8 ms·

Build and test iPhone/iPad apps without a Mac

126 points by amirnathoo 14y ago

Cushman 14y ago
This + RubyMotion is getting dangerously close to Heroku for apps. Not sure what that means exactly, but I'm super excited.
- samstave 14y ago
  It means a big exit.
- samstave 14y ago
  It means a big exit.
creamyhorror 14y ago
I think you can also build and test iOS apps on Windows with this iOS Build Environment (but you need a jailbroken device): http://www.pmbaty.com/iosbuildenv/ http://www.pmbaty.com/iosbuildenv/ It lets you code in MS Visual Studio and compile to a .deb/.ipa. Then you transfer it to your device and run it. A bit hacky, admittedly. In the end you still have to sign and submit the app on a Mac, but at least the development is all done on Windows. I also came across Dragonfire-SDK and one or two other iOS remote compilation/signing services, but this looks like it'll work better for coding directly in Obj-C.
- exim 14y ago
  iosbuildenv looks interesting, but it doesn't come with a simulator. You can only see the actual running app on the device.
- conradev 14y ago
  Huh, I'll have to check the licenses on some of the software included, and see if they allow for the code to be sold as part of a package.
  - josephcooney 14y ago
    Yes. Maybe they're trying to be cute with the 'donation' angle, "hey, we're not selling....we just require a donation of a fixed amount".
kogus 14y ago
You can also use Delphi on Windows of all things. http://www.itwriting.com/blog/4841-hands-on-with-delphi-xe2-for-apple-ios.html http://www.itwriting.com/blog/4841-hands-on-with-delphi-xe2-...
rogerbraun 14y ago
You can also do this with Adobe Air. It's also free. Take a look at http://www.flashdevelop.org/ http://www.flashdevelop.org/.
- dugmartin 14y ago
  I wish mobile AIR development would get more traction in the developer community. I'm building games with it (using FlashDevelop) and it is great. The best part is that since at its core it is just a SWF I can also run the game over a (Flash enabled) browser.
  - rogerbraun 14y ago
    I am actually doing games, too. When we started our current game, we looked at the options for multiplatform development and found Air. I was really surprised by the (technical) quality of the system. It's easy to set up, easy to program and has really good performance. I now wonder why I have never really heard about this.
    - khalidmbajwa 14y ago
      Adobe's toolchain is breathtakingly sophisticated , mature and powerful. It's incredibly easy to start writing really powerful programes with AIR. I look at all these HTML5 frameworks each with their own idiosyncrasies and pain-points, and the stuff you have to do to make it work seamlessly across devices and i want to cry. Then what is the reason AIR never really got traction ? Performance ! AIR is a known performance hog, on mobiles it can be virtually unusable. Adobe really missed the ship on this one. They had everything going for them, but they were never really able to make it's performance worthwhile.Which is a shame, given how much of joy the Flex/Air Platform is to work with
      - dugmartin 14y ago
        You should check out the newest AIR release (3.3) - with Stage3D you get great gpu driven performance. You don't really need to do anything new to get it if you use wrapper frameworks like Starling (http://gamua.com/starling/ http://gamua.com/starling/)
primitur 14y ago
Here is my new, awesome, cross-platform development methodology: use a MOAI host for iOS, Android, Windows, OSX, or Linux (your pick), which simply takes its sources from http://somewhere.at/project.zip http://somewhere.at/project.zip or thereabouts. Code on a local workstation (Windows/OSX/Linux), test the app, deploy immediately to a local Android or iOS device for testing. http://getmoai.com/ http://getmoai.com/ Simply kicks ass.
TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
This is hardly a new or innovative service, these guys have done it for over 2 years now (IIRC): http://dragonfiresdk.com/ http://dragonfiresdk.com/
- lnanek2 14y ago
  PhoneGap has a remote build service like in this announcement too. I can only say this article is about catching up to others...
  - jamesbrady 14y ago
    You mean PhoneGap Build? It's actually a bit different, because you have to send up your whole app to their server, where a compile and package is done and the fully-baked app is returned. Useful in some situations, to be sure, but this approach means you still get all the benefits of the Trigger toolchain - builds are done in seconds rather than minutes.
reedlaw 14y ago
Any instructions for Linux?
- amirnathoo 14y ago
  Working on it, can you email support@trigger.io and we'll email the draft when it's ready.
avojro 14y ago
Do trigger.io apps have the same speed/responsiveness issues that people usually experience with PhoneGap?
- amirnathoo 14y ago
  You have to write your apps in the right way for mobile and we've blogged about ways to do that: http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blog/2012/03/02/how-to-build-fast-html5-mobile-apps-using-backbone-js-zepto-js-and-trigger-io/ http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blo... We've also done benchmarks of our native bridge vs phonegap showing it to be 5x faster on Android: http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blog/2012/02/24/why-trigger-io-doesnt-use-phonegap-5x-faster-native-bridge/ http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blo...

