Cross Mobile

Back on Stage !

2014-07-24T06:21:00.001-07:00

After the dead of Flex and AIR, I tried several others solutions.

I even tried HTML5 (Enyo is just the one and only valid solutions right now, forget about AngularJS) !

Of course, like most of you already know, there is NO unique solution.
The one you depends of the kind of app you want to release and the secondary target platforms, with Android and iOS as the first target platforms.

So, right now, in July'14
If you want to make a ~~stupid~~ simple app, go for Cordova / Phonegap.
If you want to make an average app, go for Cordova / Phonegap with Enyo or Telerik.If you want to make a professionnal app, sorry but nothing beats native code.
If you want to make a 2D game, OpenFL based solutions are the best (check HaxeFlixel or HaxePunk)
If you want to make a 3D game, Marmelade and Unity should help you...a lot !
If you want to target Windows Phone 8, learn WinJS or XAML C# !

On this last year, a lot of changes occured on the mobile world
Blackberry10 kind failed, while I personnaly really like the OS
Android moved to an apple'ish OS, with every bad included (but not a lot of good!)
iOS became an (even more expensive) toy with its less and less intuitive UI
Nokia died, with all its remaining blood sucked by Microsoft.
Tizen reinvented the terms of vaporware (vaporOS?)

and, recently, the only valuable android phone was released : the OnePlus One
An Android phone with the best technical specs ever without all the Google'ish ...and at a very descent price (a third of an iPhone !!)

So, hi to the followers we kept an eye on this blog, right now, I'm back !

I'm now an AIR BB developer !

2013-04-19T03:24:00.003-07:00

In December, I ported my 4 apps to BB10 for the 2 port-a-thon.
It was easy but took some times to setup every needed tool.

I really liked the experience and I now plan all my dev for Blackberry too.

This week, Blackberry made the final move to buy me : I received the cash award (it tooks some times but in final, I got it!) and my so waited Dev Alpha C device, won because I made AIR apps !

The Dev Alpha C device is near the upcoming Blackberry Q10 with the infamous keyboard.
I'll be able to test on a real device, to be sure the user experience is great using the BB keyboard.

Again, thanks Blackberry, you can count on me even more now !

On a side note, these last 3 months, I earnt more money with Trash Mail on BB's App World than on Google Play...another reason I'm now definitly a BBDevers ! :)

ANE Ads4AIR v1.0.1 + Android Sample app

2013-04-19T03:06:00.001-07:00

One week after my first ANE release comes my first update !

While writing a sample AIR app, I noticed some bugs mainly related to the ANE's context.
Following doc and tutorials, I made a wonderful error : using a static context

On Ads4AIR case, using a static context is an error because if you ask for interstitial ad THEN a banned ad, the banner ad request won't work...because it's stil initialized with interstitial context.

I fixed a lot of others memory leak and was able to code some workaround on Adfonic's limits.
Now it's time to work on the Blackberry !

Be free to
- download the new version (v1.0.1)
- make some tests on your Android device
- check the source of the sample AIR app

BOOK : PhoneGap Essentials, Building Cross Platform Mobile apps

2013-04-11T02:30:00.000-07:00

In my search to an alternative to Flex, I had to explore the PhoneGap way.
PhoneGap lets you embed a full HTML5low web site on a native application.
Used basically, it's an website to application converter.

I had the opportunity to read this book : PhoneGap Essentials, Building Cross Platform Mobile apps
It's important to note it was written in June 2012 : PhoneGap/Cordova is now at version 2.6 while the book is about version 1.5
Oh, and 'Essentials' doesn't mean 'Everything you should now' but 'The minimum you should now'.

I read in only a few hour because it's full of code you can bypass.
Anyway, it was very interesting to read.
Why ? Because I learnt that Phonegap is/was a total mess.
- API not working the same way on all platforms
- documentation not in sync with the code
- a lot of copy/paste to make for a real multi platform export
- trial and error again

I now have to find a book from 2013 which cover Cordova 2.x and see if they fixed all of this.
I really hope because it's already awful to code the html5low part, I don't want to lose more times with Cordova issue.

So, does it worth money ? No longer, all you need to know is on this post....unless PhoneGap/Cordova is still as poorly made as it was in June 2012

My first ANE Ads4AIR : Ads from Admob, Adfonic, Inmobi and some others...

