(christian heilman) firefox

FIREFOX OSFulfilling the promises of HTML5

Christian Heilmann (@codepo8)DEVIEW 2013, Seoul, Korea.

When the iPhone reinvented the phone and shook the foundations of the mobile space one of the promises was that there is "no SDK" and that HTML5 as the Flash successor will enable developers to benefit from the web as a distribution platform and get access to the all hardware parts that make a phone fun. This promise is now kept by Firefox OS, an operating system targeted at emerging and existing markets that is written in HTML5 and gives HTML5 all the power it deserves. In this session Chris Heilmann of Mozilla shows how easy it is to build engaging apps using HTML5 and benefit from the simple distribution model that is the web. You'll learn how to reach new audiences and re-use what you create in closed environments.

BENEFITS OF HTML5

★ In-built distribution - the web

★ Simple technologies used by lots of developers

★ Evolution of existing practices

★ Open, independent, standardised

Let’s quickly recap what HTML5 promised us as a platform. In essence it was an evolution of the web, taking advantage of its distributed nature and extending its reach into hardware.

PROMISES OF HTML5

This was also the dream of Steve Jobs when the iPhone first came out. It was a revolution, re-inventing the phone to be web-based rather than a closed environment. No SDK required - just build like you build for the web.

LOCKOUT

In reality, things look different now. The browsers that come hard-wired withmobile operating systems are very much falling behind when it comes to their HTML5 support and developers have to resort to writing native apps.

FIREFOX OS

Firefox OS wants to change that. It is an open operating system based on HTML5.

SOME FACTS…★ Released in four countries: Spain, Poland, Venezuela and

Columbia (more to come very soon)

★ 18 mobile operator partners, 6 hardware partners

★ Hardware options: Alcatel One Touch Fire, ZTE Open, Geeksphone Keon, Geeksphone Peak…

★ Aimed at emerging markets/low end market

★ Aimed to be an alternative to feature phones and unavailable closed environments.

★ Open source - it is all on GitHub

Firefox OS is not a test, it is not an idea. It is already very real.

"Movistar offers the ZTE Open for €69, including €30 of balance for prepaid customers and a 4GB microSD card"

Firefox OS devices are extremely affordable and aimed at people who have not yet access to the web on the go.

ARCHITECTURE

Linux/Gonk (ADB enabled)

Gecko rendering engine

Third Party HTML5 Apps

Web APIs / Web Actitivies

GAIA

The architecture is simple, we build on top of the Gonk layer of Android (whyreinvent and open architecture) and added the Gecko rendering engine. On top of that we have Web APIs and Activities, GAIA, the UI of Firefox OS and third party HTML5 apps.

- + =

In essence it is Android without the Java.

PREDICTABLE HTML5 SUPPORT

The browser support for HTML5 is a given as it is the same engine as Firefoxon Desktop uses.

SECURITY

Security is a big issue when it comes to HTML5. The web as it is now is suffering from some massive security holes which is why we can not allow any JavaScript on the web to access for example the camera of your phone.

APPLICATION MANIFEST{ "version": "1.0", "name": "MozillaBall", "description": "Exciting Open Web development action!", "icons": { "16": "/img/icon-16.png", "48": "/img/icon-48.png", "128": "/img/icon-128.png" }, "developer": { "name": "Mozilla Labs", "url": "http://mozillalabs.com" }, "installs_allowed_from": ["*"], "appcache_path": "/cache.manifest", "locales": { "es": { "description": "¡Acción abierta emocionante del desarrollo del Web!", "developer": { "url": "http://es.mozillalabs.com/" } } }, "default_locale": "en"}

HTML5 apps need to have a manifest file to be Firefox OS apps. In this one you define what your app is, but also what kind of hardware access it needs.

Privileged Web App

More access, more responsibility

Web Content

Regular web content

APPLICATIONS

Installed Web App

A regular web app

Certified Web App

Device-critical applications

There are four kind of apps in Firefox OS - ranging from simple web content to fully trusted apps that have access to all the hardware.

APPLICATIONS

The app permissions are defined in detail on the Mozilla Wiki.

PERMISSIONS

"permissions": { "contacts": { "description": "Required for autocompletion in the share screen", "access": "readcreate" }, "alarms": { "description": "Required to schedule notifications" }}

You need to declare all the permissions you want in your manifest file.

WEB APIS

Web APIs are standards proposals and agreements with the W3C to enableJavaScript to access hardware and sensors of devices.

