Effortless App Mastery: Unveiling Appery.io’s Admin Secrets

Hey there, app enthusiasts!

Welcome back to another insightful journey into the world of app development with Appery.io. In our previous video, we took a deep dive into customizing our Menu app template (You can check here if you missed the post). Today, we’re stepping up the game with a focus on a particularly handy feature for admins.

Imagine being able to tweak your app’s content or adjust prices without the hassle of logging into complex interfaces. Well, with Appery.io, that’s not just a dream—it’s a reality. Let’s explore how you can wield this power right from your device.

Accessing Database User Records:

Before diving in, we need to set up a few things. Head over to the App Builder and navigate to the Database link. Within the Menu_DB database, locate the Collections tab and access the Users collection. Here, you’ll set your password or email address for easy access.

Routing for Admin Convenience:

Next, let’s streamline the admin experience. Within the App Builder, navigate to Project > Routing. Set the default route to the Login page, ensuring swift access for admins. Don’t forget to save your changes—it’s the small steps that lead to big convenience gains!

Testing Made Easy:

Now, for the exciting part—testing your app. Sure, you could export it for Android or iOS, but why not take a quicker route? Enter the Tester app, a free gem available for both platforms. Fire it up, scan the generated code, and voila! You’re in.

Admin Delight:

Once logged in, you’re greeted with the Menu management page, your gateway to culinary control. Edit, reorder, or add new meals with a few taps. It’s intuitive, it’s efficient—it’s a game-changer.

Smooth Sailing:

With edits made and changes applied seamlessly, your app is ready for prime time. Hide the Controls menu for a clutter-free interface, ensuring a seamless user experience.

The Finishing Touch:

With everything in place, it’s time to share your masterpiece with the world. Save your app, click Close, and head over to the Hosting section. Name your project, hit Publish, and watch as your app goes live. It’s that simple.

  

Bon Appétit!

Print that QR code, place it on your tables, and let your guests indulge in the convenience of browsing your menu in their preferred language. With Appery.io, satisfying appetites has never been easier.

If you found this guide helpful, don’t forget to subscribe to Appery.io to try more handy tips and tricks. And hey, if you’re loving what we’re doing, why not join us on our YouTube channel?

Until next time, happy app building!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Easy Guide to SMS Confirmation using Twilio — No Stress, Just Success

We are here once again, this time with an easy-to-follow, stress-free tutorial on setting up SMS confirmation using Twilio. And exciting news – we also have a video tutorial for you to follow along with!

How to configure SMS verification for the app registration feature

Remember how we learned to set up SMTP server settings for email confirmations? Today, we’re switching gears to play with Twilio, allowing us to securely verify sign-up attempts via SMS. Cool, right? Let’s jump in!

Step 1: Getting to Know Twilio

Our journey starts with Twilio. Never heard of them? They are experts in sending out SMS verification codes.

  • Head over to the Twilio website and sign up for their free trial account. Once you’re registered and logged in, you can start personalizing your setup. You can either use an existing account or create a new one. I whipped up a new account I like to call SMS Confirmation.
  • Don’t forget to verify your phone number within Twilio. Just drop your number in, await the verification code via SMS, and then pop the received code into the website.
  • You’ll find a few more easy-peasy questions to answer and then hit Get started with Twilio. Congrats, you’re now ready for action!
  • Your Twilio dashboard will display a special phone number. This number is outgoing only and will be used to send confirmation messages to your own app users.
  • While you’re there, note down your Account SID, Auth Token, and your new Twilio phone number.
  • Lastly, ensure that you’ve listed the phone number you are using for testing in the ‘Active Numbers’ list (Phone Numbers > Manage), and that your Verified Caller IDs tab has the verified number ready to receive the authentication codes.

Step 2: Bring On the App Builder

Now that Twilio is all set, let’s put the App Builder to work.

  • Go to the Server Code tab then open the StarterLib library, which was created just for us. We’re planning to send out confirmation SMS, so we’ll need to replace EMAIL with SMS for the confirmation type in the StarterLib script.
  • Next, hop back over to the Twilio console and one by one, copy your Account SID, Auth Token, and Twilio phone number into the corresponding variables on the script in the StarterLib section. Hit ‘Save’ and voila — you’re all set!
  • The moment of truth has arrived. Click TEST on the App Builder page, fill in the sign-up page details, and then wait for the verification code on your mobile device. Once received, drop it into the app, and bingo! Your user is registered.

As you can see, setting up SMS confirmation using Twilio is easier than a walk in the park.

We hope that this short guide will make your app development experience even better.

Remember, we provide a handy two-week trial giving you plenty of time to experiment with our Starter App Template. Plus, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel for even more handy tips.

