Mobile JavaScript Application Development

Bringing Web Programming to Mobile Devices

Larger Cover

Bringing Web Programming to Mobile Devices

By Adrian Kosmaczewski

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: June 2012

Pages: 168

When developing apps for the latest smartphones, you’re faced with several vexing questions. How many platforms do you need to accommodate? What level of support do mobile browsers provide? To help you address these and many other key issues, this guide provides a hands-on tour of the most powerful JavaScript frameworks available today.

You’ll build sample apps with jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch, and PhoneGap to learn the unique advantages—and disadvantages—of each framework. From there, you can determine which one is best for your project. This book is ideal for web developers familiar with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Experience the simplicity of jQuery Mobile for building cross-browser applications
Learn how Sencha Touch’s architecture, widgets, and blazing-fast rendering engine makes it a good choice for enterprise software
Use PhoneGap to package your web app into a native iOS, Android, or Windows Phone application
Discover the impact of various HTML5 features on mobile app development
Pick up JavaScript productivity tips as you delve into its object orientation, closures, and coding conventions
Test and debug your app with a collection of tips, tricks, and tools

Chapter 1 HTML5 for Mobile Applications
1. A Bit of History
2. Declarations and Meta Tags
3. HTML5 Applications
4. HTML5 Application Cache
5. Testing for HTML5 Features
6. Geolocation
7. Device Orientation
8. Device Motion
9. Network Connectivity
10. Canvas
11. CSS3 Animations and Transitions
12. Client-Side Storage
13. Rich Media Tags
14. Conclusion
Chapter 2 JavaScript Productivity Tips
1. About JavaScript
2. Object Literals
3. Single or Double Quotes?
4. JavaScript Base Types
5. Dynamic Overloading of Base Types
6. Functions
7. How to Organize Code in namespaces
8. Create Objects and Arrays the Easy Way
9. Create a Singleton Object
10. Scheduling Function Execution
11. Concatenating Strings
12. Iterating Over Arrays
13. Using toString() for Reflection
14. Easy Code Injection
15. Object-Oriented Programming in JavaScript
16. Conclusion
Chapter 3 jQuery Mobile
1. Supported Platforms
2. Key Features
3. At a Glance
4. To Do List Application
5. Codiqa
6. ThemeRoller
7. Conclusion
Chapter 4 Sencha Touch
1. Introduction and History
2. Characteristics
3. Supported Platforms
4. Key Features
5. JavaScript Idioms
6. Creating a To Do List App
7. Using Sencha Architect 2
8. Conclusion
Chapter 5 PhoneGap
1. Introduction
2. Installing PhoneGap
3. Creating an iOS Application
4. Creating an Android Application
5. Creating a Windows Phone Application
6. Accessing Native Functionality
7. Plug-ins
8. The JavaScript Bridge
9. Conclusion
Chapter 6 Debugging and Testing
1. Your Browser Web Inspector
2. iWebInspector
3. Adobe Shadow
4. Testing
5. Conclusion
Chapter 7 Conclusion

Bibliography

Title:

Mobile JavaScript Application Development

By:

Adrian Kosmaczewski

Publisher:

O'Reilly Media

Formats:

Print
Ebook
Safari Books Online

Print:

June 2012

Ebook:

June 2012

Pages:

168

Print ISBN:

978-1-4493-2785-9

| ISBN 10:

1-4493-2785-0

Ebook ISBN:

978-1-4493-2780-4

| ISBN 10:

1-4493-2780-X

Table of Contents

Product Details

About the Author

Recommended for You

Customer Reviews

REVIEW SNAPSHOT®

by PowerReviews

oreillyMobile JavaScript Application Development

4.0

(based on 6 reviews)

83%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

Pros

Concise (5)
Easy to understand (5)
Helpful examples (3)
Well-written (3)

Cons

Best Uses

Intermediate (4)
Novice (3)

- Reviewer Profile:
- Developer (5)

Reviewed by 6 customers

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Displaying reviews 1-6

12/28/2012

3.0

Good for beginners

By ArpitNext

from India

About Me Developer

Pros

Accurate
Concise
Easy to understand

Cons

Too basic

Best Uses

Novice

Comments about oreilly Mobile JavaScript Application Development:

If you are a JavaScript developer and want to enhance your knowledge by learning the mobile app development, it is a fantastic book for you.

11/30/2012

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Great crash course in HTML5 mobile apps

By The R

from Los Angeles, CA

About Me Developer

Pros

Concise
Easy to understand
Well-written

Cons

Best Uses

Intermediate

Comments about oreilly Mobile JavaScript Application Development:

Short, but sweet. This is a great crash course in mobile app development using HTML5. It goes over all the basics in enough detail to get your bearings. After reading this, you're pointed in the right direction.

8/13/2012

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

3.0

Good for mobile web app newbies

By juristr

from Italy

About Me Architect, Developer

Pros

Concise
Easy to understand
Helpful examples

Cons

Too basic

Best Uses

Novice

Comments about oreilly Mobile JavaScript Application Development:

If you are a JavaScript newbie eager to dive into creating rich mobile web applications, this book is for you. It is structured in a very clear and intuitive way, introducing the most useful HTML5 features, some JavaScript performance tips, jQuery mobile and Sencha Touch examples and illustrates even how PhoneGap works.

