Code On Time: Mobile

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Mobile

Saturday, May 3, 2014Print Subscribe

Full Screen Mobile Web Apps with Native Performance

Web Apps created with Code On Time have a fluid, native-like performance on both desktop and mobile devices. Mobile end users are accessing web apps through a web browser integrated into operating system of their device. Modern mobile browsers allow adding a web app shortcut to home screen of the device. If a web app is started from home screen, then the browser will hide the address bar and navigation controls taking advantage of the entire real estate of the screen.

Compare the screen shots of a web app created with Code On Time displayed on iPhone 5. Both screen shots show exactly the same web app. The former was started from the home screen of the phone. The latter was started directly in mobile Safari. Web app “installed” to home screen clearly provides access to more information and has a “native” look and feel. A thin black bar at the top of the screen provides a user with vital device status information when interacting with “installed” web app.

The same benefits are obvious if device orientation is changed to landscape.

It is very easy to install a web app to home screen of a mobile operating system.

Consider the process of installing a web app created with Code On Time on iPad Air.

First, open mobile Safari and navigate to http://demo.codeontime.com.

Tap “Share” button and select “Add to Home Screen” option in the popup window.

Change the name of the link as needed and tap “Add”.

An icon with a chosen title will be added to the home screen. This concludes the installation process.

Note that it is easy to provide a custom application icon and logo for a web app created with Code On Time.

Start your web app to enjoy the full screen experience on iPad Air.

Here is the installation process for Google Nexus 7.

Enter the address of the web app created with Code On Time and tap “menu” button on the browser toolbar. Select “Add to homescreen” option, change the title as necessary, and tap “Add” .

The web app is now installed.

Tap the icon to access the web app for a full screen experience.

Web apps created with Code On Time allow changing various settings such as theme and page transition effects. Note that those settings will not be inherited by installed app. Web apps added to home screen maintain their own settings on the device.

Labels: Application Builder, Application Factory, Mobile, Tips and Tricks, Touch UI, Web App Generator

Wednesday, April 16, 2014Print Subscribe

Touch UI, Firebird Database, Azure SDK 2.3

Code On Time release 8.0.4.0 introduces a new user interface concept Touch UI and support for Firebird Database Server.

Touch UI (former Mobile Client) is the next generation of the client library. Mobile Client has been introduced in December of 2013. The main objective was to offer a close-to-native mobile experience when using web applications created with Code On Time. We have come to realize that intuitive navigation and new presentation style can benefit greatly users working with desktop computers. During the past two months we have reworked the Mobile Client and turned into a universal touch-enabled presentation system.

The purpose of the new UI is to enable development of a single app that displays equally well on end-user devices of any type. The new enterprise computing concept BYOD (bring your own device) becomes a reality with Code On Time. If you are building an app with Code On Time, then you have already accommodated users of smart phones, tablets, and desktop computers.

Try an app with Touch UI right now!

Touch UI uses the same code base and the same set of business rules. If you are a building a line-of-business app for desktop users then you have already created a mobile version of it. If you are only looking forward and trying to please your mobile user base, then you are also offering a first class experience on the desktop (even if you don’t want to).

Firebird database server is now supported by Code On Time app generator. This is another highlight of the release. Download Firebird and build powerful line-of-business applications with a lightweight database server.

The following enhancements are also included in the release:

Touch UI is based on jQuery Mobile 1.4.2.
Client library provides an enhanced progress indicator.
Mandatory input fields display “Required” watermark if a custom watermark is not provided.
Batch Update commands correctly work with modal forms in Desktop UI.
Azure SDK 2.3 support is integrated in the app generator.
App generator uses “All CPU” parameter when building projects with MSBuild.
URL Hashing allows _mobile switch in the browser address bar to enable testing Touch UI on desktop computers.
Method ControllerNodeSet.CreateBusinessRuleFilter correctly works with data controller virtualization rules.
Tools for Excel recognizes Watermark property of data fields.

What’s Next?

Touch UI is not completely replacing the current desktop presentation. We will continue supporting desktop and will enhance the client library with further improvements in SharePoint Factory and DotNetNuke Factory.

The desktop presentation in the other project types will eventually become a secondary “fall-back” option for browsers that do not support HTML 5. We will introduce built-in CMS (Content Management System) in the code base of these project types. This may become an attractive alternative to SharePoint and DNN if your application requires custom user-generated dynamic content.

Touch UI is the user interface of the upcoming http://cloudontime.com hosted service.

See the list of upcoming features that we are working on in the Roadmap 2014.

Labels: Application Builder, Application Factory, BYOD, Data Aquarium Framework, DotNetNuke, Firebird, Mobile, Release Notes, SharePoint, Web Application Generator, Web Form Builder

Saturday, February 1, 2014Print Subscribe

Mobile Database Apps With Responsive Design

Code On Time is pleased to announce immediate availability of a significant revision of the Mobile Client in applications created with Code On Time database application generator. It allows creating mobile database apps with responsive design.

See the latest demo of the mobile client at http://demo.codeontime.com.

Release 8.0.3.0 includes the following features and enhancements that cover mobile and desktop functionality:

Mobile client enables applications with a sophisticated responsive design.
Mobile client supports advanced formatting and presentation of lists and forms. Tutorials explaining data field tags used for list formatting are coming out this week.
Mobile client supports multi-field copy and performs processing of context fields.
Mobile client supports dedicated login pages. We recommend generated a brand new app with a dedicated login page and copying the “mobile” contents of the Login.ascx markup to your existing dedicated page. The tutorial covering dedicated login will be out this week.
Mobile client supports confirmation controllers. Try it out here.
Mobile client works correctly with default values assigned with RowBuilder methods and SQL and Code business rules.
Mobile client supports native input for date, date-time, numbers, URLs, email, and phone.
Mobile client scopes page-specific user settings by application and user name.
Switch "_mobile=true" and "_mobile=false" in the URL will refresh the page after switching mobile/desktop client on desktop devices instead of redirecting to the application home page.
App generator puts project name in the page header if a header is not provided.
App generator records project name and type in the root element of DataAquarium.Project.xml.
Desktop client will correctly display line breaks in fields with Text Mode = "Notes" when rendered in modern browsers.
Idle user detection configuration will affect the forms authentication timeout in web.config of a generated app by making it five minutes longer than the idle user timeout.
Unauthorized exception raised when user looses identity due to timeout is enhanced with recommendation to enable idle user detection. The exception will remain in place to prevent unauthorized requests to data controllers.
Idle status of a user is now checked every minute instead of every 3 minutes.
Desktop client will not fail when a modal form is closing and control is passed to a grid view with "asc" or "desc" in multi-field sort expressions.

We expect that the release at the end of February 2014 will include mobile support for most of the following features:

Blob upload/download
Calculated fields
Conditional visibility of categories and fields
Conditional read-only fields
Filtering capabilities
Mobile advanced search bar
“Check Box List” lookup style for many-to-many fields with “basket” functionality
Dedicated presentation for Auto Complete, Check Box lookup styles.
Multiple selection of list items
Tabular display of list items

We are preparing a mobile version of Order Form sample.

The Roadmap 2014 will be published shortly with details about http://cloudontime.com.

Labels: Application Builder, Application Factory, ASP.NET Code Generator, Master/Detail, Mobile, Release Notes, User Interface