Getting Started building a Native application with npm

This guide covers creating an Ext JS Native application using npm.

Requirements

These are required to use the steps below.

• Java 8 or 11+

Cordova

Apache Cordova provides APIs and packaging tools that create applications for Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone devices. Sencha Cmd 5+ provides a build system that supports multiple build profiles. This is ideal for native packaging. The Cordova Native Packager components have been updated to take full advantage of this feature.

PhoneGap

PhoneGap is built on top of Cordova and both have access to the Cordova API. PhoneGap and Cordova differ by how their packaging tools are implemented. PhoneGap provides a remote building interface at Adobe PhoneGap Build that lets you package and emulate an application for a single platform in the cloud. The PhoneGap Native Packager components have been updated to take full advantage of this feature.

Picking a Packager

When choosing between Cordova and PhoneGap, it's important to note a few things:

• Cordova packaging tools let you build simultaneously for multiple platforms on your machine.
• Cordova is constantly updated by the open source community, whereas PhoneGap updates are coordinated by Adobe.
• PhoneGap provides a remote building application that eliminates the need for local building.

Using Sencha Cmd with Cordova and PhoneGap

Every app generated with Sencha Cmd has the ability to build for native platforms through these services. Sencha Cmd will take care of all the repetitive tasks, such as building your app, getting it in the proper place for Cordova or PhoneGap, and running the proper commands to build, emulate, or run your application.

For more information on getting started with native development, please see the Apache Cordova Platform Guides. These guides provide getting started information and prerequisites needed to get your system up and running.

Important Notes

1. packager.json has been fully removed. If your project still contains this file, you may safely remove it. This file was only used by Sencha's legacy Native Packager.

2. For Cordova and PhoneGap, Sencha Cmd can only create DEBUG versions of applications, not a Release (for an app store) version. To create release versions, you must use a packager, such as Eclipse or IntelliJ for Android, and Xcode for iOS.

3. You must have Java JRE 1.8 for the Sencha Cmd Cordova commands to work properly. While Sencha Cmd 6 and later for Windows and Mac OS X can be downloaded with a current JRE in their default installers, the Cordova tools will not find and utilize Sencha Cmd's internal JRE.

Environment Setup

Before developing a Cordova or PhoneGap application, you will need to get your environment set up with the following software:

1. Install Java

   JRE Version 8 through OpenJDK 11 are supported.

2. Install Node.js

3. If you want to package and emulate with Cordova, install it with the following command:

    npm install -g cordova
   

   If you're on a Mac, you may need to include "sudo" in order to complete the installation.
   The command would then be:

    sudo npm install -g cordova
   

   Note: Whether or not you install Cordova to package and emulate your app, the Cordova API is available to your application. Cordova packaging and emulation does not affect the use of the Cordova APIs in a Cordova or PhoneGap app.

4. If you want to package and emulate with PhoneGap, install it with the following command:

    npm install -g phonegap
   

   If you're on a Mac, you may need to include "sudo" in order to complete the installation.
   The command would then be:

    sudo npm install -g phonegap
   

   Note: You must register with the free Adobe PhoneGap Build site and obtain a username and password to access the PhoneGap remote building site.

5. Download and install Sencha Cmd.
   For more information about this process, please check out the Cmd Intro Guide.

6. Check and satisfy target device platform-specific requirements:

   Android: Download and install the Android SDK Manager.

   Blackberry: Review the BlackBerry Native SDK and register to sign your apps with the BlackBerry Keys Order Form.

   iOS: Complete all of the steps for iOS provisioning on the Apple iOS provisioning profiles portal (requires an Apple ID, password, and a purchased developer license). Use this site to obtain a certificate, identify devices, and get an AppID.

   In addition, download and install the free Xcode software. You can use the Xcode simulator to debug your iOS app before installing it on a device.

config.xml

When you create a PhoneGap or Cordova app, they will both create a config.xml file for your project.

Cordova stores config.xml in your "app_root/cordova" folder, while PhoneGap stores the config.xml file in your "app_root/cordova/www" folder. This is a problem because the www folder is the destination for the compiled build. It is very likely that this www folder will get deleted and wipe out the config.xml file.

To remedy this in Sencha Cmd, we copy the config.xml file to the root of the PhoneGap project when a PhoneGap application is created. Every time you do a build, we then copy it back into the www folder along with the compiled application. This means that users can expect the config.xml file to be in the root of the Cordova or PhoneGap folder regardless of which framework you use.

