NativeGap is an ongoing research project that I began as an undergraduate. Following our success and feedback with Cloud Twin, Mohammed Davoodi and I wanted work on a system to leverage PhoneGap's utilities for cross-platform compilation. However, we still felt the need to preserve the native look and feel of an application written for a given platform versus one written as a web application. Our initial trials proved fruitful, but since Mohammed graduated, this project has not yet been completely realized. We believe that utilizing Aspect Oriented Programming and some fancy Javascript, we can develop a prototype capable of capturing a wide body of html components and translating them to their native counterparts, thus easing the developer burden in creating multi-platform apps and retaining the aesthetics of natively written applications. This work is being performed under the direction of my research advisor, Dr. Eli Tilevich.
Below you can find the abstract for the paper we plan to submit as well as links to the full text and the source code.
The modern mobile software marketplace is characterized by a multiplicity of platforms, including Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone. HTML5 and Javascript frameworks, such as PhoneGap, make it possible to engineer and maintain multiplatform mobile applications [1] [2]. Unfortunately, such applications lack the native look and feel users prefer of those written for a particular platform [3]. To address this issue, this research puts forward a novel approach that executes PhoneGap JavaScript mobile applications natively on the Android platform. Specifically, the native execution utilizes existing PhoneGap functionality to replay events and reflect the changes in the Android GUI in real time. Our initial case studies with third-party applications indicate that the presented approach can become a viable solution to the heterogeneity of the mobile application market.
None yet :(