one place without the need to run REST API services. Want to add custom app logic to your app? Start with Server Code by trying this tutorial! And, to learn more about Appery.io Server Code, visit the documentation.

Many mobile apps use GPS sensors to track a user’s current location. For example, it could be a ride sharing app, fitness app, or a delivery app. This post shows how to build such an app in Appery.io. The app tracks your current location via  the device’s GPS sensor and stores the location into a database.

This is the app UI:

The GPS location is determined every 15 seconds (you can change the interval). The location is shown in the app and also saved into a cloud database. Because this is a native app (with PhoneGap), the app will continue tracking the location even if in the background or with the phone screen locked.

To try this app, download the app backup and create a new app from it. Keep in mind that you do need to build a binary file and install it on the device for testing.

Now you just need to configure the settings service with the correct database ID. This app uses a pretty simple database; it contains one collection with name Locations. This collection contains one column location with type of Geo point:

Open the GPSLocationTracking_settings file and change the database_id to your own.

Once the database ID is changed in the settings file, the application is ready to go.

Let’s take a quick look how the app works:

1. The GPS service starts initially after the Device ready event and runs every 15 seconds.

Here is the JavaScript code:

2. You can also change how often the GPS will run. To apply a new interval, first stop tracking, and then start it again:

3. In the case that the GPS fails to determine the location, an error message will be shown:

4. Every time a new GPS location is retrieved, the location is saved into a cloud database:

This is a starter app that uses the GPS sensor to track your current location. It’s very easy to add more features. For instance, you can add Google Reverse Geocoding service to get the address of a place. Or, you could also show all locations on a map.

If you want more practice, try the Building a mobile app with Google Maps and Geolocation tutorial.

This video shows how to build a mobile Todo app in Appery.io with cloud database and deploy the app to BitBalloon.com – a very nice and easy to use HTML5 hosting service.

Last November, we partnered with VisionMobile to help them reach out for their Developer Economics survey. Now the data for VisionMobile’s well-known reports on the state of the developer nation is out. The report features in-depth analysis and insights into the key issues in the app economy, including platform prioritization, going beyond tablets, trending revenue models, and making the right choices in developer tools.

Download the full report for free.

Earlier in our blog we hinted at some exciting enhancements coming for our developers. Well, that day is here, and today we are pleased to announce a new set of offerings including key team productivity features, security advances and sleek new UI components, specifically, Panel, YouTube and Vimeo widgets designed to improve the user experience.

Read the rest of this entry »

On February 11 we’re going to update the Appery.io platform with new pricing, improved team support, and changes on how projects are shared.   Here is what to expect:

Improved Team Support

More and bigger teams are using Appery.io, which is great.  To better meet their needs, we are making some enhancements now, and more will come in future releases.  To create a team, a paid account owner simply purchases additional user seats and shares them with new users.  The team lead (or account owner) now has administration rights over all the projects that members of his/her team create.   The team lead can, for example, backup, modify or delete the projects created by other team members.   This feature has been requested by our users and we’re hoping it will improve the productivity of all of your teams.

It is important to note how the number of projects is counted across a team.  In total, the team can create as many projects as are allocated to the account owner, depending on his/her plan.    Each user seat does not come with an additional allocation of projects.  When a team member leaves the team (by unsharing the user seat), all projects created by the departing team member are moved to the account owner’s folder.  In order to have access to more projects, the account owner should upgrade to a plan with a higher allocation of projects.   As before, we continue to offer custom enterprise plans with larger allocations of projects or any other resource.

Project Sharing Within Teams Only.   As part of this update, projects will be shareable within teams only.  In the past, you could share projects with any other user on the platform, although this was not very common.  This restriction enables us to provide richer team collaboration features in the future, increased security, and increased performance.

Pricing Update

Price Increase.   With the upcoming update, we are revising our pricing to account for significant new functionality added to our platform.   Over the last year we’ve added great new functionality to the platform including Push Notifications, Server Code, Salesforce integration, Heroku integration, Versioning, and tons of new plugins. We are grandfathering all existing plans, so your pricing will not be affected unless you choose to make changes to your plan (for example change to a new plan or add/delete user seats.  The upcoming pricing is as follows:  

This compares to today’s price of $15, $45, and $180 for Standard, Pro, and Premium, respectively, when billing monthly.

Additional User Seat Pricing Simplified.   We’re simplifying the pricing of new user seats by making the price the same, regardless of the plan.  New user seats will be priced at $25 per month ($19 per month if billed annually) for all the plans, as shown below.

Note that there are no other changes to the plans.  The allocation of resources such as projects, API calls, push notifications and storage space all remain the same as before.

Although we are grandfathering existing plans, any chance in existing plans would require that you move to one of the new pricing plans.  For example, if you want to move from Pro to Premium or if you want to add or delete user seats, you would need to switch to one of the new plans.

If you have a Starter (free) plan and are considering upgrading to a paid plan, you may consider upgrading before the upcoming price changes to be grandfathered in.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach us at support@appery.io