April 2016 Summaries

In April 2016, Ionic announced an $8.5 million Series A funding round led by General Catalyst, bringing their total funding to $12.2 million. Founded in November 2013, Ionic aimed to create a web-based UI framework enabling web developers to build mobile apps as effectively as native developers using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The framework has been a success, with over two million apps created globally, impacting both app store and enterprise environments. Ionic continues to focus on mobile as a core part of the open web stack, drawing inspiration from projects like WordPress in its mission to empower developers worldwide. The company plans to enhance its offerings with the release of Ionic 2, Progressive Web App support, and improvements to the Ionic Platform and Creator, all while maintaining its foundation on Cordova and expanding the native/Cordova plugin ecosystem. Despite geographical challenges, Ionic has grown into a significant player in the tech industry, breaking barriers and asserting that the future of technology extends beyond traditional hubs like Silicon Valley.

Ionic 2's NavController provides a robust solution for managing navigation, alerts, modals, and loading indicators in app development, but effectively coordinating multiple asynchronous events around a single API call can be challenging. This screencast, presented by Mike Hartington, explores best practices for handling such asynchronous operations using Ionic 2, demonstrating how to manage asynchronous events efficiently. The screencast also includes sample code to illustrate the concepts discussed, offering developers practical insights into improving their app's performance and user experience. Additionally, viewers are encouraged to join the newsletter for updates from the blog, which covers related topics such as Capacitor, SvelteKit integration, and creating interactive Ionic apps.

Ionic 2 Beta 6 introduces a range of new features designed to enhance the development experience, including Virtual Scroll for smoother data list rendering, a customizable Loading component, and expanded theming options for greater visual flexibility. The update also includes support for the hardware back button, improved Select component interfaces, and default Material Design mode for desktop browsers. Additional enhancements include more control over Slides, a Toast component for notifications, and contributions from the developer community. Looking ahead, the Ionic team plans to introduce features such as embeddable datepickers, swipeable tabs, popovers, range sliders, and right-to-left language support, with ongoing updates tracked via their roadmap document.

Ionic 1.3 has been released with numerous bug fixes and contributions from the Ionic community, notably upgrading from Angular 1.4 to Angular 1.5, which introduces new features and performance enhancements. This update includes the exciting new Component functionality, paving the way for easier transitions to Ionic 2 and Angular 2. Available via bower and CDN, Ionic 1.3 will soon become the default in starters and templates, and developers are encouraged to report any issues on the community forum. The Ionic team expresses gratitude for community support, highlighting ongoing efforts to prepare Ionic 2 for production while continuing to enhance Ionic 1, suggesting promising developments for the open web platform.

Andrew McGivery provides a tutorial on using Ionic 2 to create a mobile app that interacts with a backend API, specifically the Random User Generator API, which provides mock user data. The guide walks readers through the process of setting up an Ionic 2 app using the Ionic CLI, creating a new provider named PeopleService to handle HTTP requests, and modifying the service to access and display data from the API. By demonstrating how to structure the app and utilize Angular's HTTP provider for API calls, McGivery highlights the ease and speed with which developers can build functional apps using Ionic 2. The tutorial concludes by integrating the PeopleService into the app's home page to display a list of users with their pictures, names, and emails, ultimately showcasing the power and simplicity of using Ionic for mobile app development.

Andrew McGivery's article provides a step-by-step guide to adding pages and navigation in an Ionic 2 application using the Ionic CLI, building on the basics covered in a previous tutorial about creating a simple app. The process begins by creating an app with a blank template, followed by generating a new page using the CLI, which automatically creates the necessary HTML, TypeScript, and SCSS files. To enable navigation from the home page to the newly created "about" page, developers must import the AboutPage class into the home.ts file and use a constructor in the HomePage class to bind the AboutPage to a property. This property is then used in the home template to create a button with NavPush functionality, while additional content is added to the about template. Running ionic serve allows developers to view and test the app in a browser, demonstrating how the Ionic CLI can simplify the process of rapidly developing and adding new components to applications.

Ionic View is a versatile tool designed to streamline the process of testing and sharing Ionic apps on iOS and Android devices by eliminating the need for complex SDK tools and provisioning. By simply downloading Ionic View and entering an App ID, developers, clients, or friends can effortlessly load and test apps, making it an integral part of the Ionic development experience. It is particularly beneficial for testing app versions, gathering client feedback, selling templates, and deploying to iOS without requiring a Mac or an iOS developer account. Due to its foundation in web content, Ionic View facilitates rapid testing that is not as easily achievable with native development, and new features and improvements are planned for 2016 to enhance its functionality. The app itself is built using Ionic, showcasing the framework's capabilities and serving as an effective demonstration of its potential.