For more information about configuring PhoneGap and Cordova, please review the following resources:

• PhoneGap example config.xml file
• Configuration Reference

Generate Your Sencha Command App and Initialize your Cordova or PhoneGap Application

Create your application using Cmd's generate command like this:

sencha -sdk /path/to/extjs-framework generate app MyApp /path/to/MyApp

Initialize your Cordova or PhoneGap app like this:

Navigate to your newly generated project folder and run one of the following commands
(APP_ID and APP_NAME arguments optional).

sencha phonegap init com.mycompany.MyApp MyApp

or

sencha cordova init com.mycompany.MyApp MyApp

You should now see a phonegap or cordova directory in the project folder after the above
command completes.

Developing a Cordova App

For Universal Applications

If you created an Ext JS 6+ universal application, the generated application will already contain a builds block in app.json. When your application already contains a builds block the sencha phonegap/cordova init command will not be able to modify your app.json. To add Cordova support please modify your application's app.json builds object to add Cordova integration. The following example shows how to modifty the modern build profile:

"builds": {
    "classic": {
        "toolkit": "classic",
        "theme": "theme-triton"
    },

    "modern": {
        "toolkit": "modern",
        "theme": "theme-cupertino",
        "packager": "cordova",
        "cordova": {
            "config": {
                "platforms": "ios",
                "id": "com.mydomain.MyApp"
            }
        }
    }
}

You can modify any of the existing profiles. You can also create a new profile and call it what you like. Below is an example of a custom build profile with Cordova integration:

"cordova_android": {
    "packager": "cordova",
    "toolkit": "modern",
    "theme": "theme-neptune",
    "cordova" : {
        "config": {
            "platforms": "android",
            "id": "com.mycompany.test",
            "name": "test"
        }
    }
}

For Non-Universal Applications

If you didn't generate a universal application you will see a builds object in your app.json. This file was created for you when you ran the sencha cordova init command.

You should now see a build profile with PhoneGap or Cordova integration in your project's app.json file. Note that app.json is located at the root of your project.

Locate and confirm that a build object similar to the following is present in your app.json file.

"builds": {
    "native": {
        "packager": "cordova",
        "cordova" : {
            "config": {
                "platforms": "android",
                "id": "com.mydomain.MyApp"
            }
        }
    }
}

Using Custom Build Profiles

If you decided to create your own custom build profile OR are using the generated "native" profile, you will need to manually specify which profile should be used in the creation of your app's manifest. To do this, do the following:

1. Open index.html at the root of your project
2. Locate the Ext.beforeLoad hook
3. Near the end of the code inside this hook, note the line that says Ext.manifest = profile.
4. Add code to manually set your custom build profile to the profile variable inside the hook:

    // Add this line
    profile = 'your_custom_profile_name here';

    // Add your code above this line
    Ext.manifest = profile;

Note Make sure the profile you use here is used in the Sencha Command commands listed in the next section.

Build Profiles and Build Names

Let's talk a bit about these build profiles.

In the latter example, it is worth noting that the word "native" is simply your build's name and can be anything you like. Build names must be a single string, containing only alphanumeric characters with no spaces. For example you could have a build name like "ios", "android", "iphone", "ipad", etc.. If you generated a universal app you'll see other build profiles like "modern" and "classic". You will use the name of your build profile when to build, emulate, package, etc.

Note: While you may choose anything for a build name, the names "production", "testing" and "development" are reserved by Sencha Cmd and should not be used in this context.

Note: You must specify which build profile you want to build when you are executing the build, emulate, etc. commands.

Platforms

You can set the platforms object to be any platform, or combination of platforms. For Cordova, you can specify a space delimited list, for example "ios android".

ID

The "id" property will be used when the Cordova application is first generated. This will be the identifier for your application. That said, you will want to make sure you have picked this correctly. If you need to change it, you will want to delete the Cordova folder from your project and let Cmd regenerate it after you have changed the ID property. This is especially important for iOS application as this must match your Bundle Identifier.

Building Your Cordova App

From the terminal or command line run the following command:

sencha app build {build-profile-name}

Where {build-profile-name} is one of the names defined in the build object of your app.json file. For example if you called your cordova build profile "android" the command would be:

sencha app build android

That's it! Sencha Cmd will now create a Cordova application and build the platform you specified via the platforms property in app.json. Remember you must have the appropriate SDKs and supporting tools (Like Android Studio, Gradle, etc. for Android and Xcode for iOS) in order to build successfully. Cordova is kind enough to explain things to you if you are missing a dependency.