WEB APIS (FOR ALL)

Vibration API (W3C)

Screen Orientation

Geolocation API

Mouse Lock API (W3C)

Open WebApps

Network Information API (W3C)

Battery Status API (W3C)

Alarm API

Web Activities

Push Notifications API

WebFM API

WebPayment

IndexedDB (W3C)

Ambient light sensor

Proximity sensor

Notification

These are a few of the APIs defined with the standards bodies to allow you access to more than the screen. Some of the are enabled across browsers, all of them in Firefox OS for any web content.

BATTERY STATUS API

The battery status API allows you to read the current state of the battery. Thisis very useful to build apps that warn the user before losing data.

BATTERY STATUS API

var battery = navigator.battery;if (battery) { var batteryLevel = Math.round(battery.level * 100) + "%", charging = (battery.charging)? "" : "not ", chargingTime = parseInt(battery.chargingTime / 60, 10), dischargingTime = parseInt(battery.dischargingTime / 60, 10); // Set events battery.addEventListener("levelchange", setStatus, false); battery.addEventListener("chargingchange", setStatus, false); battery.addEventListener("chargingtimechange", setStatus, false); battery.addEventListener("dischargingtimechange", setStatus, false); }

You have various properties and events to listen to - this works across APIs.

SCREENORIENTATION API

The screen orientation API allows you to lock the orientation of your app.

SCREEN ORIENTATION API

// Portrait mode:screen.mozLockOrientation("portrait");

/* Possible values: "landscape" "portrait" "landscape-primary" "landscape-secondary" "portrait-primary" "portrait-secondary"*/

VIBRATION API

The vibration API allows you to make a phone vibrate.

VIBRATION API

// Vibrate for one secondnavigator.vibrate(1000);

// Vibration pattern [vibrationTime, pause,…]navigator.vibrate([200, 100, 200, 100]);

// Vibrate for 5 secondsnavigator.vibrate(5000);

// Turn off vibrationnavigator.vibrate(0);

NETWORK INFORMATION API

The Network Information API tells you what the connection is and if it is metered or not. This helps your users not to spend too much money on downloads and defer upgrades to when they are connected to WiFi.

NETWORK INFORMATION API

var connection = window.navigator.mozConnection, online = connection.bandwidth > 0, metered = connection.metered;

☼ AMBIENT LIGHT EVENTS

The ambient light API allows you to detect if it is dark or light around the device and switch design accordingly.

AMBIENT LIGHT EVENTS

window.addEventListener("devicelight", function (event) { // The level of the ambient light in lux // The lux values for "dim" typically begin below 50, // and the values for "bright" begin above 10000 console.log(event.value);});

PAGE VISIBILITY

The page visibility API tells you if the app is currently open and used or the user has another one in focus.

PAGE VISIBILITY

document.addEventListener("visibilitychange", function () { if (document.hidden) { console.log("App is hidden"); } else { console.log("App has focus"); }});

WEB APIS (PRIVILEGED APPS)

Device Storage API

Browser API

TCP Socket API

Contacts API

systemXHR

Privileged apps are those that went through a review by the Mozilla security team and thus get more access to the hardware.

CONTACTS API

For example, privileged apps can create new contacts on the fly.

CONTACTS API

var contact = new mozContact();contact.init({name: "Tom"});

var request = navigator.mozContacts.save(contact);request.onsuccess = function() { console.log("Success");};

request.onerror = function() { console.log("Error")};

WebTelephony

WebSMS

Idle API

Settings API

Power Management API

Mobile Connection API

WiFi Information API

WEB APIS (CERTIFIED APPS)

WebBluetooth

Permissions API

Network Stats API

Camera API

Time/Clock API

Attention screen

Voicemail

Certified applications are the ones built by Mozilla and partners. These needed APIs to access all the hardware.

CERTIFIED APPS = THE OS :)

We used these to build all the apps that make up the operating system.

CERTIFIED APPS = THE OS :)Dialer

Contacts

Settings

SMS

Web browser

Gallery

Video Player

Music Player

E-mail (POP, IMAP)

Calendar

Alarm Clock

Camera

Notes

First Run Experience

Notifications

Home Screen

Mozilla Marketplace

System Updater

Localization Support

Like these.

WEB ACTIVITIES

Web activities are a way to get access to the hardware without going through a review process of your app. Instead of accessing the hardware directly, the user will access it for you.

You can for example ask for a photo and the user then picks from their gallery or takes a photo with the app of their choice. They then return automatically to your app with the photo as a file blob.

GET A PHOTO?

var getphoto = new MozActivity({ name: "pick", data: { type: ["image/png", "image/jpeg"], "image/jpg"] }});

getphoto.onsuccess = function () { var img = document.createElement("img"); if (this.result.blob.type.indexOf("image") != -1) { img.src = window.URL.createObjectURL(this.result.blob); }};getphoto.onerror = function () { // error};

FIREFOX OS + ANDROID!

