Appcelerator Titanium Application Development by Example Beginner's Guide

Table of Contents

Appcelerator Titanium Application Development by Example Beginner's Guide

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

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Free Access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Time for action – heading

What just happened?

Pop quiz – heading

Have a go hero – heading

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. How to Get Up and Running with Titanium

System requirements and restrictions

Installing Titanium

Time for action – installing Titanium Studio

What just happened?

Setting up Titanium Studio

Time for action – setting up Titanium Studio

What just happened?

Installing the Android SDK

Time for action – configuring the Android SDK

What just happened?

Installing the iOS SDK

Time for action – configuring the iOS SDK

What just happened?

Installation problems – did something go wrong?

Your first cross-platform app

Time for action – creating an app from a template

What just happened?

Time for action – running an app in the emulator

What just happened?

Did the app fail to run?

A review of the first app

tiapp.xml

tiapp XML structure explained

Other files in the base directory

The Resources directory

app.js

KS_nav_ui.png and KS_nav_views.png

The Android and iPhone directories

Pop quiz - Titanium installation and configuration

Summary

2. How to Make an Interface

What's in the toolkit?

A recap

Window

Tab group and tabs

Creating a tab group

Creating a tab

Labels

Views

Time for action – adding a view to a window

What just happened?

Time for action – adding a button to a view

What just happened?

Time for action – making something happen when the button is pressed

What just happened?

Adding a settings screen – a TableView masterclass

Time for action – adding a new window

What just happened?

Time for action – adding a styled TableViewRow object

What just happened?

Platform-specific tools

Adding an Android menu

Time for action – adding an Android menu

What just happened?

Time for action – running the Android menu changes on iOS

What just happened?

Why did this fail?

Isolating platform-specific code

Time for action – add an iOS fix for the Android menu

What just happened?

Capturing debug messages

Coding iOS specific elements

Time for action – adding an info button to the navigation bar

What just happened?

Summary

3. How to Design Titanium Apps

JSON

Extending your app over multiple files

Titanium.include

Time for action – creating an activity indicator

What just happened?

Require

Require – loading a marketplace module

Time for action – adding an Appcelerator marketplace module

Have a go hero - enhancing the paint app

Require – promoting commonJS compliant code

MVC

Time for action – creating a better designed app using MVC

What just happened?

Behind the scenes – a look at the code

What does this mean?

An example of require

Alloy

Time for action – creating an Alloy app

What just happened?

Pop quiz - Titanium design

Summary

4. Gluing Your App Together with Events, Variables, and Callbacks

Sharing data

Execution context

Global variables

What is the right way to share data?

Time for action – sharing information between windows

What just happened?

Events

Event scope

Event properties

Making something happen – fireEvent

Time for action – creating a progress bar game

What just happened?

Global event listeners and garbage collection

Better event code using callbacks

Have a go hero - adding callbacks

Pop quiz - events

Summary

5. It's All About Data

External data

Time for action – creating an HTTP request

What just happened?

RSS reader

Time for action – fetching RSS

What just happened?

Time for action – parsing and displaying the RSS

What just happened?

Storing data on the device

Which one should you use; filesystem, database, or properties?

Storing data in files

Storing data in the database

Storing settings in Ti.App.Properties

Time for action – comparing the speed of database, file, and application properties

What just happened?

YQL

Time for action – creating a foreign exchange list

What just happened?

Have a go hero - adding offline storage

Pop quiz - data handling

Summary

6. Cloud-enabling Your Apps

Before the cloud

Which cloud services can you use with Titanium?

Clouds are everywhere

Appcelerator Cloud Services

Time for action – creating ACS custom objects

What just happened?

Uploading pictures

Time for action – uploading a photo to the cloud

What just happened?

Fetching ACS stored content

Time for action – creating a panel to show commentary entries

What just happened?

Parse

Time for action – storing custom objects using Parse

What just happened?

StackMob

Other cloud offerings

Choosing your cloud service

Pop quiz - cloud services

Summary

7. Putting the Phone Gadgets to Good Use

The camera

Time for action – using the camera

What just happened?

Time for action – selecting a photo from the photo library

What just happened?

