Sakai mobile app project

[kasunLak]

While I was looking for possible projects I came up with this idea
about "Sakai mobile app" and I am really interested about it.

I have few things to ask,

- I am not sure I need to have a MAC machine in order to do iOS part
because in phoneGap site I checked and there is a requirement like
that [1] ?

- Any devices (like iPhone or Android phone) to test this application
we are going to develop. Hope for this thing we will have some
Simulators ?

I would like to know more about this idea. From where should I start?

Your help and guidance will be really appreciated.

[1] - http://www.phonegap.com/start#ios

[aewp2]

Hi Kasun, thanks for your interest!

I don't know whether you have to have a Mac to develop for iOS, but
I'm sure that information is out there. If you can find out and share
that would be really helpful. I'm pretty sure I've read both Android
and iPhone dev kits include emulators.

Just as general pointers, here are a couple of good places to start:

"Getting Started" on the Sakai Project website:
http://sakaiproject.org/technical-contributors

FAQ on Sakai wiki (Confluence):
https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=26444079

I'll leave it for Steve to give any extra pointers:)

Rgds,
Amyas

[Mai Giménez]

Hi, I realize my last summer of code developing a sakai android app.
This app have some tools already functional.
I was planinng to apply for this summer of code to end it.
Amyas, I thought that you have test it.

Anyway, Kasun, you would need a mac to develop for ios. Development
for android and iphone is quite different, because the framework is
not even written in the same language. But in both cases the
envoirement includes a simulator. But, at least in android this
simulator doesn't work exactly as in the phone itself.

I would like to ask Steve Swinsburg, some information about Sakai
webServices. And I just saw that your blog is closed. Have you moved
to anywhere? This was very helpful.

Also would be nice to know what would be Sakai's plans for this summer
of code.

Thank you for all,

Best wishes
Mayte

[Steve Swinsburg]

Hi,

Using PhoneGap you can develop for almost any platform, but to target
a build on iOS you will need a Mac since you need to use XCode. That
said, the idea behind PhoneGap is that the same code is used across
all of the apps, so what I suggest is perhaps targetting Android so
you can use any operating system. We can then port the code to iOS for
an iOS app build.

There are simulators for the different devices, so you don't ened the
real thing. Of course, if you have an iPhone, iPod touch or an Android
phone, it would be easier to make sure it runs well.

The best place to start is checking out the Phonegap tutorials and
getting up to speed on jQuery and JSON/XML parsing.

cheers,
Steve

[Steve Swinsburg]

Hi,

My proposal was focused around a cross platform Javascript library
called PhoneGap which allows the same code to be built into apps on
multiple platforms. It is completely HTML, Javascript and CSS based.
So the code is actually identical for all apps.

It would be good to see your app though, can you send some
screenshots?

I would like to ask Steve Swinsburg, some information about Sakai
webServices. And I just saw that your blog is closed. Have you moved
to anywhere? This was very helpful.

I have a new blog: http://steveswinsburg.wordpress.com

What would you like to know about the web services? Do you mean the
SOAP or REST versions?

cheers,
Steve

[Mai Giménez]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for answering so fast. I haven't read about your proposal
already. I'm really glad that you have decided to get involved in this
project. David Roldán, my last year mentor, told me that you are a
great sakai developer.
Right now I am working at the upv, but as soon as I arrvied home I
would send some captures.

I didn't know this cross platform, so sorry in advance. I used
android's framework over eclipse, but I couldn't use any webservice
library to feed my app, so I used regex to feed it.

Is JSON working in any sakai webservice? Because if we could use JSON
service would be great to feed a mobile app. I couldn't find anything
in axis project for sakai 2.7.x. Maybe at sakai 3?

Regards,
Mayte

[Steve Swinsburg]

Hi Mayte,

No worries at all. Native apps are fantastic, but when an institutions
wants to use them they would generally need to target more devices,
and the cost of development can be a lot higher. This is what we are
doing at my institution anyway.

For web services, yes, there are XML and JSON feeds for lots of data.
It's provided via Entity Broker (not Axis):
http://nightly2.sakaiproject.org:8083/direct/describe

cheers,
Steve

[kasunLak]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the descriptive reply.

It's good to hear that we can move on with Android and test for iOS
where possible.
Yes, so we can test them on Simulators as well. I have already started
setting up Environment for Android with phoneGap as mentioned in the
getting started section in phoneGap.

Regards,
Kasun

[kasunLak]

Hi Amyas,

Thank you for the points.

>I don't know whether you have to have a Mac to develop for iOS, but
> I'm sure that information is out there.  If you can find out and share
> that would be really helpful.  

I searched and found this [1] but most of them are too commercial, I
think because finally apps working in iOS :-)
I did not try any still I am moving forward with Android.

>I'm pretty sure I've read both Android
> and iPhone dev kits include emulators.

Yes, I tried the Android example in phoneGap tutorial and worked fine
in Simulator.

If I find any other possible ways to develop for iOS on Windows I will
post it here.

[1] - http://maniacdev.com/2010/01/iphone-development-windows-options-available/


Regards,
Kasun

On Mar 11, 2:56 pm, aewp2 <amyas.phill...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Kasun, thanks for your interest!
>
> I don't know whether you have to have a Mac to develop for iOS, but
> I'm sure that information is out there.  If you can find out and share
> that would be really helpful.  I'm pretty sure I've read both Android
> and iPhone dev kits include emulators.
>
> Just as general pointers, here are a couple of good places to start:
>
> "Getting Started" on the Sakai Project website:http://sakaiproject.org/technical-contributors
>

> FAQ on Sakai wiki (Confluence):https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=2644...