[dba-Tech] Developing Mobile Apps

Bryan Carbonnell carbonnb at gmail.com
Fri Jan 13 13:44:28 CST 2012


So many questions Jim, so few answers....

I am personally staying away from JQM for now, until I get a better
understanding of how to optimize my code. Like I said, it just felt
heavy to me. No one else that looked at the app noticed or commented
on it. The problem I see with JQM is that not only do you need to load
the JQM js file (82kb), the JQM css (49kb), you also need the JQ js
file (94kb). So in libraries, you are over 200kb before you write a
sigle line of HTML or js code. Plus the add the Phonegap libs and a
simple single page app is 600 - 800 kb depending on the platform.

On the Phonegap lists there are a TON of people using JQM with
commercial apps with no problems. So, everything I just said, doesn't
appear to be an issue for lots of folks.

I've only had a brief look at Sencha, and it has file sizes in the
same neighbourhood, so I'd imaging it's the same.

The XUI framework is supposed to be a replacement for JQ. I can't say
that it is or isn't because I haven't had much exposure to JQ in
general. So far it does what I need it to do.

So the short answer is I'm not using JQM because the benefit does not
outweigh the cost for me at this point. XUI, on the other hand does
what I need it to do and the "costs" of using it are acceptable.

Like everything else we do, you have to pick the right tool for the
job at hand. :)

The learning curve was initially very steep for me. The docs for XUI
assume a level of knowledge that I really didn't have. I hadn't ever
built anything with JQ before so I wasn't really familiar with the
structure of how to code for it, I couldn't transfer that knowledge.
Once I had that Ah Ha moment (saw a code example that showed me what I
was missing) then code just started to make sense (and work LOL)

Bryan


On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM, Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Hi Bryan:
>
> So your recommendation would be to keep away from implementing JQuery
> reliant apps? Does JQuery have much a larger gallery to work from? Is Sencha
> a better library? How is the learning curve?
>
> I had not heard of the Phonegap designer (http://phonegap.com/)...thanks for
> the heads up. Is PhoneGap's XUI library very complete?
>
> Jim
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Bryan Carbonnell
> Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 5:35 AM
> To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
> Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Developing Mobile Apps
>
> My early impressions are that for developing HTML5 cross-platfom apps
> with Phonegap is fairly straight forward. If you can write HTML5 then
> you can write a fairly sophisticated app.
>
> My biggest issues so far is the directory structure and how to keep
> the files for the different platforms separate. iOS, Android and
> Blackberry ALL require different directory structures and different
> versions of the Phonegap files. So wholesale copy/pasting of the
> html/js/css files doesn't work. If you add in Sencha or JQuery mobile
> to the mix, then they have different versions as well.
>
> Code managing is going to be my biggest headache I think.
>
> I also used JQuery Mobile in one Proof of concept app. It felt "heavy"
> and made the apps loadtime and response slow, or at least feel slow on
> the actual devices. In the simulators they felt fine.
>
> So I tried a second PoC replacing JQM with XUI and my own CSS and that
> felt better from a speed standpoint. It also seemed to give me more
> granular control of the look. I'm sure JQM does give me the
> granularity that I want, but since I'm not really familiar with JQuery
> Mobile (of JQuery in general) I may not be giving it a fair shake for
> ease of customability.
>
> So on the whole PhoneGap is working great for the apps I need to
> write, for now :)
>
> Bryan
>
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 6:52 PM, Hans-Christian Andersen
> <hans.andersen at phulse.com> wrote:
>> Bryan,
>>
>> I'm really glad to hear that!
>>
>> Let us know how it works out for you and what you experience with
> developing mobile apps with PhoneGap is like.
>>
>> - Hans
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2012-01-12, at 1:34 PM, Bryan Carbonnell wrote:
>>
>>> Hans-Christian,
>>>
>>> Thanks for putting me on to PhoneGap. I just got approval from my boss to
>>> go ahead with a cross-platform mobile app pilot.
>>>
>>> She was very excited about the proof of concept apps I wrote.
>>>
>>> I get to do development work again. Woo hoo!
>>>
>>> --
>>> Bryan Carbonnell - carbonnb at gmail.com
>>> On Nov 23, 2011 8:12 PM, "Hans-Christian Andersen"
> <hans.andersen at phulse.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi Arthur,
>>>>
>>>> If you want a platform agnostic app, might I suggest developing
> Phonegap.
>>> This will allow you to develop your app like a web application using
> tools
>>> that may perhaps already be familiar to you (HTML, JavaScript, CSS, etc).
>>> To add to that, you could use a web platform like Sencha Touch (or jquery
>>> mobile, though I believe Sencha touch has better performance and
> features).
>>>>
>>>> Developing it for Android will not make it platform agnostic and will
>>> significantly reduce your audience (especially a paying audience).
>>>>
>>>> The downside is that there is a limit to what you can do (ie. making 3D
>>> games or photo editing software).
>>>>
>>>> Have a look at Phonegap though. They support quite a range of platforms.
>>> Oh, and they are based in Vancouver as well.
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Hans-Christian Andersen
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 23 Nov 2011, at 11:11, Peter Brawley <peter.brawley at earthlink.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 11/23/2011 1:05 PM, Arthur Fuller wrote:
>>>>>> I have an idea for an ever-expanding mobile app, which consists almost
>>>>>> entirely of unrelated tables. My current sketch involves about a dozen
>>>>>> tables, all of them read-only: they will serve as on-the-spot lookups
>>> and
>>>>>> seldom if ever change (and any changes will be made by me, not the
>>>>>> end-user). Think of it as an on-line reference.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Never having tried to write a mobile app, any suggestions for tools to
>>> use
>>>>>> in tackling this? I would like the app to be platform-agnostic if
>>> possible.
>>>>> Eclipse and its Android Development plugin.
>>>>>
>>>>> PB
>>>>>
>>>>> -----
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> TIA,
>>>>>> Arthur
>>>>>>
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>
>
> --
> Bryan Carbonnell - carbonnb at gmail.com
> Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well
> preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out,
> shouting "What a great ride!"
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-- 
Bryan Carbonnell - carbonnb at gmail.com
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out,
shouting "What a great ride!"


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