I am developing a Map editing software that works in correlation with my Android game engine. I currently have the software nearly complete written in c# using visual studios. You can view the required functionality and current program via this video Here.
I realize after already developing the map editor that visual studios was not the best choice for me. I need the engine to run on OSX AND Windows (linux would be nice too). What I am asking from you is what are some decent options for building a cross platform GUI. I have done some research on QT however I am not a huge fan of C++. I would prefer to write in C, C#, Java, or possibly a scripting language.
Here is a list of things I would like to see:
Cross platform ( OSX and Windows are a must)
Visual Form builder (I like QTs and Visual Studios...also not that picky)
GUI is clean (Design is big for me, so I dont want the old windows 2000 look)
Not C++
I understand Java in itself is cross platform; however, it seems clunky to me. Thats more of a last resort.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The mono framework is an open source version of the dot net framework that works on Linux and Mac
http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page
I have .net c# background(don't mind to learn new language to get the things right). Right now i want to make some small applications for Iphone/Android phones.Basically, i will show some graphs with data retrieved through my webservice.
Can anyone tell me which developing tool should i use to create those small apps quickly?
I don't have any experience with Flash.And i just know that Flash builder 4.5 can convert Flash applications to Iphone/Android. However, i don't feel like that it is a native way to build Iphone/Android app
But if you advise that, i might go that way.
thank you
Xamarin has products that allows you to use C# (and your existing skills) for both iOS (iPhone / iPad) and Android devices : MonoTouch and Mono for Android.
disclaimer: I work for Xamarin
You might want to use frameworks that help build apps for multiple platforms with the need to know native programming languages. PhoneGap is one of these popular frameworks.
You can use C# to create a WCF service. There are a few different libraries to develop Android applications. If you want to work with C#, you can check out Mono for Android.
http://docs.xamarin.com/android
From my knowledge, however, Java is the preferred language to develop Android application. Eclipse has a great plugin which integrates with the Android SDK / Emulator.
We want to write a client for an online service which should be available on as many platforms as possible. This question is about what programming language and framework we should use to create this client.
These platforms are required: Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS (iPhone, iPod, iPad) and Android. The more the better.
For the mobile platforms there is Titanium Mobile. I haven't tried this thing yet, the website says you can develop for both iOS and Android using web skills such as Javascript. I don't know yet if you can deploy for both platforms using the SAME code. It would be great!
There is also Titanium Desktop but I don't like the idea that the complete source code is shared with the final application. Titanium does this for Mobile too but it isn't that easy to modify an app loaded via App Store.
So, what other way is there to create an application which runs on at least the three major desktop platforms? I thought c# with mono would be the way to go but I just realized that you need to use mono with MonoMac in order to publish it on the Mac App Store and use things like Growl. And since MonoMac is naturally only available for Macs, it's again not possible to deploy the mono app on all platforms without rewriting it for at least the Mac. And it would be nice if the app looks "native" on all platforms. Gtk# just does not look good on a Mac. It's "okay" on Windows and great on Linux.
I know we could use Objective-C for iOS and Mac, Java for Android, C#.net for Windows and C#.mono for Linux but the main point is that we don't want to write the same app in a lot of different languages. That would make development and maintenance really hard.
And we prefer languages with C-style syntax which are much easier to learn for us PHP web developers. Btw: We dislike Air and I'm not sure about Java since I never used it but it also does not look "native" and it feels kinda slow.
Edit:
Just a note: It wouldn't be a problem to create an own form for each platform if at least the remaining code is the same. Is it possible to use MonoMac, Gtk# and Win Forums in the same C# application? And I'd prefer C# over C++ as I have no skills in C++, so I first need to check how hard it is to write with Qt.
Another note: We don't plan to spend much money and because we need to pay Apples Developer Programs we want to use free or cheap technology. Preferable Open Source.
Just use C# for all of the above.
The mono project will cover Mac and Linux, with monodroid your android requirements are covered and monotouch will take care of iPod/iPad/iPhone.
In regards to UI - mono has full support for the System.Windows.Forms namespace, so you don't have to use GTK# if you don't want to.
