I Have Created A Beautiful Design Of My App Using Adobe XD. But Now I Want To Convert That Design Into App That Looks Exact The Same. How do I go from an Adobe XD prototype to a working app?
Your question sounds a bit like your searching for a way to convert your design into an app without dealing with the code a lot (in a kind of WYSIWYG-fashion similar to what Adobe Muse does for websites). My answer assumes that that's what you're asking. If not, please feel free to ignore my answer...
Adobe XD is only a design app. This means, that it doesn't really have code generation features. Having said that, there are now a few plugins that can support you in writing this code (e.g. Lightning Storm CC – to my knowledge – supports Android UI export).
Also, as Ash Ryan Arnwine mentioned before, design specs support you when developing the UI (you'll need to code it yourself, though).
All in all, there is no way around either knowing how to code or hiring a developer when creating an Android app. Therefore, these tools can only support you in development, not replace the technical aspect of developing an app. The answer to your question, therefore, is that there, unfortunately (or fortunately – depending on how you look at it?) isn't any way to quickly "convert" a prototype (which really is nothing more than a prototype) into a real app other than coding it yourself (possibly with the assistance of the tools mentioned by Ash Ryan Arnwine and me).
Since there are many unique workflows out there for designers and developers, there's no single answer to your question.
Here are a few things worth looking into:
Adobe XD design specs: View design specs published from Adobe XD, which enable you to inspect and comment on the flows, measurements, and styles.
Adobe XD for Jira Cloud: Associate XD prototypes and design specs with Jira issues to keep projects organized and provide developers with everything they need to know right within Jira.
Adobe XD plugins: Plugins are coming soon to XD. A couple of common use cases for plugins is designer-developer and design-to-code workflows. If the plugin you want to see isn't when plugins launch, the APIs will be open for anyone to build it.
The answer depends on your response to this question: Are you ready to spend money to make this happen? if so, there are two Adobe plugins that try to convert your prototype(anyway, you'll need to code and make efforts in Android Studio). Those plugins are:
Lightning Storm
Yotako
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What is the most current way to build a firefox extension? I realize this question as been asked many times before, but the answers I found no longer seem up to date enough, especially since the add-on builder has been ditched.
So far I have spent a bit of time learning XUL, the add-on builder, and the SDK. There are many tutorials out there for all and I have found it very frustrating to spend some time with each before realizing it is outdated. Even the SDK tutorials are often flagged "In need of technical review" or are a couple of years old.
If the SDK is the best way to get started, are the official Mozilla tutorials the most up to date? Are there other good alternatives?
Depends on the type of add-on you want to create and how much effort you're willing to put in...
Simple add-ons, like add-ons creating some toolbar button and/or interacting with web pages or doing some XHR to display some info: The SDK is likely best suited for your needs.
Everything that could be a Greasemonkey user script: SDK and page-mod.
Add-ons that are aimed at modifying/augmenting/enhancing Firefox (UI) itself are very likely better off going the XUL (overlay) road.
Very complex add-ons, that will e.g. will use some own dialogs/windows are likely better off using XUL (overlays) as well. Also it is kinda possible to use "websites" / html instead of real windows and dialogs (but usually the results suck IMHO).
If you're really into pain, bootstrapped (plain restartless add-ons without the SDK) are always another option.
You should keep in mind that the supported API of the SDK is still pretty limited and hides tons of low-level stuff by design. Therefore, right now, lots of SDK add-ons will use the chrome module anyway, and leave the safe surroundings of the SDK doing so...
I personally do not like the SDK, because I find it to be too limiting, and once you stumble upon a bug in the SDK itself (or at least think you found one), actually reading the vast abstractions that is the SDK is rather painful.
But then again the learning curve for simple stuff is rather tiny, so for beginners trying to create simple add-ons, it is a good fit.
I want to do unit testing in iOS. By default test classes are created using XCTest framework classes in Xcode 5. I have used SenTestingKit in earlier versions of iOS. What are the differences between these two frameworks? What are the advantages of XCTest framework. I googled for related documentation but I did not find any. Only thing I found is the interface classes to use inside the kit. Can anyone point me to the related resources.
Apple's documentation is notably lacking with regards to testing. It's a shame, because spending five minutes with XCTest made me fall for it. So, here are some docs that you may find useful.
First, stop and watch the WWDC video about testing: https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/videos/?include=409#409 (must be a registered developer)
Then, read about Bots. They're the real magic in XCTest. I'm currently setting up an environment of a Mac Mini running Mavericks Server connected to a small array of iPod Touches, iPhones and iPads that will simultaneously run my unit tests and report back. It's damn near magic.
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/xcode_guide-continuous_integration/000-About_Continuous_Integration/about_continuous_integration.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40013292
All that said, I don't know SenTest well enough to compare the two. But I am learning XCTest, so here are a few thoughts on what I'm really digging about it so far.
It's already there. There's nothing to download, and you can make your test class objects at the same time as you make that which you wish to test. Rad.