Have a go hero - e-mailing a camera photo

The accelerometer

Time for action – showing the accelerometer on a slider

What just happened?

Time for action – smoothing the accelerometer response

What just happened?

Have a go hero - tuning the filer response

The compass

Time for action – displaying the compass heading

What just happened?

Augmented reality

Time for action – creating a simple augmented reality app

What just happened?

Have a go hero - extending the AR example

Maps

Time for action – adding a map

What just happened?

Time for action – adding annotations to a map

What just happened

Directions

Time for action – adding directions to a map

What just happened?

Geolocation

Are we allowed to get the location?

Accuracy and battery life

Time for action – getting the current location

What just happened?

Have a go hero - getting the address of a location using reverse geocoding

Computing the distance from a coordinate

Time for action – getting the distance from a coordinate

What just happened?

Showing the user's current location on a map

Time for action – showing the user's location on the map

What just happened

Pop quiz - gadgets

Summary

8. Creating Beautiful Interfaces

How to position and size items on a window?

So what is a DIP and what's so good about it?

Time for action - making DIPs the default unit for your app

What just happened?

What about percentages?

Using views to create your layout

Orientation

Restricting the orientation

Time for action – restricting the orientation of your app (iPhone)

What just happened?

Time for action – restricting the orientation of your app [Android]

What just happened?

Changing the orientation manually

Time for action – forcing an orientation change (all platforms)

What just happened?

Creating layouts for phones and tablets

Time for action – creating a multiplatform interface

What just happened?

Time for action – creating a phone layout for your app

What just happened?

Pop quiz - creating a layout

Summary

9. Spread the Word with Social Media

Facebook

Time for action – registering your app with Facebook

What just happened?

Time for action – sending a screenshot to Facebook

What just happened?

Sending tweets

Time for action – registering your app with Twitter

What just happened?

Time for action – sending a tweet

What just happened?

Sharing and social media on Android

Time for action – sharing an update using intents

What just happened?

Pop quiz - integrating social media

Summary

10. Sending Notifications

How push notifications work

Why do you need to know this?

Setting up notifications - the prerequisites

Setting up iOS notifications

Time for action – getting a push certificate

What just happened?

Push notifications using Appcelerator Cloud

Time for action – registering for push notifications with Appcelerator Cloud

What just happened?

Have a go hero - sending push notifications

Push notifications using Urban Airship

Time for action – registering for push notifications with Urban Airship

What just happened?

Coding the interface to Urban Airship

Time for action – registering a device for push notifications

What just happened?

Have a go hero - sending a notification from Urban Airship

Pop quiz - push notifications

Summary

11. Testing and Deploying

Registering your app with Apple

Time for action – registering your app with Apple

What just happened?

Installing a development/distribution certificate

Time for action – installing a development certificate

What just happened?

Running the app on devices

Testing the app on iOS

Time for action – running the app on an iOS device

What just happened?

Testing the app on Android

Time for action – configuring your Android device

What just happened?

Debug your app

Publishing your app

iOS

All iOS platforms

iPhone

iPad

Android

Deploying the app to the Apple App Store

Time for action – deploying the app to the Apple App Store

What just happened?

Deploying the app to Google Play

Time for action – deploying the app to Google Play

What just happened?

Pop quiz - deploying your app

Summary

12. Analytics

Comparing the providers

Flurry

Time for action – setting up Flurry

What just happened?

Tracking page views

Time for action – registering a page view

What just happened?

Tracking custom events

Time for action – registering a custom event

What just happened?

Other items you can gather

Google Analytics

Time for action – setting up Google Analytics

What just happened?

Tracking page views

Time for action – registering a page view

What just happened?

Tracking custom events

Time for action – registering a custom event

What just happened?

Analytics using Appcelerator

Time for action – setting up Appcelerator Analytics

What just happened?

Catching custom events

Time for action – registering a custom event

What just happened?

Other suppliers

Pop quiz - recording analytics

Summary

13. Making Money from Your App

Displaying adverts in your app

Time for action – configuring Google AdMob

What just happened?

Time for action – incorporating AdMob into your app

What just happened?

In-app purchases

Time for action – adding in-app purchases for iOS

What just happened?

Have a go hero - recording a purchase

In-app purchases on Android

Time for action – adding in-app purchases for Android

What just happened?

