DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTS FOR MOBILE DEVICES

What is A Mobile App?

A mobile application, commonly referred to as an app, is a type of application software designed

to run on a mobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet. Mobile applications provide users with similar
services to those accessed on PCs, such as online banking, accessing email, or viewing their calendar.
Apps are usually small software with limited function, designed for a very specific purpose.

Mobile app development:- Mobile app development is the act or process by which a mobile
app is developed for mobile devices, These applications can be pre-installed on phones during
manufacturing.

Mobile app testing: - Mobile applications are first tested within the development environment using
emulators and later subjected to field testing. Emulators provide an inexpensive way to test applications
on mobile phones to which developers may not have physical access. The following are examples of tools
used for testing application across the most popular mobile operating systems.

1. Google Android Emulator - an Android emulator that is patched to run on a Windows PC as a

standalone app, without having to download and install the complete and complex Android SDK.
It can be installed and Android compatible apps can be tested on it.
2. The official Android SDK Emulator - a mobile device emulator which mimics all of the hardware
and software features of a typical mobile device (without the calls).
3. TestiPhone - a web browser-based simulator for quickly testing iPhone web applications. This
tool has been tested and works using Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2 and Safari 3.
4. iPhoney - gives a pixel-accurate web browsing environment and it is powered by Safari. It can be
used while developing web sites for the iPhone. It is not an iPhone simulator but instead is
designed for web developers who want to create 320 by 480 (or 480 by 320) websites for use
with iPhone. iPhoney will only run on OS X 10.4.7 or later.
5. BlackBerry Simulator - There are a variety of official BlackBerry simulators available to emulate
the functionality of actual BlackBerry products and test how the device software, screen,
keyboard and trackwheel will work with application.
6. Windows UI Automation - To test applications that use the Microsoft UI Automation technology,
it requires Windows Automation API 3.0. It is pre-installed on Windows 7, Windows Server
2008 R2 and later versions of Windows. On other operating systems, you can install using
Windows Update or download it from the Microsoft Web site.
7. MobiOne Developer - a mobile Web integrated development environment (IDE)
for Windows that helps developers to code, test, debug, package and deploy mobile Web
applications to devices such as iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and the Palm Pre. MobiOne
Developer was officially declared End of Life by the end of 2014.

The mobile environment includes following part:->

a. Development Environment :- Provide visual and simplified development environment with

wizard guided support for rapid application construction, through backend discovery and binding,
data model creation, application views and navigation definition.
b. Mobile Runtime Environment: - Provide mobile middleware to support the application models
using mobile controls and metaphors. Embed best practices and know how to provide superior
UX and performance.
c. Application Model :- Provide models that fit the set of requirements common to SOA business
applications, and make it easy to provide order of magnitude speedup of development.
What are Mobile Development Tools?

Mobile Development Tools are software designed to assist in the creation of mobile applications.
There are 2 types of development tools: -

A. Native mobile development tools: Native mobile development tools can help you create specialized
apps that operate with ease and high quality, and can take advantage of all features on their
designated platform.

B. Cross-platform mobile development tools – These tools make it possible to create a generic app for
multiple platforms simultaneously, greatly cutting the costs and time needed to create an app.

A. Native Mobile Development Tools: A native development tool is software which allows
developers to create applications for use in a single particular system family, platform or device, like
Android, iOS, or Windows. A native app is specially made and coded for a specific mobile platform in
its native programming language, these being:
1. iOS (Objective-C or Swift)
2. Android (Java or Kotlin)
3. Windows Phone (C#)

There are different guidelines for each of these platforms. Developers need to stick to them as
they differ in typography, graphic styles, gestures, visual effects, data entry and more.

Let’s start with the native mobile development tool:

1. Xcode

Xcode introduces a new way to design and build software. Swift is an innovative new
programming language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch and when combined with Xcode tools, makes
programming a delightfully live experience. Live rendering within Interface Builder displays your hand-
written User Interface code within the design canvas, instantly reflecting changes you type in code. Xcode
includes everything developers need to create applications for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple
Watch. Xcode provides developers a unified workflow for user interface design, coding, testing, and
debugging.
2. Android Studio

Android Studio is an Android development Software built by Google. Its implementation editor is
very useful for Android developers. Android studio provides shortcuts for coding and designing and its
layout designer makes it very easy to use, which helps reduce time spent on coding. Android studio also
provides drag and drop features to design the layout of your projects.