Because it's integrated so deeply with Xcode, you can see test coverage in the gutter. You can also use Companion View to see the testers from source, or the source from tester methods. Also, it will always be up to date - no waiting to fix integration with Xcode because Apple "broke" something.
Continuous Integration. The bots are just magical, and they're so easy. You also get Git hosting, which is a small fringe perk, but more so if you prefer your Git internally hosted but don't want to pay for GitHub Enterprise.
And, a few cons for measure:
Lack of Documentation. Asking me to read the headers for a list of assertions is a ballsy move. I have no doubt Apple will fix this soon, but not soon enough.
You are tied to Xcode a little more deeply. Not really a con for development, but scripting XCTest isn't as elegant as other options may be.
Continuous Integration requires OS X Server. It can be on the same machine if you really want, but it's $20 to buy, even if you owned Mountain Lion Server. I am not at all bitter about this one (ha).
My two cents. Hope it helps. I'd really recommend watching that video I linked to - they do live test creation and make a really compelling case for unit testing in general, regardless of if you use XCTest.
XCTest are included by default with ios7 and integrate better with the new continuous integration functionality.
https://developer.apple.com/technologies/tools/
It seems the advantages are presently few, but that will hopefully change over time, so starting a community wiki to document some:
The XCTAssert… family of macros can handle you leaving out the format parameter (used for commenting why a test should pass) entirely. This is handy for keeping simple tests (where it's obvious from the test itself what it's doing) clean in the editor. STAssert… required us to make the format parameter nil or some such instead.
There's a generic XCTAssert() macro, which feels neater than bodging some types of check into STAssertTrue.
I have been reading the abstracts on the website http://www.rikulo.org but all those cryptic vague statements do not help me. The examples are all about visuals.
I do not understand what this framework is capeable of doing. The big picture is missing.
What kind of apps can i build with rikulo?
Is there any access to the hardware?
Can is use the smartphones sensordata and send e.g. coordinates from my smartphone to a web service?
What are the limitations?
As described in this blog, Rikulo is aimed to provide a structured UI model for Web and mobile programming. We are the same team who developed ZK. With Rikulo, we'd like to take a step further since many things have been changed since we developed ZK in 2005. Also, both Dart and HTML 5 are young. It is an excellent moment to explore the best possible UI architecture for both Web and mobile programming.
For example, we use absolute positioning to give programmers 100% control the layout of UI rather than spending hours to figure out why it fails in certain combination. Another example is "recursive layered structure", such as layout manager and visual effect handling -- rather than ad hoc features targeting specific problems individually.
On the other hand, we don't have many widgets yet. It might be the reason that confused you. As a Apache licensed project, we hope we can have an active community for building widgets and addons, as long as we can really provide a solid and elegant architecture -- it is what we focus now and keep refining.
To access the hardware, you can use Rikulo Gap which is based on Cordova/PhoneGap. To communicate back the server, you can use Web socket or HttpRequest. We will have more advanced support for jsonizing, caching and communicating Dart objects between client and server, but it is not ready yet.
Technically, there is no limitation. Of course, the current number of widgets is definitely not enough, but it will get more in the near future. Furthermore, you always can create them with HTML 5 (and contribute back). However, for mobile applications, one thing you have to keep in mind: the performance won't be as good as the apps written in Objective C. The good is Rikulo is cross platform and your app can be accessed with Web browsers and as a native app.
Though I am a programmer, I have never written for any Apple device. As such, my iOS-specific knowledge and familiarity with their API is nearly non-existent so please bear with me.
I would like to create an action from the lock screen (swipe, double tap clock, whatever) that would unlock and immediately open the App Switcher (I am not interested in extensions ala SwitcherPlus or the like). I guess this means writing a small script, and I could use some help concerning the API and other basics (the core features, shouldn't need any fringe stuff). While I am willing to get into the nitty gritty if need be, I am open to other solutions. Even something as high-level as chaining several Activator responses together would be fine.
I see Ruby under Cydia/Scripting (Telesphoreo). Though I'd slightly prefer Python or even Bash, being that my purposes are fairly minor Ruby would be just fine. I would rather not use Objective-C. While my original goal is the behavior described above, I can see myself wanting to do similar things in the future so some tips towards general know-how would be much appreciated.
If it is not clear, this a purely personal project. I am not at all concerned with packaging, sharing, backwards compatibility, commercial appeal, etc
PS - I have, until this point, set my Cydia viewing to "hacker" but not "dev". Does this endeavor indicate that I should up it to dev? The term seems a little generous, but if it opens up packages that I will need...
EDIT: I use an iPhone 4S, iOS 5.0.1
I don't think that this is possible in any scripting language. For one reason: You'll need to do code injection to achieve these goals (MobileSubstrate).
1) If you want to detect user interaction, you'll have to add ways to detect it or hook implementations which are already there. Even if you just wanna use Activator, you'll still have to develop a binary to register itself with Activator -> objC
2) There is no known way (at least to me) to interact with SpringBoard via scripts the way you want. So you'll have to make a binary which would execute the opening of the switcher.
