B4i (iOS) - Updates thread

antonomase

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Thank you for the answer.
Do we have to understand that for future B4I, it will be necessary to possess an iPhone for the tests?
 

susu

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Can we use native libraries directly or we need to make a wrapper (like B4A) ?
 

JanG

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Will B4i work without an internet connection, like b4a does? E.g. if I'm in a region with no internet access or at a customer who can't give me internet access?
 
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Erel

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The deployment process in B4i is much more complicated than B4A so it is not really possible to compare it.

You can develop without an internet connection using the "shell debug" mode. In this mode the same shell app is used all the time and remote compilation is not required.
A local network is always required as this is how the IDE talks to the device.
 

JanG

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A local network including a real device is not a problem, neither in a "mobile" environment. But who compiles the "Objective C"-Code if I am not online? Does it do your B4i? Or an SDK like in your android development environment? Shorter question: Compiling to device in the cloud (e.g. internet necessary) or compiling on the windows machine (e.g. internet not necessary)?

"shell debug": Can I start a new project with this? Where are the limitations? Am I right that only the core will work with this, because only the output is shown on the device? Graphics e.g. could be a problem?
 

Erel

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There is no iOS SDK for Windows.

As a general rule an internet connection is required. At least from time to time.

Can I start a new project with this?
Yes (assuming that you have already installed the shell app). The shell app is built with any number of libraries. Not just the core.

The main limitation of the shell mode is performance. It is similar to B4A rapid debugger before v3.50. For many applications the performance is good enough however there are cases that it is too slow.

Am I right that only the core will work with this, because only the output is shown on the device?
No. It is much more sophisticated.
 

Widget

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It could be why some people jail break their iPhone/iPad. (not necessarily recommending this)

Widget
 

Swissmade

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Nice Nice
Wait for this hope it will be finish soon as beta.
 

paragkini

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The year hasn't ended yet? I don't know if year is going slow or not going as per my / our expectations....

I have both 100 devices and 300$ unlimited devices enterprise license which I can use for testing since our company has app on both platforms, but in the interest of others (and for my own knowledge sake), is it possible to jailbreak the device and install without apple account? Also, I don't have much knowledge on iOS since I have dedicated team for iOS and i don't interfere much with their work, but they have been talking about site loading or side loading (whichever is correct) as a possibility to install apps. (We talked about this because Apple took 1 week to review our app for App Store listing on top of 3 weeks to activate our enterprise account and we were in hurry to test the app since it was one of the leading bank and we needed their global IT security team sign off.)

Additionally and lastly, is the pre-order option yet undecided? Just want to ensure I don't miss out first release but also want to show off to my iOS team as much as I can to my Android team....
 

paragkini

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One more option could be (don't know if it's practical /legal) that you buy apple enterprise development program (300 $ unlimited devices) and you add its cost in minimal licensing cost in B4i pricing (I am sure 300$ would be covered in first release itself) and we use that account to publish or test our apps. Our devices udid will be added after we buy B4i license and we can later increase number of devices by paying additional cost.

After typing this suggestion, feeling not to submit, but yet....

...Parag
 

Erel

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One more option could be (don't know if it's practical /legal) that you buy apple enterprise development program
It doesn't meet Apple terms.

Additionally and lastly, is the pre-order option yet undecided?
Currently B4i is not available for pre-order. One of the possible options is that B4i will be available for purchase before the official release (customers who will purchase at that time will receive an extended period).
 

socialnetis

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Is an Ipod touch 4g an option for developing?

Is it going to be possible to deploy to an iOS emulator in a Mac?
 

JohnC

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Hi Erel,

This B4i product will be very disruptive (in a good way)...

Since virtually all mobile developers need to release both an Android and iOS app to be competitive in the market, BASIC developers like us were at a disadvantage. Right now, I am writing HTML5 apps with Phonegap in order to develop iOS apps (which also run on Android/Windows Phone). But this method has many gotchas and limitations.

Once B4i is released, I would then be able to produce slick, native apps for both platforms!

Accordingly, since there is a 99% chance that any user of B4i will also be developing the SAME app in B4A, please make it a priority so that we can share ALL the code files between the two environments AS-IS.

I guess this would require implementing a combination of:

- Your new "Shared Modules" feature to allow the use of the same code files in either IDE
- Conditional Compilation & Build Configurations to allow different sections of code to compile just for their respective platform/IDE.

This way, we only need to work with one set of source code files for either platform, and variable flags and # conditional sections will kick in for each respective platform/IDE so we wont have code version fragmentation.
 
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