Database Users

Wannabe developer needs help from the pros!

Hello there,
I'm a relativelly experienced software developer and im looking to develop applications for the smartphone ambient.
The thing is... i don't know the first thing about smartphones OS other than who the big boys are, so... this is where the actual knowledgeable guys come in...
I need help with some questions:
1) Which is more developer friendly (IDE, libraries, languages, allowing for custom applications, etc)?
2) How much support is there for developing great eye candy applications in each major smartphone OS? Or just state the one with the best support for cool looking applications.
3) I heard that in Windows mobile you better code in .NET or C++ or you're screwed... Is there really no better alternative?
4) What other languages / framework can one use in Symbian, RIM, IPhone?

I'm not a WinMo dev (yet?) but I can answer a few of these questions.
2. iPhone strives to have a consistently beautiful OS by providing easy to use APIs for GUI creation. Since every app uses the same APIs, they all have the same smooth scrolling action and animations. As far as I know, Windows Mobile does not have APIs for a consistently good looking UI. So far, every app I've seen uses its own implementation of finger scrolling, even within HTC's own apps.
3. What alternatives are you thinking of? If you want to use Java, you could code for J2ME and Jbed. They don't look as good as native apps though, are less flexible, and tend to have greater overhead. Not great for mobile devices.

Soaa- said:
I'm not a WinMo dev (yet?) but I can answer a few of these questions.
2. iPhone strives to have a consistently beautiful OS by providing easy to use APIs for GUI creation. Since every app uses the same APIs, they all have the same smooth scrolling action and animations. As far as I know, Windows Mobile does not have APIs for a consistently good looking UI. So far, every app I've seen uses its own implementation of finger scrolling, even within HTC's own apps.
3. What alternatives are you thinking of? If you want to use Java, you could code for J2ME and Jbed. They don't look as good as native apps though, are less flexible, and tend to have greater overhead. Not great for mobile devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you that was really helpfull. Whats your take on Symbian or Android?

Soaa- said:
2. iPhone strives to have a consistently beautiful OS by providing easy to use APIs for GUI creation. Since every app uses the same APIs, they all have the same smooth scrolling action and animations. As far as I know, Windows Mobile does not have APIs for a consistently good looking UI. So far, every app I've seen uses its own implementation of finger scrolling, even within HTC's own apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the record, 6.5 has gestures support (including kinetic scrolling) built in so it will work across all applications.

For all members who've been putting their eyes on questions in the Dev&Hack section. it is now ALLOWED to ask development related questions in the D&H section while all other questions go in the Q&A section.
cheers

Noone who can give me a quick rundown on these OS's?
Thaks in advance.

SEE....
http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/
http://www.trajectorylabs.com/win32.html

This is the most I've been able to turn up in any of my searches, least in terms of an API for common GUI controls.
http://fluid.codeplex.com/
Haven't had much time to play with it lately tho. Hopefully that will change toward the end of next month.
*EDIT*
Then theres also the non free stuff.
http://www.resco.net/developer/default.aspx

Convert flash file/app to android app/apk

Is it possible to create a game/app in flash and then convert it into an app/apk install that android can run native? I want to write a simple app for my own amusement; all I need is the vibrate, audio, and touch input function. Sound and input should be easy if the file can be converted, vibrate may require more knowledge in the APIs; I don't really know, as you can tell, I'm no true Dev.
I found these sites...
http://codes.widged.com/node/24
http://www.webkitchen.be/package-assistant-pro/
Could these apk files be installed normally, by just installing the apk from the SDcard, or would it need to be signed first? Would this work for apk signing or just ROMs?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=473580&highlight=signing+made+easy

hm. i know that this is possible for windows mobile but for android might be a little bit harder since there isn't native flash (i.e. standalone player) yet.

I don't want to run it as flash, want something akin to the Adobe cs5 feature that would allow you to recompile flash apps into native code (...C...) for iphone. Android uses java for apps, so I guess it would be a flash to java conversion.

Adobe had an Android AIR SDK for Flash CS5 but it's nowhere near prime time yet... they expect it will be ready late this year. That said... I have created a couple of small apps and have seen some pretty cool games screenshots in the developers section.

I read a lot of articles about this some time ago after Apple pretty much banned all non natively coded apps from the App Store. Adobe was working with Google and focusing more energy on Android. Hopefully there will be an Android packager for Flash CS5 very similar to the iPhone packager they released.
I am working on some apps for Android, but I am WAY better at Flash/Flex and actionscript that Java, so I am really hoping to see something cool with this.
I played around with the iPhone packager, and was able to compile a few cool things and install on my personal iPhone and they worked pretty well, so I have a lot of confidence it will be great.
That reminds me that I need to start researching this again to see if any new developments have come up. I haven't checked on it in a month or so.