I hope someone will have a better answer for you, but I'm very very sure that you won't get around using C/objC
There is a tool called http://www.cycript.org/ which is a bridge between JavaScript and objC, but I have never seen it being used for more than investigating.
I'm working on a application that requires a feature-rich media view, including images, videos, and smooth sequencing based on capture time. The backend is currently written in Rails.
What's currently the best, most mature option for implementing RIAs with Rails on the backend? I've looked at Flex, Laszlo, and ExtJS. ExtJS is interesting to me because I'm really not a fan of pure Flash UIs, but it seems highly targeted towards business apps, not entertainment applications like this.
Any suggestions or insights from others doing similar efforts will be very much appreciated.
Thanks!
I second zdmytriv for that book Flexible Rails, it's awesome. It's fairly outdated now though but lays out how simple it is to create a solid Project Management application with Flex and Rails. Everything in there has now become "RestfulX".
Check out RestfulX, it's a must. The RestfulX Google Group is very active too and they've made a lot easy.
We built this website in Flex with RestfulX and it was very easy. That application uses the Rails Paperclip gem to do image processing in a Flex admin panel like ScrapBlog (Scrapblog was built in Flex), and we could use some cool layout effects built into Flex 4. RestfulX made that pretty easy, and the gems made it even easier :p. They have generators too like Rails so it's real easy to get up and running with a DataGrid/CMS-like interface in 5 minutes.
I don't know anything about the other things you've mentioned, but I do know that it's pretty fun and easy to integrate Flex with Rails now-a-days.
As a side note, you can do hardcore SEO with Flex and Rails too, thanks to SWFAddress. We're doing that with that site above.
Cheers
I can recommend Flex and also this book Flexible Rails, whole book dedicated Flex with Rail cooperation. List of sample applications from the book here
Flexible Rails http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QysfVDlVL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
If you're serious about considering Ext as an option, you should really search and maybe post in their forums about others using Rails, I know there are quite a few doing so successfully. I just ran across this example that seems like a pretty fully-baked app doing just that, so it's definitely possible.
Without knowing exactly what you're trying to do, I think that saying Ext is "targeted towards business apps" is a fair general statement, in terms of the widgets that come with it out of the box. It's highly geared toward window/form-based Ajax apps. That said, Ext Core is very similar to jQuery and other core frameworks, and everything in Ext is built to be highly extensible (hence, "ext"). In terms of being able to build what you need off of it, it is very powerful and flexible. You can certainly implement a flash viewer easily, and there are existing plugins that will do exactly that.
Sounds like Toby had a bad experience with Ext, but many other people enjoy it and find it very natural to code in. The syntax definitely has a Java/C# flavor to it in some ways (although it's really hard to directly compare any JS framework to a static language), and it has roots in YUI (which is even more verbose). For someone coming from C-ish backgrounds, it will likely feel very comfortable. If you're more used to Python or Ruby or something else, then it might not be as enjoyable, I don't know. Something you'd have to try for yourself.
Take a look at WebOrb from themidnightcoders.com. Among many features, it allows for AMF protocol for serialization of data. It is smoking fast.
IMO, if you want a true RIA experience, you'll need to focus on either Flex or Silverlight. There are pros and cons to each.
I did a GWT project a while back and am working with Ext right now. I have some C# / Swing GUI experience, none in Flash.
I like Ext a lot. It looks great, and I found the programming model close enough to the C#'s and Swings of the world as to be familiar and fairly pleasant. The documentation is not excellent, but definitely good enough. For Java at least, there is a solid remoting mechanism (third party, called DJN... most likely there are others, too). A couple of minor bugs here and there.
The major negative is support. They have a forum but there are a distressingly large number of questions and problems that go unresolved. They have paid support in theory, but were sufficiently unresponsive to basic 'how does your paid support work' type questions that I was not encouraged to buy any. There is only one book that I know of, it looks promising but it is not out yet.
I found GWT impressive and had no real problems, but at the end of of the day I am much happier with Ext.
Have you taken a look at Google Web Toolkit yet? In my opinion it's a great way to build rich and performant web applications. The toolkit is quite mature (Google Wave is build with it) and has a lot of good tools to make development easy.
Here's a previous Stakoverflow post.
I don't know about best, but I did a project using ExtJS and hated every minute of it. Frustratingly verbose code, overly complicated programming model, confusing documentation, and difficult to make it do anything it didn't want to.
That said, it looks very awesome, has incredibly powerful widgets and the client and users loved it.
I haven't helped at all, have I?
I think if you requirements include doing anything with video and audio, you are going to need a Flash solution.
Take a look at netzke -- client-server components with Sencha Ext JS and Ruby on Rails.
Netzke is a framework that allows for a beautiful blend of client- and
server-side code (JavaScript and Ruby, respectively) into ready-to-use
GUI components. It's most useful for creating complex data-rich
backend applications with Ruby on Rails on the back end, and Sencha
Ext JS in the browser.