Sencha Cordova Commands

There are 4 commands you are able to use with Cordova and this new build object.

Note {build-profile-name} must be set to the name of your Cordova build profile.

Build

sencha app build {build-profile-name}

The "build" command will build your Sencha application and a native application for the platform(s) specified in your build profile.

Run

sencha app run {build-profile-name}

"run" will build your Sencha application and your native application. It will then attempt to run it on a connected device.

Emulate

sencha app emulate {build-profile-name}

"emulate" will build your Sencha application and your native application. It will then attempt to run it in an emulator.

Note If you run into issues with consecutive deployments using Android Studio / ADV / Emulator you can always note the path to the generated APK when this command is done running. You can use ADB to install this on your emulator and run it. To install your apk execute the following command:

adb install /path/to/apk/app-debug.apk

Prepare

sencha app prepare {build-profile-name}

"prepare" will build your Sencha application, then prepare the built application into the native app. However, it will not build the native portion. This is good if you need to inject things into your application after sencha compile and before the native build.

Developing a PhoneGap App

PhoneGap is very similar to Cordova. In fact, the process is almost identical if you are not building via the PhoneGap cloud services.

If you are working on a universal app, you may modify an existing build profile to support PhoneGap or you can create your own file. You can follow the same steps listed in the above Cordova section.

Here is a snippet for app.json that would give you a PhoneGap project identical to the Cordova project above.

"builds": {
    "native": {
        "packager": "phonegap",
        "phonegap" : {
            "config": {
                "platform": "ios",
                "id": "com.mydomain.MyApp"
            }
        }
    }
}

There are only a few minor, but important, differences.

• The name changes from "cordova" to "phonegap".

• "platform" is singular not "platforms". PhoneGap only allows you to build one local platform at a time, whereas Cordova allows for multiple simultaneously.

Once you recognize these small differences, it's the same commands as above. You can simply run sencha app build native or sencha app run native and you will be on the same path as Cordova.

Sencha PhoneGap Commands

There are 3 commands you may use with PhoneGap and this new build object. PhoneGap does not support the prepare command found in Cordova. sencha app prepare native will throw an error if you are using PhoneGap. The other three are the same as the Cordova commands above.

Build

sencha app build {build-profile-name}

"build" will build your sencha application and then build a native application.

Run

sencha app run {build-profile-name}

"run" will build your sencha application and your native application. It will then attempt to run it on a connected device.

Emulate

sencha app emulate {build-profile-name}

"emulate" will build your sencha application and your native application. It will then attempt to run it in an emulator.

Developing a Remote PhoneGap App

Building your PhoneGap application in the cloud has numerous advantages. You do not need to go through the normal hassle of downloading all the SDKs and tools for your machine. You can simply send your web app to the PhoneGap servers and Adobe will generate a native application for you.

Before you get started with Sencha Cmd and remote building, you will want to visit http://build.phonegap.com and sign up for a free account.

You can test the build process by simply uploading a zip that contains a index.html file. PhoneGap Remote Build will then package it for you.

If you are building for iOS, you will need to follow the instructions on the site to add the proper credentials to build your application.

Once you feel confident that your account is setup and you have all the correct files uploaded to Adobe, you can quickly add remote building to your Sencha workflow.

Let's take a look at a build object for remote deployment.

"builds": {
    "native": {
        "packager": "phonegap",
        "phonegap" : {
            "config": {
                "platform": "ios",
                "remote": true,
                "id": "com.mydomain.MyApp"
            }
        }
    }
}

As you can see, it is very simple to switch from local to remote building. All you need to do is add the remote flag to your app.json builds block.

The next step is to provide your username and password so that Sencha Cmd can automatically log you in to the PhoneGap remote servers and upload your project.

To do this, we recommend adding a local.properties file to your application's root. For security purposes, this properties file should be ignored by all forms of version control.

Add the following lines to that file:

[email protected]
phonegap.password=s3nch@isgr3@t

Once you have configured your username and password, sending off a build is simple. Just run sencha app build native and your application will be compiled and shipped up to the cloud for Adobe to generate your native application.

After the build is complete, you may access the final package file through the PhoneGap portal for testing on devices, or for uploading to applicable app stores.