Hopefully something comes of this soon.

davesters81 said:
I read a lot of articles about this some time ago after Apple pretty much banned all non natively coded apps from the App Store. Adobe was working with Google and focusing more energy on Android. Hopefully there will be an Android packager for Flash CS5 very similar to the iPhone packager they released.
I am working on some apps for Android, but I am WAY better at Flash/Flex and actionscript that Java, so I am really hoping to see something cool with this.
I played around with the iPhone packager, and was able to compile a few cool things and install on my personal iPhone and they worked pretty well, so I have a lot of confidence it will be great.
That reminds me that I need to start researching this again to see if any new developments have come up. I haven't checked on it in a month or so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can sign up for the preview developer program for AIR which will allow you to build flash apps for android.

programming ON device

Hi,
i wonder if it's possible to code right ON an android device, such as the upcomming tablets?
plz correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm dreaming of coding and compiling direct on the tablet. (on my old wm6 device i did so by using basic4ppc, but it would be great to do so without using fring.)
Is this realistic or am i simply dreaming?
thanks for any reply to my silly noob question
your's
pedro
P.S.: by the way,do you gurus think there will be things like video-editing (similar functionality to pinnacle studio/vegas) and vst support for android?

No reply at all??
PLZ boys....can JDK and eclipse be run on an android device????

The only thing I'm aware of at the moment is the project (formerly) known as "Android Scripting Environment"
http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting
Among other things, it gives you Perl
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Well, Eclipse is a Java application, so in theory it should be port-able onto an Android device. However, I imagine there would be so many things to fix/work-around that it just wouldn't be worth it. For example, I don't think Android has the Swing/AWT components, which Eclipse probably uses, so you'd have to rewrite all the UI display classes to use the Android libraries.
Much more realistic would be simply a syntax-highlighting text editor, which would let you write (but not compile, of course) on the go. I looked around for one of those a while ago but couldn't find one. I started writing one, but then decided that my urge to program on my phone wasn't strong enough for the amount of effort it would take to write such a program...

NEWS
i've read today good news..... basic4android (basic4ppc) announced a basic4android version (early beta) and "maybe" an on-device-programming version

infantilo said:
i've read today good news..... basic4android (basic4ppc) announced a basic4android version (early beta) and "maybe" an on-device-programming version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
it will probably be no version to program with B4A on the device. The IDE runs in conjunction with windows. Net.
Cu
Amalkotey
Basic4Android-Betatester

Steven__ said:
Well, Eclipse is a Java application, so in theory it should be port-able onto an Android device. However, I imagine there would be so many things to fix/work-around that it just wouldn't be worth it. For example, I don't think Android has the Swing/AWT components, which Eclipse probably uses, so you'd have to rewrite all the UI display classes to use the Android libraries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These issues are not the only issue i see...
What about javacc wouldn't this need to be ported as a java application as well?
Which i dont see how you can develop a java compiler in java if you can i'll be amazed.
we'd have to wait for the native library imports to do that from my current knowledge
Please someone correct me if im wrong

I know this thread is old, but if anyone come across this thread search for Aide in the play store.

i think AIDE is the best way to coding ON the tablet/phone!

Try AIDE It's free on Google Play.

AIDE is a good choose if you can buy premium key. I personally did and I'm satisfied. I use aide when I'm away of my PC and get an idea
Free version allows only projects with 5 or less java files. Excluding R.java and BuildConfig.java that's 3. I doubt that anyone can write anything serious with 3 java files.
Sent from my Evo 3D GSM using Tapatalk 2

pedja1 said:
AIDE is a good choose if you can buy premium key. I personally did and I'm satisfied. I use aide when I'm away of my PC and get an idea
Free version allows only projects with 5 or less java files. Excluding R.java and BuildConfig.java that's 3. I doubt that anyone can write anything serious with 3 java files.
Sent from my Evo 3D GSM using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for AIDE you can't go wrong with premium especially if your projects are big (lots of files)
AIDE also supports ssh git and dropbox sync last I checked. It also features an auto complete kinda like in eclipse.
Although I always begin my projects on a computer especially for the ui design (I'm a noob this way)
as for C there is C4droid although I'm not sure if its possible to link it with android java code.
But c4droid beats having to set up the proper toolchains if your creating a pure native application.

