Introduction
PhoneGap supports supports unofficially Windows Phone 8 from the end of October
2012. The new version of Apache Cordova
2.3.0, released on 7th of January 2013 has a full support for Windows Phone
8. This is a great opportunity for developers using HTML / JavaScript / CSS to
develop fully functional applications for the Windows Phone 8. You are welcome
to go download and get started with the direct link to the RTM or r via the tags
page at github.com/phonegap/phonegap/tags
This blog is about how to start with PhoneGap and Windows Phone 8. There are details that developers need to know before to start. In this article you will see some tips about how to start easier with Apache Cordova for WP 8 devices.
Background
In my previous blog: “Using PhoneGap in Windows Store Applications” we talked about how to start with
Windows Store apps development for Windows 8 & RT using PhoneGap. Maybe
some of you were curious why you need to use PhoneGap for Windows 8 after it has
support for WinJS. The advantage of using PhoneGap e when you want an
application to be compiled for different platforms (Windows 8 (Windows Store
Applications) and various mobile platforms) without changes in your HTML and
JavaScript code. If you need to create an application only for Windows Store
with JavaScript the native choice will be to use WinJS except the case when you
already have experience with PhoneGap for some of the mobile platforms. In all
cases PhoneGap support for Windows 8 provides additional opportunities to create
portable applications with JavaScript code. All WEB developers who know PhoneGap
can easily to create Windows Store applications without additional effort.
With Windows Phone 8 the situation is a completely different one:
- Windows Phone 8 has no WinJS support for now
- Many WEB developers are able to create mobile applications with HTML5,
JavaScript and CSS (often using also jQuery Mobile)
- There are many developers who have experience with PhoneGap and can create
Windows Phone 8 application without additional effort.
Requirements
Windows Phone 8 brings with it some new requirements.
What is new in Apache Cordova for Windows Phone 8
- Applications now load faster. Windows Phone 8 apps load
faster because they do not need to unpack resources to Isolated Storage. In WP7
Cordova, when the app launched all of the JavaScript, CSS, and HTML had to be
moved to the application’s sandboxed file system to allow linking to work. WP8
has removed this step.WP8 apps load faster because they do not need to unpack
resources to Isolated Storage. In Windows Phone 7.x Cordova, when the app
launched all of the JavaScript, CSS, and HTML had to be moved to the
application’s sandboxed file system to allow linking to work. WP8 has removed
this step.
- Internet Explorer 10. Windows Phone 8 has a new browser!
Internet Explorer 10 is the engine behind the WebBrowser control in Cordova for
WP8, and this brings many enhancements. IE10 has MSPointer events. On WP8 you
can access localStorage as a key/value dictionary without using a work-around
from Apache Cordova for WP7.
PhoneGap developers could use the advantages if the new platform, described
here.
Create a Cordova Windows Phone 8 Application
In Apache Cordova 2.3.0 there are two different types of templates:
The 'Full' template includes a pre-built dll containing all the framework code
for Apache Cordova. This template will create a project that is easy to update,
as you can simply replace the JavaScript and .dll in your project and rebuild
when a new version comes out. The downside of this approach is that because the
dll contains ALL of the Cordova API, it requires all available permissions even
if the APIs are not called. When you submit an app to the App store, Microsoft
will run a static analyzer against your application, and detect that you require
all available permissions, and place a disclaimer on you app that is presented
to the user when they choose to install your app.
The 'Stand-Alone' template includes ALL the source code for Apache Cordova. This
project is easier to fine-tune to use just the features you need, thereby
working around the permissions issues of the 'Full' template, however this type
of project will be more difficult to update, as you will need to update
individual files within your project and manage any dependencies yourself.
You can find both templates ( CordovaWP8App_2_3_0_Full or
CordovaWP8App_2_3_0_Standalone) in the lib/windows-phone-8/
folder of the your distribution.
If you copy these templates to \My Documents\Visual Studio
2012\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Language\ folder (language in this case is a C#
) it will be possible to select it from the “New Project” dialog window.
The experiment with pre-built Project Templates
My experience has shown that predefined Cordova Windows Phone 8 templates not
working correctly. The project file metadata (.vstemplate) file looks fine but I
received errors when you tried to create a project from pre-built project
templates
An alternative approach
If you have some issues using the pre-built templates you can build a new
Cordova Windows Phone 8 project template/
Open one of the two projects
\lib\windows-phone-8\templates\standalone\CordovaSolution.sln or
\lib\windows-phone-8\templates\full\CordovaSolution.sln
In this demo will be used
\lib\windows-phone-8\templates\standalone\CordovaSolution.sln
From the file menu, select 'Export Template...'
Choose template type 'Project template'
Give the exported template a name and set an icon image and a preview image.
Your exported template is available under \My Documents\Visual Studio
2012\Templates\My Exported Templates\ folder
Copy the zip file containing the template under \My Documents\Visual Studio
2012\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Language\ folder and select File->New
Project..
Select your template (WP8 Cordova App Project in this sample).
You will have a completely new Cordova Windows Phone 8 project.
Build the project and run it.
Conclusions
Apache Cordova 2.3.0 now officially supports Windows Phone 8. If you have any issues with pre-built project templates just try to build it again from the template solutions.
Source code of the Windows Phone 8 PhoneGap sample application is available
here.
You could download Visual Studio 2012 Windows Phone PhoneGap template from
this link.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @mihailmateev and stay in touch on Facebook, Google+
and LinkedIn!