I don't think I need to mention windows support ;)
If you really want to support all those platforms from a single application, your best bet will be to create a web application. With HTML5, such an application can even be cached on the device and used when no connection is available. Also, that strategy would make it feasible to customize the UI based on the device running the app.
You will not have good luck if you set out to build a single native app that runs on Android and iOS, let alone all the other platforms you mentioned. The reason that they're different platforms rather than the same is that they're, well, different. They have different capabilities, run on different hardware, are built with different languages, employ different application models with different user interfaces, and have audiences with different expectations.
The best solution I've come across over the years is Qt SDK.
Great support for all major platforms, Symbian, OS X, Linux flavors, Windows, Windows CE (mobile), Android and iOS partial support and etc.
Its base is C++ but bindings for almost every language (like C#) is available. Lots of help and support is also covered.
The core Qt libs are very fast and extensive, And the whole KDE desktop (of Linux) is done with it. Famous software like VLC and VirtualBox are done in Qt.
Another relatively new way of doing cross-platform development is to use the open source Eto.Forms, which allows you to have one UI codebase target each platform's native toolkit. It is a UI abstraction layer that can target GTK#, MonoMac/OSX, WinForms, and WPF.
There is also an iOS port in the works.
Java sounds like the best fit. It is cross-platform, easy to understand, has a huge userbase and android is based on it.
Depending if you need an offline interaction mode, it sounds like you should develop a web application. You can develop a mobile version and a desktop version and thus support all the of the above platforms. Look at youtube's application for Iphone, it retains the same functionality as the the iphone app but is purely html. Furthermore, html5 capable browsers could also have the ability to run offline.
Crazy as it sounds, check out Flash/Flex - it is cross platform, code once, run everywhere ,now compiles down to native code on e.g. Android and iOS and the 10.1 player is shipping all over. I had to solve exactly this problem and when Flash Builder Burrito catered for mobile after working with it for a while I have switching from C#/Flash hybrid to Flash only for clients. (Our backend is C#/Node/C++, etc).
Depending on your timelines and needs it is something look into.
Some random links to peruse:
Blog post about performance and video to single app multi device
Developing flash and flex applications
I'm looking to start developing an iPhone app. I have zero experience in objective C but have expeirence in C#. I'm just wondering what do I need to develop an iPhone app? Where do i start? What is the best tool to develop in? Do I need a Mac to develop the app or can I do it on a PC with a low amount of pain?
many thanks!
You must have a Mac if you wish to put your app on the iTunes App store.
You should get the WWDC 2010 videos (available when you have a developer account on developer.apple.com, and also get the free books from apple in the iBooks store (search apple developer).
So far for me the best tool has been Xcode.
Apple has some excellent getting started videos and Aaron Hillegas has a great book that serves as an introduction to cocoa programming on the mac. (Mac based, but translates well to iPhone)
If you want to code in c# you should consider MonoTouch
Basic Requirements:
Apple's iPhone SDK 3.2 or higher, available from Apple's iPhone Dev Center (http://developer.apple.com/iphone/).
An Intel Mac computer running MacOS 10.5 or 10.6 (Leopard or Snow Leopard).
The latest release of Mono for OSX
Please search this site for iphone getting started to get tons of info about this subject (it's a frequently asked question).
And yes, you will need a Mac. If you can't afford a MacBook or iMac, the best solution is to buy a used Mac Mini on eBay or something. No, there really is no way to be able to do iPhone development without a Mac (also a frequently asked question :-).
Hello Guys I simply want to ask that is it possible to deploy Silverlight Apps on Android.
No, there's nothing on this platform yet that allows you to run Silverlight applications. The upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform will allow running Silverlight and XNA applications.
My expectations are from MonoDroid to come first which will bring C# to Android and after maybe Moonlight could be ported.
Looks like there is some work being done to port Moonlight to Android. They've got a demo of it here:
http://jeffreystedfast.blogspot.com/2011/04/moonlight-on-android.html
Yep, I suppose that the guys from Google will consider SL support for Android in addition to Flash, and I bet this will not be so far away in the future :)
Dick