I am an Asp.net back-end developer who uses Visual Studio on Windows and I work with a front-end team who all use Macs. I'm trying to workout the best way for us to work together without me having to repeatedly integrate the front-end into the Asp.net site. i.e Manually add the front-end changes into the *.csHTML views
I'm proposing to....
Ditch using Asp.net MVC Views all together and just let the front-end team build the web pages as plain old *.htm files, like a static website build
Any communication from front-end to the back-end is done via Ajax calls. So while they are developing on Mac they can point the Ajax calls to the back-end on a Windows box. This will essentially make the Asp.net site just a Web service site.
Any configuration settings that need to be pulled through to the front-end from the back-end is done via Ajax calls.
Note-
Our sites will only ever support javascript enabled browsers (I know it's not ideal but that's the situation i'm in).
Are there any glaring issues you can see by developing Asp.net sites this way? I
'm feeling like this a new trend in web development in general, as the front-ends become more and more rich and ajax heavy.
I guess this isn't a Asp.net specific question, as it could be applied to web language ike PHP.
Related
I am completely new to the concept of Hybrid App Development. I have developed a website without any framework like Angular or React, just core coding. Now I want to develop a Hybrid App from this.
But I have some questions running in my mind and could not find answers anywhere so thought of asking this community of Geniuses.
1) Is it necessary to use any framework like Angular or React or Vue for the development of a Hybrid App? Or can we simply develop a Hybrid app without such frameworks?
2) Is MVC architecture important for the development of Hybrid App or we can convert any website into a Hybrid app having no MVC architecture?
3) once a Hybrid app is made, what code would it be having inside the app wrapper? Will it be my HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc or it would have converted all my code into Java for Android? I mean what if anyone tries to reverse engineer my apk? What code will he have?
4) What about security? I mean I will be using database connections, settings, configurations and other security codes which should not be accessible to anyone who tries to reverse engineer my app?
5) What happens when I update my website on HTML and PHP? Will I have to recompile my Hybrid app to have new features of my website?
6) Will Hybrid App also have my PHP code at server side? I mean I have a website developed with PHP, so what is it gonna do for dynamic PHP codes?
I hope these questions make sense for anyone new to Hybrid App development. Thanking you in anticipation. Any support would be highly appreciated.
Here are my 2 cents
No you do not. You could do in in plain html/js, and then use Cordova for instance to package the app. But I think it's much easier if you use a framework if you have to rewrite the app from scratch (wich I think will be your case, since you seem to only have a classic PHP website).
You can convert any JS/HTML SPA website to a hybrid app, it does not need to be MVC. But you cannot if your site is built with PHP
If you use a hybrid app, it will use the device's webview to display a 'local' JS/html based website. I don't know what you would see with reverse engineering, but potentially your whole website. But anyway it'd be the same for a classic desktop SPA website.
All DB connections and secure configurations should be kept server side, and you use an API to access your data.
You cannot build a hybrid app using PHP. Hybrid apps use webviews to display the content, which are kind of simplified browsers. So they can only work with local html, js and css files.
The hybrid app itself is meant to be only html/css/js files. If you use PHP, it should only be for the server side API, not for rendering views.
I have no experience in Ruby on Rails. I employed a developer to create a tour booking system for my site (php codeigniter). He developed it using Ruby on Rails in heroku and then linked to it by iframe in my front end.
Problem is
MS explorer doesnt display it,
issues with dynamic booking form sizing,
Cookies for the cart doesnt work as it's cross site and in iOS sometimes the security denies the cookies so system doesnt work,
Site massively slowed down due to the http requests.
Is there a way to convert the ruby system into php so i can just have it on my local site? Can anyone think of any other solution if not??
thanks
Unfortunately, there is not easy way to convert a language to another, with some exception (like language that compiles to another one, for example CoffeeScript to JavaScript). Using iframes will create security problems, which in turn trigger (modern) browser to block them.
So, what are your options?
Use the Ruby & Rails website as a subdomain of your main. Example, if your site runs on chambers.com and that the Ruby on Rails site is about invoicing, it could be on invoncing.chambers.com, and you could use links from one to the other
Rewrite either the Ruby or the PHP part, depending on size & team capability
I have a question about web and native app development and integrating multiple frameworks.
I currently have a web app (html 5, css, js/jquery, php, mysql) and want to make available as a native app on Android and iOS. It uses Yii framework and I was thinking about using Netbeans IDE and Apache Cordova to make the conversion. How do I go about this? Can someone supply some links or an explanation to clear things up for me?
If you have a different method you'd like to recommend instead of Cordova, I'd appreciate that too. Please provide why you prefer that method though.
I've seen plenty of information on this forum and the web that explains this process, but non with Yii in mind.
Thank you for all and any help!
I had the same issue. since we have decided to drop the native app and use an html5 website design i picked, Yii+backbone.js .
in your case, if you plan on building a native app, the backend ( PHP or Yii in your case ) will not be used as a smart web server , because you will use a JS framework.
Known and well loved and used frameworks are:
angular.js
backbone.js
knockout.js
ember.js
Keep in mind, php is a server side language. Its not client based. Yii could serve as a backend providing the data thats all. When you want to use cordova you need a client side framework like jquery mobile.
I'm working on some kind of a huge project using PHP which is a CRM and Smart Ticketing and Processing System for travel agencies and I'm planning to make it only available on chrome.
