When developing apps for the latest smartphones, you’re faced with several vexing questions. How many platforms do you need to accommodate? What level of support do mobile browsers provide? To help you address these and many other key issues, this guide provides a hands-on tour of the most powerful JavaScript frameworks available today. You’ll build sample apps with jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch, and PhoneGap to learn the unique advantages—and disadvantages—of each framework. From there, you can determine which one is best for your project. This book is ideal for web developers familiar with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Experience the simplicity of jQuery Mobile for building cross-browser applications Learn how Sencha Touch’s architecture, widgets, and blazing-fast rendering engine makes it a good choice for enterprise software Use PhoneGap to package your web app into a native iOS, Android, or Windows Phone application Discover the impact of various HTML5 features on mobile app development Pick up JavaScript productivity tips as you delve into its object orientation, closures, and coding conventions Test and debug your app with a collection of tips, tricks, and tools

Make use of Node.js to learn the development of a simple yet scalable cross-platform mobile application About This Book Use Node.js to satisfy the core backend requirements of modern apps, including user management, security, data access, and real-time data communication Build practical real-world mobile applications, which will give you the necessary knowledge to build your very own mobile solutions Step-by-step development of projects using Ionic Framework as the frontend and Node.js for the backend supported by a MongoDB database Who This Book Is For This book is intended for web developers of all levels of expertise who want to deep dive into cross-platform mobile application development without going through the pains of understanding the languages and native frameworks that form an integral part of developing for different mobile platforms. This book is also for you if you are a developer who wants to capitalize on the MobileFirst strategy and so are going to use JavaScript for your complete stack. What You Will Learn Develop an API from scratch Set up a MongoDB Database as part of your mobile application backend Deploy a cross-platform mobile application from the command line Incorporate features within your mobile application that use native phone features such as a gyroscope, GPS, and accelerometer Implement mobile applications that use web-enabled APIs Build a mobile application with real-time chat messaging features Develop a secure mobile application that is capable of functioning with real-time data In Detail Node.js is a massively popular JavaScript library that lets you use JavaScript to easily program scalable network applications and web services. People approaching Node.js for the first time are often attracted by its efficiency, scalability, and the fact that it's based on JavaScript, the language of the Web, which means that developers can use the same language to write backend code. Also, it's increasingly being seen as a "modern" replacement for PHP in web development, which relies on fast-paced data exchange. The growing community and the large amount of available modules makes Node.js one of the most attractive development environments. This book takes a step-wise and incremental approach toward developing cross-platform mobile technologies using existing web technologies. This will allow you to truly understand and become proficient in developing cross-platform mobile applications with Node.js, Ionic Framework, and MongoDB. The book starts off by introducing all the necessary requirements and knowledge to build a mobile application with a companion web service. It covers the ability to create an API from scratch and implement a comprehensive user database that will give you the opportunity to offer a mobile application with a personalized experience. Midway through the book, you will learn the basic processes to create a successful mobile application. You will also gain higher-level knowledge, allowing you to develop a functional and secure mobile application to ensure a seamless user experience for end users. Finally, the book ends with more advanced projects, which will bring together all the knowledge and expertise developed in the previous chapters to create a practical and functional mobile-application that has useful real-world features. Style and approach This book is an easy-to-follow guide that takes a step-wise approach in giving expertise and knowledge to help you truly understand what is needed to create a memorable user experience for end users. Each topic is placed in the context of the bigger picture, that is, to create cross-platform mobile applications using existing technologies.

Developing applications for Android and other mobile devices using web technologies is now well within reach. When the capabilities of HTML5 are combined with CSS3 and JavaScript, web application developers have an opportunity to develop compelling mobile applications using familiar tools. Not only is it possible to build mobile web apps that feel as good as native apps, but to also write an application once and have it run a variety of different devices. While the HTML5 specification is still evolving, there is a lot that can be used right now to build mobile web apps. Mobile web apps are now starting to provide many of the features that were once only available to native-language-based apps in Java, Objective-C, etc. Pro Android Web Apps teaches developers already familiar with web application development, how to code and structure a web app for use on the Android mobile platform. Understand both the why and how of mobile web app development, focusing on the Android platform. Learn how to structure mobile web apps through a number of practical, real-world application examples. Discover what cloud platforms such as Google AppEngine have to offer Android web apps, for both hosting web apps and providing device to cloud data synchronization solutions. Get a real picture of the status of HTML5 on Android and other mobile devices, including some things to watch out for when building your own applications. Understand the capabilities of the web application stack, and how to complement those with native bridging frameworks such as PhoneGap to access native features of the device. Gain an understanding of the different UI frameworks that are available for building mobile web apps. Learn how to include mapping and leverage location-based services in mobile web apps to create engaging mobile experiences. Enable social integration with your Android web app and gain access to millions of potential users. After reading this book, you will not only have a greater understanding of the world of web apps on Android, but also how to leverage additional tools and frameworks to increase the reach of your mobile web apps. Additionally, through the practical samples in the book you will have been given solid exposure of where both the opportunities and challenges lie when building mobile apps the web way.

