How Flexible Corona Is To Make Apps?

[BnB202]

hi guys,

im still new to corona and lua in general. i want to know how flexible corona is to make apps? I mean, i think corona started as a software to make games but now has advertised itself as app maker as well. But what kind of app can I make? I have seen the samples but i just want to know how far can it go

these are examples of app i want to make:

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/bing-travel/19cd0687-980b-4838-8880-5f68aba1671e

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.triposo.droidguide.world

this is just fairly easy app i guess, just with loads of content, and im not looking to clone both app either, just want to use them as reference. in case i want to make these kind of apps, is it possible with corona? thanks. sorry for asking questions without even read the tutorials yet. because most tutorials seem to be about games.

[bjsorrentino]

Hi @BnB202,

Yes, these sort of apps should be possible using Corona. A good starting point may be this article featuring a sample business app built in Corona:

http://coronalabs.com/blog/2013/10/09/a-look-inside-a-sample-corona-powered-business-app/

Best regards,

Brent Sorrentino

[BnB202]

ok thanks a lot, will dedicate my free time to learn corona

[neovive]

For apps with web views, is the the native.newWebView() library available in all Corona editions or only Enterprise?  I’m just starting with Corona for teaching and want to work on a lesson that allows students to integrate their web content with native Corona apps.  Thanks.

[bjsorrentino]

Hi @neovive,

native.newWebView() is available for all tiers.

Brent

[RedBeach]

Hi @BnB202.

The biggest problem in making Business app with Corona is related to text inputs. It gets worse if you use Windows, since the Corona Simulator does not support text input, so you will always have to build your app and test in your device.

It also had a terrible bug related to the scrollview (that you will probably use based on the examples that you listed) that every time that you added a new content, the scrollview got reseted to the first position, but it appears that they released a bug fix for that yesterday, so you would have to be a Pro user to be able to use that fix.

So, you will suffer having to deal with the text inputs (they don’t obey to majority of scene transitions/effect, font scale problem,…) but apart from that, you would be fine.

[BnB202]

@RedBeach

Hi @BnB202.

The biggest problem in making Business app with Corona is related to text inputs. It gets worse if you use Windows, since the Corona Simulator does not support text input, so you will always have to build your app and test in your device.

It also had a terrible bug related to the scrollview (that you will probably use based on the examples that you listed) that every time that you added a new content, the scrollview got reseted to the first position, but it appears that they released a bug fix for that yesterday, so you would have to be a Pro user to be able to use that fix.

So, you will suffer having to deal with the text inputs (they don’t obey to majority of scene transitions/effect, font scale problem,…) but apart from that, you would be fine.

hi Renato, sorry for very late reply. my laptop was totally died one day after i created this thread. i sent it to repair and just got it back few days ago (my other computer is too low-spec so can’t use corona there, already tried). Now I already learned a bit of lua/corona tutorial but i forgot about this thread until i checked my email.

when you said Corona simulator does not support text input, what do you mean? The standard text input like “display.newText”?

I don’t really get your message but I assume what you meant was how it display text in different screen sizes and devices? Then what would happen if (for example) the text input works great for Galaxy S4 but not for HTC One? I do have one android smartphone (Xperia Z) and if it works perfectly there, can I safely assume it should work perfectly in other popular android devices too? If i have to test in each device separately, that would be a very major issue to me.

[nick_sherman]

No, he means that Corona supports native text input fields - i.e. a white box that comes up and when you touch it, the on-screen keyboard comes up automatically, allowing you to type something into the field. ‘Native’ means these are the same text inputs you would get in a built-in apple or google app.

The downside is that on the Windows Simulator, these do not function so you cannot test them without building for a device, and as Renato says they cannot be added to Corona display groups so have to be managed separately. So if you wanted a nice transition effect where one scene pushed the current one off the screen, the native text objects would have to be moved independently of the rest of the scene.

[bjsorrentino]

Hi @BnB202,

Yes, these sort of apps should be possible using Corona. A good starting point may be this article featuring a sample business app built in Corona:

http://coronalabs.com/blog/2013/10/09/a-look-inside-a-sample-corona-powered-business-app/

Best regards,

Brent Sorrentino

[BnB202]

ok thanks a lot, will dedicate my free time to learn corona

[neovive]

For apps with web views, is the the native.newWebView() library available in all Corona editions or only Enterprise?  I’m just starting with Corona for teaching and want to work on a lesson that allows students to integrate their web content with native Corona apps.  Thanks.

[bjsorrentino]

Hi @neovive,

native.newWebView() is available for all tiers.

Brent

[RedBeach]

Hi @BnB202.

The biggest problem in making Business app with Corona is related to text inputs. It gets worse if you use Windows, since the Corona Simulator does not support text input, so you will always have to build your app and test in your device.

It also had a terrible bug related to the scrollview (that you will probably use based on the examples that you listed) that every time that you added a new content, the scrollview got reseted to the first position, but it appears that they released a bug fix for that yesterday, so you would have to be a Pro user to be able to use that fix.

So, you will suffer having to deal with the text inputs (they don’t obey to majority of scene transitions/effect, font scale problem,…) but apart from that, you would be fine.

[BnB202]

@RedBeach

Hi @BnB202.

The biggest problem in making Business app with Corona is related to text inputs. It gets worse if you use Windows, since the Corona Simulator does not support text input, so you will always have to build your app and test in your device.

It also had a terrible bug related to the scrollview (that you will probably use based on the examples that you listed) that every time that you added a new content, the scrollview got reseted to the first position, but it appears that they released a bug fix for that yesterday, so you would have to be a Pro user to be able to use that fix.

So, you will suffer having to deal with the text inputs (they don’t obey to majority of scene transitions/effect, font scale problem,…) but apart from that, you would be fine.

hi Renato, sorry for very late reply. my laptop was totally died one day after i created this thread. i sent it to repair and just got it back few days ago (my other computer is too low-spec so can’t use corona there, already tried). Now I already learned a bit of lua/corona tutorial but i forgot about this thread until i checked my email.

when you said Corona simulator does not support text input, what do you mean? The standard text input like “display.newText”?

I don’t really get your message but I assume what you meant was how it display text in different screen sizes and devices? Then what would happen if (for example) the text input works great for Galaxy S4 but not for HTC One? I do have one android smartphone (Xperia Z) and if it works perfectly there, can I safely assume it should work perfectly in other popular android devices too? If i have to test in each device separately, that would be a very major issue to me.

[nick_sherman]

No, he means that Corona supports native text input fields - i.e. a white box that comes up and when you touch it, the on-screen keyboard comes up automatically, allowing you to type something into the field. ‘Native’ means these are the same text inputs you would get in a built-in apple or google app.

The downside is that on the Windows Simulator, these do not function so you cannot test them without building for a device, and as Renato says they cannot be added to Corona display groups so have to be managed separately. So if you wanted a nice transition effect where one scene pushed the current one off the screen, the native text objects would have to be moved independently of the rest of the scene.