2013-04-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Today I release my first AIR Native Extension.
While only for Android for now, the next release should include BlackBerry support.

What is Ads4AIR ?
This group of ANE offers you alternative to Admob.
Some ANE already exist which give you access to Admob ads on Android and iPhone, my goal was to let you choose.
First, because Admob doesn't support Blackberry.
Second, because choice is the key and Google isn't the only one.
It also allows you to use the ads network you want anytime you want : when your user is from india, when admob returns no ads, when your user is on wifi....It's up to you !

Which are the ads networks supported ?
Adfonic
Adiquity
Admob
Inmobi
Inneractive
Madvertise
Smaato
I tried to support banner and interstitial for the most of them.
Unfortunatly, some SDK are buggy or work only on native Android app.
If you need another one, just ask me !

What's the licence ?
I tried another way to earn money : success sharing.
In fact, it's really simple : if you earn money with Ads4AIR, I'll earn too.
10% of the ads shown are from my own Adfonic account.
Since I understand developers could be afraid to not control every ad shown, it's still possible to register.
And since I'm a nice guy, YOU define the price.
Contact me for my paypal account, transfert the fund and I'll send you a serial id.

Where could I find it ?
On http://www.willna.com/extensions/
More ANE will come if this one is a success so...hurry up, use it and give me your feedback !

BOOK : Enyo: Up and Running

2013-03-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

Since Flex is no longer enought to earn money for living (shame on you Adobe), I had to move to something great, wonderful and so much better than OOP : Javascript and its friends HTML & CSS.
The number of frameworks and libraries available is just...enormous !
To select which one is the best for your needs is just impossible...really !
Backbone, Angular, ExtJS, Dojo, ... are surely great ones but I'm not fond of the way to code : add attributes in HTML Tag and inline JS.
Enyo is the only one I found what doesn't need this : you only need to code JS and optionaly improve your CSS.
Of course Enyo, in fine, produces the same thing but you, the coder, don't need to code pure HTML and your (web) designer will only produce his CSS.
Coding in Enyo is like coding in full AS3 with CSS.

So, I ended reading this book.
The Up and Running collection of O'Reilly seems to be a "Introduction" collection (like the "Instant" of Packt) : only 80 pages.
I read it on my ebook reader but it should be read on a full PDF Reader (desktop or tablet) because there is a lot of link to follow : code is available at JSFiddle.

You should know all the information available on this book is available on Enyo website.
You'll even find more details on the website, and, most of the times, in a easy to read form, which made Enyo's docs one of the best documentation for a javascript framework I read.
I'm still trying to understand what backbone is for example

So why read this book ? Because Roy Sutton wrote it in a way which gives you the feelings you became an Enyo ninja in 1 day ! :)
You could save 8$ and just read Enyo's doc but it would take you longer to understand some points (like kinds and a layout).

I was really interested in Enyo before I read this book, I'm now really a fan.
You'll need to read more on Enyo website to really become a ninja (the install/debug/deploy part in the book is just unuseful as-is) but thanks to this book, I'm now ready to fight with the language I hate the most after VBA.

BOOK : Architecting Mobile Solutions for the Enterprise

2013-03-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

In my quest for a professional look at the mobile industry, I read Architecting Mobile Solutions for the Entreprise by Dino Esposito.
You should note it's published by Microsoft Press and almost every sample are in ASP.NET coded in Visual Studio.
This book also states than, in june 2012, the 3 major mobile plateforms are iOS, Android and Windows Phone...hilarious !

The first part is a gold one, exactly what I was looking for : what shoud be your mobile strategy.
The second part is all about online mobile sites using JQuery, WURLF ...and ASP.NET. Interesting but nothing new and JQuery isn't the best framework to use for mobile websites.
The third part explains briefly how to code for the 3 "major" platforms using native, html or .NET (!) : a very bad intro to each platform so skip it.
Hopefully, it starts with a beautiful gem : "Patterns of Mobile Application Development".

So, perhaps 20-30% of the book should really be read : full part one and chapter 7.
Does it worth the money ? No, even if it's the only PRINTED book available on mobile strategy.
Buy it at half price, used or find it on your local library.