This book covers the various aspects of developing web-based applications for iOS. Over the past four years, the iPhone and iPad have been amazingly successful. Because of this success, application developers are entering a world of sophisticated, multifunctional mobile applications. Now mobile web-based applications can bring together web apps, native apps, multimedia video and audio, and the mobile device itself. By using this book you will learn how to create a mobile application from beginning to end, utilizing open source frameworks to speed up development times, emulate the look and feel of built-in Apple applications, capture finger touch interactions, and optimize applications for Wi-Fi and wireless networks. The book introduces you to the web application platform for iOS. It also guides you through the process of building new applications from scratch as well as migrating existing web applications to this new mobile platform. By doing this, the book helps readers design a user interface that is optimized for iOS touch-screen displays and integrate their applications with iPhone services, including Phone, Mail, Google Maps, and GPS. This book is aimed at beginning and intermediate web developers who want to learn how to build new applications for iOS or migrate existing web apps to this platform. In general, you will find it helpful if you have a working knowledge of these technologies: HTML/XHTML CSS JavaScript Ajax

Enhance your JavaScript skills by venturing into the domain of developing mobile applications About This Book Extend your JavaScript skillset to build, test, and launch mobile apps with confidence Follow three sample projects to experience Ionic's impressive capabilities Extend the power of Apache Cordova by creating your own Apache Cordova cross-platform mobile plugins Who This Book Is For This Learning Path is for JavaScript web developers looking to develop mobile applications using various JavaScript descendent technologies. It is for anyone who wants to learn how to build fast and stylish native mobile app using the skills they already have. If you are already using React on the web, we're confident you'll be able to quickly get up and running with React Native for iOS and Android. See Ionic in action, and find out how it can transform the way you build mobile apps. What You Will Learn Develop, build, run, and deploy great cross-platform mobile applications using Apache Cordova Create complete mobile apps using Apache Cordova that runs on Apple iOS, Google Android, and Windows Phone Create a neat user interface for your mobile application using jQuery Mobile Gain an in-depth understanding of how React Native works behind the scenes Write your own custom native UI components Develop native modules in Objective-C and Java that interact with JavaScript Get to know Ionic by creating three complete mobile applications In Detail A great mobile app is rapidly becoming crucial for a huge range of businesses. With a great app, your customers or your readers don't come to you – you go with them, just a few clicks and swipes away. This Learning Path shows you how to build awesome mobile apps with some of the best tools currently being used by some of the smartest developers in the industry. Taking you through JavaScript impressive development ecosystem – from jQuery Mobile to React, through to Ionic – we'll show you how to put your skills into practice so you can build your next mobile apps with confidence and style. In this Learning Path, from jQuery to React, to Ionic, we'll cover everything you need to start In the first module you'll learn how to get stuck into Apache Cordova and find out how to use it as the key platform for developing your mobile app. It offers an efficient way to develop hybrid apps, which means you won't have to connect to platform specific APIs or use their UI framework, and can instead harness your JavaScript web development skills. Make sure you have your HTML, CSS and jQuery skills at the ready. In Module 2 we'll show you how to take advantage of React Native. It has a reputation for having a steep learning curve, but we'll make it easy for you, making sure you make full use of your existing knowledge and getting you up and running with a sample application. You'll also learn how to create components, how to create multiple screens, as well as using native UI components and accessing native APIs. In the third and final module you'll get started with Ionic. With three practical projects you can build yourself, we've made sure that you'll be learning by doing – which means you'll not only develop new skills much more quickly, but you'll have produced something tangible at the end of it! This Learning Path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products: JavaScript Mobile Application Development by Hazem Saleh Getting Started with React Native by Ethan Holmes and Tom Bray Ionic Framework By Example by Sani Yusuf Style and approach This Learning Path course provides a simple and easy way to build mobile applications in JavaScript descendent technologies such as jQuery, ReactJS, and Ionic.

PhoneGap is a growing and leading open-source mobile web apps development framework that lets developers build JavaScript and HTML5-based web applications with native wrappers for more than six mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. This framework lets you build HTML- and JavaScript-based apps and still take advantage of native mobile device capabilities like camera, localStorage, geolocation, storage and much more, irrespective of the mobile platform you target. It also lets you use more specialized JavaScript frameworks like jQuery Mobile and more. Beginning PhoneGap is a definitive, one-of-a-kind book that teaches the fundamentals and strategies behind cross-platform mobile application development. Instead of learning languages like Objective-C, focus on building apps from day one for Android, iOS, Blackberry, WebOS and Symbian—without the complexities of these platforms. This book shows how to build apps which makes use of Google Local Search to create a Restaurant finder apps (which uses Maps to layout locations and uses internal database to store your favorite restaurants. Furthermore, you'll learn how to extend PhoneGap's functionality by using PhoneGap plugins to write apps like Dropbox (syncing files in the background outside HTML/JavaScript code and in native code). By the time you finish Beginning PhoneGap, you'll know PhoneGap inside and out, and, consequently, be able to develop mobile web apps faster and more efficiently than ever before. Make more money in less time!

Build HTML5-based hybrid applications for Android with a mix of native Java and JavaScript components, without using third-party libraries and wrappers such as PhoneGap or Titanium. This concise, hands-on book takes you through the entire process, from setting up your development environment to deploying your product to an app store. Learn how to create apps that have access to native APIs, such as location, vibrator, sensors, and the camera, using a JavaScript/Java bridge—and choose the language that gives you better performance for each task. If you have experience with HTML5 and JavaScript, you’ll quickly discover why hybrid app development is the wave of the future. Set up a development environment with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript tools Create your first hybrid Android project, using Eclipse IDE Use the WebView control to host your hybrid application Explore hybrid application architecture, including JavaScript/Java communication Build single-page applications, using JavaScript libraries such as Backbone and Underscore Get optimization tips and useful snippets for CSS, DOM, and JavaScript Distribute your application to Google Play and the Amazon Appstore