Thanks for coming aboard this guide, and see you again very soon!

Your Appery.io Team!

Google reCAPTCHA Now on Appery.io: Boost Your Site Security:

In the fast-paced app world, safety is crucial. At Appery.io, we’re thrilled to introduce Google reCAPTCHA plugins for added web app protection.

About Google reCAPTCHA: Quick Overview

Google reCAPTCHA is a strong tool to tell real users from bots, adding an extra security layer. It stops spam and guards your sites from fake activities.

Easy Integration with Appery.io: Simple and Effective

Our App Builder now easily adds Google reCAPTCHA plugins, both version 2 and version 3. To start, sign up with Google reCAPTCHA to get unique keys, ensuring a secure and personalized app integration.

Why Go for reCAPTCHA Plugins on Appery.io?

  1. Strong Defense: Shield your web app using advanced security from Google reCAPTCHA.

  2. User-Friendly: Our App Builder simplifies the process for all-level developers.

  3. Version Choices: Customize security with options for version 2 or version 3 based on your needs.

Getting Started: Easy Guide

  1. Open App Builder: In Appery.io App Builder, go to the Plugins section.

  2. Find reCAPTCHA: Look for reCAPTCHA plugins (version 2 and version 3) in the Appery.io catalog.

  3. Sign Up and Get Keys: Before adding the plugin, sign up with Google reCAPTCHA to get keys for secure app integration.

  4. Pick Your Version: Choose either version 2 or version 3 based on your security preference.

  5. Simple Configuration: Customize plugin settings in the Appery.io App Builder, including adding keys from Google.

  6. Test and Deploy: Ensure a smooth user experience before deploying your web application.

You can find more details on the Plugins page.

Or check out our YouTube video tutorial if you need visual assistance!

Stay Tuned for More Upgrades

This is just the beginning! As we focus on security and user experience, more enhancements and features are coming soon to Appery.io.

Thank you for using Appery.io and Happy Developing!

Your Appery.io Team

September release $a, $v, Appery Helper and Global Functions

Today we are pleased to announce the September release of appery.io with new alias $a of Appery helper, global variable $v and global functions!

Let’s look at what’s new

 

$a

‘$a’ is an alias for the Appery helper ‘Apperyio’. Now, instead of writing:

this.Apperyio.navigateTo("Screen1");

you can use a much shorter form:

this.$a.navigateTo("Screen1");

 

$v

‘$v’ is an alias for global variables that were previously accessed through Apperyio.vars.

$v is a place for storing any data as ‘global’. For example, to transfer data between screens.

this.$v.myData = 12345;
this.$v.userInfo = {id: 123, name: 'Joe'};

For more detailed information about ‘$v’, you can refer to our documentation https://docs.appery.io/docs/6-model-and-storage#apperyio-global-variable

 

Appery Helper

The list of functions and properties for the Appery helper ‘$a’ has been significantly expanded. This expansion greatly simplifies the invocation of the most commonly used operations. For example, if you need to display a modal window and pass parameters to it, this can now be achieved in a single line of code:

let data = await this.$a.modal("EditUser", {name: 'john'});

If you need to display a loading indicator, a simple call will do:

await this.$a.showLoading();

And if you need to perform a GET request:

let res = await this.$a.get("https://mydomain.com/user/12345");

You can explore the full list of available functions on this page: https://docs.appery.io/reference/common-methods-and-properties

 

Global Functions

Global functions have been added. Now, in the Functions section under Modal and Storage, you can define a function, for example ‘sum’, which will be accessible on all screens, custom components, services, etc., using this.$v.sum()

 

For more detailed information about global functions, you can refer to our documentation https://docs.appery.io/docs/6-model-and-storage#global-functions

 

We believe this new feature will be of great value to our users. We appreciate your continued use of Appery.io, and we wish you a happy developing!

Thank you for using Appery.io and Happy Developing!

Your Appery.io Team

Support for Android 13, API level 33

We’re excited to announce the introduction of the latest Appery.io release, which includes support for Android 13 (API level 33).

While many of the Appery projects were upgraded automatically, we aimed to keep manual application changes to a minimum to ensure a smooth transition for all users.
– Please ensure that you have not manually modified the config.xml file in the source tab. If any modifications were made to this file, kindly follow these steps: Remove the file and execute the “Undo all source changes” operation for the CORDOVA folder.

 

– Additionally, for some users, it may be necessary to access the App Settings. From there, navigate to Cordova Config, then proceed to the Android tab. Ensure that the property “GradlePluginKotlinVersion” is present with the value “1.6.20” (refer to the provided image for visual guidance). If this property is missing, kindly add it manually.

