what widgets are available in Android and iOS apps?

[EndangeringSpecies]

I am having trouble understanding the complaints voiced in this thread http://forums.runrev.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5820 . E.g. here is a quote from there

I would also be interested in knowing whether I must re-invent the wheel (by having to create buttons, etc. in Photoshop) rather than simply dragging those elements from a palette as I do in the desktop versions of RunRev/LiveCode. I did look at the early videos of someone creating an iPhone app (in X# of hours, sped-up) and I do remember seeing buttons being created in Photoshop but I thought that was simply because the particular shape and "bevel" that dev desired wasn't a standard button shape in revMobile.

Perhaps a way could be found to permit the standard buttons that are created in the desktop version to be copied & pasted into the revMobile stack? That would be an acceptable workaround until v5.

Well, so if I end up making an app and then try to deploy it for iOS or Android, what exactly would I need to do to get the buttons, the textboxes and other basic widgets working?

[Mark]

Hi,

Here are two useful links:

http://www.splash21.com/MobGUI/
http://qery.us/t7

Kind regards,

Mark

[EndangeringSpecies]

Mark, thanks for the links. But my question is first and foremost an attempt to understand the problem, for which these links presumably are a solution.

E.g. if I make a stack that I want to deploy on both iPhone and Android, can I use the "iPhone Control Kit for LiveCode" in both versions? Or will this kit only work for iPhone?

What will happen if I fail to use any such kit and just try to deploy a stack that works on Windows on iPhone or Android? Will it not have a user interface at all? What would I need to do in Photoshop (as suggested by the Sheep Herder video) to resolve the issue? Can the same set of Photoshop images be used in a stack published for both iPhone and Android?

[Mark]

Hi,

Don't expect too much from those kits. They work, but I'm not sure they do everything you need or expect.

The two kits follow the Apple HIG. This means that your Android application would look like an iPhone app. If that's fine with you, then I think it will work, although not everything will work.

Without interface widgets, your app looks like a Windows app, even on Android and iPhone:

A stack running on Android

Even the datagrid (which usually looks very pretty) looks awful here and it won't be easy to change the looks of the datagrid.

The BIG problem with using Photoshop to create interface elements is that those elements are all bitmap files. They make your stacks big in file size and you might have some rendering issues when you change the size of the stack or objects. I would recommend using LiveCode's graphic objects instead. You can get quite stunning results with those and they are resizeable.

Kind regards,

Mark