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Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

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Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#41
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that would make sense, too. But I found them to be working OK in Chrome on Android, so I thought I could give it a try. I should have said that I wouldn't create any hybrid mobile apps anymore, not just Cordova. That's not because I don't like it - it's simply because the other options work just as good for me. At least for now - can't say anything about the future.

Right. > I should have said that I wouldn't create any hybrid mobile apps anymore, not just Cordova I must admit, I'm still quite enamored with them, if only for development time and maintainability. I'd rather not develop 3 different apps for desktop (browser), Android and iOS. As I said elsewhere, I'm waiting to rely on App Cache instead of Cordova in the future.

> I must admit, I'm still quite enamored with them, if only for development time and maintainability.

That's a very good reason for many developers. My UI code is usually rather small, with the C++ code being the biggest part. I really like C++ and Java, and Objective-C is OK. I'm pretty sure if I didn't, I would take a different route.

I'm still pissed off because loading in Qt apps can take very long. Writing the apps in QML, JavaScript and C++ was a lot of fun, but I couldn't recommend anything that destroys the UX so much.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#42
post #11

There's a use case for everything. I for one am not wasting resources creating and maintaining two versions of fairly simple applications in a corporate BYO environment, like the one I'm working in. There are plenty of convenient and easy to use frameworks out there that make positioning and screen creation just as straight forward as Xcode or the android development tools. Actually, I always find it a bit surprising…

I agree with this. If someone thinks Cordova is bad, what are you comparing it to? Maintaining two separate native code bases (including test suites and finding third party libraries for both that do what you need) to support iOS and Android isn't exactly a walk in the park either.

Coding is all about trade offs. There is rarely a perfect solution for all cases otherwise frameworks like Cordova would never exist in the first place.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#43
post #17

This is a very bad article. The real problems with Cordova are: * Core functionality is broken between releases. If you ask in the IRC support channel, they will even tell you not to update if things work well! What if I need a new feature? * Documentation is absurdly horrible or even plain wrong. I have been told several times to refer to the source code to find out how something works. * If you face any problem, ch…

I think it is also a question of ressources, I built a pretty good backbone app with cordova, I would say that you can get 90% there (https://www.cakemail.com/mobile).

The question is also what can you afford. Can you afford to have 2 ios & 2 android devs? Can you afford to build 2 times all the UI features, etc.

For a small company, small budgets, if you have strong front-end devs & designers you are probably going to get a good cordova app & you can move your company much faster.

You have big bugdets? Hire the native devs, get the 100% performance & experience from native.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#44
post #15

We've been using Cordova for almost 2 years (one in production, mind you), so I beg to differ. Granted, our applications may be different and yes, Cordova, if not done right, can be excruciatingly slow. But we have managed well. Simple things like properly paginating data (rather than trying to infinite scroll), cleaning up CSS, avoiding repeated query selections (which is a bad habit of some jQuery developers) made…

same here - i agree with you... Quit slapping code together on deadlines - think about the Architecture and do it modular and right.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#45

FUD. Ever heard of WebSQL for storing your data? After 10 months, you should have been able to work around nearly anything you mention in your article.

WebSQL is pretty much dead (which is unfortunate, and you should direct stern words towards Mozilla), so relying on that would be pretty risky.

i use https://github.com/kripken/sql.js/

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#46
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does WKWebView work with file:/// urls needed by Cordova?

Is there a reason they don't ship with a simple web server to server out the static files, similar to `python -m SimpleHTTPServer`?

Why would they want to? Both platforms have webviews that can render HTML from a file, or passed in strong form, or whatever you like. Why point it at an internal web server? If anything, it'd add overhead to the system that's unnecessary.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#47
post #36

HTML5 is working for Instagram and Apple Music, I don't think many people would say they're inherently slow.

Instagram and Apple Music aren't running through an abstraction layer than brings it's own variable overhead. It's not a good comparison.

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#48
post #27
post #12

Hmmm, I note in his closing para: "Facebook wrote a good article when they have decided to switch from a web app to a native one." A three year old blog post from Facebook. Now the circle has turned with React and React Native…

To be fair, react native compiles to native according to their keynote were it was introduced. FB gave up on the web app/hybrid app and in the same keynote strongly said the experience will never be the same or good enough as native.

react native doesn't compile to native. It's javascript with native GUI controls instead of the DOM for the presentation layer. (You can still have parts that are objective C or swift and are thus compiled, of course).

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would of made for a much better article. I couldn't agree more! I'm currently working on a Hybrid React app, performance issues aside the real issue is documentation and support. As soon as you are beyond a basic web app wrapped in a container you realise quickly Corodova will always be a second class citizen. On a more positive note React Native ( https://facebook.github.io/react-native/ ) is mind blowingly ama…

I'm looking to use something like Cordova to develop a fairly simple app for both Android and ios, so far it looks like React is for Mac only, looking at https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/getting-started... ? Edit: It looks like i'm missing something as I can see Android apps built with it on http://www.reactnative.com/built-with-react-native/

That's React Native, not standard React for the Web.

http://facebook.github.io/react/

Re: Apache Cordova: after 10 months, I won't using it anymore

#50
post #39

For doing database work in a separate thread, you used to be able to access WebSQL from a web worker on both iOS and Android, but sadly that's been dropped as of Chrome 39 and iOS 9: https://github.com/pouchdb/pouchdb/issues/2806 Also I don't believe you can use the SQLite Plugin in a web worker either: https://github.com/litehelpers/Cordova-sqlite-storage/issues... Luckily, you can still access IndexedDB from a web…

If background data access was really removed in newer browser version, than just WOW.
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