Using Ruby in Android Development

Using Ruby for AndroidDevelopment

Background
Android is a big step forward in mobile operating systems
But… Java?
Dynamic script languages are more productive
And don’t have to be too slow
Four main ways to leverage Ruby…

Leveraging Ruby for Android
Scripting: automate phone tasks and testing
“From scratch” app development
replace Java
Framework development
Less Ruby, compiled Ruby
App integration
Full Ruby via server

Ruboto
http://github.com/ruboto
Ruboto-core
[sudo] gem install ruboto-core
Ruboto-core-irb
Ruboto-demos
* Ruboto slides here derived from earlier presentations by Daniel Jackoway. Apologies for missing attribution in original post.

Android in Ruby
public void Activity.onCreate(Bundle bundle)
public void Activity.onPause()
public void onClick(View view)
handle_create do |bundle|
handle_pause do
handle_click do |view|

How It Works
YourActivity < RubotoActivity < Activity
RubotoActivity implements callbacks
They tell Ruby to exec blocks, pass params along

Ruby for Scripting: IRB
http://www.appbrain.com/app/ruboto-irb-%28ruby-on-android%29/org.ruboto.irb
Activities only
Can’t ship .apk

Ruboto-core
Goals
Anything you can do with Java
Zero Java
Zero XML
Support plugins

Ruboto Install
JDK
JRuby (rvm)
Android SDK
Generate an emulator
gem install ruboto-core

Ruboto App Generation
$ ruboto gen app
$ --package com.adamblum.andevcon
$ --path andevcon # where app files go
$ --name andevcon # Name of app
$ --target android-8 # Froyo
$ --activity MyActivity # Name of Activity

Ruboto Activity
assets/scripts/my_activity.rb
require 'ruboto.rb’
ruboto_import_widgets :TextView,
:LinearLayout, :Button
$activity.handle_create do |bundle|
setTitle 'This is the Title’

Ruboto Activity (continued)
setup_content do
linear_layout :orientation => LinearLayout::VERTICAL do
@text_view = text_view :text => "What hath Matz wrought?"
button :text => "M-x butterfly", :width => :wrap_content
end
end
handle_click do |view|
if view.getText == 'M-x butterfly'
@text_view.setText "What hath Matz wrought!"
toast 'Flipped a bit via butterfly'
end
end
end

Install
$ rake install # builds .apk, installs to emulator
$ rake; adb -d install -r bin/*-debug.apk

Ruby for An App Framework…Rhodes
Portability
Write it once and it runs on all smartphones: BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian, Win32
Leverage Your Web Skills
Build the app quickly in HTML and Ruby
Offline Use and Easy Backend Integration
Work with synchronized local data when offline
Easily connect to any backend app through web services
Exploit device capabilities
GPS, PIM data, camera, push/SMS, native mapping, barcode, signature capture, …
Enterprise Security Compliant
Encrypt data on the device, remote wipe of device, secure authentication…

Rhodes Architecture
your app code
You write:
RhoSync
Server
model
model
HTML
templates
controller
Rhodes
app
generator
Backend
app
source
adapter
model
model
HTML
templates
controller
Backend
app
source
adapter
Rhodes components
ORM (Rhom)
Ruby
executor
We provide:
Device
capabilities
RhoSync
client
Backend
app
smartphone device

Rhodes vs. Competition
Only one that supports all devices
Only one with synchronized data
Only MVC framework
First Ruby on the device
First and only hosted development service for mobile

Ruby for App Integration…RhoSync
[sudo] gem install rhosync
Write a “source adapter”
Query
Create
Update
Delete
Eliminates many tasks in app integration
No device integration/connection code (assumes in database)
Removes data storage step
If its Rails backend, not even source adapter is necessary
Better user experience
Data is realtime updated
No wait for data to be retrieved

RhoSync Source Adapter
rhosync app YourApp
cdYourApp
rhosync source Product
Generates …
class Product <SourceAdapter
def query(params=nil)
# TODO: Query your backend data source and assign the records
# to a nested hash structure called @result. For example:
end
def create(create_hash,blob=nil)
# TODO: Create a new record in your backend data source
end
end

RhoHub
First and only “Development as a Service for mobile”
More than 10,000 developers signed up in the last year
~100 more per day
Hosted development – WRITE APPS FOR IPHONES FROM WINDOWS
Web-based IDE for ease of use
Build for all smartphones online – no need to install SDKs
Hosted runtime
No need to set up RhoSync server
Collaboration
Work with other developers
on same project over the web

Resources
http://github.com/ruboto
http://docs.rhomobile.com
http://rhomobile.com/products/rhodes
http://rhomobile.com/products/rhosync
http://rhohub.com
adam@rhomobile.com

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Using Ruby in Android Development

by Adam Blum on Mar 10, 2011

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Using Ruby in Android Development — Presentation Transcript