Tiggr Mobile Apps Builder recently added a number of new components: Contacts, Geolocation, and Google Map. Contacts and Getlocation are new native components and are located in Device palette:
This post is going to show you how to use the Contacts component. Once a new mobile app project is created (make sure to select Blank Mobile App, from Native tab), simply drag and drop Palette > Device > Contacts component into the mobile screen. Once the component is added, it will be shown on the left-hand side.
To keep the example simple, we are only going to display name and phone number of a contact. To display the contacts, we are using a List component and placing two Labels inside it, one for name and one for phone number. It looks like this:
Notice that we also mapped the collection of all contacts (top most $) to the list component itself.
Next is we need to map the component output to the UI. Output mapping looks like this:
As you can see above, we are only mapping the contact name and contact email. Just a few more things left to do.
Add a button to load the contacts:
Add click event to the button and attach Invoke Service action, selecting the contacts service (contacts1).
We are ready to test. Because this is a device component, we would need to test the app on the actual device. But, there is an easier way to test this service. Open Project > Services > Contact service, then open Echo Service panel. You will see some sample date. Click Enable Echo.
This is a sample contact data and a very simple way to test the app. Using this data we can now test this in the browser.
Click the big Test button to launch the app, the result will look like this:
Now we are ready to try this using the contacts on the device. Simply turn off Enable Echo. Save. Now when you ran the app, it will load contacts from your device. The easiest way to run the app on the device is using Tiggr Mobile Tester.
We recently updated Tiggr getting started tutorials. These tutorials are the best way to learn how to use Tiggr and build your first mobile app. Try them today: http://help.gotiggr.com/getting-started
When: Thursday, January 5, 2012, 6:30 PM Where: Mountain View, CA
In this cool session you will learn how to build HTML5 and native apps using Tiggr. Tiggr is a cloud-based mobile apps builder that uses HTML5, jQuery Mobile, REST, and PhoneGap to build apps. A real mobile app will be prototyped and built during the session, which attendees will be able to run and test on their own devices.
To sign up and more info: http://www.meetup.com/BayAreaMobile/events/40927112/.
Tiggr Mobile Apps Builder is going to be the popular Apps World conference in London, Nov 29-30. Stop by our booth to learn how to build a mobile under 5 minutes or attend Tiggr’s session at the free Developer Zone on Nov 30 at 10:20.
Learn how to Build Mobile Apps Using Cloud Services
When: Nov 30, 10:20
In this cool session you will learn how to build HTML5 and native apps using Tiggr. Tiggr is a cloud-based mobile apps builder. A real mobile app will be built during the session, which attendees will be able to run and test apps on their own devices
As Tiggr Mobile Apps Builder continues to grow, we are getting more and more questions. I figured it would be a good time to summarise all the places and ways you can get help and also submit/vote for new features.
Docs and getting started
All Tiggr docs, getting started, videos, how-to’s, future plans and more are located at help.gotiggr.com. If someone is not there, just let us know and we will add it!
Tiggr forum
The Tiggr forum can be found at http://getsatisfaction.com/gotiggr. We recommend to use Tiggr forum as the place to ask questions. Why? Because using the forum other users can see and search for answers. Other Tiggr users maybe be able to help you as well. If you have a question on your account information or want to share a private REST service URL, don’t hesitate to use email (below).
Voting for new features
Let’s say there is a new feature you would like us to add. Voting for new feature is very simple. Just go to Popular ideas section and enter your feature.
Support email
If you feel more comfortable with email, just send us your questions to [email protected]
Send questions from Tiggr
When you open a Tiggr project, at the bottom of the screen you will see the following field:
Just enter a short question and click Submit. We will get an email with your question and reply to it.
Twitter
Twitter is a great way to get help, you can find us at @gotiggr.
Facebook
Facebook is also a great way to get help, you can find us at facebook.com/gotiggr.
No matter which help option you select, we will try to answer your questions as soon as possible.
When: November 16, Wednesday, 11am US Pacific Time Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/466425672
One of the great things about Tiggr Mobile Apps Builder is its support for end-to-end development, going all the way from an idea in one person’s mind to an app running in thousands of phones. In this webinar, we’ll show you exactly how it’s done (and how easy it is) by walking you through a hands-on example. The focus will be on exporting options for apps. In this case, we’ll export an Android binary (.apk) and publish to the Android Market. Of course, we’ll quickly build an app first, so you can learn or refresh your memory about how to build the UI with jQuery Mobile, connect to REST services, and test the app.
In the context of mobile apps, basic access authentication is way for a Web browser to provide user name and password when invoking a REST service. A REST service that requires basic access authentication will look like this:
As you can see we are using https: and passing the username and password to the service.
Working with REST services (that return JSON or XML) is very easy in Tiggr Mobile Apps Builder. Tiggr comes with a service editor where you define service settings such as URL, and data format type (JSON, JSON, or XML). Request Parameters - for defining service inputs. Response Parameters - for defining service outputs.
Service properties for Twitter Search REST API:
Another very important feature of the service editor is the ability to test the service right from Tiggr. Here is an example testing Twitter search service:
From this screen you can also automatically create the service’s response parameters by clicking Populate Response Structure button.
Now, if you have a service that requires basic access authentication, you would simply enter the URL in the service settings:
The next step is usually to enter service request parameters and then test the service. But, when you test the service, the service will fail with a message like this:
Why does it fail? When you use a URL such as: https://username:[email protected]/products, basic access authentication is only supported by the Web browser. When you test the URL inside Tiggr, it does a regular GET request, without the basic access authentication and the service fails. When you run the actual app, everything should work, as request will be coming from the Web browser. We are looking at how to update the test feature to support basic access authentication.
What if you still want to create the service response parameters automatically? That’s still pretty easy to do. Run the service in Web browser. Copy the output. Open Response Parameters panel in service editor. Click Populate from Sample Response. Paste the response. Click Populate Response Parameters. That’s it. Again, keep in mind that when running the mobile app, everything will be working.