Pop quiz - making money from your app

Summary

A. Git Integration

Importing a project

Time for action – importing an existing GitHub project

What just happened?

Time for action – uploading a project to GitHub

What just happened?

Alternative suppliers

Summary

B. Glossary

C. Pop Quiz Answers

Chapter 1, How to Get Up and Running with Titanium

Pop quiz - Titanium installation and configuration

Chapter 3, How to Design Titanium Apps

Pop quiz - Titanium design

Chapter 4, Gluing Your App Together with Events, Variables, and Callbacks

Pop quiz - adding callbacks

Chapter 5, It’s All About Data

Pop quiz - data handling

Chapter 6, Cloud-enabling Your Apps

Pop quiz - cloud services

Chapter 7, Putting the Phone Gadgets to Good Use

Pop quiz - gadgets

Chapter 8, Creating Beautiful Interfaces

Pop quiz - creating a layout

Chapter 9, Spread the Word with Social Media

Pop quiz - integrating social media

Chapter 10, Sending Notifications

Pop quiz - push notifications

Chapter 11, Testing and Deploying

Pop quiz - deploying your app

Chapter 12, Analytics

Pop quiz - recording analytics

Chapter 13, Making Money from Your App

Pop quiz - making money from your app

Index

Appcelerator Titanium Application Development by Example Beginner's Guide

Appcelerator Titanium Application Development by Example Beginner's Guide

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: April 2013

Production Reference: 1120413

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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ISBN 978-1-84969-500-8

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Cover Image by J. Blaminsky (<milak6@wp.pl>)

Credits

Author

Darren Cope

Reviewers

Steve Dawes

Stephen Feather

Imraan Jhetam

Acquisition Editor

James Jones

Lead Technical Editor

Neeshma Ramakrishnan

Technical Editors

Chirag Jani

Devdutt Kulkarni

Project Coordinator

Arshad Sopariwala

Proofreaders

Maria Gould

Aaron Nash

Paul Hindle

Indexer

Monica Ajmera Mehta

Graphics

Aditi Gajjar

Production Coordinator

Manu Joseph

Cover Work

Manu Joseph

About the Author

Darren Cope is an experienced Titanium developer having seen the light and the potential of what could be done with Titanium back in early 2011. Since 2011 he has released several cross-platform apps using the technology. He holds TCAD and TCMD certifications and along with creating apps, he has developed modules for the Appcelerator Marketplace. He attended the inaugural CODESTRONG conference in San Francisco in October 2011 and continues to preach the benefits of coding with Titanium through the Appcelerator Titans program. He is very eager to hear from other Titanium developers in the north of England and is trying to start a user group for them. He can be contacted either through his personal website at http://darren.cope.name or by e-mail on .

I'd like to thank Tracey for her love, support, and encouragement during the writing of this book, and thank the writers of NCIS who have provided the background noise for most of the time I was writing this book. I would also like to thank Steve Dawes who reached out to me with an opportunity to develop an app in early 2011 and in doing so started the process that got me here.

About the Reviewers

Steve Dawes is a delivery-focused IT consultant with senior management experience in global corporations and director level experience in SMEs.

Steve's experience includes end-to-end delivery of software and infrastructure projects, product development, and strategic roadmap formulation and business change in a variety of sectors including transport, retail, finance, construction, postal, and services with implementations of systems developed in e-commerce, the cloud, the Web, mobile, and SOA architectures.

Steve is a member of the BCS and APM and specializes in interim project management and business transformation projects. Steve works through his company Rockwave Consulting Ltd, www.rockwaveconsulting.co.uk.

Stephen Feather is an Appcelerator Titanium titan, holding TCMD and TCAD certifications. He is a frequent speaker on mobile strategies for small business and non-profit organizations. In 1994 he started his own consulting firm working directly with communications companies such as Netscape, Microsoft, and Oracle in the early days of the Internet. In 1996 he wrote JavaScript by Example, Que Publishing, one of the first publications on the then new scripting language. Over the next 17 years, his firm would grow to become a widely recognized vendor of multimedia software for language learning, providing support to colleges and universities throughout the southeastern United States.