3. AppCode

App Code is an IDE for iOS/ macOS development. In addition to working with Objective-C,
Swift and C/C++ programming languages, it supports web technologies such as JavaScript, HTML,
XML, CSS, and more. In addition to this the benefits App Code provides to developers are saving their
time on automating routine tasks, locating and fixing errors, taking advantage of intelligent support from
the IDE and increasing their overall productivity.
 B. Cross-Platform Mobile Development Tools

With cross-platform mobile development, programmers on one platform can develop apps for one or
more platforms or mobile operating systems simultaneously. This can also enable developers to
essentially use the same code base for different platforms. It means that such generic apps can be
published and used on both Android phones as well as on iPhone. This greatly reduces the time and costs
needed for creating an application, however; there are also down sides. Due to it being one and the same
code base, these generic apps tend to have more platform-specific issues and a lower quality like user-
interface, performance etc.. than a native application. This of course varies per application, system and
platform used.

Cross-Platform Mobile Development Tools category has also been split into three platforms:

A. Coding Platforms
B. Low-Coding Platforms
C. No-Coding Platforms

A. Coding Platforms: Coding platforms provide you with full control over your entire development
process. It requires full knowledge over your chosen coding language. But this trade-off is
undoubtedly worth it if you can streamline your app to perfection and have perfect control over
your application.

1. Appcelerator: -Appcelerator allows developers to create apps with fewer lines of code. This app
development tool supports iOS, Android, Windows, and browser-based HTML5 applications.
Appcelerator uses a single JavaScript code base for rich native mobile apps as well as for cloud-
connected mobile apps. It improves the speed of mobile app development.

2. Xamarin: - Xamarin is a mobile application development platform that helps designers and
developers to build iOS, Android and Windows applications. An Integrated Development
Environment (IDE), Xamarin utilizes Visual Studio Tools to build mobile applications. The
platform offers a lot of features including code editing, refactoring, debugging, testing and cloud-
publishing. It tends to produce fewer bugs.
3. Adobe Phone Gap: - It can be used for developing a single app which works on all mobile
devices. Adobe Phone Gap allows you to work with one code base, but with a different set of
technologies. Phone Gap is an open source, cross-platform tool that builds apps with HTML,
CSS, JavaScript, and Web APIs. It allows development of various mobile applications with lesser
time and efforts. It helps developers to extend the functionality of the application with the help of
plug-in architecture. A Phone Gap application is essentially a collection of HTML pages
wrapped in a native app shell, which is then pushed out to native platforms via native APIs.

With Phone Gap, developers create files in HTML, CSS and JavaScript—much like they
would when creating a website. These files are stored in a local directory or in the cloud, then
when they’re run on a device, they access device features through plugins. This makes Phone Gap
apps lighter-weight and highly reusable, but the quality of the User Interface is going to depend
more on the Web View engine of the operating system. Adobe Phone Gap is based on Cordova
technology. In fact, if you are developing a hybrid mobile app, you can either create it using
proper Cordova or choose Adobe’s ecosystem for using Phone Gap distribution of Cordova.

4. Ionic: - Ionic is an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn framework that allows for quick prototyping.
Built on standard web technology, Ionic helps teams build and ship beautiful cross-platform
hybrid and Progressive Web Apps with ease. The Ionic Framework is a free, open source mobile
User Interface toolkit for developing high-quality cross-platform apps for native iOS, Android,
and the web—all from a single codebase.
5. ReactNative: - Developed by the Facebook community, React Native is a cross-platform
framework based on JavaScript technology. It enables developers to build enhanced and native
apps using a single code base. The aim of this framework is to build first-rate native application
experiences using JavaScript and React. This unique JavaScript technology makes possible to
develop a cross-platform mobile application that looks and feels like a native one but it is coded
by a single team of engineers simply using React and JavaScript.

6. MobiLoud : - MobiLoud is a WordPress plug-in that enables businesses of all sizes to create
mobile applications for iOS and Android devices. It integrates with WordPress websites to
convert them into mobile apps and allows users to publish the apps on the Apple App Store and
Google Play. Features of the MobiLoud platform include performance monitoring, push
notifications, external link embedding, login and subscriptions, mobile advertising, offline access
and analytics. MobiLoud facilitates white label branding that helps users customize the logo,
style, color, font and content within their app.
7. Ninox: - Ninox is a cloud-based platform for building custom database applications, with
solutions for Mac, iPhone, iPad and web browsers. The platform allows users to create custom
apps using built-in templates, custom actions, scripting and drag-and-drop formulas to connect
multiple databases. Custom forms, fields and triggers can be created and calculations can be built
using the visual formula editor.

Ninox can be used to create a wide variety of application types, covering event management,
invoicing, customer relationship management (CRM), task management, meeting management
etc. Additionally teammates can be invited to collaborate and users can control the permissions
granted to each collaborator. Devices can be synced in real-time, allowing users to access and
work on their apps from multiple devices.

