OpenEdge Development: Mobile Applications - Product ...

Chapter 4: Creating Mobile Apps using JSDOs
Getting started with the Mobile App Builder
Using the Progress OpenEdge Mobile App Builder you can visually build a single client
that can be deployed as a Mobile Web App, an iOS App or an Android App.
The Mobile App Builder is a cloud-based development tool integrated with Progress
Developer Studio for OpenEdge. A Developer Studio project can contain one or more
Mobile Apps, each of which is associated with a unique Mobile App Builder project. The
Mobile App Builder is secure and requires a Progress ID along with an active
subscription.
The Mobile App Builder simplifies the development of a Mobile App by handling much
of the complexity of jQuery Mobile, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and Native App
deployment (managed with Apache Cordova). The Mobile App Builder provides page
templates, along with jQuery Mobile components, to make it fast and easy to prototype
and build the UI of the Mobile App. Simply select any component and drag and drop it
into the phone or tablet image. Once a component is added, you can set various
properties available on the right-hand side. The Mobile App Builder generates
standards-based code for maximum compatibility.
The Mobile App Builder hides the complexity of building the UI as well as adding
behavior to the pages such, as event handlers, page and link navigation, and REST
service invocation. These can all be done without the need for you to write any
JavaScript. In the event that you need to write custom logic, you can always provide
your own JavaScript for the page.
One of the most powerful features of the Mobile App Builder is the tight data-binding
with OpenEdge ProDataSets and temp-tables. As described in Chapter 3, “Creating
Mobile Services,” the data and ABL business logic are accessible by creating an
OpenEdge Mobile service. Within the Mobile App Builder, you simply upload the JSDO
catalog associated with the OpenEdge Mobile service, select the resources and data
model (schema) that you want to use in the Mobile App, and Mobile CRUD operations
and custom business logic for the selected resources are automatically imported as
JSDO Services. These services can be used to pass data back and forth from the
Mobile App to the OpenEdge AppServer as well as invoke custom business logic. All
communication and data transformation is automatically handled by these services. In
addition, data returned from a JSDO Service can be visually mapped to UI
components.
Once the Mobile App is built, it can be previewed for immediate feedback and
collaboration. The preview is a Mobile Web App that runs in an emulator. This can be
automatically deployed on the Mobile App Builder server in the cloud or it can be
downloaded locally and deployed to a local Web server of your choice. Other available
deployment choices include building an iOS App deployed through the Apple AppStore
or building an Android App deployed through Google Play. For more information on
these Mobile App deployment options, see Chapter 5, “Deploying Mobile Applications.”
90 OpenEdge ® Development: Mobile Applications