Re: Android Development for the IBM i

Glad you brought PhoneGap up Joe. I have been using PhoneGap for about a year and once you get your head around HTML5,CSS3 and Javascript (which you will have to do in order to write a mobile web application anyway) you are 95% there.

I'll be doing a Webinar on "Developing Mobile Applications for i using Open Source Tools" on January 24th, 26th and Feb 1st for Common that will cover PhoneGap. I have been blogging about developing a mobile web applications, starting with a green screen app and taking it all the way to a native mobile app here http://www.petesworkshop.com/blog_wp which will be covering PhoneGap in the next couple of installments. I developed a mobile application for Common that Conference attendee's can use to schedule their sessions with that was developed using PhoneGap and finally, at some point this year, SystemiNEWS magazine may publish a series of articles I wrote last summer that will cover a soup to nuts (green screen to mobile app) development strategy.

A mobile application (web or native) is wonderfully straightforward to develop. PhoneGap makes it drop dead easy once you get over the HTML/CSS/Javascript hurdle. Writing code once and deploying to Android/IOS/Blackberry/etc is the way to go so that you don't have to learn all those native languages.

Pete Helgren
Value Added Software, Inc
www.petesworkshop.com
GIAC Secure Software Programmer-Java


On 1/2/2012 10:21 AM, Joe Pluta wrote:

On 1/2/2012 10:59 AM, Joe Pluta wrote:

Actually, I'm pretty solidly opposed to writing native applications for
iOS. If an application requires cross-platform support, I'll stick with
a browser-based technique (like the PhoneGap technology Henrik spoke
of). But if I need to take advantage of the native hardware, I'll write
it for Android. I personally don't want to waste any time on jumping
through Apple's hoops. That's MY New Year's Resolution :).

Joe

And please note, PhoneGap (and some other HTML to native tools) allow
some level of native access, which is the whole point behind native
applications. So there's a real argument to be made for eschewing the
whole native issue entirely and going straight to a generator. I'm just
not at that point yet.

Joe