On a side note, it was a pain to read on my ebook reader because the PDF was not optimized : it takes up to 3 minutes to load the cover page and up to 30 seconds to move to the next page. It's the first time I had such problem.

Use Android Developper Tool (ADT) with a proxy

2013-02-04T14:02:00.001-08:00

On my current job, I had to use ADT
Unfortunatly, they are very strict on Internet security and so use a proxy for any access.

ADT needs Internet access to download SDKs and images for the AVD manager.
You could define a proxy on the ADT preferences screen but how do define a login/password protected proxy ?
I tried http://<login>:<password>@<proxyadr>:<proxyport> with no success

Hopefully, after some googling, I found the perfect answer :

You had to edit androidtool.cfg in C:\Documents and Settings\YOU USER NAME\.android\ and edit 3 properties

http.proxyLogin=USER@PASSWORD
http.proxyPort=PORTNUMBER
http.proxyHost=PROXYHTTP

http.proxy should not be there, it's up to you to add it

Thanks Florian !!

Not so easy to use Apache Flex 4.9 with Flash Builder

2013-02-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

Edit : I changed the title since visitors seems to already read it and post comment to help me install Flex 4.9

Since it's still not clear if Adobe AIR and Apache Flex will evolve together or not, I previously said I won't use Apache Flex 4.9.

But, in the release note (can't find it anymore), I read it was possible to use Flash Player version as low as 10.2
I never understood why a new Flex SDK needed the last Flash Player version so it seems the Apache team finally fixed this non-sens...and give me a reason to install Flex SDK 4.9

I first tried to install Flash Builder 4.9 with the installer : FAIL => you need full rights to use it, which is rarely the case in big corporation.
So I followed the manual way but, since I don't see the point to install ant just to download and unzip files, I handled the dependencies myself.
It was the best choice since I simply used the file I already had on the 4.6 sdk folder, not waited for the download of the 4.6 SDK archive.

But, I failed to add the SDK on Flash Builder...
adt.jar not found

Great...the new SDK doesn't work on Flash Builder....
I wonder if it works on JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA since Apache team REALLY seems to like this IDE.
Sorry, but I can't work without my favorites Eclipse plugins, like Subclipse and some others...
How to use it without IDE ? Flash Builder ? FDT ? CLI ?

So, let ask google ! ... wait...there is an issue on Apache's JIRA !
In fact, the only thing to do is to call ide/flashbuilder/makeApacheFlexForFlashBuilder.bat !

Ok, it finally works...but why should I call makeApacheFlexForFlashBuilder.bat ?
From the realease note, it seems it's because they changed the folders architectures to something more useable ... well..not in Flash Builder it seems...

makeApacheFlexForFlashBuilder.bat also patch Apache Flex 4.9 with the last Adobe AIR SDK ... while only AIR 3.1 is officialy supported

~~Oh, and I finally discovered I had to download the source, install even more tools and compile the SDK myself to get 10.2 support~~
Edit : from comments below, it seems the README point me to the wrong direction, you haven't to recompile the SDK for 10.2 support

so, got 4.9 SDK on FB4.7 but I'm still using 4.6 SDK !

My Flash (Game) Builder 4.7 feedback

2013-02-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

20 days ago, I finally installed Flash Builder 4.7
Since the new "features" come, apart for MacOSX users, from the new AIR / Flash player and the support for Scout, I asked myself if it was really needed.

Until you ask, here are some points about this release :

FBuilder still not add mobile.swc by default when you create a mobile library
FBuilder still make mistake when trying to open declaration of class existing in mobile and not mobile ("source not found")
FBuilder is still unable to open declaration of mobile skin : "source not found for XXSkin in mobile.swc" even when mobile.swc's source attachment is valid
Flash Builder is now sold like Flash Game Builder, following Adobe's stupid line about the future of Flash Player... (more on this on a later post)

But, 3 days ago, I discovered something... and not a minus one !

For a long time now, I'm not hitting F1 key anymore to avoid losing minutes when Adobe Community Help loads, updates, loads a wrong page and get closed to avoid "not enougth memory" back in Flash Builder...

