B4i (iOS) - Updates thread

so i can install the app directly from my pc (windows) to my iphone and test it there only if i want to upload it to the appstore i will need the mac right?

b4i will ask for the dev license?

Not exactly. The IDE will need to connect to the (local or remote) Mac in order to build the app. Then you will install the app through Safari, the mobile browser, and run it.

During debugging you will not need to reinstall the app in most cases.

ilan12041981 said:

b4i will ask for the dev license?

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B4i will need to create a provision file for you. You must have an account for that.

You could just use Zeusmos to install your apps and then get a developer account when you're ready to submit. A lot cheaper for just testing apps.

Erel said:

MediaPlayer will allow you to stream online audio.

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But i read document but not found function to do it, only with filename and directory to play audio offline, how to play stream online audio with this library?

If i use a macbook with bootcamp to use windows and mac os, when i release ipa file, i must restart to switch to mac os??

tuhatinhvn said:

If i use a macbook with bootcamp to use windows and mac os, when i release ipa file, i must restart to switch to mac os??

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what i have understood is you need to run both (mac and windows) at the same time for compling, so that means you need 2 computers and 2 monitors, 2 keyboard, 2 mouse,...

ilan12041981 said:

b4i will work only with a dev account? so that means we will first need to buy the 99$ license before we even started to make anything in b4i..
not so good news...

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This could be a deal breaker for newcommers on B4i

Erel said:

With Xcode yes. With B4i you need a real device with a developer account.
B4i is a Windows tool. The iOS emulator doesn't work on Windows. It is likely that we will also provide a hosting service where we will host the Mac compiler for your (a bit similar to MacInCloud). This means that you will be able to develop without a local Mac.

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If the Mac is not optional for compilation, why not to give it more use. If the new B4i developper could use the mac for compilation, testing and debigging witout a real device nor dev account, will be more appealing.

Erel said:

You may be able to also test your app on the emulator however it will require one or more additional steps and it will not work with the debugger.

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Is this limitation from the emulator, or with the design of B4i?

tuhatinhvn said:

But i read document but not found function to do it, only with filename and directory to play audio offline, how to play stream online audio with this library?

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You are correct. It was added later.
I was mistaken. There is no built-in support for audio streaming. It may be added in the future.

About the Mac requirements, I prefer to answer these questions when the beta will be released to avoid adding confusion as not everything is already set.
What we know for now:
- The required configuration for iOS development is more complex than Android.
- During development you will need a connected Mac from time to time to build the app.
- In most cases you will be able to reuse the same "shell" app during development which saves quite a lot of time.
- It is possible that we will provide an additional remote builders service, which will allow you to "rent" a Mac builder from Anywhere Software. The price will be relatively low.
- A single local Mac can be used by multiple developers in the same company.
- When your app is ready to be uploaded to the app store you need a local Mac or a service such as MacInCloud to upload the app. The remote service that we may provide will not support this feature (for now).
- If you have a local Mac then you will probably be able to run the app on an emulator. In version 1.0 (assuming that this feature will be supported) then it will not be automatic and will not be a replacement for a real device.
- With a local Mac you will be able to run the IDE in a virtual machine. Boot camp will not really help.
- B4i apps will run on iOS 7+.
- The demand for apps that run on both Android and iOS is much higher than apps that run on Android only.

thanx erel for the detailed answer, now you put some light to the darkness of b4i

i belive that the first version will need lot of work around the developement but on future versions you will make it automaticly and more user friendly to us.

will there be any game engine in the first version like Spritekit ?

Erel said:

- The demand for apps that run on both Android and iOS is much higher than apps that run on Android only.

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A lot of customers today want both environments available. Especially corporate, when they need apps to promote their business.

One very good reason to go iOS is also that according to 2013 statistics iPhone gets 81 apps, when an Android phone gets 43. This can vary widely by user, since that was calculated by dividing the number of apps sold in the Play Store and iTunes by the number of devices sold. But what this means is that even if iPhone is supposed to sell about 30% share of the smartphone market in 2014, it will sell almost as many apps as the Play Store. I could not find statistics about the average price of iOS apps versus Android, but one can hope they can be somewhat higher.

The tablet market is impressive too and a great opportunity for people who have created desktop programs. According to Canalys http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/apple-ipad-market-share-projected-to-shrink-in-2014 there will be 285 million tablet devices that are expected to be shipped in 2014, compared to 192 million notebooks and 98 million desktops. Among these 285 million tablets, the iPad by itself will represent a bit over 30%, 95 millions units.
Android tablets which account for 70% of the tablet market represent about 200 million units, a bit more than the number of notebooks. One could suspect that the Android software market is already larger in number of units than the Windows market, even if the prices are much lower.
The Mac, on the other hand, represents only 6.74% according to Wikipedia.

ilan12041981 said:

will there be any game engine in the first version like Spritekit ?

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As I wrote in several places, the first version is just the first version. Many libraries (and updates) will come after it.
A library based on SpriteKey is currently not available. Hopefully it will be added in the future.

Hope can play audio online because without it file app size will be very large, try your best Erel ^^

iPhone users expect a better quality user interface in their apps so I suggest if you want to go anywhere in this market you get a phone anyway to just to get hands on experience with how apps look and feel.

ilan12041981 said:

what i have understood is you need to run both (mac and windows) at the same time for compling, so that means you need 2 computers and 2 monitors, 2 keyboard, 2 mouse,...

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Um, no. This is false. Just use a Virtual Machine (Parallels, VirtualBox, VMWare, etc) to run Windows.

CidTek said:

iPhone users expect a better quality user interface in their apps so I suggest if you want to go anywhere in this market you get a phone anyway to just to get hands on experience with how apps look and feel.

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The simulator is not very nice anyway. It is painfully slow, and it's not able to scale Retina on a regular screen. So an iPhone looks like an iPad, and an iPad cannot be displayed without scrolling, even on a 1920x1080 screen. And Apple geniuses with all their familiar hype have not been able to provide a rendition at the same size as the actual device. Maybe none of them know how to scale a picture on screen. In practice, the simulator is a huge (in all the senses) pile of it ...

Any used G4 and iPad 1 will do better. And from what I saw in the video, B4i run is just as fast and enjoyable as B4A Bridge.

If your PC is equipped with Intel, it is possible to run os x maverick in virtual machine inside windows, In this way you do not need to own a Mac , Correct me if I wrong

coslad said:

If your PC is equipped with Intel, it is possible to run os x maverick in virtual machine inside windows, In this way you do not need to own a Mac , Correct me if I wrong

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there is only one way to know it, install mac OS via VM and try to publish an app (i doubt you will be able to do it)

coslad said:

If your PC is equipped with Intel, it is possible to run os x maverick in virtual machine inside windows, In this way you do not need to own a Mac , Correct me if I wrong

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Running Mac OS X in an emulator can be done. Never needed to do it myself, but here is a link for VirtualBox http://lifehacker.com/5938332/how-to-run-mac-os-x-on-any-windows-pc-using-virtualbox with a tutorial and full of users contributions.

As far as I see, Mavericks may not be that easy, since it is a 64 bits application. Also, how will the emulator deal with the networking necessitated by B4i magic ...

The other issue is that using a virtual Mac breaks Apple EULA which forbids running Mac OS X on anything but Apple hardware. So if by any chance (or lack thereof) Application Loader checks on which hardware it runs, you may be out of luck to publish. I have no idea which Mac the VM pretends to be...

Hi Erel,

When will be b4i be released? Is there any beta version available??

Thanks
Sri
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There is no beta version yet. The release date will be determined based on the progress. Probably in November or December.