The PhoneGap Build cloud service will also be adding support for PhoneGap 1.4 starting today.

UPDATE: A bug was discovered that disabled orientation change on iOS devices. We have just released PhoneGap 1.4.1 that addresses this.

Check out the release notes below to see all of the enhancements and fixes.

Android

fixing whitelist handling
Change API to postMessage() to call a plugin’s onMessage() method.
Optimize enumerations as suggested by @plowman.
Fix CB-135 Multithreaded access on CallbackServer javascript object.
Added license header to new files.
Remove unused files/classes until they are needed.
Work-around Feature for Classic PhoneGap 320×480 resolution
Fixing scale, setting legacy scale
Removing GapView, since it doesn’t actually do anything
Moving LinearLayoutSoftKeyboardDetect out into its own class and making it more plugin-like
Editing a comment about LinearLayoutSoftKeyboardDetect
Changing to use JS directly. There are issues with this approach, and it should use the KeyboardHandler
Moved Chrome Client out of DroidGap.java
Moving the WebViewClient out, allowing for PhoneGap to not break on empty console.log
Removing the classic render feature, since it’s not working properly
README.md: Replace “PhoneGap” with “Cordova” and add incubation disclaimer
Minor incubation disclaimer fix.
Add compass demo for Android
Added authentication framework
Renamed crdentials/principals to userName/password
Documentation additions
Changed createCaptureFile to explicitly check for PNG and to throw an IllegalArgumentException if it is not a JPEG nor a PNG
Adding JUnit dependency
Reading preferences from phonegap.xml
Using preference=fullscreen for fullscreen view
Making preference reading code more robust
Fix for issue #281 of phonegap/phonegap-android: Detect for localStorage if Java has disabled it
Fix for Issue #33: onReceivedError incorrectly sets openExternal to true
Fix NullPointerException in DroidGap.onMeasure()
Fixing issue with FileTransfer.upload when the passed in url contains a ?
Proved generating sqlite database path to open database without permission error
Camera default destination should be FILE_URI
CB-145: Android contact.save() crashes for native contacts.
CB-199: FileTransfer.download fails on Android 4.0
Allow internal SD Card to be used as storage
Fixing a timing issue with the web view history not being cleared properly
Updating version to 1.4.0rc1
Updating version to 1.4.0

Blackberry

#124: Adding Battery events to the PlayBook.
#153: Default for camera destination type changed from DATA_URL to FILE_URI.
#CB-122: native JSON writer class needs expandable char buffer
Fixing playbook plugin manager

iOS

Fixed CB-143 – Removing address from iOS contact causes crash
Fixed CB-153 – Camera default destination should be FILE_URI
Fixed CB-7 – Update source headers to apache license
Fixed CB-42 – MediaPlaybackRequiresUserAction can now be set to NO
Added stand-alone PGViewController (Cleaver – PhoneGap as a Component)
Fixed iOS 5 quirks with presenting/dismissing modal viewcontrollers.
Added ‘How to Use PhoneGap as a Component’ doc to the .dmg (as a PDF)
Added ‘PhoneGap Upgrade Guide’ doc to the .dmg (as a PDF)
Added for legacy support of deprecated PhoneGapDelegate – in core plugins.
Removed PhoneGapLibTest project and folder
Updated the app icons, splash-screens, and template icons for the Xcode template to Cordova ones.
Added Battery core plugin to PhoneGap.plist
Fixed CB-212 – iOS orientation switch broken in 1.4.0

Windows Phone

Acceleromter fix #CB-141 – InvariantCulture
Changed default destination to FILE_URI
Contacts returned from find were not formatted. CB-157
Audio playback issue CB-142
Redirect issue trackers to apache
Wrong slash :: CB-184
Removed unnecessary navigation blocking for # CB-185
Added js Connection.CELL for generic cellular connection.
Fix for single document – multipage layouts
Added VERSION file to be like other platforms.
Fixes for loading local XHR using file API, and still using default for remote XHR. responseXML returns document for local files.
updated phonegap.js to include XHR updates
Compass API fixes
1.4.0 version changes

If you wish to follow or join in the development of this project, send an email to callback-dev-subscribe@incubator.apache.org to subscribe to the developer mailing list.

We’re really excited to welcome PhoneGap Docs translated into French. Huge thanks and credit goes to Alan Allegret who translated all three docs —
1.1.0, 1.2.0, 1.3.0!

