Posts by DecSoft

Hello John,

I am not too much friend to incorporate some specific interface design from one platforms to another, that is, the above it's called "Ribbon" interface, and, it's an artifact of Microsoft for Windows apps. The web is another thing, and, therefore, maybe it's good to have his own ways to do the things.

However, if you perform a search by "Ribbon JavaScript", that is, if you include the magic "Ribbon" word in your search, your problem will be to choose one of the many available alternatives to get something like that interface model working in HTML / JavaScript apps, so, you can try these alternatives... and see what is the best for you.

Then post here if you have some specific doubt or question about the implementation of your choosed library / (jQuery) plugin in your app, but, basically we are must talking about the use of the right HTML markup, JavaScript and CSS style.

Hello John,

Please, take a look at the "app.setVar()" method help, which can establish "global reactive variables" and also told you about this "reactive" variables and the ability to use just "global variables" using the "window" one as the parent for it.

There is no variables "only for views", however, it's possible to establish it if we wanted and in two possible ways. Supose we are talking about the "Show" event of an app view, then, we can define a variable like the below one:

Declaring a variable like the above, means that that variable is available only for the app view Show event, and, not out of that event. But, taking the example of the "non reactive global variables" (as you can see in the above link), we can think in the declaration of variables like below:

Doing that, what you get is a variable placed in a specific container, to say like that, so, you can know that that variable refers to some specific app "myView" variables. So there is not something "out of the box", but, we have the freedom to establish variables in "containers" like the above, who can provide some context for that variables.

About the variables defined in the app and the variables defined in the context of a a Web Extension, we must remember that that contexts are completely separated, so, we can't define app variables to be accessed from the context of the Web Extension and viceversa. This applies also to the local storage: if I am not wrong, the local storage that we can use in the Web Extension context are not the same than the app local storage.

Fortunately we can pass messages from the Web Extension context and the app context and viceversa, so, it's possible to send a message to the app which inform to the app that must save some value in certain app local storage using the "app.setOption" method, for example. So what we must take in consideration is that the contexts are different, and we can't directly accesss the contexts in a "direct way", but, using the communication / messages mechanism.

Please, go ahead and post here if you have some doubts or any further questions around these points.

Hello John,

I think I understand your point. There is someting called "layouts" in AB1, maybe you remember it. That "layouts" is something that must be implemented in AB2. The point is that it's not an easy thing... even no possible... the last time I try it. But I will try again with that, John, I know that layouts, have different layouts, it's something good, so, I must work on it. For now... you must pin / close it everytime... but I hope in the future the layouts are supported in AB2 like are supported in AB1.

P.S. If I don't understand your question, please, post your comments here and I will try to help!

Glad to know that you got it, John! :-)

Hello Michael,

Unfortunately, Cordova Android don't support app bundles yet: probably we can get ready with that in the near future. You can take a look at this Cordova Android issue at Github: maybe it's possible to get the app bundle using Android Studio. However, in my knowledge, the app bundle notice that you get is a warning, not an error, that is, you can continue publishing the app's APK anyway, so, my recomendation is that you do that, and, wait for the support for app bundles in Cordova Android.

Hello Peter,

There are various things to consider here. Honestly I think that compile for 32 and 64 bits can be good "as is", because, except for the disk space, probably that can be what we wanted: get both 32 and 64 bits builds ready to be deployed and used. Yes; I can place some option in order to prepare only the 32 or the 64 bits releases, but, I am not sure about... honestly...

Another thing to consider is to take in consideration this issue of Cordova Electron. As you can see, there is certain issue which causes that the app builders be a bit larger than the possible: I supose this can be enhanced by the Cordova's team in the near future, but, certainly you can follow the instructions of that issue / link in order to get an smaller releases of the app.

About the Calculator sample app, the point is that that sample is included in the previous generation of DecSoft App Builder: the new one do not include a sample like that. Maybe I can include it in the future, however.

Hello Peter,

Unfortunately, the answer is no. That is, we can't see the contents of the HTML control: certainly can be better to see it, but, the designer don't allow something like that. The first generation of AB has an HTML preview panel, in order to see the contents of the HTML controls, but, this do not work very good, so, the new generation of the product don't include something like that. Fortunately, compile and run the app is a question of milliseconds / seconds, so, I trust in that to see what happen with the content of the HTML control. So yes, can be good to see the controls in the HTML control, but, certainly it's not possible in the current designer. I think you can get confidence with that after some time, that is, once you prepare an HTML control with the appropriate stuff, you can survive with that. That's my honest opinion, suposing that there is not a way to do what you wanted.

No problem John! Always thanks you for your trust!

Hello John,

Glad to know that you got what you wanted. Please, let me to comment something about: above you mention that you are using "bootstrap.min.css", but, what this mean? That is, since Bootstrap CSS is the framework used in our apps, you no need to include that file using the app's Files manager, because the Bootstrap CSS is already available "out of the box". So, if you are including that file, just don't do it, because you are duplicating that stuff, which maybe can cause some unexpected behaviour: but the main point is that that stuff is already available, John, so we no need to include it by using the app's Files manager.

