Posted by joyseeker on January 10, 2011 at 9:55pm
I'm just not seeing why the mobile devices use apps and not webpage integration to create their funcationality.
I've been doing Drupal for a year or so, and I'm now also checking out mobile device app programming. To access the functionality -- not just the display -- on a mobile device you need to program in Java or C++. I'm of course resistant to learning and using Java or C++ because browser technologies are so much easier and more elegant for graphic display, especially with Drupal.
Is there any way Drupal can tap into the device features of a mobile phone or tablet using Java applets or something akin to them? Make a Java applet into a module that can be put in a block?
Comments
Sencha Touch
I recommend the use of Sencha Touch and PhoneGap, both are open source:
http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/
http://www.phonegap.com/
I have some notes here about integrating Sencha Touch and Drupal:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/103244
Decaying advantages of apps
Apps have some advantages, but they are being eroded by improvements from HTML5:
Offline functionality. (If you learn how to use application cache manifests and Local Storage, much of this goes away.)
Ease of installation. It still takes nine actions to put a Web app shortcut onto your homescreen in Android.
Distribution and sales. Can't put HTML5 apps into the App Store or Market. Apple actually has a directory of HTML5 apps but nobody uses it, and it just links to websites.
Speed of execution. Generally an issue for games, not for information-presentation/interaction apps.
In addition to the frameworks Nick mentioned, see
http://www.dhtmlx.com/touch/
http://appcelerator.com/ (makes native apps using html5 technologies)
Thanks for the framework
Thanks for the framework information. Have started looking into them and created a simple application with sencha. Installation process was quite straight forward. Also tried installing Appcelerator (Titanium) which appeared to be very interesting since it accesses the phone APIs via Javascript. Problem is that I have pretty much given up on trying to get it installed. Spent most of the weekend and have yet to get a version working on either ubuntu (both 9 and 10) or win7, just one problem after another. Will try again when I can find some time.
Appcelerator hates proxy
I had major trouble getting it installed on Ubuntu behind a proxy server at work. Once installed everything was fine.
No problems at all from home.
Either way, make sure you already have the SDK installed and in your default path.
How the parts fit together with Sencha and Drupal?
nickvidal,
I've checked out Phonegap and Sencha and also your Sencha/Drupal page notes and your site, so I'm still gaining an understanding. Would it be possible for you to post a simple, 10-minute-like video that explains how the parts all fit together using Sencha framework with Drupal?
For example, do you use Eclipse, and if so is it connected to your web server? Did you have have different set-ups for iPhone and Android -- I know each has its own jar, but is there more that needs to be done? In the Sencha Hello World video, they did all the markup in the javascript file, so how would you connect to Drupal?
Titanium rocks...
once you get the hang of it, its really pretty elegant. But you do need to know a bit of Obj-C and Java to extend it.
And the apps are totally native. I am using DRUPAL for back-end management for mobile apps at the moment. Usually using JSON to talk to the apps, which I do in VIEWS and services.
Ti is more sophisticated than Sencha.