Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

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PhilAJ
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 2:21 pm

Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

Post by PhilAJ » Sun May 15, 2011 2:35 pm

Hi - hope someone can help me.

I've got many years programming experience in commercial development - mainly using VBasic, and now am interested in getting involved with creating some Apps for Apple, Android and Windows.

Can someone please answer some basic questions - and I apologise if I'm just being lazy and could find the answers out elsewher, but i'm keen to get started;

- Am I right in thinking that Live Code lets you create an App in its own environment - then cross compiles into the native code for the required device, ie iPhone, Android, etc...?

- Will the finished Apps then just load and run on the target device - without the need for having some extra runtime code installed first?

- Are the finished Apps acceptable to be sold thru the Apple appstore etc..

- What components do I need to buy - I would be a single user of the system but want to just create Apps that I could sell for use on iPhone, Android and Windows devices. Do I need the Personal packages or the COmmercial ones - and which specific items?

- Can I develop for the Apple iPhone on a Windows PC - or do I have to have an Apple Mac.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Regards

Phil

mhoneywill
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:31 pm

Re: Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

Post by mhoneywill » Sun May 15, 2011 4:12 pm

I'm by no means an expert but will answer what I can, here are your questions which I've numbered to make it easier for me and others to answer.

1. Am I right in thinking that Live Code lets you create an App in its own environment - then cross compiles into the native code for the required device, ie iPhone, Android, etc...?
2. Will the finished Apps then just load and run on the target device - without the need for having some extra runtime code installed first?
3. Are the finished Apps acceptable to be sold thru the Apple appstore etc..
4. What components do I need to buy - I would be a single user of the system but want to just create Apps that I could sell for use on iPhone, Android and Windows devices. Do I need the Personal packages or the COmmercial ones - and which specific items?
5. Can I develop for the Apple iPhone on a Windows PC - or do I have to have an Apple Mac.

Here are my answers which I believe are correct

1. Yes Livecode (LC) has its own IDE, it cross compiles to an intermediary language but the interpreter is built into the compiled application.
2. Runtime is built into the application
3. I believe this is the case
4. You would need a commercial licence with iOS and Android extensions
5. No iOS can only be developed on a MAC (This is one of Apple's licencing restrictions)

PhilAJ
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 2:21 pm

Re: Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

Post by PhilAJ » Sun May 15, 2011 4:25 pm

Thanks very much for your replies and help.

Has anyone got any experience of running any sort of Apple MAC emulators on a PC - and then developing using LiveCode?

Regards

SparkOut
Posts: 2839
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:58 pm

Re: Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

Post by SparkOut » Sun May 15, 2011 5:12 pm

For 3 & 5) there are a number of apps available in the App Store made with Livecode. For all App Store submissions, there is a vetting and approval process by Apple. You also have to be a registered Apple Developer with a fee paid to Apple in order to make any app that can be deployed on a real iOS device. The Livecode package will let you create an app for iOS "on any machine for which you hold a valid licence", but realistically you couldn't do any testing unless you run it in the simulator as part of the SDK running on Mac OS X. Getting the finished app through to deployment beyond the simulator is subject to those Apple conditions, beyond the scope of Livecode's licensing, and not something RunRev have any control over. For Android deployment, you can develop on any machine, test and deploy through to the market without any additional licence fees or development platform complications, as far as I know.

Mark
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Re: Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

Post by Mark » Sun May 15, 2011 5:28 pm

Hi Phil,

I'd like to write something regarding your first questions. Maybe you expect things to be just a little bit too easy. Usually, you need to write scripts specific to the platform on which it is going to run. The majority of your scripts will be cross-platform, but you will find yourself writing scripts like

Code: Select all

if the platform is "MacOS" then
  put "binfile:~/desktop/file.bla" into myFile
else if the platform is "Win32" then
  put "binfile:C:/documents and settings/user/....etc" into myFile"
else if the platform is "Linux" then
  put "~/home/file.bla" into myFile
else if the platform is among the items of "iPhone,Android" then
  put "ftp://user:pass@domain.com" into myFile
end if
put bla into url myFile
Most of the time, this will be pretty straighforward, but it should be clear the LiveCode doesn't always sort these things out for you. Once in a while, you'll have to solve big puzzles to keep your app cross-platform.

If you want to do serious development for Mac, then get yourself at least a Mac Mini. A Mac Mini is about as expensive as a complete desktop + mobile LiveCode package complemented by Apple's iPhone dev membership. If you can affort that LC package, you can affor the Mini. Seriously, it will save you lots of frustrations.

Kind regards,

Mark
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PhilAJ
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 2:21 pm

Re: Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

Post by PhilAJ » Sun May 15, 2011 7:07 pm

Thanks to you all for responding - I think i'm getting the picture now.

Just to be clear then - I can develop the Apps i want on a PC under Windows - test and deploy to Android and Windows Handhelds via this environment (plus the HHeld devices) - BUT to deploy to iPhone will need a Mac of some sort plus an Apple licence etc..


Can't help thinking that Apple are committing the same mistake they did in the early 1980s by making it impossible for 3rd party Hardware to run its OS, and difficult for developers to create Software...and we all know what happened then - Windows Won the battle and became ubiquitous.

They may have the lead at the moment - but who agrees that Android could well become the 'Windows for Handhelds'


Phil

ScoopsUK
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 10, 2011 8:39 pm

Re: Totally New and wondering what to buy ?

Post by ScoopsUK » Mon May 16, 2011 2:23 pm

Although I don't do any development with LC right now and it doesn't answer your question specifically I would second Mark's response about the Mac Mini. It isn't super cheap but you could complement your existing setup with it for iOS development or use it as you main development machine and use Boot Camp to run Windows when you need it (or any of the virtualisation software available). Added to the cost of a commercial license for all the different platforms you appear to be interested in and, if you are serious about it, it seems like a nice investment.

I don't think the need to use Mac OS is really a limiting factor here. You only need to look at the development community on the App Store to see that. Sure, Android is bigger in terms of installed user base but Android has its own issues with fragmentation of hardware, poor store implementation and uncontrolled content. I know a lot of people don't like the way they rule the App Store the way they do (especially with those selling IAPs) but I think the consumer finds it an overall better experience and, so far, has voted with their wallets.

Android the next windows? WP7 is the next windows, on a phone, surely :)

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