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.

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

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.

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!

Grasp the fundamentals of web application development by building a simple database-backed app from scratch, using HTML, JavaScript, and other open source tools. Through hands-on tutorials, this practical guide shows inexperienced web app developers how to create a user interface, write a server, build client-server communication, and use a cloud-based service to deploy the application. Each chapter includes practice problems, full examples, and mental models of the development workflow. Ideal for a college-level course, this book helps you get started with web app development by providing you with a solid grounding in the process. Set up a basic workflow with a text editor, version control system, and web browser Structure a user interface with HTML, and include styles with CSS Use JQuery and JavaScript to add interactivity to your application Link the client to the server with AJAX, JavaScript objects, and JSON Learn the basics of server-side programming with Node.js Store data outside your application with Redis and MongoDB Share your application by uploading it to the cloud with CloudFoundry Get basic tips for writing maintainable code on both client and server

Learn how to build apps for mobile devices on Cloud platforms The marketplace for apps is ever expanding, increasing the potential to make money. With this guide, you'll learn how to build cross-platform applications for mobile devices that are supported by the power of Cloud-based services such as Amazon Web Services. An introduction to Cloud-based applications explains how to use HTML5 to create cross-platform mobile apps and then use Cloud services to enhance those apps. You'll learn how to build your first app with HTML5 and set it up in the Cloud, while also discovering how to use jQuery to your advantage. Highlights the skills and knowledge you need to create successful apps for mobile devices with HTML5 Takes you through the steps for building web applications for the iPhone and Android Details how to enhance your app through faster launching, touch vs. click, storage capabilities, and a cache Looks at how best to use JSON, FourSquare, jQuery, AJAX, and more Shares tips for creating hybrid apps that run natively If you're interested in having your application be one of the 200,000+ apps featured in the iPhone store or the 50,000+ in the Android store, then you need this book.