We are implementing a project where we need to develop applications in sencha touch and as a tester i will be responsible to test these applications. After some research, I found out that Bryntum's Siesta is the best tool to automate the Manual test cases.
Before we decide to get the license, i just wanted to goof around it a bit so I downloaded the Lite version but I am not able to figure out how to install it on my Windows 8 machine. There isn't any .exe file in the downloaded folder when i extracted it.
Can anyone help me out with this please!
Thanks Already!
There is nothing to install really, since Siesta is just a web based tool (pure HTML, JS and CSS). Just extract into a web server and visit /examples and it will work. Getting started guide here: http://www.bryntum.com/docs/siesta/#!/guide/siesta_getting_started
I recently finished an application based on Titanium, Javascript, HTML, CSS. I have only been a web designer to date so I have little experience in distributing applications. I was accustomed to the TiDev Community deploying app, which prepared the app for download and made it available for download at a given link.
But tidev community is no longer supported, so I use TideSDK Developer to package the app, which doesnt do all the hard work the other one did so nicely.
I am obviously a complete rookie to this.
Could anyone outline the steps I would need to take to go from the bundled application folder I have now (put together by TideSDK Developer), to a link that will allow customers to download and install the app or online? I know there is an issue with packaoging the app for platforms other than your own, and that appcelerator is working on a solution to this I think. I also realise I would probably have to pay to host the download online. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
You must use the tidebuilder.py script. to compile a installation package. To compile a binary for a Mac, you must run the script on a Mac, to compile a binary for windows, you must be on a windows box etc.
There is some documentation on how to use it here per platform. The command is very simple and works.
Once you have your application file (DMG for OSX or a MSI for Windows) then just distribute it however you see fit, email, putting it on your web server, whatever works for you.
As far as I see every time I make a change, for example the value of a configuration variable, I have to
Make a copy of the change in each project (webapp, Android, IPhone, etc.)
Build each project
Distribute each project (besides the webapp)
I have found PhoneGap build which seems to be a great solution for the mobile part. But it's still beta and it doesn't solve everything. I still have webapp's code, which is not exactly the same.
Do you know techniques, tools or tricks, which help to improve this process?
Thanks in advance.
We are currently developing a web/Android app using PhoneGap and Sencha Touch (iOS is coming soon). So far our approach is as follows:
We have one project per platform plus several additional toolkit projects.
One platform is "primary", web in our case. This is what developers mainly use to develop and test the app. We're using jsTestDriver for testing.
During the build, the app is packaged for web in the first step. We're producing several artifacts here (.war file, tests in a .jar file).
"Secondary" platform projects do not include the source code. It gets unpackaged and copied to the right places when projects are built. This also includes tests from the primary platform.
Platform projects contain some additional code - normally only testing code, app code itself is currently cross-platform (not sure if it will stay this way).
So we're doing it mainly through advanced build scripts. We're using Maven for web and Android. iOS is coming soon (into our work, I mean), so we'll be looking for some sensible build tool there too.
We're building our projects using Hudson continuous integration.
What I have to admit is that this whole environment (multi-project Maven builds, JSTD, multi-node Hudson) is a hell of a setup, took quite an effort to figure it out.
I have recently been browsing frameworks such as JavaScriptMVC, qooxdoo, Sproutcore and others alike which are using javascript to create desktop-like apps in the browser with minimal, or none css/html (depending on the framework).
What I know of titanium is that it uses html/css for the views, and language of choice (javascript, ruby,python,php) for everything else. Then it gets compiled(?) into a native app.
What are the quirks? if any?
Is it necessary for the user to install some sort of a runtime to execute the compiled app?
I suppose javascript is the prefered language, but how are the other ones handled?
For example, which Ruby interpreter would be included, would I be albe to use the ruby stdlib or external libraries? Would it affect the speed of the app? I.e JS > Ruby in terms of speed.
Since the views are CSS/HTML, would it still be necessary to style the elements, add them effects via JS librarier to achieve a widget-like feeling? Or does it come with some pre-made settings/classes for that?
I am not sure if it applies to the desktop package, but is there some syncing with the appcelerator's server required? What would it be necessary for?
I am sorry if the questions sound stupid, but I didn't even realise there are than many tools until recent. I am ultimately looking for something which is easy to use, has an option to work with a back-end server for data exchange, looks preferably good 'out of the box' or doesnt require that much work to get it themed nicely and works on mobile as well as desktop devices.
With Titanium you build your app out using javascript. Titanium ultimately generates its own XCode project for you that is compiled and deployed to a device.
The user does not require any runtime be installed prior to installing your app.
Unless your building custom modules to hook up your own controls you stick with javascript.
Your javascript calls end up as native controls, early versions required css like styling due to reliance on webkit but this is no longer the case.