Activities allow for an app ecosystem on the device. You can ask the user to become the app to do certain tasks and defer to other apps instead of doing everything yourself. They also work on Android when you install Firefox.

APPDISTRIBUTION

App distribution on Firefox OS works in two ways: as a marketplace and bydistributing directly on the web using then Open Web Apps API.

FIREFOX OS MARKETPLACE

https://marketplace.firefox.com/

The marketplace works like any other out there: submit your app, get found, get rich.

INSTALL FROM THE WEB…

var installapp = navigator.mozApps.install(manifestURL); installapp.onsuccess = function(data) { // App is installed }; installapp.onerror = function() { // App wasn't installed, info is in // installapp.error.name };

You can also re-use already existing web fame by adding a “install app” button anywhere on the web calling this JavaScript. This means your SEO efforts of the last years were not in vain.

DYNAMIC APP WEB SEARCH

Firefox OS has a unique way to search apps. Instead of just searching by name and description, the search scans the web for apps and links them to the intent of the user. For example a search for a band would find music apps.

DEVELOPMENTENVIRONMENT

The big question about HTML5 is always about the development environment.Firefox OS has no SDK or IDE, but we built a few tools to get you started faster

FIREFOX OS BOILERPLATE APP

https://github.com/robnyman/Firefox-OS-Boilerplate-App

The Boilerplate App is a great way to start with Web Activities. In it you havestub code for all activities and you can just comment out what you don’t need.

FIREFOX OS SIMULATOR

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/firefox-os-simulator/

The Simulator is and add-on for Firefox that runs a virtual phone on your desktop, complete with debugging tools and the option to send apps from the simulator to a real device.

PROTOTYPING WITH JSFIDDLE

https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/08/using-jsfiddle-to-prototype-firefox-os-apps/

1. Write your code as a JSFiddle

2. Append /webapp.manifest to your Fiddle URL and paste this link into the Firefox OS simulator to install the app

3. Alternatively, append /fxos.html to your Fiddle URL to get an install page like a typical Firefox OS hosted application

JSFiddle is not only a great way to try out some functionality or ask for helpreviewing it - now it also features a way to make any code in it installable as an application in the simulator or on a device.

BUILDINGBLOCKS?

Many people ask us for building blocks like the iOS ones. We don’t want to stifle people in their creativity and there is no “one” Firefox OS look and feel - there are guidelines - but here are some ideas.

CERTIFIED APPS BUILDING BLOCKS

http://buildingfirefoxos.com/The creation of the OS-internal apps has been documented and all the widgets used in their creation are available at buildingfirefoxos.com.

CERTIFIED APPS BUILDING BLOCKS

http://buildingfirefoxos.com/This is a great resource to get inspiration for your own apps.

MOZILLA BRICK

http://mozilla.github.io/brick/Mozilla Brick is a library to allow you to build apps from web components. The benefit here is that your apps will perform much, much better and you don’t need to write behaviour yourself.

WHAT’SCOOKING?

That’s a lot. But there is more around the corner.

MORE WEB APIS…

Resource lock API

UDP Datagram Socket API

Peer to Peer API

WebNFC

WebUSB

HTTP-cache API

Calendar API

Spellcheck API

LogAPI

Keyboard/IME API

WebRTC

FileHandle API

Sync API

We constantly extend the offering of Web APIs as we find new needs.

APPMAKER!

Resource lock API

UDP Datagram Socket API

Peer to Peer API

WebNFC

WebUSB

HTTP-cache API

Calendar API

Spellcheck API

LogAPI

Keyboard/IME API

WebRTC

FileHandle API

Sync API

Mozilla Appmaker is a WYSIWYG editor for apps that will allow beginners to click together a Firefox OS app from Web Components.

RESOURCES

Where can you go if you want to learn more?

https://marketplace.firefox.com/developers/

DEVELOPER HUB

The developer hub is the one-stop-shop for Firefox OS. You find design guidelines, demo apps and learn how to build and publish your apps.

https://hacks.mozilla.org/category/firefox-os/

MOZILLA DEVELOPER BLOG

The Mozilla hacks blog is our technical blog with lots of posts about new and exciting features in Firefox and the OS.

https://hacks.mozilla.org/category/videoseries/

FIREFOX OS VIDEO SERIES

We’ve recorded a series of short video interviews showing the different partsof Firefox OS. All of those are on YouTube.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS

FIREFOX OS WIKI

Last but not least, there is the Firefox OS wiki with all the in-depth technicalinformation.

THANKS!CHRIS HEILMANN@CODEPO8