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Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

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    Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

    Hi
    I am trying to update to the Developer plan for phonegap build, since i need to install a second private application, but it doesn't let me, and the upgrading link is nowhere to be found. Googled a bit and this is what i found:
    https://community.adobe.com/t5/phone.../td-p/10426467
    Basically they state there is no real way to upgrade now, and it seems as if Adobe is killing the product.
    What alternatives do i have to ( as easily as possible ) build an Android App from an Alpha Anywhere web app instead of PhoneGap Build?

    Many thanks
    Jaime

    #2
    Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

    The writing has been on the wall for some time about PGB. The biggest indication was WKWebView. The developers at PGB have known about UIWebView deprecation for a long time... they knew WKWebView was the replacement for years... but did nothing about it. No development was forthcoming for WKWebView. This is why Bob Moore has been working on it for many months.

    Alpha could set up a build environment to replace PGB but the problem is one of resources. The changes to cordova, iOS, Android, and the subsequent changes required by plugins would keep a couple of people busy full time at Alpha and they just don't have the resources do to that.

    For example, Alpha put together a Stripe implementation based on a Feb 2018 .Net SDK. This implementation is now almost 2 years old and have never been updated. Stripe has updated their .NET SDK, but Alpha never has... so at this point you'd be ill advised to use the Alpha Stripe .NET code.

    The same would probably happen with a Build service... Alpha just couldn't keep up. If Alpha paid a bit more attention to releases and testing they might have a bit more breathing room.

    For the long term you're probably better off creating your own local build environment... but most people would have to create 2. It's a lot more work.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

      Spot on David, my first thoughts were how beautifully/tightly integrated is PGB into Alpha Anywhere, meaning they invested a lot of resources, and this hurts me the most now that PGB seems to be going down the toilet.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

        For those of use that haven't used PhoneGap what does this mean in plain English? Will mobile apps still be able to be written within Alpha?
        Mike Brown - Contact Me
        Programmatic Technologies, LLC
        Programmatic-Technologies.com
        Independent Developer & Consultant​​

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

          Well of course Mike. It's just that PhoneGap Build made it really easy to take your Alpha Anywhere web app and run it natively on mobiles, particularly with the tight integration inside the IDE, but now you'll have to "suffer a bit" to publish your apps :-)

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

            If you want to publish both iOS and Android you'll need an environment for both. You'll need a Mac and a Windows machine. If you're publishing iOS then you most likely already have a Mac.
            For iOS you'll need to become familiar with XCode and how to include plugins etc. etc. Same with Android... you'll need to set up a local publishing environment... maybe Android Studio.

            I wonder if Alpha would build a tutorial for setting up both environments?

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

              Originally posted by Davidk View Post
              If you want to publish both iOS and Android you'll need an environment for both. You'll need a Mac and a Windows machine. If you're publishing iOS then you most likely already have a Mac.
              For iOS you'll need to become familiar with XCode and how to include plugins etc. etc. Same with Android... you'll need to set up a local publishing environment... maybe Android Studio.

              I wonder if Alpha would build a tutorial for setting up both environments?
              So, if I am understanding correctly, Alpha essentially becomes a web-app only platform?

              I'm working on the final touches of a rather large web-app for a client right now. Client wants to build a native mobile app afterwards. He bought into Alpha in May last year because Alpha sales told him Alpha could handle both web apps and native apps.
              Mike Brown - Contact Me
              Programmatic Technologies, LLC
              Programmatic-Technologies.com
              Independent Developer & Consultant​​

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                Not sure where you get that? If PGB shuts down (and who knows when or if that's going to happen) then you'll need to "put together" your apps locally. PGB takes the files that Alpha generates and "wraps" them up. You'll now need to do the wrapping. Alpha will still generate all the guts for the app. You will then take those files and put them into XCode and/or Android Studio, and build.

                The problem is... is that it's not that simple. There are a hundred "gotchas" along the way. You need 2 machines. You need to build 2 separate files. Overall, it's doable, but it's a pain. PGB took all that pain out of the process. And, if you build and then walk away from the process for 6 months... and then need to pick it up again... you'll most likely have to re-learn how to do it. And, by then, you'll need to update XCode and Android Studio, etc. etc.

                Along with creating a tutorial, maybe Alpha will create a build service. Outsystems did that. The problem with Outsystem is that they created the build service and then never updated it. When PGB was using CLI-8.0.0 Outsystem was still using version 6 of PhoneGap. Outsystems made a mess of their service in other ways as well so in the end it's useless... but Alpha could learn from that. It would be another revenue stream for Alpha as well.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                  oh ok ... I was just confused about the process. Thanks for the explanation. It's clear to me now.
                  Mike Brown - Contact Me
                  Programmatic Technologies, LLC
                  Programmatic-Technologies.com
                  Independent Developer & Consultant​​

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                    You can still do the free plan. And there is a way to avoid using the PhoneGapBuild service altogether by doing a client-side build. We would love to integrate this into the client-side product, but a Mac is required for iOS, so it couldn't be a direct AA feature, which is Windows based. We are therefore exploring other web service based alternatives to keep the process easy.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                      >>There are a hundred "gotchas" along the way.

                      That's barely an exaggeration. :-)
                      The idea of a web service that we run is actually quite appealing from a reliability standpoint.
                      Keep in mind - our products like TransForm, Alpha Launch and others all rely on PhoneGap/Cordova,
                      so you can bet we've been thinking about this for some time and have some contingency plans.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                        Glad to see an official response here.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                          Putting aside the need to keep a PhoneGap builder current, I would expect an Alpha specific compiling tool would be more reliable since it would be purpose built to work with Alpha produced files.

                          On another note, for those in need of a Mac you can rent one in the cloud (for example Macincloud.com). Its kind of clunky to work with but if you are just compiling your files using XCode it works fine. I use it just to upload my phonegap apps to iOS and keep my certificates current, much easier then trying to do it on a Windows machine.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                            Dave thanks for the insights, eager to see what you guys have up your sleeve :-)

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Is adobe killing PhoneGap? Cannot purchase paid plans anymore

                              Originally posted by ssmoore1 View Post
                              Putting aside the need to keep a PhoneGap builder current, I would expect an Alpha specific compiling tool would be more reliable since it would be purpose built to work with Alpha produced files.

                              On another note, for those in need of a Mac you can rent one in the cloud (for example Macincloud.com). Its kind of clunky to work with but if you are just compiling your files using XCode it works fine. I use it just to upload my phonegap apps to iOS and keep my certificates current, much easier then trying to do it on a Windows machine.
                              Not sure where you're getting the idea of more reliability. PGB has been a very reliable service... far more so than Alpha releases. The problem with PhoneGap in general is that it's a moving target. iOS and Android are always changing which mean PhoneGap must change which means PGB must change. Alpha doesn't have the people needed to keep a service like PGB current... they could only play catch-up once a problem is identified.

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