How does the Mac Web Dash board app work? - macos

Would like to understand how to build a tool like the mac os dash board widget (web clip). Am looking at trying to build it with webkit but not sure if thats the right way to go.
Some thoughts were to using webkit and some DOM to display only the viewport that a user requests.
While this works so well on mac os, am trying to build it on windows with .Net.

Dashboard just uses webkit to display some HTML and JavaScript for the dynamic parts, but there are a couple of extensions. Apple have developer documentation on Dashboard.

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What are the ways or tools available to inspect element in a Mac desktop application

We have firebug or chropath or inspect element methods to find locators of a web application. Similarly, how to identify element of a Mac desktop application (for example, iTunes desktop app)?
Thanks in advance.
Use Accessibility Inspector,just type in Inspector in the spotlight. So far, its able to get class, text and labels, but not well recognize using it with Appium. I am hoping for a better more accurate tool.
You can use pyatom (python library for automated testing on MAC).
PyAtom is Python library to fully enable GUI testing of Mac applications via the Apple Accessibility API.
Github link - https://github.com/pyatom/pyatom

Is it possible to view output of visual studio cordova project as a web app in browser?

I am using Visual Studio 2015 tools for Apache Cordova for mobile application development on Windows 7.
To build and run my app, I have to choose one solution platform and one target.
Is there any way to view the output on my browser just like a web app with no emulator?
When I press f5, the result will open in a browser in an emulator mode which I choose as system platform and target device. But I want to run my app like a web application, when you right click on index.html and select view in browser.
I look for a project setting or a ‘system platform’ and ‘target device’ value that work like that.
PS:Selecting any windows solution platform and local machine target needs Windows 8 or higher and the build process is failed.
Thank you.
The solution I found for my problem:
I used the url of my output result with emulator: "http://localhost:4400/index.html?enableripple=cordova-3.0.0-NexusS"
and then removed the emulator settings in url: "http://localhost:4400/index.html".
Using this url will cause some popups asking some things. These are for 'cordova.js' script which is referenced in index.html file of cordova project. As we do not need this in browser, commenting the line <script src="cordova.js"></script> from index.html, no dialog will open any more and the project will compile so faster for initial design that do not need cordova.
Now I will use chrome mobile mode (f12-> phone icon) to see mobile view of my app.
#A.M.
The answer depend on your expectations.
If you just want to view the page layout and test some of the associated Javascript, the answer is YES.
If you want to test the plugin libraries and associated JS, the answers is NO.
However, here are some items to be cautious with - either way.
When running your code on a device, you MUST wait for the
'deviceready'. There are not ifs, ands, ors, or buts on this - you
must wait.
You can emulate some of the plugins. This Summer some of HTML5 APIs have become available. If you want to write a shim, you can emulate some plugins with the HTML5 APIs, and use the Phonegap plugins on the mobile device. NOTE: some emulators now support HTML5 APIs.
Not all browsers are equal and not all webview libraries are equal. Cordova and Phonegap both use a webview library with their respective platforms. On Android, it is called Webview. On iOS, it is WKWebview. These libraries are finally starting to get some attention. So Google, Apple, Intel and others are all making competing libraries. *better for us* ;) One new library for Android is called crosswalk. Many developers like it, but it is bloated.
Best of Luck

Chromium WebView instead of Native WebView

Is it possible to use a Chromium webview instead of the native webview on OSX?
I am guess it is a products like Sencha Desktop Packager exist.
As far as I can tell there drop no convenient libraries/wrappers, but most searches for OSX dev return results for a certain handheld device.
Note
So far I have found CEF and CEFSimpleSample
It's possible to use a Chromium webview instead of a native webview. But the documentation to code such a thing is very rare and poor.
The Chromium Embedded Framework Forum is a good place to ask questions.
I would highly recommend you to alter the CEFSimpleSample because there is a "Chromium Webview" included which works.

Titanium native UI on desktop

I would lie to build a desktop app with Titanium and i thought that the API would give me access to a native ui for desktop. But reading the documentation it seems like the native ui api is directed only to mobile development, while for desktop you have to build the UI yourself in html and js and it will not be native code (with the risk of low performance animation and graphic).
Am i right?
Thanks
Yes you are right. Titanium Desktop only WebKit UI is possible: HTML5+js and/or PHP/Ruby/Python. You can see Tweetanium on git to see how Desktop/Mobile application can be designed. But simply also in mobile you can use a webkit view... It'sn't fast as native UI on mobile but it makes your UI code reusable in both world.
This is exactly what happens on PhoneGap project.

Do XUL applications work only on Firefox

I've seen an XUL-based application recently that supposedly works on the desktop. Isn't XUL the Firefox language? I thought it wouldn't work on anything other that Firefox and certainly wouldn't work as a desktop application.
Can someone who knows more about XUL confirm its compatibility with other browsers (IE, Chrome, etc.) and if it runs as a desktop application, its compatibility with operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux)
check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XULRunner. it was created to run xul applications like firefox. songbird is also based in XUL. for more detail see this SO question.
to actually answer the real question, yes, desktop apps can be built in xul, as firefox is. the wiki page i linked to even points to a video game being built using it. at its core its just another application framework.
XUL is a descriptive language for UI used in Firefox but also used in other mozilla apps, like Thunderbird for example
There is a projet named Xul Runner which allow using XUL for desktop apps (see Pencil for example).
AFAIK, all Mozilla apps are compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux and other system for some.
XUL is a user interface language. It was created originally for mozilla/firefox, but is also used by thunderbird.
The Gecko layout engine is what renders XUL and any application that uses this engine can be built with it. See XUL Runner.
The layout engine has been written with cross platform concerns, so it runs on Windows, Linux and Macs.
XUL only works on xulrunner, and Firefox is built on top of xulrunner. Other applications are built on xulrunner (e.g. Thunderbird). You can also build applications on top of xulrunner.

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