Building Mobile Applications with Java: Using the Google Web Toolkit and PhoneGap

by Joshua Marinacci

Overview

Do you want to develop mobile apps with Java—and have them work on a variety of devices powered by iOS and Android? You’ve come to the right place.

This project-driven book shows you how to build portable apps with two amazing open source frameworks, Google Web Tools (GWT) and PhoneGap. With these tools, you’ll use learn how to write Java code that compiles into cross-platform Javascript and HTML, and discover how to take advantage of features in several popular devices, such as the camera, accelerometer, and GPS.

• Get started with GWT by building an example Twitter search app
• Build a example web app and adapt it for mobile with CSS
• Add touch centric controls with the GWT Mobile UI library
• Develop a working wine journal app that tracks a user’s GPS location
• Use techniques to make a mobile version of your web or desktop app
• Work with HTML5 Canvas to build a mobile video game
• Package your apps for iOS, webOS, and Android with PhoneGap

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449308230
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/21/2012
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Joshua Marinacci first tried Java in 1995 at the request of his favorite TA and never looked back. He has spent the last fifteen years writing Java user interfaces for wireless, web, and desktop platforms. After co-writing Swing Hacks with Chris Adamson, Joshua spent five years at Sun working on Java user interfaces full-time; contributing to Swing, NetBeans, JavaFX, and the Java Store. Then he explored the mobile web for two years as a developer advocate for webOS and has recently joined Nokia as a researcher. Joshua holds a BS in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and lives in Eugene, Oregon with his wife and baby son.

Table of Contents

Preface; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; Safari® Books Online; How to Contact Us; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Greetings, Mobile App Developers; Chapter 2: Getting Started with GWT; 2.1 What Is GWT?; 2.2 Installing GWT; 2.3 Building a Twitter Search App; 2.4 Next Steps; Chapter 3: Getting Started with PhoneGap; 3.1 Packaging a webOS App; 3.2 Packaging an Android App; 3.3 Packaging an iOS App; Chapter 4: Customizing Your App for Mobile; 4.1 CSS Overview; 4.2 Styling GWT with CSS; 4.3 Adapting to Device Screen Sizes; 4.4 Adjusting Layout for Mobile; Chapter 5: Building a Pure Mobile App with GWT Mobile UI; 5.1 Designing the Wine Journal; 5.2 GWT Mobile UI; 5.3 Building the Screens; 5.4 Saving the Wine Data; 5.5 Getting the User’s Location; 5.6 Taking Photos; 5.7 Polish; 5.8 Next Steps; Chapter 6: Advanced Mobile Optimizations; 6.1 Optimizing the Experience; 6.2 Simplify, Simplify, Simplify; 6.3 Other Ways to Simplify; 6.4 Polish, Polish, Then Polish Some More; 6.5 Improving Download Time; Chapter 7: Box2D and Canvas; 7.1 Working with Canvas; 7.2 Physics with Box2D; 7.3 Hooking Up the Accelerometer; Chapter 8: Next Steps;