For up-to-date product documentation, see the IBM MobileFirst Foundation Developer Center.

Develop applications

The process for developing applications has steps that are common to all environments: setting up a server, creating an initial server registration and corresponding configuration files, creating a new (or opening an existing) project in your chosen IDE, and adding the necessary SDK files to our IDE project. Also, server-side adapters can be developed as needed for the application.

Each MobileFirst application consists of server-side and client-side development. Before we can initially run your client app and connect to the server resources, the client app needs to be registered to the server.

Set up the environment

Regardless of the target device platform, all MobileFirst applications need to be set up before they can be developed.

• If necessary, set up the IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Foundation Developer Kit
• Create a set of MobileFirst SDK files for adding to our application.
• Develop your client app.
• Register your app to the MobileFirst Development Server, installed with the IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation Developer Kit.
• Add server-side resources (adapters) for our app.

Using package-management tools to add the SDK to your existing app

• Add MobileFirst SDK to an iOS Xcode project using CocoaPods.
• Set up Android Studio projects with Gradle.
• Add the MobileFirst SDK by using NuGet.

Develop the app

MobileFirst can be developed for Apple devices using the iOS Objective-C SDK, Android-based devices using the Android Java™ SDK, web-browser devices using the web JavaScript SDK, and Windows devices using the Windows C# SDK. In addition, SDKs are provided for developing Cordova apps through a combination of a native platform SDK (iOS or Android) and JavaScript.

• Develop native applications in Android Studio.
• Develop native applications for iOS in Xcode
• Develop native C# applications for Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform and Windows 8 Universal.
• Develop web applications.
• Develop Cordova applications.

Using server-side resources

When the client app can connect to the server, it can use server-side resources such as adapters and security.

• Adapters can be developed in Java or JavaScript. See Develop the server side of a MobileFirst application.
• The app can be secured in a number of ways. See MobileFirst security framework.

Build and deploy

See Deploy MobileFirst applications to test and production environments.

• Development concepts and overview
  
• Set up the development environment
  
• Develop the client side of a MobileFirst application
  
• Develop the server side of a MobileFirst application
  
• Update Cordova client apps directly
  
• Push notification
  
• MobileFirst security framework