pwired Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hi, I want to learn how to make apps for Android. So I was wondering if one of you guys is doing this already, besides processwire coding, and could give me some advice what is better to use: Eclipse or Android-Studio ? https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I don't know much about this area of development, but I will mention PhoneGap whilst I'm here. The very basic tinkering I've done with that felt great because it was essentially a case of developing in HTML and JS to achieve basic mobile apps. Almost certainly not as efficient as other methods, but it depends what you want to do. For me it was to try and capture mobile phone camera data and send it to a server (and if I ever get back to working with it, capturing barcode input from barcode-enabled Android devices for warehousing purposes) so PhoneGap was ideal for that sort of thing. It was also a massive pain in the ass to get installed and running which I really didn't enjoy though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Geerts Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I have not much experience with mobile apps. But the route I think I would take is the route of HTML CSS and JS with a 'simple' framework. Currently i'm building a Kilometer registration app for my self using Ratchet and I must say I love it. The simplicity of using ajax loading pages (push.js) fits nicely the way I work with ProcessWire. The 'app' doesn't have to be wrapped up in an app layer, but should be possible when I later wish to do that. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qtguru Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I don't really develop Android Apps per se, I only Integrate some libraries with it, so am mostly doing non -UI related, your question is wrong, because as of now, Android Studio is the Defacto way to go about Android Development, Eclipse is not gonna get any future support from Google and Android Studio is way better, especially with Gradle as a way to run deployment codes and tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I have not much experience with mobile apps. But the route I think I would take is the route of HTML CSS and JS with a 'simple' framework. Currently i'm building a Kilometer registration app for my self using Ratchet and I must say I love it. The simplicity of using ajax loading pages (push.js) fits nicely the way I work with ProcessWire. The 'app' doesn't have to be wrapped up in an app layer, but should be possible when I later wish to do that. Ratchet and Phonegap sound like they would play togther nicely. I always wanted a way to have the mobile web app look native and Ratchet looks ideal for that. All Phonegap adds is the ability to wrap it into an app and gives you access to some of the device APIs too (camera, contacts etc) whether iOS or Android, so I'm sure together they would be able to load the correct stylesheet for the correct device. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Geerts Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Ratchet and Phonegap sound like they would play togther nicely Exactly, I don't know PhoneGap, but going when the 'app' route I would consider PhoneGap for wrapping it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qtguru Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Ratchet and Phonegap sound like they would play togther nicely. I always wanted a way to have the mobile web app look native and Ratchet looks ideal for that. All Phonegap adds is the ability to wrap it into an app and gives you access to some of the device APIs too (camera, contacts etc) whether iOS or Android, so I'm sure together they would be able to load the correct stylesheet for the correct device. Give Onsen.io a spin, it's way better, I use it for a financial institution for the company i work for, however it's in Angular assuming that's a bottleneck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 My preference for app development is for ionic. Like onsen.io (thanks for that link - hadn't seen that one) it is based on Angular, which is an awesome option IMO. Here is a comparison thread: http://forum.ionicframework.com/t/pros-cons-vs-onsen-ui/8177 Here are some useful links about setting up and publishing with Ionic and Cordova (the open source codebase that phonegap runs on). http://ionicframework.com/docs/guide/publishing.html https://coderwall.com/p/vvkyra/getting-started-with-ionic If you're on Windows, Phonegap Build (build.phonegap.com) should get you through all the issues of building for iOS without a Mac. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Geerts Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) I have tried Ionic and Onsen.io but handeling multiple pages was a pain in the ass. (writing routers for Angular with PW API ) That's because I want to use ProcessWire as a base to build from. So probably it's more of a workflow problem then a problem of the framework. Edited June 4, 2015 by Martijn Geerts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwired Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Thanks for all the replies. I am going to try all 3 of them, androidstudio, ratchet and phonegap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qtguru Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 PhoneGap - > is just a container to write HTML apps in Native Containers so you can use PhoneGap with Rachet Android Stuido is for Native Apps all the best 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 PhoneGap - > is just a container to write HTML apps in Native Containers so you can use PhoneGap with Rachet Android Stuido is for Native Apps all the best Indeed - it depends what you are trying to build - I made the assumption it would be something to do with web data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Offtopic: Has anyone tried react native yet? I'm curious if it is as good as i think it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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