And I'm new to Chrome Extensions/Apps, But when i'm reading about creating extensions i surprised that i can create any html content with any JS codes included.
My questions are:
Can I include my application GUI with pure HTML && CSS && JavaScript in some extension and make it send/receive requests to my PHP-API Which already exist in my code since it's fully AJAX project?
And if this can be done; what do i have to create Google-Chrome-App or Google-Chrome-Extension And what is the difference between them and where to start reading about required solutions.
IF this can be done it will be perfect since the GUI elements (HTML, JS, CSS, Images, etc..) will be loaded from local store of each user/employee's machine and the only transferred data would be JSON requests.
Yes, you can create your GUI in pure HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This is actually the only way to make a GUI in Chrome extensions. Your PHP based API can certainly be accessed via an extension, if designed as a fairly typical client side accessible API.
Here's a brief description of Extensions and Packaged Apps:
Extensions are generally designed for augmenting the browser experience. For example, analyzing the pages the user is browsing and highlighting text. Chrome exposes several awesome APIs related to the browser and the browsing experience. However, it's just JavaScript, CSS and HTML, so it's definitely possible to take it a step further and create pretty much fully functional applications. However, there are no UI specific features in the Extension API that would make it easier to create a complex web app. This is not the purpose of Extensions. Look at the extension in the Chrome Web store to see some examples. Development documentation can be found here.
Chrome Packaged Apps allows you to develop a full blown desktop application using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. You can create complex applications with typical web technologies. This is a fairly new technology, but there's a lot of potential.
There is also the slightly confusing concept of a "Chrome App", which is really just a way to package a typical web application (or site) for display in the Chrome Web Store. This is not not really a development technology.
Keep in mind that Chrome Extensions and Packaged Apps are not drop-in UI frameworks for creating web apps. They are specific technologies for augmenting the browser experience and creating desktop-like apps, respectively.
For example, if you are creating Amazon.com you would not create the main website as an Extension or Packaged App. You would probably develop it using a typical web development stack and release it as a typical web site. Then, you might create a Chrome Extension that pops a window down in your Chrome browser and shows your recent orders, or that finds products on the Amazon store as you browse the internet, but you would probably not create the entire site as an extension.
With Packaged Apps you might create a desktop application that interacts with Amazon but this is really just a desktop application.
Yes of course this is possible but what you are making is a web application A chrome extension is literally a extension of chrome(which has to be installed) written in C or C++ (Just using javascript, html and css is possible). The handy thing about a web application is that it can be used (In every browser) without having to instal any extra components.
To be specific google has extensions and apps. With a specific chrome app you can do more than a regular web page. At first people would have to install the app and agree with the terms of use. this done you have more options in javascript which are normally forbidden for a casual webpage.
A extension is meant to add or change functionalities in chrome like adding your own video player extension to play avi or something like that. Not for building a web application.
If I where you just make a regular web application or create a chrome specific Packaged App.
In your case you are creating a private web application. If it is going to be used inside a lan you can just create a intranet and run your webapp there. If it has to be used global over the internet that you should just secure it with a login.
Or build a desktop application.
I want to delve in to mobile applications, specifically Android apps (I am an Android fanboy). My web application is a content based site; built with PHP/MySQL and served with a lot of HTML5, CSS3 and JQuery.
What would be the best starting point and direction to take to begin development of a mobile application? I've seen a couple of videos on PhoneGap and it seems very interesting with its standards-based cross-platform approach. Is that a good way to go?
My basic intend is to have an application that can load content from my site (served to the app probably as JSON or XML) which the application can render in native UI (or make use of local storage etc. that a simple web content frame won't do). I guess it would be a glorified mobile site, but I want it to me slightly more with the ability to save and render content for if internet is not available.
PhoneGap does a nice job of bridging native APIs so they are available to your JavaScript. What you really need to consider though is the look, feel, and performance of the HTML/CSS/JavaScript you run on top of PhoneGap.
I have recently started building an app with JQueryMobile. The look and feel is really nice, and I was able to build something very rapidly. However, page transitions are very blinky/choppy to the point where I don't think its acceptable. This is really a problem with Android's browser performance and not JQuery Moble.
Sencha Touch seems to have animations and transitions that are a bit smoother, but it has a steeper learning curve.
Another option is to create an application which is a hybrid, containing some PhoneGap based Activities and some purely native Activities.
Since you are already familiar with web development, I would suggest doing a quick sprint with PhoneGap and Sencha Touch. If it looks promising, stick with it. If it doesn't, abandon it for a native app.
If you want to use native UI & controls, then Phonegap will not help you. It essentially wraps HTML/CSS/JS in an app & provide JS API's for native device features. It does not help you create native UI & controls.
You can directly code in native Java or use Titanium if you want to code in JS and build portable apps with native UI.
If you are only going to be targeting Android, then I would suggest avaioding PhoneGap or other cross platform SDK's. If you're comfortable with Java or are willing to learn, go with the Android SDK tools and Eclipse.
I have found that working with JSON is extremely simple on Android, and dealing with xml is not that much harder.
If you want to stay away from coding in Java, you could simply use what you have already as an HTML5 app, and create a new mobile CSS to reflow the look and layout of your app. That way, you can still use all the HTML and javascript you are currently using, and get your info from the same server...
In my experience though, Android web app are very slow... unfortunately (and hopefully Chrome will fix this) android browser is very bad with javascript... very slow.