Along with these new French PhoneGap docs, we also have docs translated to Spanish (by Juan Jose Alonso) & Japanese (by Masahiro Tanaka). These docs have some excellent examples of using the PhoneGap API and are always growing. Want to help?

How to contribute to the Docs
Git: Setup
Git: Forking the PhoneGap Documentation
Git: Contributor Workflow
Git: Commit Message Format
Steps for translating the Docs into other languages

We are immensely proud of our team and community for haven been recognized by InfoWorld with this award. According to Andre Charland, Adobe’s director of engineering for PhoneGap, “We have a hardworking community contributing to PhoneGap and this award is a great recognition of their efforts.” Great work all!

PhoneGap is an open source development tool for building fast, easy, cross-platform mobilen apps with HTML5 and JavaScript. PhoneGap has been downloaded more than 600,000 times to date and thousands of applications built using PhoneGap are available in mobile app stores that span devices based on Android, iOS, BlackBerry and other operating systems.

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One of the most exciting parts of PhoneGap 1.3 is the full support of Windows Phone, including the full PhoneGap API and Windows Phone Getting Started Guide. Developers can also enjoy a selection of PhoneGap plug-ins that support social networks – including Facebook, LinkedIn, Windows Live and Twitter – and a solid integration into Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone.

“Building apps for Windows Phone requires the use of Visual Studio, and early on we chose to use C# as the development language for all native functionality,” said Jesse MacFadyen, one of PhoneGap’s core developers and main lead on bringing PhoneGap to Windows Phone. “Visual Studio is a very capable tool and the out of the box templates it gives you to make a Windows Phone app are very well documented, easy to understand, and a great help in getting started.”

Read more about Jesse’s experience on his blog and check out his two PhoneGap for Windows Phone videos below.

Part 1: Learn how to get up and running with PhoneGap 1.3.0 on Windows Phone:

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Part 2: Get a deeper dive into PhoneGap 1.3 for Windows Phone

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Learn more about Getting Started with PhoneGap for Windows Phone.
Read Jesse’s blog.

For BlackBerry, we’ve added OSX support so now you can develop for BlackBerry on a Mac!

For Windows Phone, users can now sink their teeth into the full PhoneGap API, Windows Phone Getting Started Guide, more documentation updates and tons of plugins.

PhoneGap 1.3.0 is also available on the PhoneGap Build web service – by default, all new apps will be built with 1.3.0. Any existing apps will remain on 1.1.0, and users can choose between 1.1.0, 1.2.0 and 1.3.0 for building apps for five different platforms.

Check out the release notes below to see all of the enhancements and fixes. Alternatively, you can view the commits on http://github.com/callback.

General PhoneGap Info

• A vote was held and a motion carried to rename Apache Callback incubator project to Apache Cordova. Plans to transition Callback to Cordova will take place for the PhoneGap 1.4 release.
• PhoneGap issue tracker moved to https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CB

Android

• Added download method to filetransfer
• made getEntry of FileUtils public in order to avoid duplicate code in FileTransfer
• FileTransfer returns JSONObject with code, source and target for upload and download
• Fix for CB-17: WebView caching resized pictures
• Fix for issue #281 of phonegap/phonegap-android: Detect for localStorage if Java has disabled it
• Fix for phonegap-android issue #261: Wrong application scale
• Fix for Issue #33: onReceivedError incorrectly sets openExternal to true
• Remove addWhiteList from public API
• Remove WebViewReflect.java from Android
• Fix for CB-104: Capture not returning an error code on cancel
• Changed createCaptureFile to explicitly check for PNG and to throw an IllegalArgumentException if it is not a JPEG nor a PNG
• Add support for future menu plugin
• Remove PhoneGap.stringify, replace with JSON.stringify
• Fixed: Don’t fire resume upon init – only when returning from background
• Fixed: Backbutton should go back in appview history before going back in our history stack
• Added onMessage(id, data) to the plugin API
• Deprecated addService().
• Refactored the backHistory() code so calling navigator.app.backHistory() has consistent behavior with the backbutton
• Added onload attribute to plugin in plugins.xml to create the plugin at load time instead of lazy loading
• Fixed bug with showing loadingDialog property
• Fixed Issue #23 – Crash when using splash screen
• Changed API to postMessage() to call a plugin’s onMessage() method
• Optimized enumerations