I'm used to get Adobe LiveDocs opened on a Chrome window ...more useful and error/update proof.
I'm actually working for a client who is still using FlexBuilder 3 (yes, not auto indent nor import ordering...sadly).
In this realease, F1 key is working the way it needs to.
After a day fighting with a bug and, so, hitting a lot the F1 key, I get back to my other PC and launched FB4.7.
I don't know how, I don't know why but I hitted F1 key....and the embedded help just opened !
I took me some seconds to realize but YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !

After all this time explaining how bad was this choice on every blog and forum I could, it came back !

Getting back to my chair, I thought :
Wow! Adobe recognized then made an error and finally fixed it !
Is it their new strategy ? What happened ?
Did they finally use their minds for something not marketshare related ?

Then I started dreaming :
Perhaps they'll change the horrible GUI of the Creative Suite on the next release !
Perhaps they'll say how HTML5 is pure crap and not "the future" !
Perhaps they'll start to have a useful communication campaign !
...yes...I was dreaming .... too much emotion....

So, yes, Flash Builder 4.7 need to be installed and used, just to get Adobe LiveDoc embedded !
It's a shame to pay 50$ just to get back a feature but it's easy to explain to the guy who guard the credit card : better productivity !

While talking to him, for the same reason, ask for a second screen and for Charles HTTP proxy (just 10 times better that this unuseful network monitor)

Faith came back !

Blackberry effort to get a store full for BB10 launch

2013-01-14T01:14:00.001-08:00

This week end, I spent most of my 2 nights to port Dari AlefBe and Temporary Mail to BB10.

Why did I choose to not sleep much this week end ? Because I took part to Blackberry's Android-a-thon and All port-a-thon.

This 2 events have one and only goal : fill Blackberry store (BB App World) before launch of BB10.
They so bought 15000 app at 100$ .
Some people released 20 apps and more on 2 days. I don't know what's the overall quality of all these app, we'll see how many of them RIM really approve.

And it seems, it's not enought : RIM announced a Last Chance Port-A-Thon for this week end. I'll personally try to port Poulpytris and Penguinoid this week so they'll be ready for saturday.

The only thing bugging me is I don't know the habits of a typical BB user : ready to pay for an app (like on iphone) or looking for free apps only, ads based or in-app purchase based (like on android).
So I tried the 2 methods : Dari AlefBe is still ads based while Temporary Mail is a 1$ app.

Got my windows phone 8 dev fees refund

2012-11-21T00:18:00.001-08:00

I received yesterday the 91% refund of my windows phone 8 dev fees.
While I was afraid to receive it in 2013, Microsoft was not so slow on this one.
I still don't understand why I didn't pay 8$ only, without the need for a refund. Perhaps to select who can register..?
Or to avoid to handle different price for different people ?

Anyway, it's now time to make my vmware image of Windows 8.
I hope VS and the emulator will support it.

SmartTV, NetTV and others...

2012-11-16T00:29:00.001-08:00

On a previous post, I talked about Global User eXperience (GUX) on phone, tablet, pc ....and TV.
In fact, I have almost no experience on TV so I thought it was the time for some research.

We all heard about GoogleTV and AppleTV but in fact, companies like Samsung, LG and others already made some unique connected TV back in 2009.

According Wikipedia, connected TV is now commonly called smart TV (like for smart phone?).
What I also learnt is that a smart TV could be smart by 2 ways : internal or external.
Internal means a TV with wifi/LAN and UI (Samsung TV, LG TV...)
External means a box of any kind with HDMI and Wifi/LAN (GoogleTV, AppleTV, Samsung BluRay player, LG BluRay player,...)

I first thought external box was crap. We almost all have a DSL/cable box which already do what a smartTV box could do.

I then looked for what is important for us : how develop (and monetize this development) for smartTV ? And this is where the nightmare began.

There is almost no standard.
Philips (NetTV), LG, Sharp and some others works together to try to define a standard but they only found Html5 !
Apart the way I dislike (hate ?) webapps, I was unable to find informations of what is really supported (which video tag for example, the more important tag for a TV no ?).
Samsung gives a little more information : 2011 Tv support css2, 2012 support css3.
Great ... But js engine isn't the same on all tv and...what are the exact devices of 2011 and ones of 2012 ?!
In phones, we had the same problem and the only way to solve it was (and still is) throught user-agent.
What about smartTV ?!

