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2010-06-09 19:56
This year at the first CiviCon we had a great session lead by CiviAction's Ian Rhett about taking CiviCRM into the mobile space. It was a very engaging brainstorm session with a lot of great ideas thrown out there.
My time this week at WWDC provided a little inspiration and time spent in a hotel room to create some mockups of what this could look like. I have posted some images below. I think one of the big conclusions at CiviCon is that the app could be built to do a lot of things but at this point working to achieve a CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) app is probably the best starting place.
This is a project that I would like to start to work on along with my team at emotive. I think the best approach is to develop the app using the Appcelerator Titanium platform. It's an open source development platform that translates javascript into native iPhone/iPad, Android and coming soon Blackberry apps. I figure that most of us know Javascript much more than we do C or C++ and this would provide us with a single codebase for multiple mobile platforms.
We will be starting the development of the app and will create a public repository on GitHub. I would like to solicit ideas from the community on what the app should do. Right now my thoughts are to have the app:
View CiviMobile Slideshow of Mockups Download the PSD file and create your own views
My time this week at WWDC provided a little inspiration and time spent in a hotel room to create some mockups of what this could look like. I have posted some images below. I think one of the big conclusions at CiviCon is that the app could be built to do a lot of things but at this point working to achieve a CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) app is probably the best starting place.
This is a project that I would like to start to work on along with my team at emotive. I think the best approach is to develop the app using the Appcelerator Titanium platform. It's an open source development platform that translates javascript into native iPhone/iPad, Android and coming soon Blackberry apps. I figure that most of us know Javascript much more than we do C or C++ and this would provide us with a single codebase for multiple mobile platforms.
We will be starting the development of the app and will create a public repository on GitHub. I would like to solicit ideas from the community on what the app should do. Right now my thoughts are to have the app:
- Be able to query the database in a single unified search
- Lookup an individual and display their contact details and summary stats (total $, memberships, etc) (read-only at this point)
- Create a new individual in the database
- Find nearby contacts
- View top-line summary information about your database and activity for the last 7 days
- Run reports (directed to a web site) from within the app
View CiviMobile Slideshow of Mockups Download the PSD file and create your own views
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i'll ping you. also - should check in with xavier_d who has done a bunch of work with javascript+CiviCRM+CRUD
Hi,
I did write a CRUD (well, a CR so far) interface based on jabber (miss moneypenny for those that came at civicon). Pretty easy by using the ajax api & jQuery, and glad to help if I can
The Appcelerator guys are still not sure if apps made with Titanium are going to be allowed on the iPhone platform under the new terms of service. It's seems like by the letter of the ToS that Titanium apps will be disallowed. But, this provision was specifically aimed at Adobe and Flash, so there are people who believe Apple will ignore (and allow) Titanium apps. I've been holding off starting a new Titanium app for this very reason. I want to see one go through and be accepted. Just something to consider.
Their system does work technically with iOS 4, it's just that Apple's policy is to not allow such apps in the App Store.
That is true and it would be a sad day if they did ban Titanium apps from the app store. In speaking with the Appcelerator team they have had many new apps be approved even after the new TOS. I think it's worth the risk because it provides a cross platform app.
From what I have heard around it seems that Apple is most likely going to ignore the platform until a point where the platform does something it shouldn't like include a huge overbearing library to run every function or utilize private Apple APIs. So far it seems like the Appcelerator guys are trying to work within the structures and not purposely bend them.
We shall see though, you can never predict the legal minds at Apple.
I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think the new ToS hasn't technically applied up to now. It was in beta. During this beta period, they modified some of the ads/analytics language in response to feedback. Not so on the 3rd party IDEs. I'm still waiting to see an iOS 4 Titanium app go through. I'll feel better after that happens. I think the Appcelerator guys are putting on a happy face right now (understandable), but if they had any assurances, they would have told people.
Apple's goals with 3.3.1 (and the new modifier 3.3.2) were not just to eliminate Flash, but to prohibit reliance on 3rd parties to access Apple native API. They never want to have the same problems they had with Metrowerks where it took many application developers a very long time to move to native API because they were using someone else's toolkits. Also, they do not want cross platform apps that use the lowest common denominator and are not iOS specific. While Appcellerator may not lose on the first issue (they allow native access to any Apple API), they may very well lose on the second (they are a cross platform system). I would not count on using them until this has been clarified.
Besides the basic sign-up to database that you already mentioned.
How about being able to register for free events (cost ones later due to security for CC info)
Sign people in to an event. This would allow easier tracking of who came and disallow multiple usage of an individual's name for entry.
Being able to check in a user at an event from your mobile app would be beneficial.
This eliminates the need to bring a laptop or in the case of one of our clients a print out of the registered members and then check them off with a pen.
It could also be easy enough for an admin to operate from a mobile device efficiently (sometimes meeting and event reception areas can be quite chaotic)
As for registering for events (for non-admins), I think the focus of the app right now is for admin purposes and while I originally thought about event registration, this may be something that just an appropriate mobile version of your website could accomplish.
How would you brand the app for your particular event registration?
For anyone interested we will be checking in the code for this project on GitHub here:
http://github.com/emotivellc/CiviMobile
There are a few people to have claimed to have Appcelerator based apps approved on their forums. The same applies for PhoneGap; but I'm holding off on any major development work using these tools until Apple finishes their App Store purging and deals with this hot topic. They're just too volatile right now for my personal security.
I really like what I'm seeing with Appcelerator and I fully intend to delve into it in my spare time; but, I don't want to be in the cold after spending 100+ hours on an app that my company must have on the iPhone as well as other devices only to have Apple veto it in spite. NGO's don't have money, time, or sweat equity to burn like that.
For CiviCRM (and myself), I'd suggest sticking with HTML + JavaScript + JQTouch and dealing with the limitations for now. You've still got a lot of options there. I find something new everyday.
Anything ever come of this initiative, which looked very promising. All seems to have gone quiet, which might mean that people are busy building something, or maybe that the whole concept has been kicked into the long grass.