B4A or Java & Eclipse...? Also, JQuery Mobile Question

[androidiot]

Hey all, I'm getitng into Android development and I've been browsing the web for good starting points, tutorials, development tools and I came across this lovely piece of software.

I have a PHP, JS, SQL intermediate VB, some JAVA, & some C# skills with good graphic design & usability skills with little OOP knowledge... so I'm kind of undecided whether to buckle down and go the JAVA/eclipse route or the B4A route to get things rolling quickly. I looked at AI but since it'll be a dinosaur pretty soon and it has alot of limitations I passed on that.

I want to choose a dev platform and stick with it so I stayed focused. B4A seems like good start but I'm worried about a few things... If I want to build an advanced app or game can B4A handle this? Also, how much control do I have over the visual developemtn of my app with B4A. Can I use Adobe Dreamweaver to creat Jquery Mobile layouts and import them into the design of a B4A app?

Thats all I got for now. I'm really excited to jump on the B4A bandwagon but I don't want to sell myself short.

Thx.

Androidiot

 

[agraham]

AI looks pretty useless as a development platform - presumably why Google is giving it back to the academics. If you have no experience of Android I would recommend you start with with Basic4android. It will get you up and running and achieving things far faster than trying to start from scratch in Eclipse. It will also give you an introduction to the way Android does things. If you later decide to make your libraries in Eclipse or even create a full application then you will have a useful familiarity with the Android platform.

I don't know about Jquery Mobile but I thought that it was HTML 5 based and ran in a browser so would have no relevance to a Basic4android or Java Android application.

 

[androidiot]

Thanks for the response it helps make my decision easier. Got a few questions...

If you later decide to make your libraries in Eclipse or even create a full application then you will have a useful familiarity with the Android platform.

Can we export our B4A source to eclipse? And we can create a FULL app in B$A right?

I don't know about Jquery Mobile but I thought that it was HTML 5 based and ran in a browser so would have no relevance to a Basic4android or Java Android application.

JQuery Mobile is good for making nice clean UI's for eclipse and Android apps... I added a link below so you can see how they go hand in hand... It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to be able to or to add that functionality to B4A.

hxxp://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mobile-web-apps/use-jquery-mobile-to-build-a-native-android-news-reader-app-part-3

 

[Erel]

Can we export our B4A source to eclipse?

Technically it is possible, though it is not recommended. It will be easier to create a Java library and include it in your project.

And we can create a FULL app in B4A right?

Yes.

I'm not familiar with JQuery Mobile. However Basic4android includes both a WYSIWYG visual designer and an "abstract designer" that helps you test your layout on different screens and resolutions.

 

[androidiot]

Hmmm... ok. Is there anyway for use to use our own styles in those designers or are we stuck with the look and feel of the elements that B4A gives us.

 

[Tom Christman]

Not sure what your question about "own styles" means, but you would serve yourself well to try B4A out. It's well worth the price. App Inventor is a toy compared to the power of B4A. Check out the finished projects on the forum to see what some folks have done as apps on the Android Market. "Styles" vary from games to astronomy to GPS applications, etc. And the "expert contributors" are some of the brightest folks you'll find; and equally willing to assist newbies and experienced developers all!

 

[androidiot]

Yes, I'm going thru the tutorials and looking at the publishednow.

It seems like a great program but I am an expert in usability design and I like to be able to create my own themes as you can in JQuery Mobile (see link below) and B4A doesn't seem that flexible for visual elements and interface design.

hxxp://jquerymobile.com/test/docs/api/themes.html

 

[Tom Christman]

I think your link should start http not hxxp

 

[Erel]

Basic4android style is the native Android style. You can completely customized it as you need.

I think your link should start http not hxxp

To prevent spam attempts (which happen daily), only licensed users can post links.

 

[thedesolatesoul]

jQuery Mobile looks like a web application front end.
This is probably something you can display in a WebView while a server serves the back end.

But anyway, if you want to implement your own theming engine for your app then that is easily possible. Just use bitmaps etc instead of default android themes.

Also, B4A apps look different on different versions of Android, i.e. the app will be themed depending on Androids framework.

So far I have not found a single application you cannot do in B4A. The fact that it compiles to native Java means you get as much performance as possible.