Blackberry

• Added OSX support. You can now develop for BlackBerry on a Mac.
• Added download method to filetransfer
• Updated PluginResult Exceptions to use latest naming scheme
• Fixed a memory leak issue with WebWorks
• Added Lifecycle changes and app.js functionalitly
• Added activity and progress notification functionality

iOS

• Added download method to filetransfer, interface is the same like on Android
• When playing audio from remote URL, stop as soon as download fails and make loading cacheable
• Fixed #197 errors on repeated getCurrentPosition calls. If the location services were off when getCurrentPosition was called, turn them off again after the position is received
• Don’t force an orientation change unless the current orientation is unsupported
• Fixed callback/callback-ios#15 – Xcode 3.2.6 Linker error when Build for Active Architecture Only = YES
• Fixed callback/callback-ios#23 – on app resume, it always throws either an offline/online event even though the online state never changed
• Fixed warning – implicit conversion of UIInterfaceOrientation to UIDeviceOrientation (which are equivalent, for the two Portraits and two Landscape orientations)
• Fixed callback/callback-ios#22 – Removed unused DetectPhoneNumber and EnableAcceleration values in PhoneGap.plist
• Fixed CB-96 PGWhitelist does not handle IPv4 host addresses with wild-cards
• Added ‘resign’ and ‘active’ lifecycle events
• Fixed CB-101 can’t access media in documents://subDir

Windows Phone

• Added Full PhoneGap API support
• Bug-fixes for XMLHttpRequest calls to local file system, especially important for jQuery Mobile apps
• Updates to the Visual Studio templates, now you can create a quick app that references the PhoneGap library via a dll. Or you can start with a bare-bones project and only add the functionality you need
• [Upcoming] wiki docs on how the App Hub static analyzer sees your code, and determines required permissions
• [Upcoming] getting started screen-casts
• GapView is a usercontrol, so you can use it in your existing Windows Phone app, you don’t have to start over to use PhoneGap
• Addressed issues with File API persistence + local storage
• Getting started guides, documentation updates, wiki updates
• Improvements for plugin architecture, plugins can come from any assembly
• New plugins!
• FaceBook connect – supports the full graph API available to your phonegap app, consistent with the Android+iOS versions of the plugin
• ChildBrowser – display external web content without leaving your app
• PGSocialShare – share status updates and links to LinkedIn, Twitter, Windows Live + Facebook, all at the same time, and via accounts managed on the phone
• PGMapLauncher – get directions to or from a location, or search near a location using BingMaps. Locations can be specified as lat/lon as well as text like “Steam Clock”, or the users current location
• LiveTiles – update your app tile on the Metro home screen with relevant info and pictures

Jesse MacFadyen, a core developer for PhoneGap, recently blogged about his experience with bringing PhoneGap to Windows Phone. Read the full journey here.
You can also read the Microsoft announcement here.

If you wish to follow or join in the development of this project, send an email to callback-dev-subscribe@incubator.apache.org to subscribe to the developer mailing list.

Tiggr – the easiest platform for building mobile apps in the cloud

Tiggr is a cloud-based mobile apps builder. It lets developers build HTML5/JavaScript and native apps very quickly, entirely in the cloud. There is nothing to download, nothing to install, and nothing to configure. Just create a new project, and you are ready to start building your mobile app with HTML5/JavaScript and PhoneGap.

Building mobile UI with jQuery Mobile
To build the mobile UI, there is a visual editor and jQuery Mobile components, as shown below. You simply drag and drop components into the phone area.

You can create multiple screens, navigate between screens, store data in Local Storage, and write custom JavaScript. This means you can create the complete UI for your mobile app and also test in a Web browser.

Testing the mobile app
Testing is one of the most innovative features in Tiggr. There is a big Test button at the top. Clicking that button opens up a browser window with the mobile app in it. Need to test the app on the actual device? Scan the QR code, and e-mail the URL to your device. Don’t forget to make the app public. (More about testing native apps a little bit later.)

Consuming any cloud service
Once the UI is ready, the next step is connecting to cloud services. In Tiggr, you can connect to any cloud REST service. Below is an example of using the service editor to define a connection to Twitter’s search REST service:

Once the service is defined, it is mapped to the UI. A service usually has inputs and outputs. Mapping specifies how different UI components are related to different service parameters for input and output. There is even a visual data mapping editor available (service output is shown on the left, screen components are shown on the right:

The JavaScript column (on the left) allows you to write custom JavaScript to give you more power and flexibility when mapping service to UI (custom JavaScript is also available when mapping UI to service).

One last step is adding an event to invoke the service. For example, on a specific button click (HTML click event) the service could be invoked. You can of course use any other HTML events. With Tiggr this is easy.