8. Sencha: - Sencha is an app development company that provides products to enable developers to
create web applications for desktops, tablets and smartphones. Its Ext JS product features high-
performance User Interface components like Pivot Grid, D3 Adapter, HTML5 Calendar etc.
Sencha equips developers with frameworks, tools and services to help in building amazing web
applications. With a commitment to web technologies, Sencha reduces the cost and complexity of
developing and delivering enterprise applications across multiple device types.
9. NativeScript: - NativeScript allows you to create iOS and Android apps, with one codebase,
using the web skills you already have like JavaScript and CSS. NativeScript is an open-source
framework that builds applications using other frameworks such as Vue.js or Angular and
languages like Typescript or Javascript.

10. Onsen UI: - Onsen UI provides a rich variety of User Interface components specially designed
for mobile apps. It provides tabs, side menu, stack navigation and many other components such
as lists and forms. All animations in Onsen UI have been tuned and optimized to perform well on
a wide range of devices. Onsen UI is easy to learn while being a powerful tool to create complex
mobile apps. Onsen UI has lots of learning resources including official documentation, an
interactive tutorial and a community forum where your questions get answered.
 B. Low-Coding Platforms

Want to make the process less time consuming? Then these low-coding platforms might be what
you’re looking for. These platforms are able to efficiently streamline your development process, by
limiting the amount of coding that is required. The platform itself will assist you with specialized building
programs, yet still allowing customization with coding.

1. OutSystems: - OutSystems is a low-code app development platform that enables users to build,
deploy, manage and change enterprise-grade mobile and web apps faster. It includes more than
140 ready-to-use user interface (UI) patterns and templates to accelerate UI development.
OutSystems provides multiple kinds of support options to help its users to maximise the use of
the software. These include unlimited email support, knowledge base resources, online training
and tutorials, exclusive webinars and a customer on-boarding program.

2. Fliplet: - Fliplet empowers clients such as Accenture and Colgate to create bespoke apps such as
marketing apps, training apps, sales enablement apps and internal communication apps. Fliplet
offers a drag and drop interface for non-technical people to build their own bespoke apps and
relieve the pressure to maintain app content and infrastructure. The license allows a user to create
as many apps as they wish – one per campaign, per event or even per key client if desired.
Fliplet’s enterprise clients are benefitted with a world class design and user experience as well as
proactive online support. Fliplet works with Apple, Android and Windows and meets enterprise-
grade security requirements.
 3. TrackVIA :- TrackVia is a low-code alternative to spreadsheets, databases and complicated
enterprise systems. Track, manage and automate critical business processes or operational
workflows with greater efficiency, speed and ease. TrackVia does this by making it easy to
collect data accurately, analyze that data in real time and take immediate action through
automated tasks, alerts or even emails. TrackVia allows you to maintain control of your
application needs even without a programming background.

C. No-Coding Platforms

Even if you have no prior knowledge of coding, these days you can still create an app that’s perfectly
suited for your company. This is made possible through the use of no-coding platforms; they provide you
with services, such as a drag-and-drop interface, allowing you to create an application without typing a
line of code. The downside is that because it’s made to be simple and efficient, it removes a large chunk
of customization and flexibility that comes with coding.

1. AppSheet: - AppSheet allows anyone to build powerful mobile apps for iOS and Android apps
directly from their own data sources. Data can be extracted from multiple sources,
including Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Smartsheet. Once an app is created, users
can then customise the branding and features offered; with a fully interactive emulator to preview
the app. AppSheet offers both a basic editor and an advanced editor for app customizations. The
basic editor covers the most basic and important app features and functions such as the app logo,
view controls, app name, security level and sign-in requirements and offline functionality as well
as allowing users to directly edit spreadsheet data and reorganize spreadsheet structure.
2. Quick Base: - Quick Base is an application building platform which allows users to create
customized business apps with no coding required. The enterprise-ready solution offers tools
including workflow automations, notifications and reminders, task management, team
collaboration, interactive dashboards, and more. Quick Base includes easy web forms for fast
data collection, point-and-click integration with other cloud apps and data sources, robust APIs,
unlimited reports and dashboards, customizable home pages and right-sized governance including
role-based access control.

3. Alpha anywhere: - The Alpha platform is a unified mobile and web app development &
deployment environment. Using the Alpha TransForm no-code product, business users and
developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a
mobile app in minutes and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha
TransForm’s built-in programming language.
 IT developers can use the ‘Alpha Anywhere’ low-code environment to develop complex
or mobile business apps from scratch, integrate data with existing systems of record and
workflows including data collected via Alpha TransForm, and add additional security or
authentication requirements to protect corporate data.

4. BuildFire: - BuildFire offers with high-end custom development capabilities The simple, elegant
drag-and-drop UI makes it easy to build your own iOS or Android application. The platform
currently supports more than 10,000 apps and is powerful & flexible enough in order to meet
your business’s needs as you grow your business.