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Adobe made a lot of fuzz in MAX about their works with Samsung and LG.
Today, some TV supports Flash in browser, Flash (lite) standalone SWF and/or AIR for TV. Which ones ? Which versions ? It's almost impossible to get the informations.
Samsung and LG talk about Flash and AIR on their dev doc but it's almost impossible to know the exact support (version, api, ...) of a specific device.
A side note about AIR, if you ever find informations about native extension, on device side, so from manufacters...send me mail ! While there is full part on the LiveDocs and a doc full of details about native extension development for TV (for linux), nothing on Samsung nor LG side, while they are premium partners.

Then comes the OS. This time, they all agreed to use Linux 2.6....but which distro, which drivers, which options ?
Don't dream, you won't be able to make TVLinux.
What about the UI ? Proprietary.
Some use Android, but 3.x only and it is so bad on TV than LG is moving to webOS (yes, the dead OS of HP)

The only positive point is the eco system : stores are ready and packagind/delivery process are in place. Everything is ready to make money.

So, is it a good thing to develop for smartTV ?
Well, in fact, I should had started by the beginning : what are the customers ? Are they ready to view in-app ads or pay for a TV app ?
Everywhere on the net, smartTV is seen as... crap !
Buggy UI, UX from middle age, too expensive... Consumers prefers their laptop or PS3 to (not so) smart TV.

After all I read, while I was about to buy a Samsung smartTV and a LG bluray player, I'm now looking to device like the mk42.

So, to summarize :
No standard
No useable system info
No more service than a cheaper device you already had (dsl box, ps3, laptop...)
Good dedicated store
No consumers

You should urgently...wait !
...or take the bus for an undefined destination : success or fail

Can't set javadoc of Android Dependencies libraries

2012-11-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

If you add a jar in libs folder, it's automatically add in the Android Dependencies.
Great no ? nothing else to do !

Ok, now try to add javadoc and source attachment like usual...
Project Properties > Java Build Path > Libraries then Android Dependencies > mylib.jar ....
errr... wait a minute...non modifiable
WTF ?!
you can't set doc and source of an auto linked library.

After some googling/stackoverflowing I finally found the answer

To summarize, you should add a mylib.jar.properties file
In this file write 2 lines :

src=<path to mylib-sources.jar>
doc=<path to mylib-javadoc.jar>

Hint : don't forget to close / reopen the project to update Android Dependencies

For Temporary Mail, my libs folder is now

and so Android Dependencies is now filled

It's still non modifiable but I don't care : I have my source and doc while debugging !

Another hour lost trying to do something basic.

Finally, Windows Phone 8 is perhaps a good thing

2012-11-09T15:39:00.001-08:00

Friday, I was at the Windows 8 dev camp in Microsoft's French office.
I went because I was looking for an answer to this question : why does Microsoft made something like Windows 8 ?

I think I came back with an answer : they're trying to mix PC, tablet and mobile.
When I say to mix I mean to keep the same UX on both.

I like this idea.

I also like the fact they're working with manufacturers so they move this idea to hardware : you can now buy TRUE tablets, not only gadget like the ipad.

So what ? Tablet PC isn't a new thing.
Yes, of course. But this time, it's tablet with the power of a pc, not a pc with a touch screen, a device with OS made for touch screen (and keyboard/mouse) not touch adapted to OS.

We talk here of what could be called Global User eXperience.

Apple made a (really good) work to give user a great experience on macbook, they also made the same kind of great work on ux with iThing but they didn't think global : MacOSX is not iOS and iOS isn't MacOSX.

For Google, they missed to make GoogleOS another global success. It's a shame because they won't be able to fight with the same weapons.

So I think Microsoft have now the capabilities to fight hard with Android.
Apple will soon fall because hype won't be enought on the coming years.

Don't take it wrong, I'm not saying Microsoft will be the next winner.
I said that, at this point, we have 2 competitors.
The winner isn't known yet and challengers could (re)appear to trouble the game.

Google fights with an messy OS available on a lot of devices including tablet, phone, notebook and TV but not PC in work office.
Microsoft fights with a OS for dummy, hiding a true OS you can switch to when needed, available on tablet, phone, notebook and PC but not TV.
So who is the leader ?
Google could clean their os to be as simple as iOS while Microsoft could move to TV (with the help of the next xbox ? Xbox and TV on a same device ?).

