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I'm planning on developing an app on multiple platforms and I'm thinking that PhoneGap might be perfect for me. I had been reading that it's one codebase for all platforms but looking at the PhoneGap guide it seems there are separate instructions for each platform. So if i want to develop for iOS, Android, BB and WP7 I need to write 4 different sets of code? I'm sure i'm missing something fundamental here.

Aside from that, how do people usually approach a PhoneGap build? You obviously / probably want the finished app to look like a native app - is it more common than not to use jQuery Mobile together with PhoneGap?

Is there a preferred IDE? I see, in the guide, for iOS they seem to suggest Xcode. I'm fine using Xcode but it seems a bit overkill for HTML & CSS. Do I need to develop in Xcode and if not how do i approach it? Use a different IDE / Text Editor and then copy paste into Xcode for building and testing?

I know this question is long-winded and fundamental but it something which i don't think is properly addressed in the guides.

Thanks.

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  • Take a look at this article (codeproject.com/Articles/445361/…) - it greatly explains what are the benefits of PhoneGap and related toolkit (Jquery mobile etc). It also shows how much code will be actually reused for different platforms. I found the results trustworthy while developing mobile solutions myself.
    – Arthur P
    Oct 10, 2012 at 15:53

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Phonegap only provides the framework for shared code on different platforms. In order to build the app for each platform you have to use the native toolsets so; Visual Studio for WinPhone, XCode for iOS, Eclipse w/ Android SDK for Android, etc.

You can reuse all your PhoneGap code but you need to create projects on each platform to build and submit the apps to the appropriate mobile stores.

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    If you yourself have experience, can you describe your general approach? Develop in Xcode, Eclipse and Visual Studio? Would you generally use jQuery Mobile too or a different framework? Thanks for your answer by the way.
    – garethdn
    Oct 10, 2012 at 9:37
  • You can now build from Adobe's online PG build service. You'll still need stuff like an iOS dev account but you can build without bringing the app up in each IDE.
    – Erik Reppen
    Nov 23, 2013 at 0:34

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