Building iPhone/Andriod Apps with Titanium Appcelerator for a Rails Backend

Building iPhone & Andriod
Applications with a Rails Backend

Andrew Chalkley
Twitter: @chalkers | http://andrew.chalkley.org

More Information:
Twitter: @appcelerator | http://appcelerator.com

http://www.appcelerator.com | Code Strong! 1

Introduction

• RIA Lead - Cake Solutions
www.cakesolutions.net
• RIA Community Leader - Skills Matter
• Teach the Core Ruby on Rails Course


From CRUD to REST

• It was all about the database CRUD
• The REST was history

• Rails is the a first class citizen for consuming and
providing APIs


Show of Hands


An Unlikely Hero
• For a decade, web technologies have
become one of the world’s most popular
client application technology solutions:
– Easy to deploy and maintain
– Cross platform
– Open standards
• Warts and all, it’s tough to find a developer
who has ZERO experience with these tools


If web apps are so great...
...why are we interested in building native
applications at all? Well:
– They feel responsive
– They leverage platform capabilities
• Filesystem I/O
• Local Database
• Mobile: Camera or Accelerometer
– They are or can be ‘always on’
– They can be used offline


But my dev shop has...
• An investment in the people, tools, skills,
and technology to build web applications
• An appreciation for open source and open
standards
• A need to get market quickly
• An aversion to maintaining a codebase per
supported platform


If only you could...
• Build fully native apps using web
technologies you know today
• Build cross platform apps from a shared
codebase
• Use open source software, based on open
standards
• Find lots of available development talent to
build these apps


Enter Titanium

Titanium is an open source framework for
building native desktop and mobile
applications using open web technologies
(HTML, CSS, and JavaScript)

• Website: http://appcelerator.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/appcelerator
• Source: http://github.com/appcelerator


Platforms?
• Desktop: Win32, Mac OS X (Intel), Linux
• Mobile: iPhone OS, Android
• More to come


License?
• Open Source under Apache 2.0
• Commercial training and support services
available
• More value add services to come (analytics)
• Core SDK - always free and open source


Titanium “Sweet Spot”
• Data-driven web service clients (Enterprise
applications)
• Web service mash-ups
• Social utilities
• Brand affinity
• Casual games
• Anything requiring cross-platform support


More on Titanium
• Web: http://appcelerator.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/appcelerator
• Docs: http://www.codestrong.com
• Videos: http://vimeo.com/appcelerator
• Source: http://github.com/appcelerator


Mobile Architecture and API
Overview


Mobile Architecture


Media
Stream or package audio and video
content


More Media...
Interact with the iPhone or Android
built-in cameras


Geolocation
Use Geolocation to leverage your
user’s position in the world


Accelerometer
Use advanced gestures and track
movement to create
groundbreaking user interfaces


Database and File System
Access a SQLite Database (synch or
asynch) and the platform file
system


Network
XHR-style object for remote data
requests.


Native UI Controls
Use native controls through a
JavaScript interface.


Integrated YQL Support
• YQL - A web service
aggregator using
open tables
• Built in to
Titanium.Yahoo
namespace


Facebook Connect
• Facebook Connect
module (currently
iPhone only)
• Currently support
for FQL
• More on the way


Native iPhone UI
• Tab Bar
• Nav Bar
• Table View
• Alert / Options
• Group Views / Text
• Many More


Native Android UI
• Tab Bar
• Table View
• Alert / Options
• Activity Indicator
• Notifications
• Many More


Common APIs
iPhone Table View Android Table View

Same Code Creates Both


More APIs
• Platform / OS Data
• Application Properties
• Logging
• Scroll and Image Views
• Composite Views
• More always coming


Still Want More?
• Kitchen Sink - Full API Demo
• Codestrong.com has Examples and Guides
• http://www.codestrong.com/timobile/
samples/


Titanium Developer
•Developer is a Titanium Application
•Projects created/managed via Titanium
Developer
•Titanium Developer deploys code to
simulators
•Developer also helps with testing and
packaging for devices
•Requires sign-up for Appcelerator Network
(support, e-mail list, other services)

Kicking The Tires

• Skills Matter Events Demo
http://screenr.com/vy2


Next Steps
• Download: appcelerator.com/download
• Hack
– Docs/Samples: http://www.codestrong.com
– Screencasts: http://vimeo.com/appcelerator
• Get Help
– http://support.appcelerator.net
– IRC Chat - irc.freenode.net / #titanium_app


Questions?

@chalkers


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