I see here a war between home (android) and office (windows).
It's a challenge because "basic" home consumers changed the world some times ago buying a mass of iOS devices, and killing RIM and Symbian.

I can't wait to see who will move first !
A very interesting year is coming and, yes, you have to count now with Windows Phone 8.

Framework linkage configuration for ANE library

2012-11-06T05:15:00.002-08:00

When you create a Flex library project, the default configuration is to mark framework linkage as external.
This make sense if you add the library project on another project, since this project will include the framework classes the library will use.

Three reasons to mark framework linkage as merged into code are
1/ framework-independant SWC, to avoid future changes in framework which could break code
2/ code loaded as module
3/ AIR Native Extension

On previous versions of Flash Builder, you had to link on ANE's SWC and to make the magic works, you had to use external link type.
So, I assume it's still doing the same behind the scene on Flash Builder 4.6+
If it uses external linking, the SWC will work as a standalone library so you need to include any (sub)classes used ...hence the framework classes used must be included.

Understand Flex Build Packaging : Native Entensions message

2012-11-04T07:06:00.004-08:00

After a bad experience with WP8, I came back to my current experiment : Native Extension.
I won't explain you what is an AIR Native Extension, look at the dedidacted page from Adobe but more how to read the message on the Native Extension property page.

I almost lost 2 hours because I didn't understand why the default and not the native extension was used so let me share with you how I fixed it and what I discovered at the same time.

When you want to include an ANE on your mobile/desktop AIR project, you first had to include it on Flex Build Path / Native extensions

Doing this, Flex checks the targets (at least 2 : default and 1 native) and the AIR version needed.
If it's ok, it adds the extension ID on the app.xml even if, from what I read on the net but didn't check by myself) it seems it sometimes failed to do it...

On my current ANE, I only did default and android native at the moment.
So, Android Native will be used for Android deployment and Android on device debug while the default will be used for android simulator debug, desktop and any other devices deployment.

Well...it's what I thought (and read)...but in fact, there is another step to check.
I don't know if it's because I updated a lot my ANE or it wasn't done by default but, in fact, doing thing tell Flex to use the default (actionscript) extension anywhere.
So ALWAYS open the Flex Build Packaging property of your project and check the Native Extensions page.
By default, I discover the Package checkbox wasn't checked (again, I don't why and when it was unchecked but not by me !)

I so checked the Package checkbox and it finally used my native code, not my actionscript code.

I then wanted to check the iOS, using only actionscript code.
According asdoc, default is used for any platform without native code.
I checked the Package checkbox on the iOS part and got an strange red cross icon

I compared with Android part

If you read carefully, you'll see this on the iOS part
This ANE does not support iOS platform in red with a red cross icon (which usually means ERROR)
but, 4 lines after, you could also read
Apple iOS Supported : Yes

Errr...Supported or not ?!! Probably not since I have one big red cross icon !
In fact, you should read the first line as
This ANE does not support iOS platform NATIVELY
and the 4th line is correct.

In this case, the ANE doesn't include iOS native code but, since there is a valid default platform, iOS is supported.
Adobe added an Microsoft error (you know, error which is not an error)

So, always check if the Package checkbox is selected and don't take care of the icon.

First day with Windows Phone 8

2012-11-04T04:41:00.000-08:00

This week, Microsoft made Windows Phone 8 public.
After a private WP8 SDK which was badly received in september, the official public SDK is now available.

I so thought it was the good time to start exploring Windows Phone dev world.
I tried some weeks ago, to be ready for public release but it was almost impossible to find info on WP8.
So, to be true, my first attempt gave me a bad feeling : Microsoft is now ruled by market people, no tech people....else how do you explain they retain information "to generate as much Windows Phone 8 excitement as possible" (cf blog post)...Cool the new WP8 is so much fun but...wait ? where are the apps ? there are coming soon because developers discovered the app at the same time that the normal user/consumer !

Anyway, I tried again...because I learnt from my past bad feeling (iOS), you coud finally find something great under the black curtain.