 

We believe this new feature will be of great value to our users. We appreciate your continued use of Appery.io, and we wish you a happy developing!

Thank you for using Appery.io and Happy Developing!

Your Appery.io Team

Appery.io First Release of 2023: What’s In?

Dear Appery.io Community,

We are excited to announce that our first Release of 2023 is already live and you are free to check out what new features and upgrades are already available to all Appery.io users!

First things first: we have successfully upgraded our App Builder to Ionic 6 and Angular 15, which resulted in many useful functional improvements and new features for your app-building experience. Most of them are not immediately noticeable, except in a few cases, but innovative and qualitative.

  • The first improvement we would like to introduce is related to the system capability: thanks to upgrading to Angular 15, there will exist no limitations in importing npm packages and modules to your apps anymore.

Check here for some examples of how you can add the npm-modules to the projects created with Appery.io.

Updated Preview Page:

  •  The serious upgrade that will hopefully be noticed and welcomed by you: our App Builder now has a very modern-looking editor mobile frame design. Besides, it now comes with an upgraded app preview page that is now user-friendlier and offers more functionality. From the preview page, now not only can you adjust your app’s UI on the device screen with further easy testing it on your device but also publish and share your app right from the preview:

  • Moreover, those who decide to publish their project as a mobile web app will be able to share it right from the preview.

New and updated UI Components PALETTE

  • Next, we are proud to announce that two new UI components have been added to our App Builder for Ionic: Audio and Video. These new components offer you rich customization options for your multimedia resources:

  • The existing Datetime component has also been upgraded and now comes with two views to select from, Inline which opens an inline calendar, and Open in modal which opens the modal with a calendar and an editable label:

  • One more enhancement: all the components that offer the option of entering strings now allow users to edit them inline right in the mobile frame, and that is a very handy time saver:

  • The next three features refer to the components’ properties upgrades: 1) the Position property was added to many UI components like Checkbox, DataTable, etc.; 2) many UI components that contain labels, for example, Input and Link received the Font Size and Font Weight properties; 3) the Text in Editor property was added to several UI components. With this feature enabled, you will be able to finetune your app UI right in the editor even if this component also has some functional code added as its Text property:

Filtering feature added to OUTLINE and Mapping editor

  • The OUTLINE view now comes with a useful feature of filtering components added to the screen. Just start typing the name of the component to retrieve its parent(s) on the tree and quickly locate the component you are looking for:

  • Users struggling with cumbersome mappings may find the new Mapping editor option of filtering components (similar to how it is realized in the OUTLINE) particularly useful:

Other enhancements

  • The next improvement is minor but comfortable: the Method selection can be changed after the function has been created in the CODE panel:

  • Our last enhancement might also seem rather minor, but will definitely be found useful by our users: the ability to double-click on many of the UI components added to the mobile frame of our App Builder in order to speed up the process of customizing them. By double-clicking the Image component, for example, you can immediately access the Media Manager window and thus work with your custom image files more easily:

Oh man, that list was impressive, wasn’t it?

Well, we tried to do our best to make the features above functional and easy to use as much as possible, and hope you’ll enjoy using them.

Thank you for using Appery.io and Happy Developing!

Your Appery.io Team

Identity Integration for Mobile Apps: LDAP & Social Login

Most apps require a user to register and log in with credentials. Most often, the app requires that the user create a user/password that is specific to the app. This is a cumbersome process that requires the user to remember yet one more password. It’s also not very secure.

A much better approach is to enable the user to simply log in with existing credentials from another service that is trusted, like an LDAP directory in an enterprise or a social identity provider such as Facebook.

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Upcoming Changes to App Versioning

Versions

We told you about upcoming versioning changes in our July 2015 newsletter. We want to make sure everyone is aware of the upcoming changes so we are posting them on our blog as well. We want every plan to enjoy this feature, but, at the same time, we want to make sure platform resources are used optimally. To balance these two goals, we are introducing a limit to the number of versions for an app, a limit that will vary depending on your plan. This change will happen on September 7, 2015.

The following version limits will be used:

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Instantly Share Your Hybrid App for Running and Testing with Anyone

Being able to share an app with a customer, a colleague, or a friend so they can test and run an app is a core benefit in a mobile platform. Since the beginning, the Appery.io platform has made it very simple to test and run you mobile app in the browser or as a hybrid app via the Appery.io Mobile Tester app for iOS and for Android. With the tester app, you can run and test your hybrid app, including any native APIs, without having to install the app on a device each time.

We are happy to announce today that anyone can test and run your mobile app via the Appery.io Tester app—even without an Appery.io account. This means after installing the tester app, anyone can try your app!

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Big Update: New Release Has Social Network Identity Integration and Much More

apperyio_update

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.

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