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PhoneGap Build Service Will Be Discontinued As Of October 1, 2020

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    PhoneGap Build Service Will Be Discontinued As Of October 1, 2020

    On August 10, 2020, Adobe announced the termination of the PhoneGap Build Service. See: https://blog.phonegap.com/update-for...d-cc701c77502c

    We have been anticipating this for quite some time and while PhoneGap and PhoneGap Build are going away, Cordova remains an active open source Apache project and is fully supported within Alpha Anywhere.

    By the end of September 2020, we will be pulling support for the PhoneGap Build service and the PhoneGap Builder will be renamed the Cordova Builder.

    To build Cordova apps with Alpha Anywhere you have a number of options;

    1.) Use the integrated CLI PhoneGap/Cordova Builder to build Android and iOS apps. Building iOS apps requires a Mac and Xcode.

    Video: Android: https://youtu.be/TaBsySayl4Q

    Video: iOS : https://youtu.be/-GCkyCeDEmU


    2.) Use the integrated CLI PhoneGap/Cordova Builder to build Android apps with Android Studio for Windows and use a cloud service like MacInCloud to build iOS apps with a cloud based virtual machine.

    Video: https://youtu.be/-GCkyCeDEmU?t=1323

    3.) Use Ionic Appflow for a Cloud Based Cordova Build Service, Similar to PhoneGap Build

    Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMxBa7cR-Ys

    If you are serious about building cross platform mobile applications, my recommendation is to get a Mac and use Xcode and Android Studio to build your Cordova apps. It's not a difficult process and once you get used to it you'll have access to all of respective native development debuggers, profiles, etc.
    Last edited by Bob Moore; 08-12-2020, 01:39 PM.
    Bob Moore



    #2
    Hello Bob,


    This will bypass Alpha altogether correct?

    "If you are serious about building cross platform mobile applications, my recommendation is to get a Mac and use Xcode and Android Studio to build your Cordova apps. It's not a difficult process and once you get used to it you'll have access to all of respective native development debuggers, profiles, etc."

    Comment


      #3
      Hi Bob. I followed your video and documentation on using the CLI builder with Android Studio to build my app. At the very end you mention how checking "Show QR Code To Install APK With Scan" will generate an apk file and save it on the server. However, this does not work for me. The file is not found on the server and of course scanning the QR code does not work. Could it be because I am using IIS server instead of the standard Alpha Server? Or could my build be failing? There is no indication on the screen that it fails. I am just not too sure where to look. The files are there in the "Target Project Build Folder", just no apk to be found.

      Comment


        #4
        OK I found it by watching one of your old videos. It is in the <Target Project Build Folder>\platforms\android\app\build\outputs\apk\debug

        Comment


          #5
          I have a new iOS App and moved it all the way through to the App store and wanted to provide some feedback/comments on how it went vs. the old PhoneGap method. I used the Mac and XCode builder method ( https://youtu.be/-GCkyCeDEmU)

          General Observations:

          1) I rented a Mac in Cloud for 30 total hours for $30.00. I ended up using about 6 hours.

          2) I followed along the process laid out by Bob in the video and it worked perfectly. It is definitely not as convenient as the old PhoneGap method where you could just submit a build right from Alpha. However, once you get the hang of it I could do a build in about 10 minutes. I will say it definitely seemed less glitchy then using PhoneGap which always seemed throw off these weird errors half the time.

          3) Having xCode creating and managing your signing keys is absolutely amazing. Creating and dealing with those keys was always a nightmare and being able to avoid all that saved me a lot of time.

          4) If you want to distribute your app to the app store just repeat the steps in Bob's video but at the end when you are archiving your app out of Xcode just choose the distribution option and follow the prompts.

          5) Using the new WKWebview enging plugin built by Alpha and it works perfectly (except for one watchout below).

          Key Watchouts

          1) For any text fields on your app make sure to add this to the "On Blur" event: window.scrollTo(0,0); Otherwise your app will go all glitchy after the user types in the field. This was given to me by Bob.

          2) Even though xCode creates your signing keys for the distribution of your app, make sure to back them up off the Mac In Cloud server (you are given this option during the process). If you lose the signing keys you lose control of your app.


          The Big Question

          I posted about this but still haven't got an answer. It would appear now that the same Alpha Web Application server can no longer support both a web app and cordova app at the same time if they both require logins. This is because for web apps the server has to be in "Strict" mode and for cordova apps they need to be in "None" mode. I have always wanted to have separate servers anyway for my phonegap and web app so I bit the bullet and setup a new one for the cordova app. But for smaller applications this will increase the cost a lot to pay for the extra Alpha license and the server. So good to know if this is the case.

          Thanks,

          Scott


          Comment


            #6
            Trying the CLI Cordova build for Android but it keeps failing (I think) at the gradle build stage with this error:

            build.gradle: Configuration 'compile' is obsolete and has been replaced with 'implementation' and 'api'.
            It will be removed in version 5.0 of the Android Gradle plugin.


            No apk file is created. When I open the resulting cordova project in Android studio gradle throws off the same error. Anyone else run into this?
            Last edited by ssmoore1; 10-16-2020, 10:29 PM.

            Comment


              #7
              Hi,
              For me too the IOS using macincloud was smooth when you get used to it.
              the ANDROID build also failed.. I don't remember the error now.
              but phonegapbuild is still up and building android APK.
              I know it is not the solution for the long run, but it was a quick fix for me. I used it 3 days ago.
              I will get back to the android error later on when I have time..

              Paul

              Comment


                #8
                Hi Paul,

                Thanks for the suggestion, yep that is what I did too. I managed to get the CLI build a bit further along by removing some plugins but it blew up a bit further in the Gradle build. PhoneGap worked fine. So feedback so far for Alpha from my perspective is MacinCloud works great but the Android build throws off a lot of errors in the Gradle build.

                Cheers,

                Scott

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