Other B4A UI Cloud is now online - The easy way to test your layout!

[Erel]

Basic4android UI Cloud is a new service that will help you with testing your layouts on multiple devices.

Using the UI Cloud is very simple. From the designer you choose Tools - Send To UI Cloud (or press F6). The layout will be sent to a set of devices hosted by Anywhere Software. Once the process is complete, the browser will open with two screenshots taken from each device.

Pressing on any thumbnail image will show the full image.

The set of devices currently includes:
- Galaxy S4
- Samsung Galaxy I9000
- Nexus 7
- Nexus 5
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
- Kindle Fire
- HTC One S
- Samsung Galaxy Note
- Samsung Pocket

The variant used for each device (and orientation) is the same as the variant that will be chosen at runtime.

 

[AscySoft]

I'm glad that I'm the first one who congratulate B4A team for this add-on. Is a great step forward!

 

[AscySoft]

The process is working, but when I click on generated thumbnails it's taking a very long time to display larger images. Must be the beta! Thanks anyway.
:sign0098:

 

[isuru]

Wow! Awesome! This is gonna be really useful. Great job as always, Erel!

 

[bluedude]

So when are you going to buy the 250 other Android phones? Maybe it would be an idea to make the cloud decentralized so other developers can share their devices in the cloud. This only makes sense if you have lots of devices.

What would we need to run to create our own cloud?

Cheers,

 

[Kilrah]

Wow, excellent!

Next step for real "cloud" benefit:
- Every device B4A-Bridge is run on calls home with device name and details like screen resolution
- Add those to a database
- Offer users the list of known device types (maybe with some sort of information about how often one is seen), and allow them to submit their design to the type(s) of their choice
- Next time a device of the same type runs B4A-Bridge, send it the design, render it, take a screenshot, send back.

Of course B4A-Bridge would have an option so that devs can enable/disable this service on their machines. But I guess many would be open to having their device flash its screen once in a while to help others

 

[wexican]

Cloud testing services

Excellent work Erel, that feature will be well used by lots of people I think, I know I'll definitely use it, fantastic!:sign0142:

 

[klaus]

Fantastic !
Great job !

Could you please add the screen resolution and density to the device name.

Best regards.

 

[silvercover]

Awesome. this is what I'm going to love. Thanks.

 

[Erel]

Thank you all for the feedback.

Could you please add the screen resolution and density to the device name.

It will be added.

About the number of devices. The purpose of UI Cloud is to help with targeting devices with different sizes.
The list of devices should include a device from each "category". There will not be more than 5 or 6 devices (at least at the beginning).

The process is working, but when I click on generated thumbnails it's taking a very long time to display larger images

Which exact step was slow?

 

[klaus]

Hi Erel,
Are you sure that the last device is really a Samsung P1000 7'' tablet ?

Looking at the scaling and the image size it seems to be 5.3'' screen.

Best regards.

 

[AscySoft]

Which exact step was slow?

After my browser received the link, when I clicked on a small image, is taking a lot of time(1 min cca) to display a larger picture.

 

[Erel]

The resource has probably already expired. Please try it again and check it right after the browser opens.

@klaus, the device details are 600x1024, scale=1.5.

Note that you can use this script to see the exact values:

Label1.Text = 100%x & "x" & 100%y & ", scale=" & (100dpi / 100)

 

[klaus]

Hi Erel,
That confirms what I thought.
A resolution of 600x1024, scale=1.5 represents a screen of about 5'' and not 7''.

Best regards

 

[abner69]

:sign0098: Thanks Erel y Team!

...Pablo

 

[AscySoft]

The resource has probably already expired. Please try it again and check it right after the browser opens.
[/code]

The same. I use Mozilla. It's allready open, the page is loading quickly, after I click on a layout image file it's says "loading...." for a long time...

No big deal, but it's frustrating!(a little)

 

[Erel]

This device was the first 7" device. They (Samsung) probably didn't want it to be significantly larger than the phones so they set the scale to 1.5. You are correct that the real value is closer to 1.

 

[Erel]

AscySoft, which version of Firefox are you using? Do the images on this page load correctly: Basic4android (Basic for Android) - Android programming with Gui designer ?

Edit: Have you tried to load the same page with a different browser?

 

[AscySoft]

AscySoft, which version of Firefox are you using?

Edit: Have you tried to load the same page with a different browser?

Firefox 16.0.2 -latest (addblock plugin disabled)
When I will return home I will test using another browser/different configuration.

 

[PHB2]

Just tested this myself and it worked like a charm. I can see I need to pay greater detail to the way the screens are laid out!

Thanks Erel, good service!