Generally speaking can a Javascript-based application (iUI) be deployed without a webserver?

Question

Suppose I have a Javascript based application written in iUI or Kendo UI. Can it be packaged in such a way they can run locally without a webserver?

I have a few web applications, that with some rework and HTML5 LocalStorage, can possibly work offline (in an airplane or subway).

My mobile development experience is limited to Blackberry Playbook, which I only did so I can get a free one a few years ago. That platform supports "mobile applications" based on HTML, and an additional out-of-band packaging set of tasks.

Question

• Are other platforms (iPhone, Android, etc) similar in that I can simply package an iUI based application so that it can run offline or on a webserver?

Answer 1

Beside phonegap and co. you can also just build a plain HTML5/JS/CSS3 web application that runs in modern browsers like iOS Mobile Safari.

You can set up a cache manifest in your webapplication / website and specify HTML, Javascript, Images, etc. to store locally in the browsers cache. The webapplication / -site then can be run locally (after it is initially downloaded) even without network connection. For our webapps this worked great on iOS devices. Users can also pin the webapplication to their iOS home-screen which is a basic feature for all iOS'es. Some meta tags can customize icon's used on the home-screen etc.

General information about cache manifests can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache_manifest_in_HTML5

We also wrote a article on how we did it with some advanced version checking where on the server HTTP authentication is used for restricting user who have access to the app here: http://encodo.com/en/blogs.php?entry_id=313

I think it is a quite good alternative to packager's like phonegap etc. Might worth some thoughts.

Answer 2

Yes, any client-side JavaScript library can be included in a phonegap-style mobile application, and provide useful ui within the scope of the "client" in the phone, without running either a full http server locally or connecting to a remote computer.

Of course, depending on your definition of "server", the background framework that interacts with the device and sends files to the web browser control could be considered one.

(and you couldn't run php style code without an interpreter of some kind, but that can be done in the context of a mobile app.)

Answer 3

On iOS, the UIWebView framework can be used inside a native app to display web content (HTML and JavaScript) that can be packaged with and inside an app's distribution bundle. So a user can install it from the App Store just like other apps, and run it complete offline thereafter.