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Add cool stuff to AppStudio!

AppStudio comes with a lot of stuff built into it. But people are always inventing more: when we designed AppStudio, we made it extensible. Here is a general guide for adding cool features into AppStudio:

  1. JavaScript API: Look for a JavaScript API or library. If there is one, it will be fairly easy to use from AppStudio.
    http://blog.nsbasic.com/?p=703
  2. PhoneGap is used when the needed functionality is only in native code. Check first if there is an official PhoneGap plugin that does what you need. It’s good news if there is – you can use the relatively easy PhoneGap Build service from AppStudio’s Run menu.
    http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.3.0/index.html
  3. Third party PhoneGap Plugin: These will work from AppStudio, but you will need to compile your app using the PhoneGap SDK. That means downloading and configuring the SDK for iOS and Android. Here are a couple of tech notes to get you started:
    iOS: http://wiki.nsbasic.com/Using_PhoneGap_to_create_an_iOS_App
    Android: http://wiki.nsbasic.com/Using_PhoneGap_to_create_an_Android_APK
  4. Write your own PhoneGap Plugin: If the above solutions don’t help, you’ll need to write your own plug in. You will need to use Java and the Android SDK for Android, Objective C and XCode for iOS.
    http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.3.0/guide_plugin-development_index.md.html#Plugin%20Development%20Guide

Let us know if you find something cool that works with AppStudio!

PS. If you need help developing a PhoneGap plugin, let us know. We can create plugins on a contract basis.

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Announcing our new Wiki!

We’re pleased to announce our new Wiki based documentation:

http://wiki.nsbasic.com

In it, we have consolidated all of our current documentation: the Handbook, the Language Reference, the Technotes, Tutorials and more. A search for a term will bring up references in any of these documents.

This is now the official documentation for App Studio. It is up to date, with new material being added constantly.

We have made it an open Wiki, meaning that anyone can edit it. You’ll need to get a user account (free and easy to do). Once you have one, you are welcome to make additions, corrections and useful links. We will be monitoring the changes and will keep the Wiki open so long as it is not abused.

Have fun and let us know what you think!

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When do databases get overwritten?

Recently, Thomas Gruber raised the question about when databases get overwritten on an iOS 6 device. We looked into and found it was indeed a good question. First, there were some bugs in the SQLImport() function that needed to be fixed. Second, we found that a couple more options were needed to make it really useful. Make sure you are running at least version 2.6.0.2 of App Studio to get these features.

We made changes to the 4th parameter of SQLImport():

   SQLImport(Json, DB, callback, overwrite)

The fourth parameter, overwrite, now has 4 possible values. It can be used in the function and in the manifest.

NSB.overwriteAlways overwrite the existing database (default).
NSB.overwriteNever only write out database if it does not exist yet.
NSB.overwriteIfVersionDifferent overwrite if the version number of the database has changed.
NSB.overwriteIfVersionSame overwrite if the version number of the database is the same.

The old True/False options for the overwrite parameter will continue to work as before.

Also, SQLImport now returns a string with the status of the callback function.

Here are some use cases. (You’re welcome to rerun the tests on other devices or versions of the OS – let me know if you get different results!)
Continue reading “When do databases get overwritten?”

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Running your app in Kiosk mode

iOS 6 brings a nice new feature to both iPads and iPhones: the ability to run your app in kiosk mode. Your app becomes the only one running on the device and the home button is disabled. Turn the device off, turn it on again – your app is still running. This is ideal for single purpose apps: order taking, inventory, surveys; where the device is used for one thing only.

Here’s how to enable it:
Continue reading “Running your app in Kiosk mode”

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Creating your own jQuery Mobile Themes (updated)

Update Oct 6, 2014: The latest version of this is here.

This blog post has been updated with additional findings by Leslie Peaker.

jQuery Mobile comes with three themes: a, b and c. To use different colors, fonts, etc. in your jQuery Mobile controls, you can create your own theme using the ThemeRoller Mobile tool. You can have a different theme for each control, or set up a theme to use on all your controls, giving you a consistent look and feel.

Here’s how to use it:
Continue reading “Creating your own jQuery Mobile Themes (updated)”

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Creating runtime buttons. Plus: One event for all your buttons!

While it’s much nicer to create buttons in the IDE, sometimes you need to create them at runtime. It’s not that hard to do. Keep in mind, though, that you will have to do some of the work that the IDE takes care of.

Here’s some sample code to create 9 buttons in a row. Each will be 20×20 and have their number displayed on them:

Function btnMake10Buttons_onclick()
  'To make 9 text boxes, change type=button to type=text
  Dim i, btn, s
  For i=1 To 9
    btn=document.createElement("div")
    s="<input id='btn" & i & "' type=button "
    s+="style='position:absolute; "
    s+="width:24px; height:24px; top:360px; "
    s+="left:" & (243+i*30) & "px;' "
    s+="value=" & i & ">"
    btn.innerHTML=s
    Form1.appendChild(btn)
  Next
End Function

What we’re doing is defining the buttons using HTML, then adding them to your running app within a DIV. Here is how it looks:

You can do fancier formatting on the buttons by changing the HTML definition of the button.

This technique can be used for much more than buttons. If you change the type=button to type=text, you will create a group of input boxes.

Plus: One event for all your buttons!

Now that you have n buttons on your form, do you really want to add n _onclick() functions? Here’s a single onclick function you can use for all your buttons:

Function Form1_onclick(event)
  MsgBox event.target.id
End Function

This function will display the id of the button (or any other control on your form) that is clicked. It will handle buttons you created dynamically as well as the ones you set up in the IDE.

Deleting Buttons

You can delete the buttons once you create them as follows:

btn1.parentNode.removeChild(btn1)

Edited 3/28/16: corrected variable name

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iOS 6 getter/setter Bug

UPDATE: This is no longer a problem in AppStudio 3. See AppStudio 3: Moving, resizing and hiding controls.

In App Studio 2.5.0, we introduced some functions which made it easier to resize controls. They worked nicely on all versions of iOS and Android, both on the desktop and on device. This is broken in iOS 6.

Here’s the workaround:

Button1.width = 100            'works up to iOS 6

Button1.style.width = "100px"  'works for all versions of iOS

This affects the following App Studio properties: .width, .height, .top, .left, .Visible and the .resize function.

Beneath the covers, we use JavaScript’s __defineGetter__ and __defineSetter__ functions. While they still exist in iOS6 JavaScript, they no longer change the values in html elements. Here’s a simplified version of what we’re doing in JavaScript:

Button1.__defineSetter__('width', function(x){
	Button1.style.width=x
	});

Before, this code would change the value of Button1.style.width. It does not anymore.

We have reported this to Apple.

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iOS 6 AJAX Caching Bug: Solution

It seems iOS6 has introduced a ‘bug’ in Ajax calls – specifically it caches any Ajax “POST” call so that subsequent reads access the cached file instead of the original on your website which you may have changed.  The solution is to change the Ajax call just slightly so it is unique.

Here is a workaround that forces the Ajax call to access the original. The original code:

  res=Ajax(filename,"POST")

The corrected code:

  res=Ajax(filename,"POST","/no-cache?" & Date)

Thanks to Helen Sandoz for this tip!