David Riggleman Nathan Brown

Titanium is a cross platform mobile development tool. Titanium applications are written using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but they are compiled into native applications specific to the mobile device and then the applications run as standalone applications. These applications use an API that allows them to access native features on the devices. This tool powers over 1,000 different native applications per month. Titanium is a powerful tool that is growing very fast and is allowing for more and more functionality.

The main programming language is JavaScript. So as a user, he or she will be using JavaScript to make the initial program and then compiles it to native code for the use on different mobile devices.

An entire integrated development environment (IDE) called Titanium Studio was built using Eclipse as the underlying framework and provides easy access to all the actions important when developing a mobile application. These features include debugging support, which was implemented in June of this year, and code completion. The debugging tool allows a fully functional debugging option.

There are some problems and glitches that come with this tool, such as the failure to exclude subversion files. There are updates that will eventually be released to resolve these issues. The emulators that are used are a third party and integrated easily into Titanium. There is an internal SDK that the IDE uses. As of right now Titanium’s cross platform support includes the iOS, Black Berry, and Android platforms.

One helpful source of information was found was the developers’ blog that is posted on the Appcelerator’s web site (http://developer.appcelerator.com/blog/). There are many useful people and answers on this site that others have found. This base of people is also very large and there are many answers to questions along with many good tips.

Online Installation tutorial: http://wiki.appcelerator.org/display/guides/Installing+on+Windows+7

Debugging introduction: http://developer.appcelerator.com/blog/2011/07/page/2#debugging

Debugging Details: http://wiki.appcelerator.org/display/tis/About+the+Debug+perspective

Installing Subversion Plugin: http://wiki.appcelerator.org/display/tis/Subversion

Compatibility table: http://wiki.appcelerator.org/display/guides/Titanium+Compatibility+Matrix

Titanium Studio relies on several programs to support Android mobile development. Several of these dependencies are further dependent on each other, so the user must install a suite of programs – in the correct sequence – and set several environment variables before Titanium Studio will install without unexpected error messages. The most recent Titanium SDK does provide a decent “safety net” for users who refuse to install these dependencies, but relying on this detection is not recommended.

1. 
   Install Python (http://www.python.org/download/ ).
   

2. 
   Install Git (http://git-scm.com/download).
   

3. 
   Install SCons (http://www.scons.org/download.php ).
   

4. 
   Install Java (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html ).
   

5. 
   Install the Android SDK (http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html ).
   

6. 
   Configure environment variables.
   

Once all the dependencies have been satisfied, installing Titanium Studio amounts to a simple wizard walkthrough. On the first startup, the program will request the user’s Appcelerator account username and password. To create a new project, select File > New > Titanium Mobile Project. The configuration screens for the project will allow the user to point Titanium to the Android SDK and select a development environment. Projects are saved to the user’s workspace and can be emulated using the boxed arrow inside the App Explorer.

Common errors include incorrect environmental variables, spaces in the Android SDK path name, and improper emulator setup. If Titanium refuses to locate an existing Android SDK, ensure that the Path variable is set to \android-sdk-windows\platform-tools. Also ensure that the SDK is not installed in the \Program Files directory, as the filename will contain a space. If the emulator is not working, open the SDK manager, ensure the correct packages are installed (under “Installed packages”), delete any virtual devices, and restart Titanium.

1. 
   Open the download/update configuration via Window > Preferences > Install/Update > Available Software Sites.
   
2. 
   Add Eclipse to the list via the Add… button. The link must be http://download.eclipse.org/releases/helios
   
3. 
   Press OK and select Help > Install New Software
   
4. 
   Select Eclipse in the Works With: combo box.
   
5. 
   Select Collaboration and filter by SVN in the primary table.
   
6. 
   Select Team SVN and install.
   
7. 
   Restart Titanium.
   
8. 
   Select Window > Open Perspective and the SVN Repository Exploring option.
   
9. 
   Select an SVN configuration that is compatible with your Subversion version.
   
10. 
    Restart Titanium.
    
11. 
    Access your repository with the New Repository Location button above the interface file tree.
    

Titanium supports the standard debugging options. Users of Firebug, Netbeans, or Eclipse will be very comfortable setting both static and dynamic breakpoints. The software also supports variable and call stack tracing, as well as dynamic variable editing. In some cases, the debugger may not start properly on an Android emulator. If this occurs, restart Titanium.

The following steps apply to installing a sample application on an HTC Evo 4G Android Smartphone. The instructions may vary slightly for other Android devices

1. 
   Download HTC Sync from http://www.htc.com/us/support/evo-sprint/downloads/
   
2. 
   Install the application using the default settings
   
3. 
   Open Titanium Studio
   
4. 
   Select File  New  Titanium Mobile Project
   
5. 
   Enter the project information
   
   1. 
      Enter the name of the project (ex: “Hello World”)
      
   2. 
      Enter the location where to save the project
      
   3. 
      Enter an app id (ex: “com.cedarville.helloworld”)
      
   4. 
      Enter a website URL if desired (ex: “http://cedarville.edu”)
      
   5. 
      Enter the desired SDK version (currently 1.7.2)
      
   6. 
      Enter the deployment targets (ensure the Android checkbox is checked)
      
6. 
   Click Finish
   
7. 
   Expand the Resources folder in either the App Explorer view and open the file app.js
   
8. 
   Change the “text” property for “label1” to “Hello World from Window 1”
   
9. 
   Change the “text” property for “label2” to “Hello World from Window 2”
   
10. 
    Save all changes to the modified file
    
11. 
    First test the application on the Android Emulator
    
    1. 
       Right click anywhere in the App Explorer view and click Run As  Android Emulator
       
    2. 
       Wait until the emulator completely starts up and installs the application, which will be indicated by no more new output printing to the console (this may take up to a few minutes)
       
    3. 
       Unlock the “phone” on the Android Emulator and the application should automatically launch
       
12. 
    One the program is verified to be working, close the Emulator
    
13. 
    Connect the Android device to the computer via the USB cable
    
14. 
    On the device, ensure the Default Connection Type (under Settings  Connect to PC) is set to HTC Sync
    
15. 
    On the PC, use either of the following options
    
    1. 
       Option 1 (Manually Install through HTC Sync): most reliable method
       
       1. 
          Launch HTC Sync (applies to installing applications on HTC Android Smartphones)
          
       2. 
          In HTC Sync, select Application installer
          
       3. 
          Select the application package file (.apk), which is located in WORKSPACE/Hello World/build/android/bin/app.apk
          
       4. 
          Click “Install”
          
    2. 
       Option 2 (Manual Install from within Titanium Studio): reliable method
       
       1. 
          If the android platform tools are in your PATH, go to the terminal and run the following command: “adb install “WORKSPACE/Hello World/build/android/bin/app.apk”
          
       2. 
          If the android tools are not in your path, either add it to your path, or run a similar command depending on the location of the android sdk: “C:\proj\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe” install “WORKSPACE/Hello World/build/android/bin/app.apk”
          
    3. 
       Option 3 (Easy Install from within Titanium Studio): doesn’t always work for various reasons
       
       1. 
          Ensure the device is connected to the Internet
          
       2. 
          Right click again on the project name and this time click “Install to Android Device)
          
16. 
    The application should now be installed on the mobile device