Book Image

Mastering PhoneGap Mobile Application Development

By : Kerri Shotts
Book Image

Mastering PhoneGap Mobile Application Development

By: Kerri Shotts

Overview of this book

PhoneGap is a useful and flexible tool that enables you to create complex hybrid applications for mobile platforms. In addition to the core technology, there is a large and vibrant community that creates third-party plugins that can take your app to the next level. This book will guide you through the process of creating a complex data-driven hybrid mobile application using PhoneGap, web technologies, and third-party plugins. A good foundation is critical, so you will learn how to create a useful workflow to make development easier. From there, the next version of JavaScript (ES6) and the CSS pre-processor SASS are introduced as a way to simplify creating the look of the mobile application. Responsive design techniques are also covered, including the flexbox layout module. As many apps are data-driven, you'll build an application throughout the course of the book that relies upon IndexedDB and SQLite. You'll also download additional content and address how to handle in-app purchases. Furthermore, you’ll build your own customized plugins for your particular use case. When the app is complete, the book will guide you through the steps necessary to submit your app to the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores.

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Mastering PhoneGap Mobile Application Development
Kerri Shotts
Feb, 2016 | 392 pages
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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Mastering PhoneGap Mobile Application Development
Mastering PhoneGap Mobile Application Development
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Task Automation
Task Automation
Before we begin
About Logology
Why use Gulp for task automation?
Setting up your app's directory structure
Installing Gulp
Creating your first Gulp configuration file
Creating a modular Gulp configuration
Copying assets
Performing substitutions
How to execute Cordova tasks
Managing version numbers
Supporting ES2015
Linting your code
Uglifying your code
Putting it all together
Summary
2
ECMAScript 2015 and Browserify
ECMAScript 2015 and Browserify
Getting started
Benefits of ES2015
Using Browserify
Summary
3
Sassy CSS
Sassy CSS
Getting started
Learning Sass
Integrating Sass with Gulp
Summary
4
More Responsive Design
More Responsive Design
Getting started
Pixel densities
The CSS3 units
Media queries
Image sizing
Using flex-box layout
Summary
5
Hybrid Application Accessibility
Hybrid Application Accessibility
Getting started
Types of accessibility features
Accessibility for free
What is WAI-ARIA?
Accessibility examples
Fitting in with native accessibility features
Useful tools
Summary
6
Testing and UI Automation
Testing and UI Automation
Getting started
An introduction to assertions
Writing tests using Chai
Running test suites using Mocha
Writing UI automation tests
Running UI Automation tests using Appium and Mocha
Integrating our tests with Gulp
Summary
7
IndexedDB
IndexedDB
Getting started
IndexedDB support and polyfills
Differences between relational and key-object storage
Creating a database
Creating an object store within the database
Handling database upgrades
Transactions
Storing objects
Getting objects
Deleting objects
Using cursors and indexes
Closing the database
Additional resources
Summary
8
Web SQL Database
Web SQL Database
Getting started
Web SQL Database support
The Cordova SQLite plugin
Creating and opening databases
Transactions
Creating tables
Inserting data and binding values
Querying data (single table, joins, and so on)
Deleting data
The SQLite utilities
Summary
9
Transferring Files
Transferring Files
Getting started
Configuring the whitelist
Downloading files from a server
Receiving files using PHP on a server
Uploading files to a server
Monitoring progress
Aborting transfers
Security concerns
Summary
10
Performance
Performance
Getting started
Defining performance
The performance difference between desktop browsers, emulators, and physical devices
Profiling your app
Correcting input lag
Correcting visual stutters
Correcting memory problems
Splitting up and delegating long computations
Summary
11
Graphical Assets
Graphical Assets
Getting started
App icon requirements
Creating an app icon
Launch screen requirements
Creating a Launch Screen
Configuring your app
Useful resources
Summary
12
Deployment
Deployment
Build modes
Signing up for developer accounts
Generating signed release builds
Deploying ad hoc releases
Deploying app store releases
Resources
Summary
Index
Index

About the Reviewers

Rory Standley is a senior web developer from Staffordshire in the UK, who builds enterprise apps for clients by day and works on fun stuff (http://www.rstandley.co.uk) for the rest of us in his spare time.

Rory started working with PhoneGap way back in version 1, creating an e-commerce application on iOS and Android, and has loved watching PhoneGap grow into what it has become today.

Eddy Verbruggen is the author of many PhoneGap plugins. Over the past few years, he created popular plugins such as SocialSharing, Calendar, and Toast. What started as an open source hobby resulted in him teaming up with Telerik with the goal to increase the quality of the Cordova plugin ecosystem. These days, Eddy is the maintainer of the Telerik Verified Plugins Marketplace at http://plugins.telerik.com.

In the recent past, Eddy worked on several PhoneGap apps. The most ambitious one was the online banking app of a medium-sized Dutch bank. With way over a million monthly sessions on three different platforms this app proofs PhoneGap can be a serious tool for creating apps with great performance and user experience.

When Eddy is not hacking Cordova or NativeScript plugins, he is working as a cofounder of Combidesk, a Dutch start-up that aims at making connecting cloud API's so easy your mom could do it.

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