Level: Intermediate
Explore the fundamentals of native vs. web apps, and how to choose the right approach for any given scenario.
Write Once, Run Everywhere. How many times have we been promised true cross-platform development? HTML5 seems to be the closest we've ever been to writing applications once and running them on multiple mobile devices, such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry. This session explores the fundamentals of native vs. web apps, and how to choose the right approach for any given scenario. We then dive into mobile web demos with HTML5 and JavaScript using popular frameworks, such as jQuery UI and Angular. We'll learn how to leverage Cordova & PhoneGap to wrap our mobile web UI into a native smartphone or tablet app/shell using the Multi-Device Hybrid Apps extension for Visual Studio. Discover how Cordova exposes native device hardware like cameras, sensors, GPS, device info and more. We'll also discuss testing & device emulation, the pros and cons of hybrid apps, how to deal with the UI design guidelines across platforms, and learn some do's and don'ts of cross-platform mobile development. Native mobile apps have their place, but you also need to master cross-platform techniques when the situation calls for it.
You will learn:
- The basic principles of each mobile platform: iOS, Windows Phone, Android
- About mobile web development with HTML5 and popular JavaScript frameworks
- To apply these principles to create compelling and engaging cross-platform mobile applications by wrapping HTML5 UIs with the Multi-Device Hybrid Apps extension for Visual Studio