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Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

appgyver.com

61–70 of 82 posts

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#61
So it's JS right? Where does it sit between PhoneGap/Cordova (Web pages wrapped in WebView) and Titanium Appcelerator (JS transcompiled(?) to native code).

My experience with Cordova.. it's slow at runtime, and you build the UI yourself using CSS (which gives the feeling, "Why am I building this by hand, while in native I can just drag?").

My experience with Appcelerator.. it's slow at compilation (imagine GWT), debugging is printlns, and you're at the mercy of whatever feature they provide (e.g. if the latest version of Android has new widget X, you can't use it until Appcelerator comes up with their version of X).

I still hope there's holy grail for code reuse / cross platform, but until then I'm forced to go native.

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#62

"With multi page apps (MPAs), all your views and controllers are neatly divided into separate HTML and JS documents. " Multi page app?! Not sure whether to laugh or cry.. this pr-fu stinks.

Hi, AppGyver dev here. I understand the confusion around that claim. Especially taken out of context (http://www.appgyver.com/supersonic/ui) you can read it as ridiculous hyperbole over something readily achieved with eg MVC architectures. I'll try and explain the difference between SPAs and MPAs and why we think the latter has merit.

A Single Page Application will usually consist of any number of logical views handled in a single web browser view. Since the app is Javascript and HTML, everything is loaded in the same runtime environment and switching between views is actually about swapping things in and out of the DOM. We feel that this isn't a very good approach when you're doing mobile applications, not least because everything you do will be an approximation of the native UI capabilities. Companies like Facebook and LinkedIn have famously failed to deliver hybrid mobile apps with a good enough user experience when using the traditional SPA approach.

This is where an MPA architecture comes in useful. As opposed to a single runtime environment in a single web view, multiple web views can be run concurrently and the native layer is used for transitions between them. This is different from both SPAs and traditional server-side architectures which you could call "multi-page" if you squinted a little. Besides the readily felt advantage in user experience, the approach also has architectural benefits which help out in growing your app. When your Javascript runtime is working towards rendering exactly one kind of view instead of dozens, there are radically fewer possible states and thus less issues with global state leaks and the like. In short, it helps make development simpler.

Hope this clarifies. As a dev, I think the ability to leverage multiple concurrent web views is one of the core advantages of the platform.

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#63

So it's JS right? Where does it sit between PhoneGap/Cordova (Web pages wrapped in WebView) and Titanium Appcelerator (JS transcompiled(?) to native code). My experience with Cordova.. it's slow at runtime, and you build the UI yourself using CSS (which gives the feeling, "Why am I building this by hand, while in native I can just drag?"). My experience with Appcelerator.. it's slow at compilation (imagine GWT), debu…

Hi, AppGyver dev here. Our platform expands on the web view approach, allowing you to leverage existing web development experience when getting started.

Yeah, it's HTML and JS - but whereas Cordova provides you with one web view to build your app in, Steroids applications have multiple views joined together with native navigation. We ship with a lovely CSS framework by default to make building UIs a snap. The command line features livereload, so your changes can be reflected instantly on the device. And because it's Javascript, you can debug using the tools in Chrome and Safari - a vast improvement over printlns.

You might find this page illustrative: http://www.appgyver.com/supersonic/ui

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#64
post #59
post #52

What IDE do you use for developing on that platform? Just any HTML editor, like Aptana or NetBeans? Or is there something dedicated like Xamarin Studio? Is this CLI they provide integrated with anything out of the box? I couldn't find that info in tutorials

AppGyver employee here – any text editor works. We like Atom ourselves. (There's no direct integration with any IDE tool at the moment.)

will you provide the shortcuts that you were using in the demo for atom?

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#65
post #62

"With multi page apps (MPAs), all your views and controllers are neatly divided into separate HTML and JS documents. " Multi page app?! Not sure whether to laugh or cry.. this pr-fu stinks.

Hi, AppGyver dev here. I understand the confusion around that claim. Especially taken out of context ( http://www.appgyver.com/supersonic/ui ) you can read it as ridiculous hyperbole over something readily achieved with eg MVC architectures. I'll try and explain the difference between SPAs and MPAs and why we think the latter has merit. A Single Page Application will usually consist of any number of logical views han…

Ezku, very interesting indeed. Your answer actually got me really interested in Supersonic and will be starting to evaluate it for a future project vis-a-vis the Ionic Framework itself, plus Angular Material and Kendo UI.

One more thing, Kendo UI does give us the ability to include only those modules that our apps need (package customization), plus it's AMD-compatible. Does Supersonic provide customization and AMD-compatibility as well?

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#66
The problem we found with using AppGyver is that you depend on them for your builds. Once you finish making your app, you deploy to AppGyver then go to their website and click a button to build a compiled application. Also, keep in mind that is not uncommon to wait up to 10-15 minutes for a build. When you are on the clock, this add up.

Like others have mentioned, it's a framework on top of a framework on top of a framework. You will find breaking points and get frustrated. Are you trying to use custom Cordova plugins? Well, the build failed. Here's an error report of what went wrong. Go make the changes necessary and build again while waiting for another 10-15 minutes.

So, you built an Angular application on top of AppGyver with the native navigation. Actually, you built many little applications where each one works in one of the native views. If you are trying to port this into a web app you are SOL.

These are my thoughts on AppGyver, from a developer that used their stack for a few clients. These days I'll either go RubyMotion or Emberjs/Cordova.

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#68

The problem we found with using AppGyver is that you depend on them for your builds. Once you finish making your app, you deploy to AppGyver then go to their website and click a button to build a compiled application. Also, keep in mind that is not uncommon to wait up to 10-15 minutes for a build. When you are on the clock, this add up. Like others have mentioned, it's a framework on top of a framework on top of a fr…

AppGyver dev here – I hear you, the build service wait times are a real pain, especially when you are debugging a custom plugin and need to iterate quickly.

However, local builds are on the pipeline – can't give a date yet, but you'll definitely be able to build your AppGyver apps with Xcode/Android Studio. (We'll provide the AppGyver Wrapper code as a library you can include in your project.)

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#69
So I had this stale app in the Play Store for over 6 months. I just didnt feel like updating since I hate Andrdoid UI design. And yesterday I got your announcement email. Too bad I was at work. 5PM comes around, I rush home, download supersonic and re-wrote the whole app in 30 minutes! I <3 you!

Re: Supersonic: New UI Hybrid Framework – Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova

#70
post #68

The problem we found with using AppGyver is that you depend on them for your builds. Once you finish making your app, you deploy to AppGyver then go to their website and click a button to build a compiled application. Also, keep in mind that is not uncommon to wait up to 10-15 minutes for a build. When you are on the clock, this add up. Like others have mentioned, it's a framework on top of a framework on top of a fr…

AppGyver dev here – I hear you, the build service wait times are a real pain, especially when you are debugging a custom plugin and need to iterate quickly. However, local builds are on the pipeline – can't give a date yet, but you'll definitely be able to build your AppGyver apps with Xcode/Android Studio. (We'll provide the AppGyver Wrapper code as a library you can include in your project.)

That is certainly good news. Keep up the good work!
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