Supporting the development of multi-platform mobile applications

Abstract

The number and type of mobile platforms is increasing. Each platform has a specific set of native functionalities (i.e., camera, compass) and provides a specific framework to implement mobile applications exploiting these functionalities. The new features offered by HTMLS together with the PhoneGap framework let the web be a potential candidate for multi-platform mobile development. However, programmers are still in charge of implementing the data flow, the control flow and the interaction. In this paper, we propose a development process to allow the implementation of portable web applications that use native device features. This process is based on the Model-View-View-Model architectural pattern and provides a framework that exploits the source code generated starting from the design of a State Transition Diagram. The state application logic is described exploiting Javascript. We also provide an example of generated multi-platform application, named Travel Guide.