Introduction

Welcome to Building Mobile Applications with Titanium, where we'll show you how to use Titanium to build "best of breed" cross-platform native mobile apps.

Titanium's unique trait among the various available cross platform mobile solutions is that it creates truly native apps. This is in contrast to web-based solutions that deliver functionality via an enhanced web view. Titanium, not wanting to be limited by the native web view, has engaged in a much deeper integration with the underlying platforms. This gives Titanium developers the ability to leverage native UI components & services, as well as near-native performance, features you won't find in other cross platform mobile development solution. In addition, you'll have access to other features like:

• Platform specific APIs
• Location-based services
• Social sharing
• Rich multimedia
• Online and on-device data
• Extensibility
• and much more!

Titanium empowers you to create immersive, full-featured applications that go beyond the boundaries of the browser. We do the heavy-lifting on cross platform compatibility so you don’t have to. Featuring nearly 100% code reuse across desktop apps and over 80% reuse across mobile apps, Titanium provides a deep, yet highly-reusable development platform. Appcelerator licenses Titanium under the Apache 2 license and is free for both personal and commercial use.

Chapters

Welcome to Titanium

In this chapter, you'll and learn the basics of writing cross-platform mobile apps with Titanium and become familiar with resources available to you. In addition, we'll take a brief look at the JavaScript skills you'll need to be an effective Titanium developer.

Cross-Platform Mobile Development in Titanium

In this chapter, you'll take a look at strategies for writing best-of-breed apps. You'll learn a variety of techniques for creating scalable, performant cross platform mobile projects. Finally, you'll learn how to increase the accessibility of your apps with internationalization.

User Interface Fundamentals

In this chapter, you'll explore the fundamentals of building a cross platform user interface with Titanium. Here you'll learn the critical aspects of your mobile UI, including layout, positioning, and user interaction.

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*[Advanced User Interface Development|Advanced User Interface Development]*

In this chapter, you'll extend your basic UI knowledge with more advanced topics like styling, creation of custom components, and UI memory management. In addition, you'll apply these techniques to create a high quality TableView component.
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Working with Local Data Sources

In this chapter, you'll learn how to store data locally on a mobile device. You'll explore Titanium's cross-platform methods for accessing local data stores, including persistent application properties, SQLite databases, and local files.

Working with Remote Data Sources

In this chapter, you'll learn how to interact with remote network resources within your Titanium Mobile app. You'll learn how to access HTTP endpoints and handle JSON, XML, and SOAP data, giving use the power to leverage web APIs, social networks, and data back-ends. You'll also learn how to upload and download files.

Working with Media APIs

In this chapter, you'll explore the ways you can add images, sounds, and videos to your apps. In addition, you'll learn how to capture images from the camera or retrieve them from a device's gallery.

Location Services

In this chapter, you'll learn how to integrate geolocation services into your apps. You'll learn how to track a user's position and heading, display native maps, and add custom annotations to those maps.

Integrating Web Content

In this chapter, you'll learn how to use the WebView component to display HTML content within your apps. You'll see how to display both local and remote web content. In addition, you'll be shown a few ways the WebView can be leveraged to enhance the capabilities our your mobile apps.

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*[Android API Deep Dive|10 Android API Deep Dive]*

In this chapter, you'll explore some of Android's platform specific functionality. You'll learn how to use Android's own UI components and services to create powerful native apps.

*[iOS API Deep Dive|11 iOS API Deep Dive]*

In this chapter, you'll learn iOS platform characteristics and the iOS-specific APIs you can use to create Titanium mobile apps.

*[Extending Titanium|12 Extending Titanium]*

In this chapter, you'll examine the Titanium architecture and learn the basics of creating modules to extend core Titanium functionality. You'll also explore the TiPlus modules and learn how to use those them to create best of breed mobile apps.
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Preparing for Distribution

In this chapter, you'll learn how to install apps to Android and iOS devices for testing. You'll also see how to package apps for distribution, including obtaining appropriate certificates and credentials, and how to publish apps to the Android Market and Apple App Store.