126 points by amirnathoo 14y ago

This + RubyMotion is getting dangerously close to Heroku for apps. Not sure what that means exactly, but I'm super excited.

samstave 14y ago
It means a big exit.
samstave 14y ago
It means a big exit.

creamyhorror 14y ago

I think you can also build and test iOS apps on Windows with this iOS Build Environment (but you need a jailbroken device): http://www.pmbaty.com/iosbuildenv/ http://www.pmbaty.com/iosbuildenv/ It lets you code in MS Visual Studio and compile to a .deb/.ipa. Then you transfer it to your device and run it. A bit hacky, admittedly. In the end you still have to sign and submit the app on a Mac, but at least the development is all done on Windows. I also came across Dragonfire-SDK and one or two other iOS remote compilation/signing services, but this looks like it'll work better for coding directly in Obj-C.

exim 14y ago
iosbuildenv looks interesting, but it doesn't come with a simulator. You can only see the actual running app on the device.
conradev 14y ago
Huh, I'll have to check the licenses on some of the software included, and see if they allow for the code to be sold as part of a package.
- josephcooney 14y ago
  Yes. Maybe they're trying to be cute with the 'donation' angle, "hey, we're not selling....we just require a donation of a fixed amount".

kogus 14y ago

You can also use Delphi on Windows of all things. http://www.itwriting.com/blog/4841-hands-on-with-delphi-xe2-for-apple-ios.html http://www.itwriting.com/blog/4841-hands-on-with-delphi-xe2-...

rogerbraun 14y ago

You can also do this with Adobe Air. It's also free. Take a look at http://www.flashdevelop.org/ http://www.flashdevelop.org/.

dugmartin 14y ago
I wish mobile AIR development would get more traction in the developer community. I'm building games with it (using FlashDevelop) and it is great. The best part is that since at its core it is just a SWF I can also run the game over a (Flash enabled) browser.
- rogerbraun 14y ago
  I am actually doing games, too. When we started our current game, we looked at the options for multiplatform development and found Air. I was really surprised by the (technical) quality of the system. It's easy to set up, easy to program and has really good performance. I now wonder why I have never really heard about this.
  - khalidmbajwa 14y ago
    Adobe's toolchain is breathtakingly sophisticated , mature and powerful. It's incredibly easy to start writing really powerful programes with AIR. I look at all these HTML5 frameworks each with their own idiosyncrasies and pain-points, and the stuff you have to do to make it work seamlessly across devices and i want to cry. Then what is the reason AIR never really got traction ? Performance ! AIR is a known performance hog, on mobiles it can be virtually unusable. Adobe really missed the ship on this one. They had everything going for them, but they were never really able to make it's performance worthwhile.Which is a shame, given how much of joy the Flex/Air Platform is to work with
    - dugmartin 14y ago
      You should check out the newest AIR release (3.3) - with Stage3D you get great gpu driven performance. You don't really need to do anything new to get it if you use wrapper frameworks like Starling (http://gamua.com/starling/ http://gamua.com/starling/)

primitur 14y ago

Here is my new, awesome, cross-platform development methodology: use a MOAI host for iOS, Android, Windows, OSX, or Linux (your pick), which simply takes its sources from http://somewhere.at/project.zip http://somewhere.at/project.zip or thereabouts. Code on a local workstation (Windows/OSX/Linux), test the app, deploy immediately to a local Android or iOS device for testing. http://getmoai.com/ http://getmoai.com/ Simply kicks ass.

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago

This is hardly a new or innovative service, these guys have done it for over 2 years now (IIRC): http://dragonfiresdk.com/ http://dragonfiresdk.com/

lnanek2 14y ago
PhoneGap has a remote build service like in this announcement too. I can only say this article is about catching up to others...
- jamesbrady 14y ago
  You mean PhoneGap Build? It's actually a bit different, because you have to send up your whole app to their server, where a compile and package is done and the fully-baked app is returned. Useful in some situations, to be sure, but this approach means you still get all the benefits of the Trigger toolchain - builds are done in seconds rather than minutes.

reedlaw 14y ago

Any instructions for Linux?

amirnathoo 14y ago
Working on it, can you email support@trigger.io and we'll email the draft when it's ready.

avojro 14y ago

Do trigger.io apps have the same speed/responsiveness issues that people usually experience with PhoneGap?

amirnathoo 14y ago
You have to write your apps in the right way for mobile and we've blogged about ways to do that: http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blog/2012/03/02/how-to-build-fast-html5-mobile-apps-using-backbone-js-zepto-js-and-trigger-io/ http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blo... We've also done benchmarks of our native bridge vs phonegap showing it to be 5x faster on Android: http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blog/2012/02/24/why-trigger-io-doesnt-use-phonegap-5x-faster-native-bridge/ http://trigger.io/cross-platform-application-development-blo...