Ionic is an open-source mobile Software Development Kit (SDK) to develop hybrid mobile applications. The Ionic framework uses advanced technologies like AngularJS, SaaS(Software as a Service) and HTML5. To add extra simplicity in app development process, Ionic comes with features such as Cordova plugins and PhoneGap. Cordova plugin means wrapping CSS/HTML/JS into an application to access the native functionality of mobile devices.
Ionic app development framework allows testing of the application simultaneously with the development process. Hence, Ionic framework saves a lot of time of both development and testing team.
Because of Ionic’s numerous benefits, it has become a realistic solution for developing cross-platform mobile applications. Ionic helps to enrich the User Interface(UI) and construct more functional application structure.
Following are some tips for app developers to design robust hybrid mobile application using Ionic app development framework:
1. Use Yeoman Generator
Yeoman is basically a plugi
n that can be used to scaffold either
complete application or important components in the application. It allows developers to quickly deploy a prototype of the mobile application. Developers first have to look for Ionic Yeoman generator which is best suitable for the application requirements.
Yeoman offers excellent compatibility with Ionic such as code coverage support, JavaScript
linters, platform integration and different emulators to enhance app performance.
Below are some major advantages of Yeoman generator:
- Creates a different section for the application. For example, new controller for unit testing
- Focuses on development standards, styles and best practices
- Promote new application by allowing users to use sample app
Hence, Yeoman generator helps developers rapidly start with the new application and streamline the maintenance of current applications.
2. Follow Angular Style Guide For Implementation
An Angular style guide is a set of best methods for Angular app implementations. It provides well-documented instructions and different approaches for developing mobile applications. Developers can also avail Angular style guide online. Style guides documented by Google developers are most popular.
Style guide has contributed greatest efforts for the improvements of GitHub. Hence, Angular style guide has been gaining popularity among many developers. This style guide frequently gets updated as per the changes are done in the Angular framework. The best advantage of the style guide is that it is easier to follow for less experienced developers.
As Ionic is built on AngularJS framework, many recommended approaches in style guide are based on Ionic implementations. Developers can quickly locate and edit the source code because of the excellent file structure.
3. Test Mobile App With The PhoneGap Developer AppThere are many options available out there to test the mobile application. But, PhoneGap developer app provides easy methods for deploying the application to the device from the local environment.
PhoneGap does not replace any app testing strategies. PhoneGap just provides a quick way to Quality Assurance(QA) team to test mobile application. As Ionic framework develop the hybrid apps, less data has
to be pushed than that of native apps. This makes deployment of application easy.
The PhoneGap also allow developers to remotely examine and debug the application code. So that, the changes made by developers after testing get automatically updated in the application.
4. Enable ES6 Support By Using BabelThe ES6 support allows developers to execute application code to run on any browser even though it does not support it. For this purpose, Babel act as a JavaScript transpiler. Technically, Babel takes ES6 JavaScript code and compiles it into ES 5.1 code.
To smoothen the development process, Babel uses JavaScript libraries like underscore,
lodash and jQuery. Because these libraries are lightweight and many of their features are included in ES6 standards. Developers can also add and remove the libraries as per the application requirements.
5. Simplify The Browser Support With CrosswalkDealing with the version fragmentation is more challenging while developing hybrid WebView mobile app for Android. The different operating system versions run on different web views based on Chrome browser.
The real problem of application is compatibility with a web browser. The older version of the browser has many issues dealing with CSS,
HTML and JavaScript properly. It also affects the behavior of an application.
The Crosswalk helps developers to solve this problem. It allows developing Apache/Cordova based application with Ionic to support the latest version of Chromium. Generally, Crosswalk embeds Chromium into the mobile application. The Crosswalk saves a lot of time of development team by simplifying Android device fragmentation.
6. Perform End-To-End Automation TestingEnd-to-end automation testing allows the testing team to write a test case that truly interacts and navigates with UI of the application. Protector is the best tool used especially for AngularJS application to perform automation testing. Protector allows testers to write the test cases in JavaScript.
ConclusionIonic app development framework is an excellent solution to accelerate the application development process. The best thing about Ionic is that it can be easily implemented with other available frameworks. Hence, developers do not need to add so many add-ons for the seamless development process.
Ritesh
