Is there any way for creating an .apk file from a Progressive web app (PWA) so that I can add it to play store?
You should check out Apache Cordova. It allows you to host web apps as Android or IOS apps.
Check this SO post, I think you have a lot of option to this including:
Using Chrome for Android, it generates and sign .apk file using
WebPack
Alternative solution is wrapping with Cordova kind of hybrid solution
for distribution of PWA apps in apps store.
TWA(Trusted Web Activity), which was recently posted in the PWA
documentation
Yes. You can use tools like PWA2APK, in order to convert existing PWA's to APK file, which in turn can be uploaded on Google Play store.
this is easy way to do it: https://github.com/xtools-at/Android-PWA-Wrapper
You can build your APK, or even better: Android bundle, which has smaller size in google play store! It is free and you can choose your own app name. In PWA2APK it is paid.
Related
Is possible to replace chromium with firefox inside an electron app?
I've done some researches and I was not able to found anything that use firefox to run cross platform desktop applications. If this is possible can anyone share the relative information please?
The only project I've found this old and not mantained from mozilla.
If this is not possible, is there any way to create a custom build of mozilla that integrate node.js? I want to experimet the electron flow that will open a browser window but in a simpler way. I'm reading the mozilla doc, but it's not clear if I can implement external library inside the build and no updated info about custom build creation is found online.
No, you cannot replace chromium inside Electron because the entirety of how Electron works is using chromium.
As far as if you could do something yourself - I'd say just use Electron. Chromium isn't that bad, although it is resource intensive.
I'm making app with using Xamarin.Forms.
I want to integrate Amazon login so that I could use Amazon echo with my app.
There is a component here.
https://components.xamarin.com/view/amazonlogin?version=2.1.0.0
but It's way out of date.
I don't think I could use this.
Any idea how can I resolve my issue?
There are some Amazon SDK for xamarin made by Amazon.
https://developer.amazon.com/sdk-download
But it also does not seem usable. This have two folder named inapp and amazonad. and .xam file without documents.
Only option seems like a create webpage with using javascript provided from Amazon and use it via a webview.
https://developer.amazon.com/public/apis/engage/login-with-amazon/content/web_docs
Am I right?
Thanks.
The library on Xamarin Components website is a binding for the official Amazon SDKs.
You can create your own bindings for the native SDK to use them in Xamarin App, we have detailed instructions on our website here for both Android and iOS
Is there a technical limitation why Xamarin does not support updating the application without publishing to the app store? Javascript cross-platform mobile development frameworks like React Native or Cordova can do this.
You are comparing Apples to Oranges in a sense. When it comes down to Native Development, Xamarin is a framework that allows you to do Native Development via Wrappers: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/cross-platform/getting_started/introduction_to_mobile_development/#How_Does_Xamarin_Work
Because of this, you would do the same workflow as if you were pushing an update to your Native Android/iOS application(Programmed in Java/Obj-C respectfully).
Whereas on the other side with frameworks like React/Cordova, they have mechanisms to inject content via pulling from a server-side service. This is explained pretty clearly in a third party cordova project that does this very thing:
https://github.com/markmarijnissen/cordova-app-loader
However if you made a local Cordova application that had no connection to a server-side service and you needed to update it, you would most likely have to follow the same procedure of uploading the new .ipa / .apk with the new assets/code/etc as it would be a packaged stand-alone app.
That's because all the code is in js files that can be downloaded an replaced out side of the ARM binary. Xamarin's code is the binary. Also, if your code is in the App Store, you should be updating through the store. This is less of a limitation of Xamarin (since you can't do this with native obj-c apps either) and more of a "pro" for the js apps.
As a side note, if you go with Enterprise deployment instead of App Store, you can update whenever you want (because you completely control the deployment mechanism).
By the time I'm writing this, I'm working on a Xamarin cross-platform app (iOS,Android and Windows Phone), using Azure Mobile Services. There is interest of also developing Mac OS X version of this app.
Is there a way to use the Azure for the OS X app, because I can't find anything on the web? Please, be descriptive as possible :)
There is not currently Xamarin.Mac support in Mobile Services. If you look here (https://github.com/Azure/azure-mobile-apps-net-client/tree/master/sdk) you will see there is a Xam.iOS, Android, and Forms project.
You can add a feature request for Xam.Mac, or make an open PR that adds in a Xam.Mac project. I'd assume the main PCL component will work and its just a matter of adding the Mac specific wrappers where needed. I'm not sure how much dev work that would actually entail though to say if its feasible or not.
I'm trying to build a hybrid app with some native features like geotagging, notifications and offline storage. So far in my research I got the feeling that I will need xCode to access the native features on iOS.
Is there a way that I can skip that step? I have found that Cordova API, supports native features with JavaScript, but also I have found some contradicting statements witch suggest that I also need to also use xCode.
Thank you
If you want to build an iOS-App you'll need Xcode's command line tools to build, run and deploy your App. So you can't skip this step.
The Steroids tooling lets you develop your app without the need for Xcode (or Android Studio). You use a companion app from App Store to develop locally, then an online Build Service to create a stand-alone package. The wrapper provides access to many native APIs, including all Cordova core plugins.
(Disclaimer: I work for AppGyver.)