Blog

Building mobile apps in 5 easy steps in Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder.

Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder upgrades with brand-new UI and very cool new features.

Brand-new attractive UI

Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder got a new and very attractive UI. You can see how it looks below but the best way to experience it, is to log in or sign up. You will like it.

Upgraded export-and-build capability with support for Android, iOS, and mobile Web

That’s big one. From the screen shot you can see that it’s now super easy to get the source code and build for Android and get the source code for iOS.

Android binary release (.apk) settings editor

What’s really cool is that you get get an Android binary and immediately publish it to the Android Market. How can you do that? Appery.io has a new Android .apk settings editor where you can enter all the information needed for the Android Market.

Upgraded test capability. Quickly test your app in a browser or on a mobile device

The Test screen has been upgraded. It’s now super easy to test the app in desktop Web browser, mobile Web browser, and on the actual device via Appery.io Mobile Tester.

Support added for REST XML services and for using the POST method

REST services are no longer limited to just JSON response format, Appery.io now supports XML. We have also improved ability to make POST requests.

New service “echo” mode makes it possible to test the app without connecting to the actual service

To make it even easier to work with remote services, we have introduced an “echo” or mock service. Basically, instead of making a call to the actual remote service each time during development, you can invoke a local “echo” or mock service which returns a sample of the real data.

Use custom external JavaScript libraries in your app

To make it simpler to customise and use custom JavaScript, we have added a feature where any custom JavaScript library can be loaded and included in the app.

New Appery.io JavaScript framework to make it simpler to extend your apps with custom JavaScript

Check it out here.

Create and use custom JavaScript functions when mapping service data to the UI

When mapping UI when data source, you can now specify custom JavaScript to run when the mapping occurs

Improved support for HTML5 attributes and support for the HTML5 video tag

We have added HTML5 input types, attributes such as placeholder and HTML5 video tag.

New iPad screen layout

We added project template with iPad layout – to make it simple and faster build apps for the most popular tablet.

Next week Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder is getting new and very nice UI. Here is a sneak peek how it’s going to look:

We are also expanding the Export/Build feature. Here is how it’s going to look and what platforms we are going to support:

You don’t need to wait until next week, sign up and build your first mobile app today.

Appery.io slides from conference in Vienna:

(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.

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.

If you worked with JSON, then you are aware of the cross-domain policy which prevents a script loaded from one domain, to invoke services from another domain. This means that the domain of the requested URL must be the same as the domain of the current page. A number of work around exists but one of the most popular once is using JSONP. JSONP allows a requesting URL from one domain to invoke a service from a different domain. Appery.io Mobile Apps Builder now supports JSONP. Why is this important? Well, it makes very simple to build and test mobile apps in Appery.io. Now a page can be loaded from abc.com domain and invoke a service from xyz.com. Most REST services today support JSONP.

To use JSONP is very simple. When defining REST service, select jsonp for Data Type:

JSONP support

Twitter Search App

To try this in action, try this Twitter Search app built in Appery.io.

(Cross-posted on Maxa Blog)

HTML5 introduces a handy new feature for input elements. Using placeholder attribute, you can place a slightly greyed out label inside an input field. When you click on the field and enter text, the label clears. If you delete the input, the placeholder labels appears again. Here is an example (assuming you are using HTML5 complaint browser):

HTML5 code looks like this:

You can do the same thing in Appery.io Prototype Builder or Mobile Apps Builder. Now, it involves a little trick but we will make it much simpler in the near future. Let’s say we start with a screen like this (editor view):

1. Click the screen outside the phone area, switch to Events view
2. Click Add Event and select Load
3. Click the + sign to add an action and select Set HTML Attribute
4. Component name: find the first input component. Its name should be set to something like ‘mobileinputtextX’ (unless you renamted it)
5. Property name: placeholder
6. Value: enter any text you want to see in inside the input
7. Click OK
8. Repeat the same for the second input component.
9. Click Web Preview to view the app in Web browser
10. To view on your phone, select Web Preview > Configure and select Anybody can view this project on the Web. The open the URL shown on your phone.

Try out this app via QR code below:

Yes, it’s too many steps to add such functionality. It’s really just a workaround for now. We will make it possible to set any attributes from Properties view, without needing to add event and action.

Here is how it looks in a Web browser:

Mobile components now support different themes

Would like to add some color? Mobile components now support different themes:

• Gray
• White
• Yellow
• Black
• Blue

Quick and easy layout change for Mobile prototypes

Quickly change mobile layout via icons in the tool bar:

Read the rest of this entry »

Check out this interactive prototype. It was complety created in Appery.io using the new events/actions feature.

Every time a new wonder is selected, a different image is shown. On click event, the image src attribute is updated with a new image. When you click Find Out where?, a pop-up opens showing the location of the wonder. Every time a new wonder is selected, a custom location JavaScript variable is set. Inside the pop-up, component which display the location is bound to this variable. Pretty cool, huh?

Create your first interactive prototype in Appery.io.

Appery.io article on jaxenter.com.