Blog

We got some really cool stuff out this week. Check it out.

Better way to test your app

When you open the app builder you should see a new and very nice phone frame:

The old one was more Android-like. The new one is neither Android, iPhone or Windows Phone. Just a nice phone frame.

There is an upgraded test page:

You can use the new tool bar at the top to change the phone orientation as well as change the size:

That’s not all. We also now have an option to test the app without the mobile frame. In the Test pop-up, uncheck Show in mobile frame:

When you open the app, it won’t use the frame:

The frame looks nice in the browser, but technically speaking testing without the frame is better — as you are testing the actual app (just the app code, no frame). Of course when you run the app on your device, the frame is not there as well.

jQuery Mobile Multi-page Template

jQuery Mobile supports multi-page templates where two or more pages are placed inside the same file. You can now turn on this features in Appery.io app builder (it’s turn off by default). Go to Project > Project Profile:

Queries In Database Console

Appery.io Database comes with Queries support (docs) and now you can try the queries right from the collection console:

Showing products that cost more than $30 (or any other currency):

PhoneGap Upgrade

We upgraded to PhoneGap version 1.8.1. Every new and existing app will now use this new version of PhoneGap.

Android 4.0.x

We also added build support for Android 4.0.x

As always, we want to get your feedback. You can always email us (support@appery.io) or post on our forum.

As you probably know, we launched Appery.io Database a few weeks ago. In addition to docs, we just published a tutorial on how to build an app connected to Appery.io Database. You will learn:

• Creating a new Appery.io database, inserting sample data
• Displaying messages in the app from the database (via REST API)
• Saving new messages
• Deleting a message

If you are at DevCon 5 conference in New York next week (July 23 & 24), check out the session by David Schoenbach on Monday at 3pm:

API Plug-ins and Mobile App Development.

This interactive session will focus on plugins and platform for mobile app development, which enables developers to build hybrid and mobile apps with HTML5, jQuery Mobile, and PhoneGap. We will show how to build an app that consumes REST API resources, and youll be able to test the app as its being built. Well also show the shortcut to API integration using Appery.io Plugin Catalog to access API services premapped to UI components.

If you run/test your app on Android you probably noticed that there is flickering or jumping when navigating between pages (there is no such issue on iOS). Here is a quick way to get rid of flickering.

Add the following JavaScript (Create New/JavaScript):

$.mobile.defaultPageTransition = 'none';
$.mobile.defaultDialogTransition = 'none';

Above code will be invoked for all devices, including iOS. To run this code only for Android, use this;

if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Android") != -1) {
   $.mobile.defaultPageTransition = 'none';
   $.mobile.defaultDialogTransition = 'none';
}

Give it a try, you will notice that page transitations are now much smoother!

Last weekend we participated in the AT&T Mobile Hacktathon hosted by StackMob. Just before the event we published StackMob API plug-in in Appery.io app builder so that it would be very simple to connect to StackMob. Here is how easy it is to connect to StackMob.

In Appery.io app builder, select Create New > From Plug-in, then select the StackMob plug-in:

When you click to import the plug-in, you will be asked to enter StackMob key that identifies your app:

If you won’t enter the key right away, you can always set it by going to Services/StackMobDatabseSettings file.

The StackMob service looks like this:

You will notice that the URL has [objectName] in it. Simple set it to the object schema name defined in StackMob. My object is called messages so the updated URL would be this:

https://api.mob1.stackmob.com/messages

The service does a GET by default but you can set it to do any other action.

We can now instantly test the service. Open Request Parameters panel and click Test Connection:

We get result back which means our service works (you should create a few sample objects in StackMob before testing). The service input is defined, we now need to define the service output. That can be done automatically by clicking Populate Response Structure button.

Once the service is ready, add it to the page, and bind the service to the UI:

and finally run the app:

In case you missed we just launched Appery.io Database – a cloud database for your mobile app. It’s the first feature as part of our mobile backend services. We are working on really cool stuff such as Push and more!

Database API Plug-in

Creating a new service based on Appery.io Database is very simple as each collection comes with a nice REST API hints:

But there is even easier way to add a service by using Appery.io Database API plug-in. From Project tab, click Create New > From Plug-in and select Appery.io Database API plug-in:

When you import the plug-in, you will be asked to enter the Appery.io Database Id you can get from the REST API hint section (or from Dashboard tab). If you don’t set it during import, you can always set in Services/ApperyDatabaseSettings file.

As you can see the URL is already set. Just set the collection and you will be ready to go. The service defaults to GET but you can change it to any method as shown. You can switch to Request Parameters, enter any request parameters and click Test. From Test, you can automatically define the service’s response structure.

The database key is also set in Request Parameters panel:

The {apperyDatabaseId} is resolved from Services/ApperyDatabaseSettings file.

We got some really awesome integration planned very soon. Right from Appery.io app builder you will be able to browser and create new collections.

Documentation

Looking for docs? View Appery.io Database docs. We are also working on some really nice tutorials. If you have any questions, you can always email us or post on our forum.