Hello Eduardo,

Maybe we can't do nothing about the "The AudioContext was not allowed to start. It must be resumed (or created) after a user gesture on the page." issue, since it's a browser's security check: did not allow the audio to start without an user interaction first. It's similar than the video "autoplay" option: can only work in muted videos. Just think that a website start to play audio without the user intervention... this can be very annoying and therefore the browsers try to limit it.

Maybe you can refer here a specific "audio framework" and what you are trying to do and therefore we can try to take a look around what we can do.

P.S. Try the things in external browsers in addition to the integrated debugger browser: maybe the integrated debugger browser can have some problems with audio / video which do not exists in external browsers: and finally our app works in external browsers, not in the debugger one.

P.S.2. Curiously the AudioPlayer app sample works as expected in Firefox and Edge even if we use the AutoPlay action... that is,... the audio starts automatically when the app start. However, the same don't work in Chrome in my tests. Maybe you want to take a look at this sample too, Eduardo.

Hello again, Peter,

Maybe a way to test this can be to use a "non configured" device, maybe a "reset to default" or "reset to fabric settings" device. May you can use a device like that in order to try with "image/*".

Hello Peter,

It's possible... however I think that there is some previous system configuration set, so "image/*" don't work as you expected... due to this possible system configuration. In my case "image/*" works as expected, so I think there is some possible system configuration related. Sometimes Android ask the user for an option and allow the user to set that option "for always" usage... I think that something similar can happen here. Anyway, it's possible that ".jpg,.png" do the job too, so, it's possible to use like that.

Hello Peter,

I made a small testapp to play with Cordova and Electron. For Electron I have the question, if it is possible to install the app on another location than AppData/local etc.. for example on Harddisk d: (if I am logged in as admin) ?

I must recognize my leak of knowledge about Electron, however, you can made a search around the web for something like "Electron Installer" and you can see some results that may you can take in consideration. A possible solution can be to use a program like Inno Setup, so, you can prepare the installer as you wanted, that is, out of the Electron default installer. But probably there is some stuff specifically designed for Electron that you can use. too.

And the second question regarding Electron: is it possible to reduce the size of the app, which is quite large (400MB) ?

If I am not wrong, when you run the "release" BAT, you can get an executable without debug information, so, smaller. Are you try with the "release" BAT instead of the "debug" one? Again, I will refer you to the Electron documentation: maybe you can do something using the configuration that you can set from App Builder: the configuration of Electron is quite large, that is, there is lot of options that can be used: and it's documented in the Electron website. The Electron Cordova documentation refers to the Electron documentation too. You may can also use an executable compression program like UPX, but, probably with the "release" instead of the "debug" you can get an executable smaller than you refer, and, enough, that is, maybe something like UPX is not required. The installer can also compress the executable files, so, if the installer can be smaller, in my opinion, it's not important that the executable begin "big" after the installation.

With Cordova I have the problem, that I have not installed Visual Studio 2019 but the Win 10 SDK, which is located at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\". How do I get Cordova to look in this location?

I am not sure if can understand this question, since, apparently, Visual Studio 2019 is not needed here, but just the SDK, according to the Cordova Electron documentation. On the other hand, if you can compile the app, is not this a signal that Cordova already uses the SDK in the location that you have it? Maybe you refer to something that I can't understand well, so, please, don't hesitate to post here some more details about what you wanted and what you get.

Hello John,

First of all, I hope you and yours are good. If I understand well (please, post here if I did not do it), the key is to use the HTML control. Inside the HTML control we can place almost any HTML markup that we want to use. One thing to note is that you no need (and probably it's not a good idea!) to place all the HTML of a page... that is... we don't need to copy the "html" and "body" tags, or link to other styles or script in the HTML control.

You can place in an HTML control the HTML markup that you need, and, then, set the right JavaScript code in order to be ready when some button in the HTML markup is pressed by the user. For example, just copy and paste the below code in an app view (App Builder automatically creates an HTML control with that HTML markup inside):

Now, place the below JavaScript code in the app's view Show event:

Now run the app, and, what you can see is a button, that you can press, and, therefore you can see the "alert" that we prepare. Well, this is what we can do, that is, you can place a button, but, also a lot of them if you need it, or any other HTML markup.

Note that the Bootstrap CSS framework is available by default, so you can use it, and, note also that jQuery is also available by default, so, again, you can use it, as you can see above. Take a look also at the "HTML" sample app, because, in addition to the referred stuff, we can also use the power of VueJS inside the HTML controls.

That's the idea, John. Now please, post here if you have any further question or need some specific help and I will try to help!

Hola Jordi,

Tanto la anterior generación de AB como la actual, proporcionan un evento "BackButton", que, internamente, usan el evento que muestras. De modo, que, en principio, no haría falta "colocar" nosotros dicho evento, sino usar el que ya se proporciona. Eso no quita que no pudiera además usarse el código que muestras: podría hacerse también si se viese necesario por alguna razón.