One frontend for iPhone/iPad, Android and Multi-Touch displays.

Hello to all.

I have built a multi-touch application which is based on a Java EE backend and combined with BlazeDS to a Adobe Flex frontend. The application runs on a DIY-Multi-Touch which I built. Now I want to use another solution. The Adobe Flex frontend (with a multitouch library) and the BlazeDS adapter should be replaced by a solution which covers iPhone/iPad, Android and commercial Multi-Touch displays.

The problem is the iPad/iPhone, there is no Flash Player runtime (not the jail-breaked ones), but the application should be runnable also on those devices. So Adobe Flex and a Java frontend (no JVM on the iPhone/iPad) is not possible anymore. At first, starting the developing of the application it was not neccessary, to run it on Apples mobile devices, but this changed :-(

So, what can I do, using HTML5? So I can use it for Android and iPhone/iPad. But I also want to make it possible to use it on a commercial multi-touch-display and normal display with a mouse (I only have gestures for one finger, the 2-finger gestures are not neccessary). Are there any frameworks that allow this? Because I do not want to create several frontends (App for iPhone/iPad on Objective-C and a Adobe Flex for all other devices), it would be great if I can build a frontend for all devices.

Does anyone know how I could realize this?

Best Regards Tim

The Adobe Flex frontend (with a multitouch library) and the BlazeDS adapter should be replaced by a solution which covers iPhone/iPad, Android and commercial Multi-Touch displays.

Android 2.2 and higher supports the full Flash Player, and therefore also supports Flex applications. However, Adobe has spoken of improving such support for the next Flex release, expected out early next year.

Apple has kind of specifically said they want to prevent the type cross platform development you're trying to accomplish.

Without knowing, or seeing, your application it is hard to say whether HTML5 will support you. But, yes, many parts of HTML5 should work across multiple browsers.

You may want to investigate Elips Studio which brings ActionScript applications to multiple devices including apple devices.

Okay, thanks a lot, does it also support Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices? And what about Multi-Touch displays and normal displays?

Tim 2010-09-06 13:34:05

Obviously it can only do as much as the built-in browser of said devices can do. If you have such a device at hand, try their demos to see how well it works. I don't think you will have much luck with Windows mobile, or most blackberries but the newest ones which have a netkit-based browser.

ammoQ 2010-09-06 19:15:56

Okay, phonegap seems to support more devices?!

Tim 2010-09-07 14:39:21

Sencha does not support Windows Mobile, and we have no plans to. It will support Blackberry Torch (and all devices running the vastly improved Blackberry OS6 browser). [Sencha Person]

Michael Mullany 2010-09-07 20:49:24

Okay, so iOS, Android and BlackBerry Touch. And what about desktop webkit browsers or FireFox4 on Multti-Touch displays? Is it possible to enable for example two finger zooming (pinch)?

Tim 2010-09-08 08:58:50

Yes, but it should also run on iPhone/iPad and therefore I can not use Adobe Flex/Flash anymore. I have a simple multi-touch based application. I can tap, double-tap, drag'n'drop and zoom in and out, but for zooming I will need two finger points, soI think it will be possible on mobile devices, but not on a normal PC display.

Tim 2010-09-06 13:31:20

I'm not sure which part of my answer you're saying "yes" to. Elips Studio does support iPhone, iPad, Android, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. I would expect that Blackberry can't be too far behind. You can write in ActionScript / MXML using Flash Builder and deploy to in the device's native format. It's not using the Flash Player per say, but it is using the same skill set you have from Flex development.

www.Flextras.com 2010-09-06 18:10:36

Okay, so Elips Studio is a cross-compiler. But how can I run this on a multi-touch display running Windows 7? There I will use Adobe Flex with the generated swf?

Tim 2010-09-08 09:02:59

@Tim, yes Elips Studio is a cross-compiler. I'm not sure how it will run on a Win7 multi-touch display, if at all. They are two very different use cases that demand very different experience. But, be sure to let me know if you find a satisfactory solution for accessing all these different use cases w/ the same code set.

ansaurus

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One frontend for iPhone/iPad, Android and Multi-Touch displays.

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