In 2009, he co-founded Feather Direct, recognizing a need for quality mobile app development, reputation management, and SEO services for smaller organizations. He volunteers time to assist and train a new generation of mobile app developers through online forums and local user groups.

Imraan Jhetam is a medical doctor and entrepreneur living in England with an equal love for both medical law and technology. He earned his medical degree from the University of Natal in 1983, his MBA from the University of Witwatersrand, and a Master's degree in Law from Cardiff University.

Imraan has been fascinated by computers since his youth and taught himself the basics of programming during his university years. He has been writing programs since the mid 1970s in various languages and for different platforms and has fond memories of his first Apple//e with its then impressive 64 KB RAM.

When he is not busy seeing patients or writing medico-legal reports, he spends his time developing applications and developed Snappa, a social sharing game that is the better way to draw something for friends. This was written using the incredible Titanium Studio tools and Appcelerator Cloud Services and is now in the Apple and Android app stores. He was also third prize winner at the first Codestrong Hackathon with two e-payment apps, PayBill and PayPad, that also included social media, geo-location, photos, and barcodes, and which were developed in a restricted and short time using Appcelerator Titanium Studio.

You can contact Imraan via www.snappa.mobi or via Twitter @The__i.

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For Tracey and Emily.

And for Chris, gone but not forgotten.

Preface

It's fair to say that while Steve Jobs didn't necessarily start a smartphone revolution with the iPhone and iPad he certainly championed it and in doing so created beautifully designed devices that rightfully became both massively popular and highly desired.

Not long after the introduction of these seductive devices came another masterstroke, the App Store. Apple generated massive developer interest by promoting the dream of becoming a rock-star developer by creating apps for this new platform. It was a massive success; a new breed of indie developers flocked to the platform pushing new apps into the App Store hoping their app would be the one to make it big.

The App Store opened in June 2008 with only 500 apps. By October 2011 there were over half a million apps, and it continues to grow with over 500 new apps published everyday. There will soon be 1 million apps available which has resulted in an ecosystem that has paid out over six billion dollars in royalties. Thanks to a lucrative payment strategy whereby Apple gets 30 percent of revenue from every sale, they have become one of the biggest companies in history.

Success of that size doesn't go unnoticed or unchallenged. The monopoly didn't last long and soon after Google came along with Android and its own Android marketplace. While initial take-up was slower than Apple, it has gained ground and by late 2012 both stores had equal number of apps available.

Now the app market has two major players. You can create an app for iOS or Android, but unfortunately there are no common compilers for the two systems, so if you want to write a native app for iOS, you have to use objective-C and Java for Android.

Jeff Haynie and Nolan Wright (the founders of Appcelerator) were ahead of all of this; they already had a way of creating native apps for iOS using JavaScript, and it just so happened that the methodology they used in their Titanium tool would also work for Android. Titanium was launched in 2009 and since then it has attracted over 400,000 registered developers.

Titanium allows you to create native apps that will run on both iOS and Android. A Titanium app can be run on both platforms without changing a single line of code. Over 50,000 apps have been released using the technology; this book will help you to add your app to that list.

The book will guide you through the process of creating a cross-platform app, an app that can be released to both Android and iOS app stores.

The book has been written in a relaxed and friendly manner with carefully selected examples that highlight the core concepts of the chapter. All examples, unless specifically stated, are written so that they may be run on both platforms.

The chapters have been ordered to reflect the order in which I believe the tool should be learned. The initial chapters will provide guidance on how to install and configure the tool before moving on to how to create apps using Titanium. The book then looks in detail at how to design and structure apps. This is the content that will be invaluable later when your apps become larger and more complex. Being able to easily modify and extend your apps because they have been designed with a well-defined structure will be a significant advantage.

The next few chapters then focus on some of the core components of apps with chapters on the cloud, phone gadgets, and data. After this we move on to an important area, interface design, and how to create apps that will run and look good on phones and tablets from both iOS and Android.

Next, the book has a couple of chapters that look into a few optional extras such as social media integration and push notifications, before moving on to the final phase of testing and deploying your app to the app store.

The final two chapters focus on areas that are often considered by developers after an app has gone live, namely analytics and making money from your app.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, How to Get Up and Running with Titanium, guides you through the process of