Sybregunne said:
+1 for AIDE you can't go wrong with premium especially if your projects are big (lots of files)
AIDE also supports ssh git and dropbox sync last I checked. It also features an auto complete kinda like in eclipse.
Although I always begin my projects on a computer especially for the ui design (I'm a noob this way)
as for C there is C4droid although I'm not sure if its possible to link it with android java code.
But c4droid beats having to set up the proper toolchains if your creating a pure native application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for AIDE
I has AIDE+PasGUI+C4Droid on my device and I quite satisfied with it, though it's difficult to manage with interface

DoR2 said:
+1 for AIDE
I has AIDE+PasGUI+C4Droid on my device and I quite satisfied with it, though it's difficult to manage with interface
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pasGUI - will try that now. Thanks

Why there may never be an Android 5

We may never get Android 5.0
Hi guys just sharing an opinion piece I wrote about the future of Android.
My current theory is that eventually Android could be replaced by Chrome OS, or merged and it could happen as soon as the next major update (5.0)
My article and reasons are here and I just wanted to get some input from you guys: my fellow Android Enthusiasts,

I have one word for you: grammar
there and their, you really should know the difference

I can't believe there is a Firefox OS coming. I mean, sigh... I was a big supporter of firefox for a long time, but finally got sick of the bloat. And I might add I can't stand chrome browser, desktop or mobile. Chrome on the XZ was the worst mobile browser I've ever used.

It's a nice opinion, but do you develop applications yourself?
Here's my opinion, as consumer, an Engineer and an App developer;
Mobile phones aren't about browsing, frankly, I could care less about web on my phone. Putting everything on the web would be a night mare. Further, no scripting language is going to run as fast as native code, yes most Android apps are written in Java, but are then compiled into DBC (Dalvik Byte Code), yes, this runs on a VM (Dalvik-VM), but it's a highly optimised one. Next, we have the NDK, developers can currently write native applications compiled directly into machine code and ran natively on the hardware, again, this can not be replicated in web scripting languages, nor will the speed be matched.
Further, integrating web technologies would rely on an abstraction layer that allowed the web languages to talk to the hardware, guess what, this won't be written in web technologies, and will be written in native.
Mobiles are powerful pocket computers, but they can't be expected to have internet access all the time. Yes, web apps can be stored locally, but shifting completely to the cloud doesn't work everywhere.
Finally, my thought on Chrome OS, I would never use it personally, it's a late entry into a dying breed of desktop computing, worse yet, it's aimed almost entirely at the casual desktop user. Web browsing, desktop publishing, it's the netbook of the 20-teens(2013+).
Firefox lost my interest as my number one browser when they said screw the companies that need test cycles in order to deploy our latest browsers by switching to rapid release cycles of poor quality updates, that came and went faster than any company get put it through their test process. Firefox OS for phone has no interest from me. Ubuntu OS also isn't quite the "full OS" they claimed it to be, in fact, the dev preview wasn't even Ubuntu and was a hypervisor on top of Cyanogenmod (Android).
Shifting to cloud based services is inevitable, but to have entirely web based OSs such as the ChromeOS is ridiculous currently.
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, feel free to disagree, but structure and debate please.

I cringed at the title.

alias_neo said:
It's a nice opinion, but do you develop applications yourself?
Here's my opinion, as consumer, an Engineer and an App developer;
Mobile phones aren't about browsing, frankly, I could care less about web on my phone. Putting everything on the web would be a night mare. Further, no scripting language is going to run as fast as native code, yes most Android apps are written in Java, but are then compiled into DBC (Dalvik Byte Code), yes, this runs on a VM (Dalvik-VM), but it's a highly optimised one. Next, we have the NDK, developers can currently write native applications compiled directly into machine code and ran natively on the hardware, again, this can not be replicated in web scripting languages, nor will the speed be matched.
Further, integrating web technologies would rely on an abstraction layer that allowed the web languages to talk to the hardware, guess what, this won't be written in web technologies, and will be written in native.
Mobiles are powerful pocket computers, but they can't be expected to have internet access all the time. Yes, web apps can be stored locally, but shifting completely to the cloud doesn't work everywhere.
Finally, my thought on Chrome OS, I would never use it personally, it's a late entry into a dying breed of desktop computing, worse yet, it's aimed almost entirely at the casual desktop user. Web browsing, desktop publishing, it's the netbook of the 20-teens(2013+).
Firefox lost my interest as my number one browser when they said screw the companies that need test cycles in order to deploy our latest browsers by switching to rapid release cycles of poor quality updates, that came and went faster than any company get put it through their test process. Firefox OS for phone has no interest from me. Ubuntu OS also isn't quite the "full OS" they claimed it to be, in fact, the dev preview wasn't even Ubuntu and was a hypervisor on top of Cyanogenmod (Android).
Shifting to cloud based services is inevitable, but to have entirely web based OSs such as the ChromeOS is ridiculous currently.
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, feel free to disagree, but structure and debate please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree :good:

hebbe said:
agree :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nosebleed
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app

alias_neo said:
It's a nice opinion, but do you develop applications yourself?
Here's my opinion, as consumer, an Engineer and an App developer;
Mobile phones aren't about browsing, frankly, I could care less about web on my phone. Putting everything on the web would be a night mare. Further, no scripting language is going to run as fast as native code, yes most Android apps are written in Java, but are then compiled into DBC (Dalvik Byte Code), yes, this runs on a VM (Dalvik-VM), but it's a highly optimised one. Next, we have the NDK, developers can currently write native applications compiled directly into machine code and ran natively on the hardware, again, this can not be replicated in web scripting languages, nor will the speed be matched.
Further, integrating web technologies would rely on an abstraction layer that allowed the web languages to talk to the hardware, guess what, this won't be written in web technologies, and will be written in native.
Mobiles are powerful pocket computers, but they can't be expected to have internet access all the time. Yes, web apps can be stored locally, but shifting completely to the cloud doesn't work everywhere.
Finally, my thought on Chrome OS, I would never use it personally, it's a late entry into a dying breed of desktop computing, worse yet, it's aimed almost entirely at the casual desktop user. Web browsing, desktop publishing, it's the netbook of the 20-teens(2013+).
Firefox lost my interest as my number one browser when they said screw the companies that need test cycles in order to deploy our latest browsers by switching to rapid release cycles of poor quality updates, that came and went faster than any company get put it through their test process. Firefox OS for phone has no interest from me. Ubuntu OS also isn't quite the "full OS" they claimed it to be, in fact, the dev preview wasn't even Ubuntu and was a hypervisor on top of Cyanogenmod (Android).
Shifting to cloud based services is inevitable, but to have entirely web based OSs such as the ChromeOS is ridiculous currently.
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, feel free to disagree, but structure and debate please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good points. I mean why would they kill something which is already working well. Think what happened to Windows 8, it turned out to be
sort of like Vista. Companies need to innovate, but usually it doesn't go as what they desire, but understanding the perception of the user
is not a straight forward task.

Rchard said:
Very good points. I mean why would they kill something which is already working well. Think what happened to Windows 8, it turned out to be
sort of like Vista. Companies need to innovate, but usually it doesn't go as what they desire, but understanding the perception of the user
is not a straight forward task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android is too mature to be killed, it would be like google want to commit suicide... And if i remember well there is a few more corp is involved in android like htc, samsung, sony, huawei , and a few others, and spooks as well , we probably don't know. Android is a perfect spying platform and more then half of the devices on internet constantly. Who would kill that info net??

IOS will die before android, until then it will continue to thrive just like Window OS on your laptop or desktop.
too bad for Apple, they never stay in the lead.

My pov as an marketer,
You cant pull something out of the market when its doing so well at this time or later. Maybe when android becomes crap then yes.
Currently android OS is dominating the global market share. Do you really think they would stop jewing money when they can still jew more? Thats completely suicidal. Android came a long way since it was launched and surpassing iOS or came to being recognized by everyone around the globe.
You know we're in 2013 and everything in business is about money money money, Android OS is definitely one of their major income.
Android will die, but not so soon. maybe a few more years till consumers are tired of it, or when something better takes over the market. How google will keep updating android is unknown, whether android 5.0 will come or not remains unknown, but one thing im sure of is that android wont die that early.

