Mobile apps with JavaScript and PHP

Ed Finkler

Fictive Kin

@funkatron

http://funkatron.com

http://joind.in/3389

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Me

• I work on Gimme Bar (http://gimmebar.com)

• I work on Spaz (http://getspaz.com)

• Sometimes I write PHP, sometimes I write JavaScript

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• Offers the best option for cross-platform mobile dev

• strong, diverse community, good tools

• deployable from server or locally-installed

Why JavaScript?

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Most options are JavaScript + HTML + CSS

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• iOS

• Android

• webOS

• BlackBerry

• Symbian

Strong webkit implementations on most platforms

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• limits your access to device functionality

• far easier to update

Deploy on server:

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• access more platform-specific functionality

• updating can be a pain

Deploy on device

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• HP Palm webOS special case – all apps build on JS/HTML/CSS

Shim libraries bridge JS and device functionality

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• PhoneGap

• Titanium Mobile

Options for device deployment

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• Wrapper + shim layer – very basic, works on several platforms

• Much more flexible; lets you pick any approach for building the app

• Potentially slower; less access to platform-specific APIs

• http://www.phonegap.com/

PhoneGap

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• Accelerometer

• Camera

• Compass

• Contacts

• Device Info

• Native Events

• File

• Geoloc

• Media

• Network connectivity

• Notications

• Storage

• Plugins can add additional https://github.com/purplecabbage/phonegap-plugins

PhoneGap device API support (varies by device)

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• Lots of JS DOM frameworks work well in PhoneGap

• jo (http://joapp.com)

• jQuery Mobile (http://jquerymobile.com)

• Enyo (http://developer.palm.com/)

• Sencha Touch (http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/)

• Many more!

PhoneGap + Your preferred approach

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• Full-stack, access to native UI components via JavaScript. Works on Android and iOS.

• Potentially faster

• Anecdotally, can be kinda buggy

• http://www.appcelerator.com/

Titanium Mobile

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• Similar base support to PhoneGap, plus

• Android Calendar

• Facebook APIs

• Map

• XML

• Yahoo APIs

• Plugins can add additional functionality; can be written in native code

Titanium Mobile device API support

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Spaz in Enyo

• Dev in Chrome

• Test with emulator VM

• We can build really fast with this

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• You can build your server side stuff lots of ways

• Pick what works for you and STFU

• Some simple FWs

• koi

• slim

• breeze

• limonade

• glue

• flight

Server Side: PHP

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• Make a simple HTTP call w/ basic query data

• respond with JSON structure

• https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-restful/

RESTful implementations with JSON responses work best

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FRAPI

• A great framework for rapidly building RESTful APIs

• Using it at Gimme Bar

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Examples!

• WildGarlic

• in Jo

• in jQueryMobile + Backbone.js

• in Enyo

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Examples!

• FRAPI

• api.getspaz.com

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Code from examples

• http://getfrapi.com

• https://github.com/funkatron/wildgarlic

• https://github.com/funkatron/WildGarlic-jqmobile

• https://github.com/funkatron/Spaz-Web-APIs

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Q&A

• Axe me

• http://joind.in/3389

Thursday, May 26, 2011