In addition to Appery.io Database (which is a pretty big feature), there are a few other features we added back in June.

Simpler app creation

We greatly simplified new app creation wizard. Just enter the app name and select whether you want a phone or tablet app. That’s it.

By default Appery.io creates an app that includes Apache Cordova (PhoneGap). This means you can export the app to Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. You can also use any device API Apache Cordova provides.

We are going to simplify the app creation even more in the next release.

You might be wondering but what about mobile web app hosting? If you use any native device feature, then hosting as a mobile web app doesn’t make sense. But if you didn’t use any native features, then you want to be able to host. If you go to app options, you can now switch the app type from mobile app (hybrid) to mobile web by clicking Change for Change project type:

Select the new type and click Save:

Once you switch the project type to Mobile Web, publish option will be enabled on the same page:

and also in the builder:

Simpler access to app settings

To access app settings you had to go to Project view, then Project > Project Profile. Now you can access project settings from the top level menu:

Project settings editor is divided into four panels:

1. General – for setting app name, description, start page and selecting a theme
2. External resources – for adding 3rd party JavaScript librararies
3. Android binary APK properties
4. iOS binary API properties

Faster

We made changes how Appery.io web site and builder work so things should be running faster.

New List component options

Check out the List component, we added more option that you can configure from properties. If something is still missing, you can always use More Properties feature. Our goal is to make the list as configurable via properties as you can do in source code.

We are super excited the announce the availability of Appery.io Database (beta). Appery.io Database is a cloud database that provides a backend and storage for your mobile app. You already know that any using 3rd party REST API is very easy in Appery.ioapp builder. Every REST API provides some specific functionality. For example, if you use Facebook API you can easily post a message to the timeline, but what happens if you need to store data specific to your app? Let’s say you are building a todo app – where can you store the list of things to do? That’s exactly where Appery.io database comes in. It comes with elegant REST APIs so you can easily show, create, edit, and delete app data. Appery.io database comes with built-in User Management. It’s powerful, scalable and easy to use. It works seamlessly with Appery.io app builder.

You can access Appery.io database today at https://appery.io. From appery.io, go to My Account, then click on Database.

On the first page you can see a lit of all your databases, you can also create a new database:

Once you select a database, you will see all the collections in the database:

A very nice feature is that you get curl command hints. This will enable you to define a service in Appery.io app builder very quickly:

In Appery.io app builder, defining a service is as simple as this:

Keep in mind that this service is still in beta. We got a lot more features we want to add, such as push, analytics and server-side code. Database docs are here. We also would love to hear your feedback. Let us know of the forum, email, Twitter or Facebook.

Written by WebHostingSearch.com Team

Mobile devices are now more powerful than what the industry offered before. It can now be used as an alternative to your desktop, offering almost the same amount of functions. You can bring your mobile devices wherever you go as long as you have the applications that can solve your problems. With this, the demand for apps constantly grows and as this happens, cloud services make the management of infrastructure easier for the users making it more attractive for them. Cloud based applications continuously capture the interest of the market.

While it seems complicated to build a cloud based mobile app, Appery.io, a service that captured our interest with their previous web prototype builder, now offers the easiest and fastest way to create mobile app for HTML5.

Appery.io is an easy-to-use builder as it does not require installation and easily connect to any cloud services using REST. An interesting builder that is loved by many professional developers and beginners because of the support and helpful tutorials it provides. It also lets developers use REST API for their apps and build a beautiful mobile UI.

Appery.io offers an easy way to export your app to mobile web and the app source code. Last month, Appery.io announced that SendGrid is now available as API Plugin for their app builder. You can send outgoing messages from your mobile app using this plugin.

Web Hosting Search team is proud to announce that Appery.io becomes part of our list of Best Mobile App Builder in our directory. WebHostingSearch.com was established year 2000 and started looking for recommended tools since 2008. The inclusion of Appery.io was based on the number of suggestions from our web development team and community.

“Welcome to our community!” –WHS Team

The Appery.io Team is going to be at these events in the next couple of weeks. If you are there, stop by and say hello.

• jQuery Conference, June 28-29, San Francisco
  Appery.io is sponsoring the conference so stop by our table and watch how to build a mobile app with jQuery Mobile.
• Miami TechMeetups: CloudBase & Startup Night #tmuCloud, June 28, 7pm ET (4pm PT). Web demo.
• The NYC JavaScript & HTML5 Monthly Hackfest, July 11, New York City
  In New York? Attend this awesome meetup and learn how to build apps with cloud tools
• AT&T Mobile Hackathon, July 13-15, San Francisco
  AT&T Hackathons are the best, if you have an interesting app idea you should be here.
• DevCon5, API Plug-ins and Mobile App Development, July 23, New York City
  In New York? Learn how to build mobile apps with API’s and API Plug-ins.
• An Evening with MongoDB, July 25, San Diego
  Learn how to build mobile apps connected to MongoDB database.