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Including Databases with your App

While SQLite databases work very nicely on mobile devices, there is no easy way to get them there. You can’t just add the name of your database to the manifest and be able to use it when your app is deployed.

Until App Studio 2.5, that is. When you add the name of an SQlite database to the manifest field in Project Properties, App Studio will automatically convert the database to a format which can be transferred, then convert it back into a database on the device.

Let’s see how this is done. We’ll use the famous Northwind database which comes with many Microsoft products. I went online and found it in SQLite format.
Continue reading “Including Databases with your App”

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The new NSB.ShowProgress dialog

App Studio 2.5 brings a new dialog box: NSB.ShowProgress. Here’s how it looks:

It floats above your current screen. You can put any message into it that fits. It can be dismissed by your app or by the user.

Here is how to put up a message:

NSB.ShowProgress("Please wait...")

and how to dismiss the message:

NSB.ShowProgress(false)

You could also issue multiple NSB.ShowMessage calls, each time updating the text in the box. This is useful for length operations. You can keep your user advised as to what is going on: the perceived waiting time will be reduced.

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Deploying your app via DropBox

Note: The problems that DropBox had which affected this method were fixed on Jan 28, 2013. Everything is working again!

Looking for a way to make your apps available to the world without getting your own website? DropBox could be the answer: best of all, it doesn’t cost anything.

DropBox, if you haven’t used it, lets you put a directory of files from your system in the cloud. To you, it just looks like another directory on your PC or Mac. Behind the scenes, the content of the directory is mirrored on DropBox’s servers. Where it gets really cool is that you can have that same directory on other computers – yours or your friends. Sign up is free, and you’ll get a couple of gigs of storage.
Continue reading “Deploying your app via DropBox”

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App Studio 2.5 Released!

We’re thrilled to announce that App Studio 2.5 is ready for download!

This release has a long list of enhancements and fixes. So long, in fact, that we’ll break from our usual tradition of listing them individually in the announcement. Here are the highlights:

  • Deploy to DropBox
  • Deploy to local server
  • Support for jqWidgets
  • New ShowProgress function
  • Upload SQLite databases with your app
  • New Facebook and Twitter controls
  • Import and export of databases
  • Early support for Windows Phone 7 devices
  • Improved Find/Replace

… and about 60 other changes.

To see the full list and documentation changes, have a look at this page:
http://www.nsbasic.com/app/History.htm

We will be creating a series of blog posts giving more detail on what is new.

As usual, let us know of any problems you find.

You can download from the usual location. If you are not sure what it is, hang on. We will be sending an email to all registered and demo users with the information.

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Programming Contest 2 Results!

We’re pleased to announce the results of our second programming contest.

We had two categories: Web Apps (available via browser download) and App Store (available through various App Stores). All registered NSB/App Studio users were welcome to participate in the contest. Prizes were $100 USD in each category.

Judging was by NSB’s experts. All judging was arbitrary and final. We looked for quality, performance, ease of use, sophistication and overall coolness. Apps could be anything: Enterprise, business, commercial, education, games or even something whimsical.

All programs had to be created using NSB/App Studio. Entries could be commercial, shareware or freeware, and for iPhone, iPad, Android or multiple platforms. Code could be written in JavaScript or Basic, HTML5 and css.

Without further ado, here are our winners: (full results are here)

Continue reading “Programming Contest 2 Results!”

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Use Dropbox to quickly install .apk files

Want a quick way to get an App Studio app compiled with PhoneGap onto your Android device? Use Dropbox!

  1. Build your app using PhoneGap as always.
  2. Put the resulting .apk file into your DropBox. (Get an account if you don’t already have one – it’s free!)
  3. Install the Dropbox app on your Android device if you have not done so already.
  4. Open Dropbox on the device and click on your .apk file. It will install!

(If you have not used Dropbox yet, it’s a great tool. It puts what looks like an ordinary folder on your PC or Mac desktop. You can share it with other users and computers: add a file to your Dropbox and your other computers can use it right away. There’s lots more, but this already is the simplest network share you have ever experienced. Installation is also very simple.)

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A change to PhoneGap Splash Screens

PhoneGap have just made a breaking change to their Build process. The result is that splash screens no longer appear on Android devices. Luckily, the fix is easy.

In your Project Properties, open the configxml property. You’ll need to change this line:

<gap:splash src="{splashscreen}" gap:role="default" width="320" height="460"/>

to this

<gap:splash src="{splashscreen}"/>

The next build will make this the default for all new projects. However, you will need to modify on existing projects.

More info here:
https://build.phonegap.com/blog/enhanced-icon-and-splash-support

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Ajax Made Simple Part 8: Zip Code Lookup

Ever realize, when getting a user’s address, that knowing the zip code makes asking for the city and state unnecessary?

Here’s some simple code to look up the city and state from a zip code:

zip="90210"

req=Ajax("http://zip.elevenbasetwo.com?zip=" & zip)
If req.status=200 Then 'success
    MsgBox req.responseText
  Else 'failure
    MsgBox "Error: " & req.err.message
End If

The result is 

{"country": "US", "state": "CA", "city": "BEVERLY HILLS"}
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NS Basic/App Studio 2.1.0.2 released!

We have just uploaded 2.1.0.2 to the servers. It has a number of minor enhancements as well as bug fixes.

Download URL is the same as for 2.1.

  1. Code Window: Add Math object.
  2. Code Window: Improve AutoComplete parsing.
  3. Controls: ComboBox Classic: removeItem function added. (Thanks, Norman Peelman!)
  4. Controls: jQM List can now have variable width.
  5. Controls: jQM RadioButton fixed with update to jQuery Mobile.
  6. Controls: jQM Select has new multiple selection property.
  7. Controls: jQM Select: selected* functions return arrays for multiple selections.
  8. Controls: PictureBox background now fills entire control.
  9. Deploy: Fix problem with browser warning and iPad splashscreen.
  10. Deploy: Script and Link entries generated from _requiredFiles
  11. Design Screen: Clicking on a blank area of the form now selects the form instead of nothing.
  12. Framework: jQueryMobile updated to 1.1.0 RC2
  13. IDE: .keyCode is now a keyword.
  14. IDE: Clicking from Design Screen to Project Explorer selected wrong item.
  15. IDE: Fix crash on resize.
  16. IDE: Fix problem saving minimized dimensions on exit.
  17. IDE: Changing framework does not leave Design Screen blank.
  18. Installer: Fix shortcut to Readme.htm.
  19. Translator: Fix $(“#T_A”).A({selectedItem:2})
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Using JavaScript in your App

AppStudio lets you code using VB style BASIC or JavaScript. You can even mix the languages in one project: they share the same name spaces, so variables and functions can be freely interchanged.

Why use JavaScript? BASIC is easy and in nearly all cases, all you need to do anything in AppStudio. However, if you already know JavaScript, it works just as well. Plus, there is a huge base of JavaScript code available on the internet. Even if you would rather program in BASIC, you can incorporate this code into your app.

Let’s discuss some of the ways to include JavaScript code into a project.

Continue reading “Using JavaScript in your App”