Multi-Platforms Development Tips PLEASE!

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hello community, I started an indie project two years ago, now I’m coming back to developers world. I’ve seen many changes, I’ve changed a few blocks of my old code and now I want to test my app on android and ios devices, but:

  1. How should I write my build settings code to make my app compatible with android and ios device (for test porpouses).

  2. I just can´t install the android sdk, well, I don´t  know how to install the sdk correctly. I want to install my .apk app directly from android sdk, I don’t want to use other 3rd party tools to achieve that.

SO PLEASE, A FEW TIPS ABOUT THESE THINGS WILL BE HELPFUL TO CONTINUE MY PROJECT

THANK U ALL…

#2

For your #1 question please read:  http://coronalabs.com/blog/2014/07/08/tutorial-understanding-build-settings/

For #2, your device must allow side-loading of apps.  Frequently this is checking something in the settings about allowing apps from non-standard stores.  Once this is done, you can set your device up to work with your computer and install the android developer tools (adt) and use it to load apps to your device.  See: http://docs.coronalabs.com/guide/distribution/androidBuild/index.html#device-installation

And just a friendly forum reminder.  Typing in all upper case is considered shouting and we respectfully respect that you minimize the use of all upper case text.

Thanks

Rob

#3

Sorry about the upper case thing, I didn’t know it, and thanks for the build setting info, it looks very helpful. Can I ask you something? Can I create diferent builds to run on iPhone 5, iPhone 4, iPad and iPad Mini, because screen dimensions are a key point into my game’s gameplay, and I think scaling options are not a solution to me; or what can you suggest? I´m really needing a good start point to understand multi-platforms development. 

#4

For iOS you can submit an iPhone build and an iPad build or one that works on both.  You cannot segment it by specific device.  If your interface has to be unique for each device, you will have to use the system.getInfo() API call and find the one that lets you know the specific device ID string and then use a bunch of “if” statements in your code to manage the various positions.

Rob

#5

Oh boy, there’s a lot of work waiting for me, but now I know what to do. Thank you.

#6

Perhaps you should re-think your UI in such away you can use something like the “Modernizing the Ulimate Config.lua” http://coronalabs.com/blog/2013/09/10/modernizing-the-config-lua/

So that you fill devices precisely.  The trick is you have to use relative positioning.  If you want a button 20px from the bottom, you have to do:  button.x = display.contentHeight - 20

That way it’s going to be 20px from the bottom regardless of the device.  Then you can support many devices with one setup.

Rob

#7

For your #1 question please read:  http://coronalabs.com/blog/2014/07/08/tutorial-understanding-build-settings/

For #2, your device must allow side-loading of apps.  Frequently this is checking something in the settings about allowing apps from non-standard stores.  Once this is done, you can set your device up to work with your computer and install the android developer tools (adt) and use it to load apps to your device.  See: http://docs.coronalabs.com/guide/distribution/androidBuild/index.html#device-installation

And just a friendly forum reminder.  Typing in all upper case is considered shouting and we respectfully respect that you minimize the use of all upper case text.

Thanks

Rob

#8

Sorry about the upper case thing, I didn’t know it, and thanks for the build setting info, it looks very helpful. Can I ask you something? Can I create diferent builds to run on iPhone 5, iPhone 4, iPad and iPad Mini, because screen dimensions are a key point into my game’s gameplay, and I think scaling options are not a solution to me; or what can you suggest? I´m really needing a good start point to understand multi-platforms development. 

#9

For iOS you can submit an iPhone build and an iPad build or one that works on both.  You cannot segment it by specific device.  If your interface has to be unique for each device, you will have to use the system.getInfo() API call and find the one that lets you know the specific device ID string and then use a bunch of “if” statements in your code to manage the various positions.

Rob

#10

Oh boy, there’s a lot of work waiting for me, but now I know what to do. Thank you.

#11

Perhaps you should re-think your UI in such away you can use something like the “Modernizing the Ulimate Config.lua” http://coronalabs.com/blog/2013/09/10/modernizing-the-config-lua/

So that you fill devices precisely.  The trick is you have to use relative positioning.  If you want a button 20px from the bottom, you have to do:  button.x = display.contentHeight - 20

That way it’s going to be 20px from the bottom regardless of the device.  Then you can support many devices with one setup.

Rob