There is no IDE but it does come with an app to create Titanium projects, test in emulator, deploy etc. It also talks back to HQ for updates.
In answer to (2), Titanium Mobile is Javascript only, but Desktop also supports Python, Perl and PHP.
Greetings,
I want to write a small cross-platform utility program with GUI in it. What language/GUI-library should I stick to? Is it possible whatsoever?
This is gonna be a small program, so I don't want to make people download JVM or .NET Framework. Is it possible to develop it natively?
Update 1.
By "natively" I mean that the end result will be native code without intermediate layers like Java Virtual Machine or .NET Common Language Runtime
Update 2.
A FREE solution is preferable ;)
If you know C or C++ the first cross platform GUI framework I can think of are:
QT (C++, proprietary but free with the LGPL licensing)
wxWidgets (C++, the most complete and stable but also huge)
FLTK (C++)
FOX (C++)
IUP (C, simpler and cleaner than the ones above)
If you know Pascal, you can try freepascal+Lazarus. I've never used it, though.
The problem is: If you do not want to have a GUI but you do not want to ask the user to download an eternal API, Framework or virtual machine to run it in, be it TCL/TK, Java or QT etc. then you get lost pretty fast.
The reason is: You would have to rebuild all the (GUI) functionality those APIs, frameworks and virtual machines provide you with to be platform independent. And that's a whole lot of work to do... .
On the other side: The Java virtual machine is installed on nearly any operating system from scratch, why not give this one a shot?
You want to develop a cross-platform program natively? Uh...I don't think that'll work, mainly because that phrase is a paradox. If you write native code, it by its very nature will only run on the platform you programmed it for. ;-) That's what the Frameworks are all about.
So what you should do instead is use a very slim framework if your program is going to be so small. itsmatt's idea of Qt is a possibility.
WxWindows? Oh, it's called WxWidgets now: http://www.wxwidgets.org/
wxWidgets has bindings to all sorts of languages - python for instance, if your app is small enough.
Lazarus is great. GTK2 on Linux, win32/64 on Windows, WINCE on euh, Wince. It even uses Carbon on Mac (working on COCOA). Also easy to sell to your boss (the code is Delphi compatible)
How about Python using Qt or Wx and then using PythonToExe to make a 'distributable'
Thought will have to giving to the development to ensure that no native functionality is used (i.e. registry etc.) Also things like line breaks in text files will have different escape characters so will need to be handled
Which OS's do you have in mind when you say cross-platform?
As Epaga correctly points out, native and cross-platform are mutually exclusive. You can either write multiple versions that run natively on multiple platforms, or you need to use some cross-platform framework.
In the case of the cross-platform framework approach, there will always be extra installs required. For example, many here suggest using Python and one of its frameworks. This would necessitate instructing people to install python - and potentially the framework - first.
If you are aiming at Windows and OS X (and are prepared to experiment with alpha-release code for Linux if support for that OS is required), I'd highly recommend you take a look at using Adobe AIR for cross-platform GUI applications.
I agree with Georgi, Java is the way to go. With a bit of work, you can make your desktop application work as a Java applet too (so that users do not need to actively download anything at all). See http://www.geogebra.org as an example of an application with runs smoothly as a cross-platform Java application AND has a simple port to a web applet.
Two other advantages to using Java are:
They have extensive libraries for building the UI, including UI component builders.
The Java runtime framework is generally updated automatically for the user.
One disadvantage:
The version of Java installed on your end users computer may not be totally compatible with your application, requiring you to code to the lowest likely denominator.
Try RealBasic. Visual Basic-like syntax, targets Win32, OS X and Linux. I don't know any details about targetting Linux, but for any cross-platform development I've done between Win32 and OS X its been a dream.
http://www.realbasic.com
Edit: Generates native executables. There is a small cost - $100.
Have you looked at Qt?
Flash? It's installed pretty much everywhere.
If it "HAS" to be Desktop use Qt. Nothing beats it right now.
However personally I gave up on desktop and any UI based project I do is normally Browser/Server based. You can easily write a little custom server that listens to some port so the program can run locally with no need for your users to install Apache or have access to the net. I have a small Lua, Python and C++ framework I made for that purpose (Want to add Javascript for the backend with V8 :)
If you're going to look at Qt and WxWidgets, don't forget to also check out GTK+ !
I agree with David Wees and Georgi,
Java is cross-platformness par excellence. You literally write once and run everywhere. With no need of compiling your code for each target OS or bitness, no worries about linking against anything, etc.
Only thing is, as you pointed out, that a JRE must be installed, but it's quick and straightforward to do even for novice end-users (it's a matter of clicking "Next>" a few times in the installer).
And with Java Web Start deployment gets even easier: the user just clicks the launch button on a webpage and the application runs (if the proper JVM is installed according to what specified in the JNLP descriptor) or the user gets redirected to the Java download page (if no suitable JVM is found).