Native apps with PhoneGap
PhoneGap is an awesome mobile app platform. It takes advantage of Web technologies developers already know: HTML and JavaScript. PhoneGap makes it super easy to wrap any mobile Web app as native, but also provide access to device native features via its elegant and easy-to-use API.

Exporting native app
Every app (native) in Tiggr comes with PhoneGap installed. To export the app as native is as simple as clicking the big Export button:

If you are targeting for Android, then you can download Android Release binary (.apk). This file is ready for the Android Market. Tiggr has a Android .apk file editor for you to enter all the necessary information.

If you are targeting iOS, then export iOS xCode project (Eclipse). You can then build the app on your machine or use cloud-based PhoneGap Build service to build for iOS.

As an alternative, for both Android, iOS or any other platform you can download the mobile Web version (Web resources, HTML/CSS/JS) and use PhoneGap Build service to build for the platform.

For example, if you need to build for BlackBerry, then simply download the mobile Web version and upload to PhoneGap Build. It’s that simple.

Using PhoneGap API

What if you need to invoke PhoneGap API to access device features? Well, that’s very simple too. Tiggr comes with Run Custom JavaScript action, which can be invoked on any HTML event.

As an example, we will implement a Vibrate button.

First, we add the click HTML event to the button:

Add an action – Run Custom JavaScript:

and finally add the PhoneGap JavaScript call:

Another option is to create a JavaScript file (Project > JavaScript), write all the custom code in functions in the file, and then invoke any function via the Run Custom JavaScript action.

Note that you can also import an existing JavaScript file (from a URL or via uploading).

Invoking a function from the custom JavaScript file is done via Run Custom JavaScript action:

Testing native apps
Once you use a native API, testing in Web browser is no longer as useful. To test native apps, you can use Tiggr Mobile Tester. It’s a native app (Android, iOS) that lists all your mobile app in Tiggr. You simply tap any app in the list to launch the native app for testing. It’s the easiest and fasted way to test a native app without having to install it. The tester app looks like this:

Device components

Being able to invoke custom JavaScript (and PhoneGap API) almost from anywhere makes Tiggr and PhoneGap so powerful. But, that’s not all. Tiggr now has components in the Device palette which are based on PhoneGap API:

This is even simpler than using the API. More components are planned to be added such as Camera and others.

Tiggr and PhoneGap – The ULTIMATE mobile app development combo?

We think so.

You have Tiggr, a cloud-based mobile apps builder. There is nothing to install or configure. Tiggr uses jQuery Mobile, HTML5, JavaScript and CSS to build mobile apps. The app’s UI is built inside a visual editor, the app can easily be connected to any cloud service, and the app can be tested at any point in a browser or on a device. At the end, you can export the app source.

Then, you have PhoneGap, a powerful framework that uses HTML5 and JavaScript to build native mobile apps and makes it super easy to access native features in an app, such as contacts and camera. PhoneGap’s cloud-based build service allows you to build quickly for multiple platforms.

When you combine the two, Tiggr and PhoneGap, you get powerful cloud-based HTML5 mobile apps builder with an easy way to incorporate native device features and build for multiple mobile platforms.

Sign up for Tiggr and build your mobile app today.

Max Katz is Head of Developer Relations for Tiggr at Exadel. You can find his writings about Web and mobile technologies on his blog, and follow him Twitter at @maxkatz. He also runs the Tiggr blog. Lastly, you can always email him at max@exadel.com.

PhoneGap: Connection API – PhoneGap’s Connection API can detect your mobile device’s Internet connection. Kevin explains how to use this to your advantage when developing mobile apps.

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PhoneGap: Contacts API – Kevin creates an HTML-based app that can access the contact list on your iOS or Android mobile device.

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PhoneGap: Device API – Kevin employs the Device API in PhoneGap to get more information about the mobile platform on which the application is running.

We look forward to posting more of Kevin’s videos soon. Missed his other PhoneGap videos? Check out his intro videos and his other API videos.

Salut!
Jesse

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PhoneGap: Accelerometer API – Kevin shows you how to employ mobile-specific sensors like the accelerometer into your apps.

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PhoneGap: Camera API – Kevin demonstrates how to use the Camera API to take pictures with your mobile phone’s camera, or load photos from the gallery.

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PhoneGap: Compass API – Kevin combines your mobile phone’s compass sensor with an HTML-based application using PhoneGap.

Kevin will be covering more APIs in upcoming videos, so stay tuned! View Kevin’s intro PhoneGap videos here.