PhoneGap for Mobile Cross Platform Development
PhoneGap as the developer’s choice to develop cross platform compatible apps:
With the 7 major mobile operating systems prevalent in the mobile industry, it is quite evident that no mobile platform has a common native development tool. And it is this scenario that has probed the development of this cross platform mobile framework.
So what sets apart this framework from the numerous others?
The PhoneGap has integrated web technologies and native development with a cross platform approach with the web being the only part that is portable. With this framework it is possible to provide different architectures for different platforms and to let the app use the features of GPS, Accelerometer, Camera, Contacts, media access, and data storage mechanism this feature of the current framework works perfectly.
Overview of PhoneGap:
PhoneGap is a platform which helps in building mobile applications using the existing web technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. This framework was originally developed by “Nitobi” and later companies like IBM, RIM, and Microsoft contributed. In October 2011, Adobe acquired Nitobi and contributed the platform to the Apache software foundation (ASF) under the name Apache “callback”. It is now an open source technology and is freely available under the Apache license 2.0.
PhoneGap application flow:
A smartphone handles many tasks when it is in the active mode. Some of these tasks have a higher priority than others and are managed by the operating system. The system calls the application with a higher priority into the foreground and sends the lower priority application into the background.
For example, when the user has an incoming call, no matter which application is running in the foreground, the operating system brings the call dialer application to the foreground. This is an interruption to running applications which should be handled properly. If the application doesn’t support these interruptions then there is a risk of losing the application state and data related to it. The application lifecycle provides a set of methods to handle these scenarios.
Advantages of PhoneGap:
- The PhoneGap applications use web technology. This enables the web developer to create mobile applications using HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 for UI/UX development.
- Hybrid applications can be developed using native functionalities and rich UI using web technologies.
- Support Cross platform application development.
- Extensive reusability of code.
- Accelerometer, Camera, Compass, Contacts, Files, Geolocation, Media, Network, Notification and Storage functionalities are supported.
- Mobile native feature integration with web is made possible by using a plug-in. Based on the app requirement; the plug-in can be developed and used in the PhoneGap.
- The PhoneGap community is actively participating in plug-in development.
- Deployment framework for multiple platforms.
- Cloud based build creation facility for multiple platforms.
- Tools can be used which are contributed by the community and also receive help from PhoneGap forums/community for any of the queries.
Open source frameworks are considered to be successful only when the open source community for the same contributes continuously. In the case of PhoneGap framework, the community support is very positive. This supports developers and architects to leverage this technology for their cross platform requirements.
