Cross Platform Development: Bridging the Gap

Droidcon India presentation on a new approach to build Mobile apps with Native look and feel and reusable controller logic.

Transcript

1. DROIDCON  2012  -­‐  India   Priyank  Gupta   Developer  at  ThoughtWorks   priyaaank   priyaaank  
2. EvoluBon   2000   2005   2007  
3. PlaEorms  that  maGers  
4. Mobile  Strategy   Laser  Strategy     Cover  your  bases  
5. NaBve   •  High  Fidelity  User   Experience   •  NaBve  Widgets  –  Date   Picker   •  Access  to  all  NaBve   components  –  Home   Screen  Widgets   •  Specialized  skill  set   •  Feature  Parity   •  Expensive  Development  and   Maintenance   •  Lack  of  robust  TDD  frameworks  
6. Cross  PlaEorm  Toolkits   •  Code  Reusability   •  Cheaper  development  and   maintenance   •  TDD   •  Web  technologies   •  Sub-­‐opBmal  User  experience   Uncanny  Valley  hypothesis   •  Lack  of  naBve  widgets  and  OS   semanBcs   •  3rd  Party  dependency  to  access   new  features  
7. Components   •  UI   •  Local  Data  store   •  Local  Services   •  Web  Service   •  ApplicaBon  Logic    
8. Bridging  the  Gap   iOS   Android   Web   B R I D G E Controller     Logic   App   Server   hGp   ObjecBve  C   Java   HTML/JS   NaBve  +  Javascript   Javascript   Server  Side  Tech.  
9. Example  Flow   Page   Object   Bridge   Bridge   Bridge   ConvenBon   Based  lookup   for  controller   Controller   JS  Evaluater   Call  to  fetch  results   Fetch  Results   Controller   JS  Evaluater   Response   Page  render   with  data   Page   Object   Invoke  Render   with  Data   View   Refreshed   AcBon   Triggered   Trigger   Event  
10. Why  Awesome?   •  Flexibility  to  choose   •  NaBve  widgets  +  HTML5   •  NaBve  components/services   •  Jasmine  +  Cucumber  =  Code  Coverage   •  Code  Reusability   •  Web  technologies  for  most  part   •  Get  a  mobile  web-­‐app  as  a  side  effect  
11. Is  it  a  Cross  PlaEorm  Toolkit?   •  It  doesn’t  promise  write  once,  run  anywhere   •  It’s  a  framework  with  underpinnings  to  structure  code   •  It’s  a  established  way  to  communicate  between  NaBve  and   Web   •  It  can  be  used  to  extend  exisBng  NaBve  apps  to  Hybrid  ones  
12. Applicability   •  Cover  your  Bases     •  Fat  ApplicaBon  Logic   •  Laser  Strategy     •  Dumb  API-­‐interface  apps  
13. Crossing  the  Bridge   •  Calatrava   •  Open  Source   •  From  ThoughtWorks   •  Provides  basic  underpinnings   •  Available  at:  hGp://calatrava.github.com/   Credits:  Giles  Alexander    
14. QuesBons!   priyaaank   priyaaank