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Mobile for PHP Developers, 2012 edition

Mobile for PHP Developers, 2012 edition

3 hour tutorial explaining mobile development to an audience of PHP/web developers. Topics range from device detection to building APIs for native apps. Delivered as a 3 hour tutorial at the PHPBenelux 2012 conference (#phpbnl12)

Ivo Jansch

January 27, 2012
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  1. Contents ‣Part 1: Putting mobile in perspective ‣Part 2: Browser

    based mobile applications ‣Part 3: A few words on frontend design ‣Part 4: Cool stuff with PHP and native apps ‣Part 5: APIs for native apps ‣Part 6: Web vs Native: best of both worlds ‣Part 7: Random bits if time permits 4
  2. Usage Characteristics ‣On the go ‣Short attention span ‣Avoid typing

    ‣To the point / ad hoc ‣Omnipresent ‣Context Awareness 10
  3. Mobile Technologies ‣Objective-C (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple TV) ‣Java

    (Android, Blackberry, Symbian) ‣HTML5 / Javascript (Any) ‣PHP (Any) 13
  4. Native Apps ‣On- and offline ‣Event based ‣Native device experience

    ‣Convenient access to device features ‣Stateful ‣Monetization through App Stores 16
  5. Some statistics ‣Android Market: 400.000 apps (jan 12) ‣Apple App

    Store: 500.000 apps (okt 11) ‣Web: 3.000.000 websites optimized for mobile (may 11) Sources: ‣ http://www.pcworld.com/article/247247/android_market_tops_400000_apps.html ‣ http://www.bizreport.com/2010/10/dotmobi-2000-growth-in-number-of-mobile-ready-websites.html# ‣ http://www.apple.com/iphone/built-in-apps/app-store.html 17
  6. A pixel is not a pixel Viewports: ‣ Invented by

    Apple ‣ Adopted by others ‣ Unofficial standard, registered at whatwg.org 27
  7. A pixel is not a pixel CSS 2.1 Specification: “If

    the pixel density of the output device is very different from that of a typical computer display, the user agent should rescale pixel values. It is recommended that the pixel unit refer to the whole number of device pixels that best approximates the reference pixel. It is recommended that the reference pixel be the visual angle of one pixel on a device with a pixel density of 96dpi and a distance from the reader of an arm’s length.” 29
  8. Standardization Horror ‣ <meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width” /> • iPhone and

    most others ‣ <meta name=”HandheldFriendly” content=”true” /> • Many feature phones (originally Palm) ‣ <meta name=”MobileOptimized” content=”320” /> • Windows Mobile ‣ <meta name=”viewport” content=”target-densitydpi=device-dpi” /> • Android 30
  9. Device Detection It’s all in the User Agent • Mozilla/5.0

    (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version / 4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7 • Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; nl-nl; HTC Hero Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/ 530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/ 530.17 32
  10. Don’t Reinvent The Wheel http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/ • Downloadable PHP library for

    device detection • Online code generator • Donationware • Ugly code, well documented 34
  11. On to a more advanced mechanism ‣General tip: • don’t

    rely on device • rely on capabilities ‣WURFL • Wireless Universal Resource FiLe • Contains info on 500+ capabilities of 14.000+ devices • http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/ • Clients available for many languages 35
  12. WURFL in PHP: Tera-Wurfl ‣Download Tera-Wurfl • http://www.tera-wurfl.com • Renamed

    to ‘Scientia Mobile Database API’ ‣Install in document root • e.g. in /var/www/yoursite/Tera-WURFL • Make sure data/ dir is apache read+writable ‣Create empty database 36
  13. Alternatives ‣http://www.deviceatlas.com • Commercial database of device properties • Available

    online, as API and downloadable json file • Free for development • ~99$/year for production 46
  14. Exercise! ‣Create a page that displays the Sneezing Panda video

    on devices that support Flash. ‣Display ‘Sad Panda’! on devices that don’t. • Examples of device that can show flash: browser • Example of device that can’t: iPhone • Tip to simulate mobile devices: http://techie-buzz.com/ tips-and-tricks/emulate-mobile-browser-in-firefox.html • Don’t have a laptop? Team up! 47
  15. Browser Detection In Practice ‣Let’s optimize a site with what

    we’ve learned so far. ‣Let’s take advantage of ZF’s powerful MVC set up • View scripts determine layout of actions • Layout script wraps everything into main layout • Use Bootstrapper to detect device and setup MVC 48
  16. Zend Framework mobile site 2 ways for mobile layout: ‣Separate

    files ‣Separate folders Detection in bootstrap 49
  17. Dealing With Mobile Browsers ‣Considerations: • Don’t redirect to homepage

