IS Corona SDK for me?

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Before I dive further into Corona SDK, I’d like to know if this platform is suitable for my purpose.

I do not plan to build any games, and maybe never will. I’ve read few tutorials most of them focusing on game development (physics engine, animation, graphics, audio, etc), while all i want to build are business/productivity, like tax calculator and financial related applications. The functions I need are like: form creation, database, remote api, creating table for showing data from database, etc. Pretty much like a web application.

I found it difficult to find guides/tutorials in this area, and I couldn’t find a single template/code sample for CRUD application. It makes me wonder if Corona SDK is good for building such application?

Thanks!

#2

Corona SDK provides rather graphic-based design than web application. If you want form - you would have to draw one yourself. Corona supports SqlLight as for database. For remote api corona can send http requests. You can always show web view in your app.

#3

most of the apps that i build with Corona are “business type” apps. i use it because of the power i have for creating interesting or complex UX/UI interfaces – think pinch/zoom controls, visual animations, etc. using a game engine gives me more precise control over those experiences than a rendering engine from a browser because they are specialized for that. ie, browser engines were never designed with frame rate in mind.

however, if all i needed to create were simple forms, lists of images, etc – something easily represented in HTML/JS/CSS – i’d probably look at using a combo like Phonegap, Backbone.js, and Bootstrap.

also you don’t need to use SQLite to save data, there are also JSON libraries available, eg dmc_autostore, which i think are more useful and flexible for any application – think MySQL vs MongoDB.

#4

Thanks for your suggestions!

For now I decided to learn further either titanium or jqmobile+phonegap. I’m very good in js and jquery stuff so it will be easier to adapt. Corona is overkill for now although it is very interesting subject. I’ve played a little bit with physics engine, it amused me!

#5

Tbh, if you want proper, easy cross platform development with forms, you’d be better off using a web popup with a form to display data inside a Corona app. You could go completely HTML based, and that’s not a bad solution, but it’s somewhat frowned upon by Apple. Be prepared to get rejected if you expect to wrap an HTML page in a light native wrapper.

#6

Corona SDK provides rather graphic-based design than web application. If you want form - you would have to draw one yourself. Corona supports SqlLight as for database. For remote api corona can send http requests. You can always show web view in your app.

#7

most of the apps that i build with Corona are “business type” apps. i use it because of the power i have for creating interesting or complex UX/UI interfaces – think pinch/zoom controls, visual animations, etc. using a game engine gives me more precise control over those experiences than a rendering engine from a browser because they are specialized for that. ie, browser engines were never designed with frame rate in mind.

however, if all i needed to create were simple forms, lists of images, etc – something easily represented in HTML/JS/CSS – i’d probably look at using a combo like Phonegap, Backbone.js, and Bootstrap.

also you don’t need to use SQLite to save data, there are also JSON libraries available, eg dmc_autostore, which i think are more useful and flexible for any application – think MySQL vs MongoDB.

#8

Thanks for your suggestions!

For now I decided to learn further either titanium or jqmobile+phonegap. I’m very good in js and jquery stuff so it will be easier to adapt. Corona is overkill for now although it is very interesting subject. I’ve played a little bit with physics engine, it amused me!

#9

Tbh, if you want proper, easy cross platform development with forms, you’d be better off using a web popup with a form to display data inside a Corona app. You could go completely HTML based, and that’s not a bad solution, but it’s somewhat frowned upon by Apple. Be prepared to get rejected if you expect to wrap an HTML page in a light native wrapper.

#10

@horacebury - interesting - what checks would apple be performing on apps to try to pick this up? What’s the issue for apple here? If you happen to understand…

So this would imply phonegap has risk associated with it re deploying IOS apps?

#11

My understanding of the situation is that PhoneGap and the like have essentially passed Apple’s “comfort zone” and so apps built with them are generally OK. Apps which simply take a website and display it in a thin client are not so comfortable. The difference is that SDKs like PhoneGap are a proper SDK, which JS APIs to access device-specific functions, whereas wrapping a webpage (which could easily run on any device) does not. For Apple the difference would be how reliable the eventual app is and if it makes best use of Apple’s platform.

Further: There are apps for Mac OS which literally wrap a locally hosted website in an Obj-C application which is nothing more than a browser. These can be approved because the work flawlessly with Mac OS, present a consistent Apple design in the UI and make use of Obj-C APIs. While they could easily be reworked to run in Windows, etc, the underlying platform-specific APIs and functions would need rethinking.

#12

I recommend corona because it’s a good cross platform. Meaning you could make your apps for android, iPhone and windows 8 soon, with out writing different versions of your code. Also corona Is great for making games and business apps. I don’t try out the business portion but I believe it’s good. Also if you pay a little extra money you could use your java libraries in the corona enterprise edition. Corona also have a strong and incompetent community that support you all the way.I strongly recommend it. Hope to see you using corona sdk as your platform.

#13

@horacebury - interesting - what checks would apple be performing on apps to try to pick this up? What’s the issue for apple here? If you happen to understand…

So this would imply phonegap has risk associated with it re deploying IOS apps?

#14

My understanding of the situation is that PhoneGap and the like have essentially passed Apple’s “comfort zone” and so apps built with them are generally OK. Apps which simply take a website and display it in a thin client are not so comfortable. The difference is that SDKs like PhoneGap are a proper SDK, which JS APIs to access device-specific functions, whereas wrapping a webpage (which could easily run on any device) does not. For Apple the difference would be how reliable the eventual app is and if it makes best use of Apple’s platform.

Further: There are apps for Mac OS which literally wrap a locally hosted website in an Obj-C application which is nothing more than a browser. These can be approved because the work flawlessly with Mac OS, present a consistent Apple design in the UI and make use of Obj-C APIs. While they could easily be reworked to run in Windows, etc, the underlying platform-specific APIs and functions would need rethinking.

#15

I recommend corona because it’s a good cross platform. Meaning you could make your apps for android, iPhone and windows 8 soon, with out writing different versions of your code. Also corona Is great for making games and business apps. I don’t try out the business portion but I believe it’s good. Also if you pay a little extra money you could use your java libraries in the corona enterprise edition. Corona also have a strong and incompetent community that support you all the way.I strongly recommend it. Hope to see you using corona sdk as your platform.