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Last week we published the first version of Singly plug-in in Appery.io. This means you can connect to Singly API in Appery.io builder in just a few seconds. This also means you can use Singly API to connect to over 18 social networks, integrate people’s contacts, photos, locations, fitness data, and more into your app.

Here is how to get the plug-in.

From Project view, select Create New > From Plug-in:

Select Singly API plug-in:

You will be asked to enter the Client ID and Client Secret. You get it from Singly.com (after creating a free account and registering an app):

If you don’t enter the values during import, you can always set these ids by going to Project/Services/SinglySettings.

Once the plug-in was imported, go to Project/Project Profile and set SinglyStart to be the first page to launch. Go ahead the launch the app. You will be asked to login to Twitter (that’s the default service set) and then should get something like this (it will be your Twitter information):

To change the service, open SinglyStart page, select the button and open Run Custom JavaScript action (Events tab). You will be able to see the initial request to Singly and the place to change the service.

Give it a try and let us know what you think. One thing to keep in mind, the current version will only work as a mobile app (it will not run as native). I’m working with Jeremie Miller form Singly to support hybrid apps as well as other APIs. Do let us know if you would like us to add a specific feature.

We just made available the Twilio SMS API plug-in. This means if you need to send SMS messages from your mobile app, you can quickly use the Twilio SMS API plug-in. We will show you how to add the plug-in but you do need to sign up for free Twilio account. You will will get a Twilio phone number and you will also need to verify at least one phone number (where you would like to send SMS messages). If you go with a paid plan, you will be able to send SMS messages to any number.

From Appery.io builder, select Create New > From Plug-in:

Open Communication, then select Twilio SMS API:

Click Import selected plug-ins button. You will then see a prompt to enter the Twilio Account SID and Twilio AuthToken:

Both are available from the Dashboard:

If you don’t enter these values during the import step, you can always enter them by going to Project > Services > TwilioSettings.

Open TwilioSMS page. The UI is ready, there is a service and mapping (not shown) all completed. Everything is ready to go. You can of course change the UI to fit your application.

Note: when you import a plug-in, the current app theme will be used in the imported page (so your theme will probably be different).

Click the Test button and you should see a page like this:

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:

If you plan to use MongoLab database in your app, it’s now even simpler with our new MongoLab database plug-in. Here is how to create one.

Click to import a plug-in:

then select Mobile and click MongoDB Database API:

next you will be prompted to enter database API key and database name. Both values can be found in your MongoLab account:

If you don’t set these values during import, don’t worry. You can also set them in Services/MongoLab_Settings after the import.

In addition to API key and database name you also need to set the collection name (as we don’t have that information). The collection name is defined and set in Request Parameters panel:

In the Default Value column enter the collection name. You may also set the collection name directly in the URL. The reason collection name is set in request parameters and not in the settings file is because it will change often while the other values are most likely going to stay the same.

Once the service is imported, you can test the service and automatically create the response structure from it.

We were getting a lot of questions how do you send email from your mobile app? We would always tell user to use SendGrid, a wonderful cloud service that provides REST API for sending out emails. Today we released SendGrid Mail API plug-in in Appery.io. All it takes now is a few clicks and you are ready to send emails from your mobile app.

To import the plug-in, click the block button in Project view:

Open Communication category and select SendGrid Mail API:

Click Import selected plug-ins button. You will be prompted to enter api_user and api_key values. Before being able to send out emails with SendGrid you need to sign up for an account (they do offer a free plan). You will then get a api_user and user_key. You may skip entering these values right now. You can always set them in Project/SendGrid_Settings.

Once the plug-in is imported, you will have page called Sendmail that looks like this:

The UI is built with jQuery Mobile.

You can also open the REST service (SendGrid_MailSend). The URL is defined here:

Request parameters:

{api_user} and {api_key} are set in SendGrid_Settings.

And finally the service mapping (UI to service):

This REST service has additional option parameters which are described here. You may modify the service as you need. SendGrid provides other API’s that you can find here.

Have fun building apps in Appery.io, now with SendGrid email API.

In addition to AT&T SMS API Plug-in, we just made available AT&T mHealth API Plug-in in Appery.io app builder.

mHealth gives you control over your health and wellness data and makes that data more accessible than ever before. With a rich ecosystem of supported devices and applications, mHealth enables you to manage your personal health and wellness from the palm of your hand, anytime, anywhere

Source: https://mhealth.att.com/what

In addition to REST services, the plug-in has two pages. On the first page there is a button to connect to mHealth. When you click on the button, mHealth login page will be opened. Once you login, you will be redirected back to the app and shown the second page. On the second page a simply REST service is invoked showing to what data access is available. The plug-in is set up with three scopes (/read/health/data/fitbit /read/health/data/poke /health/read/user). mHealth docs shows more available scopes.

To add the plug-in to your app:

1. Create a new app, make sure to create Mobile App (not Mobile Web)
2. Inside the builder, click on the “blocks” button in Projects view:
   
3. Select Fitness category, then check the plug-in
   
4. Click Import selected plugins. You will be prompted to enter the client_id and client_secret information. This information can be obtained from mHealth app settings. You may skip it and enter it later
5. Enjoy the plug-in!

The plug-in is just in time for AT&T Education Hackathon happening today and tomorrow in Palo Alto, CA. Appery.io team will be there.

Last week we published the first public Plug-in that allows to send SMS messages via AT&T SMS API. The plug-in also comes with a sample app that you can try. The only thing you need to do is provide your AT&T app information.

There are two ways to import the plugin. You can add the plugin when a new app is created or import into already existing app.

Adding to a new app

1. From Apps page, click Start Now
2. Click App Builder > Go
3. Click Mobile App > Start Now
4. Select Blank Mobile App template, click Next
5. Enter app name and click Add Plugins
   
6. Select Communication/AT&T SMS
7. Click Create Project With Select Plugins
8. As AT&T API requires authentication, you can optionally enter all the information here:
   
   This information can be found in AT&T app settings. If you don’t enter the information during this step, you can enter it by going to Project > ServiceSettings after the app has been created
9. That’s it, the app is created with the AT&T SMS plugin:
   

Adding to an existing app

1. If you have an existing app, from Projects view click the block icon (to the right of Create New… button)
   
2. Then select the plugin:
   
3. Click Import Select Plugins and you are done

That’s it. We will be adding more plug-ins very soon.