Which IDE for Phonegap? Is Eclipse enough? [closed]

Answer 1

Yes, Eclipse is more than enough to target all the platforms.

Using PhoneGap Build, you could write the entire app using any text editor - no IDE required - and upload to their service. Their service handles the compilation in all the target mobile environments for you, and then provides the final files to download for each platform.

From their FAQ:

How do I get started with PhoneGap Build?

Simply upload your web assets - a ZIP file of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, or a single index.html file - to PhoneGap Build, point us to your Git or SVN repository. Then we’ll undertake the compilation and packaging for you. In minutes, you’ll receive the download URLs for all mobile platforms.

For ease of development I'd recommend installing one of the IDEs (probably whatever matches the physical devices you have for testing or prefer). This way you get IDE assistance like Intellisense, but as I said it's not strictly required to have one.

Your alternative if you want to compile for all those platforms locally is pretty ridiculous:

• iOS - install Xcode

• Android/BlackBerry - install Eclipse

• Windows Phone - install Visual Studio

Even if all you have is a web browser you could edit your code in its repository directly through GitHub.com's web interface, and then tell PhoneGap Build to clone the repo and build, then download the builds for each device.

Answer 2

It seems Visual Studio would be better for someone more familiar with that:

1) http://kencenerelli.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/extending-phonegap-for-visual-studio-to-android-devices/

Excerpt: "PhoneGap:Build. The online service can take your HTML, CSS and JavaScript files (everything the PhoneGap templates create using Visual Studio) and compile them into apps that are ready for a vendor’s app marketplace."

2) http://anindita9.wordpress.com/tag/visual-studio-phonegap/

3) - you can use Visual Studio Lightswitch and Nomad, too:

https://www.facebook.com/vslightswitch/posts/658678164147712

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/phonegap/_eNL6viCFhs

4) Also, tip on Android/Eclipse:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/phonegap/-wYLoYWwp-I

5) PhoneGap tutorials:

http://vsnomad.com/documentation/learning-phonegap.html

http://pieterderycke.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/developing-mobile-applications-with-phonegap-and-jquery-mobile/

6) PhoneGap/Cordova vs. Nomad:

http://brantleclercq.com/2012/12/15/vs-nomad-vs-phonegap-build/

UPDATE

But, for somebody more conversant/fluent with Eclipse, perhaps Aptana Studio, an open source IDE based on Eclipse but web-centric:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptana_Studio

Answer 3

I'm currently using intel-xdk and it's been great so far. It has the ripple emulator embedded which is great to test your app quickly.

Answer 4

I develop apps plus web-service backends (mostly in PHP). Some of my "apps" are designed to run as apps on phones/tablets and as Chrome plugins (or just webpages) on desktop/laptop systems.

I currently use JetBrains PHPStorm (buggy, and service isn't great, but it hassome cool IDE features and reasonably priced) and Eclipse together. In Eclipse, I have Aptana plus web tools platform, and of course the Android ADT plugins installed.

I've got another guy who does builds/plugins for iOS using a Mac/Xcode/etc.

We try to do as much debugging in browsers as we possibly can and just use the simulator/emulator (and devices) for testing plugins and other device-specific stuff.

We're just moving to PhoneGap 3 and are evaluating PhoneGap build as an alternative. (We're particularly interested in the debug capabilities. It's not clear how much they really add over what's already out there.)

It certainly sounds good on paper, but we'll have to see.

If you're doing plugin development, you'll need the appropriate system for development (PC or Mac) and testing.