A high-level overview of what PhoneGap is, where you can use it, and what you can use it for.

1. Building Apps with
PhoneGap
Andrew Lunny
Nitobi Software
@alunny
Sunday, August 22, 2010

2. Nitobi Software
• Vancouver BC
• Web and Mobile development/consulting
• small-ish: ~18 employees
Sunday, August 22, 2010

3. Sunday, August 22, 2010

4. One Good Bit
http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/08/how-do-native-apps-and-web-apps-compare/
Sunday, August 22, 2010

5. There are some things the web does very well.
There are also some things native apps do very well.
PhoneGap aims for the union of these.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

6. What is PhoneGap?
Sunday, August 22, 2010

7. PhoneGap is a cross-platform,
open source mobile development
framework for using front-end web
technologies to build (and sell!)
native mobile apps.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

8. PhoneGap is a cross-platform,
open source mobile development
framework for using front-end web
technologies to build (and sell!)
native mobile apps.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

9. Cross-Platform
Write once, test/debug/rewrite everywhere
Sunday, August 22, 2010

10. • Today
• iOS, Android, BlackBerry 4.6+ (forwards
compatible), Palm WebOS, Symbian WRT
• Soon
• Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry widgets (5.0+,
not backwards compatible)
Sunday, August 22, 2010

11. Cross-Platform != One Codebase
back button? menu?
Sunday, August 22, 2010

12. PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open
source mobile development
framework for using front-end web
technologies to build (and sell!)
native mobile apps.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

13. MIT Licensed
now and forever
“The MIT License states explicitly the rights
given to the end-user, including the right to
use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute,
sublicense, and/or se" the so#ware.”
Just include the copyright notice in your source
code, and you’re done
Sunday, August 22, 2010

14. The license grants the right to:
• Build apps
• Sell apps
• Build and sell services using PhoneGap
• Customize PhoneGap
• Contribute back
• Not contribute back
github.com/phonegap
Sunday, August 22, 2010

15. PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open
source mobile development
framework for using front-end web
technologies to build (and sell!)
native mobile apps.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

16. It is a requirement of the
project that PhoneGap will not
get your app rejected by Apple.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

17. PhoneGap plays by the rules
• for iOS, PhoneGap is an Objective-C static
library, built with XCode, using techniques
Apple devs have recommended
• jailbreaking is not required
• additional software on the device is not
required
• same for all other platforms
Sunday, August 22, 2010

18. Your app can still be rejected
• It probably will if • It probably won’t if
• your app is just a • you take advantage of
wrapper around a native functionality
mobile web site
• you offer unique
• you load all content
application code from
a remote server • you offer a great user
experience
• it violates the TOS
Sunday, August 22, 2010

19. It can also be featured on the
app store
Sunday, August 22, 2010

20. PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open
source mobile development
framework for using front-end web
technologies to build (and sell!)
native mobile apps.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

21. Remember Wired?
Sunday, August 22, 2010

22. What PhoneGap gives you
• Offline by default
• Access to hardware sensors (device-dependent)
• Accelerometer, GPS, Orientation, Compass
• Media integration
• OS integration
• Camera, Contacts, File System, etc
Sunday, August 22, 2010

23. And anything
else you want
PhoneGap is a native
project, and it’s all open
source. If you need any
native code, dive right in.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

24. PhoneGap is a cross-platform, open
source mobile development
framework for using front-end
web technologies to build (and
sell!) native mobile apps.
Sunday, August 22, 2010

25. • HTML(5), CSS as usual
• JavaScript handles all of the application logic
• persistent storage (SQLite db, localStorage)
• network requests (cross-domain XHR, since
we’re running from file://)
• view templating
Sunday, August 22, 2010

26. We use what’s there
• Browser/web view on the device
• (A) WebKit: iOS, Android, Palm, Symbian
• BlackBerry: pretty bad - will be WebKit in
OS 6.0
• Windows Phone 7: “evolved” IE7 (between
IE7 and IE8)
Sunday, August 22, 2010

27. What isn’t PhoneGap?
Sunday, August 22, 2010

28. UI Framework - a bit of a mixed bag
• jqTouch, Sproutcore Touch, Cappuccino
• Sencha Touch (licensing permitting)
• jQuery Mobile (when it ships)
DOM framework
• your favourite one will work (jQuery,
Prototype, Dojo)
• we develop and recommend XUI -
github.com/xui
Sunday, August 22, 2010

29. Solution for all problems
• Don’t write games, video editing, VNC apps
- the performance won’t be there
• Similar when dealing with large datasets and
files
• Not a replacement for a mobile web app
Sunday, August 22, 2010

30. Thanks!
@alunny
andrew.lunny@nitobi.com
nitobi.com / phonegap.com
Sunday, August 22, 2010