    • Offer ‘classic’ option • Don’t make assumptions on physical screen size 55
  18. UI Design ‣Hover = evil ‣‘Finger Friendly Design’ ‣‘Touch Driven

    Development’ ‣Screens are getting bigger and (!) smaller 57
  19. HTML5 is easy ‣<!doctype html> - period. ‣<script> or <style>

    - period. ‣Semantics: header, footer, section, article tags 59
  20. HTML5 is powerful ‣localStorage ‣<video> ‣<canvas> ‣<svg> ‣<input type=”number”> and

    many other form fields ‣ navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(); 60
  21. Browsers love HTML5 Browsers supporting HTML5: ‣Firefox ‣Safari ‣Opera ‣All

    the mobile browsers ‣IE (sort of, no support for <article> until IE9) 61
  22. Things to consider ‣Don’t just scale the layout, scale content

    too ‣Consider ‘scenario based content management’ 62
  23. jQTouch ‣iPhone experience in HTML5 ‣http://jqtouch.com/ (beta 4) ‣ jQuery

    / Zepto based ‣MIT License ‣Give it a try: http://jqtouch.com/preview/ demos/main 64
  24. Alternatives ‣jQuery Mobile • 1.0 was released on November 16,

    2011 • http://jquerymobile.com/ ‣Zepto • jQuery interface compatible, optimized for mobile WebKit • http://zeptojs.com/ ‣Sencha Touch • From the makers of jqTouch • Tablet support • http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/ 65
  25. Tiqr demo ‣Authentication with a smart phone ‣Components • Client:

    iPhone, Android • Server: Zend Framework, simpleSAMLphp or plain PHP • Standards: OATH OCRA, SHA-x, HOTP, SAML • License: BSD ‣http://www.tiqr.org 75
  26. Notifications ‣Apple • Push Notifications • http://code.google.com/p/apns-php/ ‣Android • Cloud

    To Device Messaging (c2dm) • https://github.com/mwillbanks/ Zend_Service_Google_C2dm/ ‣BlackBerry • BlackBerry Push Service • CURL 79
  27. Notifications 80 Apple Push Notification Services Your App Your Server

    deviceToken message payload signature message payload
  28. Notifications - Notes ‣For Apple: • Get certificates from the

    developer portal ‣For Android • Need to register an account and request a quota ‣Note: deviceTokens can change! 84
  29. Token Exchange 85 Apple Push Notification Services Your App Your

    Server deviceToken message payload signature message payload Token Exchange deviceToken notificationToken notificationToken deviceToken notificationToken http://tokenexchange.googlecode.com
  30. Exercise! ‣Let me scan your contact details • Use MECARD

    format • Use phpQRCode library (http:// phpqrcode.sourceforge.net/) • (Note: requires GD extension in PHP) 86
  31. Content Optimization ‣Consider CPU and memory constraints • Prefer JSON

    over XML • Compress data • Keep responses small • But not too small (connection / routing overhead) 90
  32. Content Optimization ‣To REST or not to REST ‣RESTful API

    design: • http://someapi/pages • http://someapi/pages/1 • http://someapi/pages/1/comments • http://someapi/pages/1/comments/3 ‣Scenario Driven API design: • http://someapi/dashboard 91
  33. Content Optimization ‣Rest: • Developer friendly (intuitive, logical) • Light,

    but also heavy • Easy to maintain, loosely coupled ‣Scenario driven: • Mobile friendly (optimized for few connections and data) • Specific datasets, fewer calls • Tighter coupled to application functionality 92
  34. Scalability Case: RTLNieuws 365 ‣API: • LAMP + Varnish •

    Scenario Driven Design • Content pre-generation ‣ Cron + Command Line PHP • Very important: caching headers and ‘TTL’ ‣Controlled launch process: • Soft launch: sneaky talkshow plug at 23pm day before • Build up buzz throughout launch day • News item in 19.30 RTL News 95
  35. Scalability Case: RTLNieuws 365 ‣News item had > 1 million

