Preparations for using the mobile client

To use the mobile client to install apps on mobile devices, we must either generate the app using the provided Eclipse and Visual Studio projects or use the version of the client provided for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows 8, or BlackBerry directly.

Prerequisites for building the Application Center installer

The Application Center comes with an Android, an iOS, a Windows Phone, a Windows 8, and a BlackBerry version of the client application that runs on the mobile device. This mobile application that supports installation of applications on your mobile device is called the mobile client. The mobile client is a MobileFirst mobile application.

The MobileFirst project IBMAppCenter contains the Android, the iOS, and the Windows Phone versions of the client.

The Windows 8 project is provided as a Visual Studio project located at IBMApplicationCenterWindowsStore\AppCenterClientWindowsStore.csproj.

The BlackBerry project IBMAppCenterBlackBerry6 contains the version of the client for BlackBerry OS 6 and OS 7 devices. BlackBerry OS 10 is not supported by the current version of the Application Center.

The Android version of the mobile client is included in the software delivery in the form of an Android application package (.apk) file. The IBMApplicationCenter.apk file is in the directory ApplicationCenter/installer. Push notifications are disabled. To enable push notifications, we must rebuild the .apk file. See Push notifications of application updates.about push notifications in the Application Center.

To build the Android version, we must have the latest version of the Android development tools.

The iOS version for iPad and iPhone is not delivered as a compiled application. The application must be created from the project.named IBMAppCenter. This project is also delivered as part of the distribution in the ApplicationCenter/installer directory.

To build the iOS version, we must have the appropriate MobileFirst and Apple software. The version of MobileFirst Studio must be the same as the version of MPF Server on which this documentation is based. The Apple Xcode version is v6.1.

The Windows Phone version of the mobile client is included as an unsigned Windows Phone application package (.xap) file in the software delivery. The IBMApplicationCenterUnsigned.xap file is in the ApplicationCenter/installer directory.

The unsigned .xap file cannot be used directly. We must sign it with the company certificate obtained from Symantec/Microsoft before we can install it on a device.

Optional: If necessary, we can also build the Windows Phone version from sources.

To build the Windows Phone version, we must have the latest version of the Microsoft Visual Studio development tools.

The Windows 8 version of the mobile client is included as an archive (.zip file). The IBMApplicationCenterWindowsStore.zip file contains an executable file (.exe) and its dependent Dynamic-Link Library (.dll) files. To use the content of this archive, you download the archive to a location on you local drive and run the executable file.

Optional: If necessary, we can also build the Windows 8 version from sources. For this purpose, we must have the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio.

The BlackBerry version is included as an archive (.zip) file. The IBMApplicationCenterBB6.zip file is in the ApplicationCenter/installer directory.

Optional: If necessary, we can also build the BlackBerry version from sources using the BlackBerry project named IBMAppCenterBlackBerry6. This project is delivered as part of the distribution in the ApplicationCenter/installer directory.

To build the BlackBerry version, we must have the BlackBerry Eclipse IDE (or Eclipse with the BlackBerry Java plug-in) with the BlackBerry SDK 6.0. The application also runs on BlackBerry OS 7 when compiled with BlackBerry SDK 6.0.

Download the software from: https://developer.blackberry.com/java/download/eclipse/.

1. Start the BlackBerry Eclipse IDE.

2. Select Help > Install New Software > Work with: BlackBerry Update Site.

3. Expand the BlackBerry Java Plug-in Category and select "BlackBerry Java SDK 6.0.x.y."

• Import and building the project (Android, iOS, Windows Phone)
  We must import the IBMAppCenter project into MobileFirst Studio and then build the project.

• For experts: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
  We can customize features by editing a central property file and manipulating some other resources.

• Microsoft Windows 8: Building the project
  Build the Application Center client project for Windows 8 in Microsoft Visual Studio 2013.

• Import and building the project (BlackBerry)
  We must import the BlackBerry project into the BlackBerry Eclipse IDE and then build the project.

• For experts: BlackBerry
  We can customize features by adapting a central property file and manipulating some other resources .

• Deploy the mobile client in the Application Center
  Deploy the different versions of the client application to Application Center.

Parent topic: Application Center