Winning on the Wrist

Originally presented at ManhattanJS:

Building Pebble Apps with more JavaScript than you’d think. Going from idea to the app store when developing for the Pebble.

Transcript

1. HAPPY MOVEMBER
2. Winning on the Wrist Building Pebble Apps with more JavaScript than you’d think.
3. A Bit About Me Product maker for the web & beyond Front-end Development at Krate Near extreme Disney Parks fan
4. Overview • What’s a Pebble? • The Idea • The App in 3 Parts • Looking Forward • Wrap-Up
5. What’s a Pebble?
6. Pebble • Smartwatch • Cross-platform • e-paper display • not the first • $10 million from Kickstarter PebbleBot Icon
7. Technical Details • Connects to phone through Bluetooth LE • 144 x 169px Screen Size • OS & Apps written in C • Average battery life is 3 - 7 days • 3D accelerometer, light sensor, compass • 50 meter water resistance
8. –Walt Disney “Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.”
9. The Idea
10. Disney Pal The perfect companion for any Disney Park vacation Up-to-date park hours, wait times, show reminders, and tips. Get the most out of your trip with all the info at your wrist. WIP Logo
11. Disney Pal The perfect companion for any Disney Park vacation Up-to-date park hours, wait times, show reminders, and tips. Get the most out of your trip with all the info at your wrist. Sample Screen
12. MVP Watchface that shows the hours of operation for the nearest Disney park
13. Watchface v. Watch App • Responds to user interaction and button presses • Uses the system status bar at the top of the display showing the time • launched through the Pebble system menu • Designed to run for long periods of time • Displays full screen without the system status bar • Updates only once per minute or second • Can’t interact with the user, except through gestures and the accelerometer
14. –Walt Disney “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
15. The App in 3 Parts
16. Node.js App JavaScript ‘Middleware’ Pebble C Interface
17. Node App • Scrapes park hours from Disney sites serves them through JSON API • Built with hapi, cheerio, request, & aws-sdk • Inspired by this article: http://scotch.io/tutorials/ javascript/scraping-the-web-with-node-js
18. https://github.com/HipsterBrown/Disney-Pal-Node
19. JavaScript Middleware • Made available by Pebble SDK 2.0 • Runs in sandboxed JS runtime on phone’s Pebble app • All about that Trace, no REPL • Bundled with the .pbw binary • Communication layer between the web & the watch
20. C Interface • “Front-end” of the watch face • Constructed of Windows with UI Layers • Handles clicks, animations, and vibration interaction • Changes based around Timer struct • Not JavaScript
21. https://github.com/HipsterBrown/DisneyPal
23. –Walt Disney “I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.”
24. C Tips from a JS Dev • Keep It Simple Stupid • Always comment your code • Stay modular • Google the sh*t out of everything • What goes on screen, must eventually come off it
25. Pebble.js • Beta, experimental JavaScript lib for writing Pebble interfaces • Announced at JSConf 2014 • Runs for every user interaction • Use more power and respond slower to user interaction than a similar native app
26. Looking Forward
27. Future Features • Save parking spot location • Fastpass & Entertainment reminders • Wait times for current park attractions • Suggested attractions & tips based on interests and time • Directions to attractions • Web app front-end for accounts & planning.
28. To Do • Publish Disney Pal to Pebble App Store • Iterate & Refine • Share what I learn • Work w/ Disney to make official app, instead of being sued.
29. –Walt Disney “It's kind of fun to do the impossible.”
30. Wrap-Up
31. Resources • Pebble Developer Website - https:// developer.getpebble.com/ • Pebble Watch Development with JavaScript -http:// www.sitepoint.com/pebble-watch-development-javascript/ • Pebble SDk 2.0 Tutorials - http://ninedof.wordpress.com/ pebble-sdk-tutorial/ • Pebble Shop - $99 - https://getpebble.com/
32. New Pebble Docs
33. –Walt Disney “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.”
34. Thank You Nick - @hipsterbrown