    TV viewers ‣40.000 installs on day 1 • 30% of which in 5 minutes following news item ‣~ 100.000 apps installed in week 1 ‣No 1 app store position for 8 days in a row 97
  36. Scalability Case: RTLNieuws 365 ‣Setup: • 1 * PHP api

    server live • 1 * PHP api server hot standby • 2 * varnish + 1 * spare varnish ‘just in case’ • 1 * mysql live • 1 * mysql hot standby ‣Conclusion: PHP + Varnish = Awesome APIs 98
  37. Longevity ‣Apps have different deployment patterns • No ‘quick fix’

    in the application as in web apps ‣Client/Server asynchronous updates • Backwards compatibility ‣ Versioned API URLs: - http://iportfolio.api.egeniq.com/portfolios/1.0/mvb/collections.json 99
  38. Longevity ‣How long do you support your APIs? • Can’t

    force people to delete their Apps • Provide clean fallback • Synchronized instead of real-time data ‣Implement status check API calls ‣API ownership 100
  39. Longevity - API Ownership ‣Own DNS records ‣Own the initial

    entry point of the app ‣Don’t hardcode URLs ‣By the way: also own the developer account 101
  40. Signed URLs ‣Prevent parameter tampering ‣Allow API use by specific

    client only ‣Simple but effective way to protect API 103
  41. Client/Server considerations ‣Image Processing in the API, instead of App

    • Use Imagick / GD etc. • Trade-off between bandwidth and processing power ‣Apps support threading / asynchronisity • Fire-and-forget API design • Prepare/getResult call duos ‣Push features into PHP APIs for reuse 108
  42. PHP’s role in native apps ‣PHP has native support for:

    • Web services • JSON • Compression • Image manipulation ‣Egeniq’s number 1 choice for App APIs ‣25-30% of App development time = API 109
  43. HTML5 in the App Store ‣HTML5 on the server, supports

    PHP: • IPFaces - http://www.ipfaces.org/ ‣HTML5 on the device, no (or limited) support for PHP: • AppCelerator - http://appcelerator.com/ • Phonegap - http://phonegap.com 111
  44. Testing ‣Various options for testing: • Get your boss to

    buy you devices • Firefox with user agent plugin • Use Simulators/Emulators • Use a service such as DeviceAnywhere 114
  45. Running PHP on the device First: Why??! ‣PHP For Android

    (PFA) • http://phpforandroid.net/ ‣PAMP for Symbian • http://wiki.opensource.nokia.com/projects/PAMP 115
  46. Credits Pictures used in this presentation are creative commons attribution

    licensed pictures. Here are the owners and the URLS where the originals can be found: ‘Dow says POO’ by Stepleton - http://www.flickr.com/photos/29407923@N03/2899705638/ ‘The telephone’ by Tylerdurden - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tylerdurden/529028040/ ‘Web’ by Kurtxio - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtxio/2182760200/ ‘Heavy cloud, no rain’ by Robynsnest - http://www.flickr.com/photos/robynsnest/12405841/ ‘Wireless fridge’ from http://www.wirelessgoodness.com/tag/srt746awtn/ ‘Army iphone app’ by Soldiersmediacenter - http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/4271795260/ ‘Carbon Fibre Wallet’ by Ryan Loos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rh1n0/4157547404/ ‘Keys’ by Jamison Judd - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamisonjudd/2419601050/ ‘Phone Girl’ by Steffen - http://www.flickr.com/photos/re-ality/460465894/ ‘Icon_safari_hires’ by Hans Dorsch - http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansdorsch/2861804087/ ‘Thinking’ by Karola - http://www.flickr.com/photos/karola/3623768629/ ‘Jus'a web’ by Jusfi - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jusfi/2921202536/ ‘iPad :)’ by Korosirego - http://www.flickr.com/photos/korosirego/4334862666/ ‘I've got a monkey on my back’ by Keven Law - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevenlaw/2698946160/ ‘Add a spoonful of coffee’ by Martyn Wright - http://www.flickr.com/photos/35521221@N05/5181647830/ ‘Locked steel’ by Darwinbell - http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/321434733/ ‘4 Biscuits’ by Barnoid - http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnoid/2025811494/ ‘pining for maui’ by D’Arcy Norman - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dnorman/2223663304/
  47. Credits Pictures used in this presentation are creative commons attribution

    licensed pictures. Here are the owners and the URLS where the originals can be found: ‘Seeing my world through a keyhole’ by Kate Ter Haar - http://www.flickr.com/photos/katerha/4592429363/ ‘Dear CNN, please send me push notifi...’ by Alex Valentine - http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvalentine/5644423659/ Ivo’s portrait in intro, photo by Jelmer de Haas - http://www.jelmerdehaas.com