Table Of ContentPhoneGap 3.x
Mobile Application
Development HOTSH T
Create useful and exciting real-world apps for iOS and
Android devices with 12 fantastic projects
Kerri Shotts
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
PhoneGap 3.x Mobile Application
HOTSH T
Development
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First published: February 2013
Second Edition: May 2014
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Cover Image by Suresh Mogre ([email protected])
Credits
Author Project Coordinator
Kerri Shotts Swati Kumari
Reviewers Proofreaders
Gerard Braad Simran Bhogal
Steve Husting Maria Gould
Dhaval Nagar Ameesha Green
Julio César Sánchez Paul Hindle
Rajpal A. Vishal
Indexers
Hemangini Bari
Acquisition Editors
Aarthi Kumaraswamy Mariammal Chettiyar
Kevin Colaco Tejal Soni
Content Development Editor Graphics
Susmita Panda Sabat Abhinash Sahu
Technical Editors Production Coordinator
Monica John Aditi Gajjar Patel
Neha Mankare
Cover Work
Edwin Moses
Aditi Gajjar Patel
Shiny Poojary
Copy Editors
Alisha Aranha
Roshni Banerjee
Sarang Chari
Brandt D'Mello
About the Author
Kerri Shotts has worked with computers for nearly 24 years. Her love for technology and
programming started when she was introduced to her first computer: a Commodore 64.
She obtained a degree in Computer Science and went on to become a software test engineer.
After that, she was an Oracle database administrator for several years. Now, she works as a
Technology Consultant creating, implementing, and maintaining custom applications (both
desktop and mobile), websites, graphics and logos, and much more for her clients. You can find
her blog posts at her website (www.photokandy.com), and she is active on the Google Group
for PhoneGap. When she isn't working, she enjoys photography, music, and fish keeping. She is
the author of two other books, Instant PhoneGap Social App Development and PhoneGap 2.x
Mobile Application Development Hotshot, both published by Packt Publishing.
Firstly, I will thank my family for their incredible support, even with the
late night clacking of the keyboard. Thanks also to those who have made
PhoneGap and Cordova such an awesome tool, and I am also thankful
to those who support it on the forums. A special thanks to the technical
reviewers of this book—you're all amazing! Finally, thanks to Packt
Publishing and their editorial staff for making sure that everything came
out just right.
About the Reviewers
Gerard Braad is an all-rounder when it comes to IT. He has used many programming
languages on both the frontend and backend as well as mobile solutions. He is currently
working in the Beijing office of ThoughtWorks.
I would like to thank the contributors and community for improving
PhoneGap/Cordova by suggesting new features, bugfixes, and writing great
how-tos. However, I would also like to thank all the application authors
who have used PhoneGap, since it shows what HTML and JavaScript are
capable of doing.
Steve Husting wears various hats by day, including that of a website worker, in a company
that designs and manufactures radio-controlled hobby cars. By night, he writes, does
calligraphy, and creates iPhone and Android apps. He posts his findings about PhoneGap
app development on his blog, http://iphonedevlog.wordpress.com, which is geared
towards beginners.
Dhaval Nagar is an experienced Java and mobile developer who started developing JEE
applications in 2006. He has been developing mobile/tablet applications since 2011 and has
experience working on all major mobile platforms. His first experience with mobile devices
began in 2008 on a Psion handheld computer.
At present, he is running his own software development and consulting business. Prior to
that, he was working as a software architect, developing large-scale industrial software using
Java, EJB, JMS, Spring, and so on. Now, he is focused on developing Cordova-based mobile
applications for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry platforms. Besides mobile
applications, he is also working on JavaScript-based frameworks such as NodeJS, Meteor,
Famo.us, and AngularJS.
He lives in Surat, Gujarat, India, and can be reached at [email protected]
Julio César Sánchez has been a professional software developer since 2007. Over the
years, he has worked with different technologies, most of them related to the Web. In 2010,
he discovered PhoneGap and has been following the PhoneGap Google Group since then—
learning, helping other developers, and even contributing by creating PhoneGap plugins. He
spends a part of his spare time developing mobile apps and writing tutorials about PhoneGap
development for the website http://www.phonegap.es. You can visit his personal website
to know more about him and his work at http://www.jcesarmobile.com or follow him
on Twitter @jcesarmobile.
Rajpal A. Vishal is a mobile application developer with extensive experience in
developing multi-platform mobile applications using Appcelerator Titanium and PhoneGap.
He has contributed plugins to both the communities and is currently pursuing his Master's
in Computer Science from Northeastern University, Seattle.
First and foremost, I would like to thank the author of this book for
producing a great book for the readers, and I would also like to thank
everyone related to this book.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Project 1: Your First Project 11
What do we build? 13
Installing Node.js and configuring SDKs 16
Installing Cordova/PhoneGap 25
Creating your first project 28
Managing your project's platforms 30
Managing your project's plugins 32
Building your project 38
Deploying your project to a simulator/device 41
Game Over..... Wrapping it up 44
Can you take the HEAT? The Hotshot Challenge 44
Project 2: Localization and Globalization 45
What do we build? 46
Creating the template 47
Creating a new project based on an existing template 49
Introducing the YASMF v0.4 framework 52
Determining the user's locale 53
Formatting numbers and dates 57
Translating text 65
Game Over..... Wrapping it up 71
Can you take the HEAT? The Hotshot Challenge 71
Project 3: Mobile Application Design 73
What do we build? 73
Designing the user interface 75
Designing the data model 82
