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For Rich Display File applications, the mobile screen size must be taken into account. For example, clickable elements should be large enough so that they are easy to trigger with a touch of the finger. Likewise, layouts can be used to adjust for varying screen sizes or device orientation changes.
Deploying mobile apps
A There are three ways of deploying Profound UI mobile application can be deployed within a mobile browser or applications:
- You can run Rich Display or Genie applications directly in a mobile device's browser, just like you do when you use a PC desktop browser.
- You can use the Profound UI mobile client.
- You can package your app as a native app
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- using PhoneGap.
Deploying using the browser on the device is the quickest way to deploy. The browser can be pointed to a URL, which can execute a Profound UI RPG program (typically a program registered as Anonymous within Profound UI) or a PHP controller. A bookmark or shortcut to the URL can be created on the user’s device and placed on the desktop for easy access.
In some instances, however, you may require native app deployment. This offers several advantages:
- You can achieve a truly native look-and-feel (no browser address bar)
- You can deploy the application to an App Market/Store for users to download or purchase
- You can take advantage of native device features, such as camera and the accelerometer
Profound UI relies on an open source tool called PhoneGap (also known as Apache Cordova) to deploy native apps. In addition to packaging browser applications as native apps, PhoneGap extends these browser applications by providing JavaScript functions that can interact directly with native mobile device features. The Profound UI runtime environment is tightly integrated with PhoneGap API. Profound UI also ships with prebuilt PhoneGap templates so that the packaging process is as simple as possible.
The steps involved in deploying native apps with PhoneGap vary based on the type of device you are targeting. To deploy for Android, you will be working within Eclipse or RDp. To deploy for iOS (iPhone or iPad devices), you will be working within XCode on an Apple Mac computerUsing the Profound UI mobile client lets you run your software as an app on the device, rather than in a browser. The Profound UI mobile client:
- Is a free app in the app store, produced by Profound Logic.
- Lets you access native device capabilities such as the camera and accelerometer
- Does not require you to do any extra programming.
- Does not require a Mac for deployment to Apple's app store.
- Does not require a developer certificate, or for you to go through Apple's app approval process.
Packaging with PhoneGap is the most versatile way to deploy a mobile app, but does require additional programming and effort:
- You can take advantage of device capabilities.
- You can extend your application with PhoneGap plugins, if desired
- You can write Javascript code to handle special events, such as program logic to be used when the IBM i server is unavailable.
- Lets you package your own app in the app store, with your own logo, etc.
- Deployment to the Apple app store does require some development on a Mac.
- Deployment to the Apple app store requires you to have a developer certificate with Apple and to go through Apple's app approval process.