Personally, I expected the book to go more in detail on how to develop mobile apps with JavaScript in conjunction with some of todays popular JavaScript frameworks like Backbone. Instead, the first chapters are mostly just introductory which (if you did already extensively work with JavaScript) you can just directly skip. The core parts, the jQuery and Sencha Touch chapters then provide some quite detailled technical level.

But still, all in all, the book is something for you if you're a complete newbie in this area, otherwise you might be better served with one treating some more advanced topics.

Read more: http://blog.js-development.com/2012/08/mobile-javascript-application.html

7/29/2012

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Good Intro to Mobile Frameworks

By Elissa Shevinsky

from Mountain View, CA

About Me Builds Mobile Apps, CEOFounder

Pros

Accurate
Concise
Easy to understand
Helpful examples
Well-written

Cons

Not comprehensive enough

Best Uses

Intermediate
Novice

Comments about oreilly Mobile JavaScript Application Development:

This book does an excellent job of providing an introduction to the leading HTML5 technologies - JQuery Mobile, PhoneGap and Sencha Touch.

This book is well organized and easy to follow with clear instructions for using these technologies to build basic applications. While I can enthusiastically recommend this book as an excellent starting point, further reading is necessary to build an app with high performance and seamless UI.

A more definitive guide to mobile javascript app development would need to include more information on troubleshooting the UI and performance issues associated with html5 mobile development.

7/11/2012

(2 of 3 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Good !

By Martin

from Montreal

About Me Developer

Pros

Concise
Helpful examples

Cons

Best Uses

Intermediate

Comments about oreilly Mobile JavaScript Application Development:

Excellent mobile frameworks overview.

7/10/2012

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Mobile JavaScript Hybridization

By Piers Hollott

from Victoria, BC

About Me Developer

Pros

Easy to understand
Well-written

Cons

Best Uses

Intermediate

Comments about oreilly Mobile JavaScript Application Development:

I have just finished reading a review copy of Adrian Kosmaczewski's book on Mobile Development using JavaScript, and I highly recommend it, particularly if you are faced with a decision about mobile development frameworks and you have a team which is already familiar with hybridized JavaScript approaches like JQuery or GWT.

After dealing with some basic groundwork, Kosmaczewski devotes a solid chapter to each of the prevailing uses of JavaScript in the mobile arena: HTML5 with JavaScript, JQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch, and PhoneGap. While there are advantages to all of these approaches, the prevailing wind seems to indicate use of JQuery Mobile if you are already invested in JQuery, and Sencha Touch if you are building an enterprise-size solution.

Either of these approaches - actually, all of these approaches - will allow you to deploy to multiple platforms, which is a key component of JavaScript hybridization: ubiquity. The difficulty I have personally encountered is the flip side of the ubiquity coin, flexibility. JavaScript may be everywhere, but can also become everything, and this can lead to paralysis.

An example of this: I have recently been working on some development in with mobile SVG, which is becoming more and better supported on various mobile platforms. SVG is not hard to work with, and rolling your own application to do exciting things is enjoyable if you like that sort of thing; however... do you use HTML with embedded SVG? HTML5? Just SVG with E4X/EcmaScript (which is just JavaScript, really)? or Raphael.js, or Sencha Touch, which encapsulates it?

At some point, you just need to stick your paddle in the water and see which way the current takes you. And Kosmaczewski's book is a good starting point.

Displaying reviews 1-6

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Chapter 1 HTML5 for Mobile Applications

A Bit of History

Declarations and Meta Tags

HTML5 Applications

HTML5 Application Cache

Testing for HTML5 Features

Geolocation

Device Orientation

Device Motion

Network Connectivity

Canvas

CSS3 Animations and Transitions

Client-Side Storage

Rich Media Tags

Conclusion

Chapter 2 JavaScript Productivity Tips

About JavaScript

Object Literals

Single or Double Quotes?

JavaScript Base Types

Dynamic Overloading of Base Types

Functions

How to Organize Code in namespaces

Create Objects and Arrays the Easy Way

Create a Singleton Object

Scheduling Function Execution

Concatenating Strings

Iterating Over Arrays

Using toString() for Reflection

Easy Code Injection

Object-Oriented Programming in JavaScript

Conclusion

Chapter 3 jQuery Mobile

Supported Platforms

Key Features

At a Glance

To Do List Application

Codiqa

ThemeRoller

Conclusion

Chapter 4 Sencha Touch

Introduction and History

Characteristics

Supported Platforms

Key Features

JavaScript Idioms

Creating a To Do List App

Using Sencha Architect 2

Conclusion

Chapter 5 PhoneGap

Introduction

Installing PhoneGap

Creating an iOS Application

Creating an Android Application

Creating a Windows Phone Application

Accessing Native Functionality

Plug-ins

The JavaScript Bridge

Conclusion

Chapter 6 Debugging and Testing

Your Browser Web Inspector

iWebInspector

Adobe Shadow

Testing

Conclusion

Chapter 7 Conclusion

Bibliography

Adrian Kosmaczewski

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