Blog

Geolocation functionality is one of the most popular features in mobile development. In Appery.io, a geolocation plug-in is available out-of-the box and can be configured in minutes to use in your mobile app. Recently, we’ve updated the geolocation plug-in for AngularJS apps (both Ionic and Bootstrap) and now it is even more intuitive and faster to use. In the geolocation plug-in docs you can find out how to add the plug-in to your Appery.io app, so you can retrieve the current position and start\stop watching position.

Make sure to check out all our mobile development tips.

Do you want to build apps fast? Start developing with our free plan.

Appery.io Charts plugin

From talking with developers who are building business and enterprise apps, we’ve heard that displaying data visually with charts is one of the highest priority requirements. To make it easy to visualize data, Appery.io has introduced a lightweight plugin that has everything you need to add pretty and inform-dense charts to your mobile app.

In this post we’ll show you how to do exactly that.

The Appery.io Charts plugin is available for AngularJS types of apps – both Ionic and Bootstrap. It’s built on the popular Chart.js library and consists of two JavaScript and one CSS asset. It can be added to your app the same as any other Appery.io plugin:

1. Open your Appery.io app and go to CREATE NEW > From plugin.
2. Choose Appery.io Charts and click Import selected plugins.
3. All the assets and the charts page will be added to your app.

Now you can go to Project > Routing and set the Default route for charts page to make this the initial page for your app.

There are three type of charts implemented in this plugin – Line, Bar and Radar. Switch them and see the animation by clicking the appropriate buttons.

Chart.js supports many other chart types, you can learn about the other charts here.

In this plugin, charts are displayed based on the data stored locally, in the scope variable. However, you may want to use a database as the data source for your charts. It will take less than a minute to configure the plugin in this way. Read the plugin documentation to see how.

Hopefully you will find this easy-to-use plugin useful. If you have any suggestions on how to make it better – feel free to contact us!

Update fast without going through the app store

Wouldn’t it be awesome to update your app without having to resubmit it to app stores? Now you can! With the new Appery.io AutoUpdate feature, you’ll only have to submit your app to the app stores once. You’ll use EXPORT > Auto update to build a new bundle with updated resources. Apps installed on devices will automatically download the updated bundle, meaning users won’t need to do anything for the update.

However, there are some restrictions due to security policies:

• Only web-resources: HTML/JS/CSS resources could be updated with this feature;
• Cordova and Cordova plugins couldn’t be updated with this feature;

The updated release bundle is the same for all platforms, so all mobile devices (Android and iOS) are updated simultaneously. See the documentation for more about this feature.

New API Express capabilities

Quickly create services with new visual builder

API Express, which allows you to use external relational databases with Appery.io, was updated with powerful visual tools. Now it’s really easy to build complex algorithms by combining multiple queries into one endpoint.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week we blogged about an AngularJS issue that breaks some APIs when you upgrade to iOS 9. We showed you how to create a patch. Today, we have added a plug-in that makes fixing this even faster and simpler. Import the plug-in, and you’re done. I’ll show you how to do that.

Read the rest of this entry »

If your users upgrade their Apple device to iOS 9, you could run into a problem when working with the window.location API. The Ionic team found this issue (thank you) and posted a workaround with this patch. Adding this patch to an Appery.io Ionic (or Bootstrap) app is very simple. Let me show you how.

Read the rest of this entry »

User login/registration is one of the most common features in a mobile app. Permitting login with existing credentials that users have from social networks can significantly simplify the authentication process and improve the user experience.

User Login Registration Examples for all project types (jQuery Mobile, Ionic, and Bootstrap) has just been updated with social authentication functionality. You can use those examples to quickly set up your app with the social login feature or see how it’s built to implement your own.

To create an app from an example, click Create new app > From example and choose the example you want from the list of available examples.

Read the rest of this entry »

With Barcode Scanner plugin, you can quickly add the functionality to scan bar codes from your app.  This can be helpful in many cases. For example, when building a warehouse mobile app: simply scan a product bar code, search the database with that code and retrieve the product information.

You can see how to build such app for jQuery Mobile here.

Adding a Barcode Scanner plugin to your Appery.io Angular app is very simple:

1. Go to Project > CREATE NEW > From Plug-in.
2. Select Apperyio Barcode Service and click Import selected plugins.

Then, in the Project view, a related service (Barcode_scan) and a JavaScript (Barcode) file will appear. After a native service has been added to the app, it can be called like any other REST service.

The Barcode Scanner plugin uses Cordova API. As the plugin uses native APIs, you should test it on the device or using the Appery.io Tester app.

Read the step-by-step tutorial we’ve prepared on Using the Barcode scanner service. And of course, feel free to contact us if you have any issues.

Like standard UI elements, such as buttons, input and text areas, the Appery.io App Builder also provides a convenient and ready-to-use Google Maps component for your AngularJS apps. This component contains a large set of visually configurable properties and entities like markers and windows.

There is a lot of help available for you to get the most out of this component. We’ve got detailed guides, a modularly organized tutorial, and our always helpful support team.

Read the rest of this entry »

For years, developers had to make a choice: build a single hybrid app with a so-so user experience, or build a native app for each platform with a great user experience. Developers don’t have to make this choice anymore. By integrating the Ionic SDK into Appery.io, developers can build enterprise HTML5/hybrid apps on a single code base that offer a native experience across all platforms. The Appery.io platform’s visual tooling lowers the skills barrier, empowering a broader base of developers and business analysts to create effective and intuitive mobile applications.

In this tutorial, you will use the Appery.io platform to build a mobile app. The tool set includes:

• Ionic – native-like UI components
• AngularJS – UI logic/binding
• Appery.io App Builder – cloud-based drag and drop designer
• Appery.io Backend Services – API backend for the app

Read the rest of this entry »

The new update has a lot of new features. These features include:

• Social login and LDAP sign-on for apps
• Offline capability in apps using the internal database or an external one
• New Bootstrap and Ionic components
• Outline page component view

Keep reading to learn more about what’s new in Appery.io.

Read the rest of this entry »