[CLOSED] Touch application

  1. #1

    [CLOSED] Touch application

    Hello

    I would appreciate any comment here.

    We are planning (months perspective) touch client for our Ext application
    The problem is we are not sure what diretion to take, here are summarized our ideas

    1) wait for Ext.NET 4, that will likelly implement ExtJs 6
    problem here is that there are not too many news what will be inside and if the new "modern" controls will be there and how
    As well not sure about timeframe

    2) Use ExttJS 6 "modern" theme.
    That would work, but practically it means purchasing ExtJs "twice" - once for ext.net and second time for ExtJs 6.
    Together with stupid licencing of both (5 licences must be bought) and fact that we need just 2 or 3, its relativelly expensive toy

    3) Use Sencha touch
    that was our idea while ago. But building sw on something that will probably have couple of maintenance releases, but will not be developed anymore - not sure if it is a good choice

    4) forget about ExtJs/Ext.net and use some other stuff ( Ionic for example)

    thanks for argument for any of those 4

    Regards
    Zdenek
    Last edited by Daniil; Aug 11, 2015 at 3:38 PM. Reason: [CLOSED]
  2. #2
    Hello @Zdenek!

    I'll start by something you probably will not thank for, and probably have good reasons not to adopt.

    I would consider the possibility of writing a touch application with Ext.NET 3.2. Yes, current version. Probably you already have all you need for your touch application in our current release. Maybe just a matter to choose one of the touch-friendly themes for your project. Check some on our examples explorer.

    But as I said above, you probably have already assessed it and found unworthy giving v3.2 a try, so, I'll share a couple points on your real considerations.

    1. Wait for Ext.NET 4 with ExtJS 6
    This looks like the ideal scenario for you if we already had this released. We just released, a couple weeks ago, version 3.2, so it might take some time for v4 to come true. As inherent from most ExtJS updates, the first couple version (say, what would be 4.0 and 4.1) possibly will bring several bugs from ExtJS first releases, until ExtJS really reaches a good level of maturity. This might extend even more the needed time for the release. If when we are implementing ExtJS6 support we end up coming across several bugs, we will have to decide to either postpone the release or drop support for any broken/unstable feature. Something like this may be a turn down for you in the end.

    2. Purchase ExtJS 6 just for its theme
    This options only brings me back to the introductory suggestion -- but very expensive. This does not sound any good. When Ext.NET 4 is out, are you going to buy another license for Ext.NET+ExtJS? So, three 5-user licenses? I think Geoffrey can speak better for this, but I never heard about a plan to buy separately an ExtJS license and Ext.NET license so, before proceeding to this approach, contact sales to check if you can purchase a Ext.NET license withouth ExtJS 6 if you already own ExtJS 6.

    3. Use Sencha Touch
    You already pointed reasons good enough not to adopt this approach. I would add that you're gonna miss Ext.NET and the expressiveness power of good intellisense to build your application and have a much better maintenability... All advantages you already know that Ext.NET brings over plain ExtJS.

    4. Forget about Ext.NET
    No, please, don't leave us. I honestly don't know other solution that could give you better productivity for your software that is not Ext.NET, so I have two reasons not to recommend you to go for the approach you suggest here:
    1. I don't know something better
    2. I can't just tell you not to use the product I work with and love working with -- specially in your case, it looks like what you want to do is exactly what Ext.NET is supposed to support so... why not?

    Of course, if you were talking on writing and application that current Ext.NET does not support, I would totally suggest you to move out but -- honestly again -- I can't think on a web application that Ext.NET couldn't bring to life with both a good time frame (developing) and great user experience.

    Well, I hope the leads help you to your decision.

    On a somewhat different topic, maybe to the short term our second solution might be interesting for you. You should have heard/read about another product we released a few months ago, called Bridge.NET. This could be a convenient topic to raise here as you are in the decision phase of your next project.
    Bridge.NET is a C#-to-JavaScript framework we are developing (already released and functional) where we are mapping to C# all modern browsers' capabilities of HTML5, including the new CANVAS element among with its WebGL subsystem (you can check a WebGL cube on Bridge.NET main webpage linked above).

    We already have support on Bridge.NET for expressing HTML5, jQuery and Bootstrap frameworks as fully C# classes so you can build any web application from C# -- which in turn is output to readable JavaScript you just add to your webpage and enjoy.

    In addition to full HTML5, jQuery and Bootstrap, we are working to support soon other major JavaScript frameworks. AngularJS, NodeJS, ReactJS, PhoneGap, to name some.

    Whats else? Bridge.NET is a fully free and open-source project. While you don't have a full component framework as you have with Ext.NET, you still have a solid web development when you get JavaScript out of C# code with increasing support for well known JavaScript frameworks. So, if you are considering solutions different than Ext.NET for your web project and you like the productivity of C#, Bridge.NET is truly worth spending some time assessing!

    Sorry for the outrageous long post, hope you can extract useful information from all this.
    Fabrício Murta
    Developer & Support Expert
  3. #3
    OK
    Thanks for reply, I probably need to read that couple times more to get it fully

    So Ext.NET 3.2 spports touch screens- ok I know it works on touch screens (which is great, no doubt) but that means it just run here, I can't see any option to do similar application like those that could be created using Sencha Touch.
    Am I missing something here?
    Are there any samples around (somethign like http://dev.sencha.com/deploy/touch/e.../#demo/forms)?

    Yes we are considering as well JQuery mobile + bridge.net

    Thanks
    Zdenek
  4. #4
    You have both a good point and pointed a nice example.

    The examples explorer aren't really built to be used from the smaller screen of cellphones, so we can't just tell you to grab your cellphone and browse the examples on https://examples3.ext.net/.

    You'll notice that we make a hovering, always accessible menu, but general navigation will not be that pleasant experience as the interface follows the point-and-click paradigm. Wherever you browse, you can interact with the window's controls so, seems all that's really missing are examples for applications meant to run on mobile devices. Or rather, application examples with mobile, space constrained and desktop 'all-on-the-screen' compatibility.

    There, you'll see the Desktop example, which is pretty much useless for smaller mobile devices, but accordionLayout, cardLayout and viewPort examples which suggests some approaches you could explore to build responsive and lightweight mobile applications, if combined.

    It is just that the components collection of Ext.NET exceeds the mobile environment. Using the right components would be the key for a good app. When you use Sencha Touch, for example, you can rest assured every little thing you possibly try to imbue to your software should and must know, which is, in fact, an advantage, but could also hinder cool features or broader support.
    Fabrício Murta
    Developer & Support Expert
  5. #5
    Hello @Zdenek!

    Here's a thread that you might be pretty interested on: Ext.NET Mobile - Beta Now Available.

    And yes, that's what it suggests: Ext.NET now has a publicly accessible version of the "modern" framework of ExtJS 6! Got a version 4 key? You are then eligible for using it with your current license key then!

    Note: without a Ext.NET version 4 license key you can use and test Ext.NET Mobile on development environment/evaluation only!
    Fabrício Murta
    Developer & Support Expert

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