LitoNi said:
My pov as an marketer,
You cant pull something out of the market when its doing so well at this time or later. Maybe when android becomes crap then yes.
Currently android OS is dominating the global market share. Do you really think they would stop jewing money when they can still jew more? Thats completely suicidal. Android came a long way since it was launched and surpassing iOS or came to being recognized by everyone around the globe.
You know we're in 2013 and everything in business is about money money money, Android OS is definitely one of their major income.
Android will die, but not so soon. maybe a few more years till consumers are tired of it, or when something better takes over the market. How google will keep updating android is unknown, whether android 5.0 will come or not remains unknown, but one thing im sure of is that android wont die that early.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jewing?? Really?
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium

Gez77 said:
nosebleed
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what does that mean

are you boring?

sahinz said:
are you boring?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks

Native Android SDK vs PhoneGap/Cordova

Hi, just wanted to get your opinions of developing apps with the native Android SDK versus PhoneGap/Cordova.
I have coded an app using the Android SDK before, but I found the SDK to be a bit difficult to work with even though it is very powerful. I haven't tried making an app in PhoneGap/Cordova yet, but I'm a very experienced web developer so developing an app with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript sounds very enticing to me. Still I don't know the actual details to making an app with PhoneGap/Cordova though since I've yet to try it.
Besides the benefit of PhoneGap/Cordova being cross-platform, what are your thoughts on each one and which one do you prefer and why?

Isaac Lean said:
Hi, just wanted to get your opinions of developing apps with the native Android SDK versus PhoneGap/Cordova.
I have coded an app using the Android SDK before, but I found the SDK to be a bit difficult to work with even though it is very powerful. I haven't tried making an app in PhoneGap/Cordova yet, but I'm a very experienced web developer so developing an app with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript sounds very enticing to me. Still I don't know the actual details to making an app with PhoneGap/Cordova though since I've yet to try it.
Besides the benefit of PhoneGap/Cordova being cross-platform, what are your thoughts on each one and which one do you prefer and why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My personal opinion is that any web app thats on play/app stores should have to have some logo or something to say thats what they are. From a user point there is no comparison really, like comparing a chrome/web app on PC to a native win/linux app, they don't really compare and I personally as a user have yet to see web apps impress. However having said that there is always variance to any argument, I think here it depends on context. So for my app Smart Messenger, there is zero chance as a web app, or if it were possible the experience would be way too bad for the user. However consider a simple listings app that just has a few screens, maybe not as bad. Dont get me wrong, still think web apps should come with a sticker so the user knows not to download, but the experience would fall a shorter distance to native based on complexity/context.
Just my thoughts

It depends on the requirements of the app: if you need to build functionally simple app quickly and spread it across the platforms, then it's better to use hybrid/web app. If you need sophisticated functionality (e.g. games), which has to heavily utilize mobile device's facilities (hardware/software) then the best bet would be to use Android SDK.

surlac said:
It depends on the requirements of the app: if you need to build functionally simple app quickly and spread it across the platforms, then it's better to use hybrid/web app. If you need sophisticated functionality (e.g. games), which has to heavily utilize mobile device's facilities (hardware/software) then the best bet would be to use Android SDK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
erm not just games, any app that you want fluid and responsive that can't be just a html/php site through a browser .... btw I speak from a user point here, not just a dev. I have yet to find a web app that I would even consider keeping on the phone/tablet... I prefer to use a browser to access the info, not some fakey thing.

Performance is a big factor. If it's a simple app you may sure as well go with Phonegap etc. but for an advanced, more complex app native is always the best options as it will provide much better performance than a Phonegap app.

rootRootRoute said:
Performance is a big factor. If it's a simple app you may sure as well go with Phonegap etc. but for an advanced, more complex app native is always the best options as it will provide much better performance than a Phonegap app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly agree here... Ive used both and Phonegap lacks alot in Performance on Android (not on iOS).
If you want a a cross platform frameworks consider Xamarin (C#)
Code:
http://xamarin.com

NobleDroid said:
I strongly agree here... Ive used both and Phonegap lacks alot in Performance on Android (not on iOS).
If you want a a cross platform frameworks consider Xamarin (C#)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using phonegap for my app it works great on android too.
Try using the ionic framework, it is a game changer.

khashayarp said:
I'm using phonegap for my app it works great on android too.
Try using the ionic framework, it is a game changer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As both a developer and user I have yet to see a web app that I would even consider leaving on my phone once I obviously see it's just a local website I have often asked for examples of really good web apps and never seen a single one...
Would it be possible to check out yours ?
Just interested... cheers

deanwray said:
As both a developer and user I have yet to see a web app that I would even consider leaving on my phone once I obviously see it's just a local website I have often asked for examples of really good web apps and never seen a single one...
Would it be possible to check out yours ?
Just interested... cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have posted it on xda (http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-introducing-palm-note-awesome-note-t2861937)

khashayarp said:
Try using the ionic framework, it is a game changer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If we're talking about performance, how Ionic can make a difference if it has been built on top of Cordova (like Phonegap)?