Step 1 : Register
So I registered as the Individual developer, for only 8$ and using Paypal (great !)
Well..it's not really 8$...it's 99$ and Microsoft will give you back 91$ later ....when ? I don't know ... why not directly pay only 8$ ? I don't know....Why only for new devers and not previous ? I don't know
Ask Microsoft....
I also must be careful because it's seen the renewal is automatic so if WP8 isn't interesting, I should find how to stop this automatic access to my paypal account.
Oh, and if you're looking for the rules about the 8$ registration, follow this link, because it's not easy to find on WP8 home page...

Step 2 : Download the SDK
The SDK is available, as usual with Microsoft, is available like a small .MSI or a full .ISO
It's great because you could download the full ISO to keep it somewhere (keeping older versions of SDK is a must do !)
BUT, like for iOS, you should upgrade your OS...yes, you need Windows 8
And here comes my first problem : like everyone knows, a Microsoft OS is usable only from the SP1 version...so it's just not possible I install Windows 8 ~~beta~~ public release on ly system...and lost all my programs and drivers
But wait, I need a new PC because my old one isn't strong enought for WP8 dev : 4Go RAM, 64bit OS and CPU which support SLAT (for emulation I suppose)
So 8$ to register + 1000$ for a PC ? Better than Apple but still a robbery
So I donwloaded SDK for 7.1 ... but it still waiting for installation since I don't see the point to use it (perhaps to gain at least 8$?)

Step 3 : Create a seller account
If you want to sell app on the WPStore, you have to create a seller account or, to be more exact, submit a tax profile form.
Honestly, I tried...but the form crashes every 2 attempts and, in final, I wasn't able to valid because it asked for a U.S. taxpayer identification number
1 - I'm not from USA
2 - I'm filling a non-US seller form
3 - the 'see instructions' just points nowhere
So I can't sell anything on Windows Phone Store....but perhaps I missed something because this form is just to legal for me (I'm a developer, not a lawyer!)

Step 4 : Create an in-app ads account
It's not clear if you could only use Microsoft Ads systems or not (will my apps be refused if I use Adfonic ?), so I tried to register to pubCenter.
This was easy but I soon discover another no-go details : while you can pay using Paypal to register as a developer, while you can receive your money using Paypal if you're an app seller...you can't receive mony throught Paypal using Microsoft's pubCenter.
Only check and bank wire...sorry but check don't work in France and I hate giving my bank info to someone like Microsoft or Apple.

So....I paid 8$, I downloaded a SDK I can't use to make app I can't sell or earn money from....
VERY VERY VERY bad start !

note : I make it late at night so perhaps I missed some points but, in that case, there were none clearly available

Who try to clone who ?

2012-10-24T09:00:00.001-07:00

This week-end I made something interesting : i activated my iPhone and updated my nexus to ics at the same time.
While discovering the new ics, i also discovered how they cloned iOs.
Every change made from 2.2 to 4.0 are only from iOs. It was a very bad discovery....

Finally, it's my turn to follow Apple law...

2012-10-03T16:00:00.002-07:00

After many years trying to avoid Apple and every iThings, I finally had to move on the Apple train.
I'm very late but, after some interviews, I finally realized it costs me a lot to blacklist Apple.

I so followed last week a 5 days training on iOS development.
It was great because I met some great people but the iOS ecosystem is still, for me, anti-freedom.

Of course, I realized what people may like on iOS, how easy it is to navigate, to swipe, to tap, to scroll...
Of course, I confirmed an iPhone is easier to use than an Android phone.
But seriously, anything you want to do, even as a developper, has to be validated by Apple.
For exemple, even to distribute an app for review to your client, the guy who pay this app, you need to register your client's device to Apple.
And I won't talk about guidelines which change each version.
And how you can't develop for older versions (yeah sorry, 3GS users, your 400$ phone is now good for trash because noone could develop for it anymore)

He Apple, do you remember I PAID for an iThing, a MacBook, an entreprise license ... ?
so please, let me do what I want !

I also learnt how fast you could create a first version of your app using XCode and Interface Builder :
it's just 3 times faster than for Android.
It's more difficult to be professonial (no doc generation, fake MVC, just awfuly difficult to reuse custom UI components...) but you could create a prototype in few hours

Anyway, I already reached my first goal : I'm now able to write ANE for any platform which is a good thing !
I can't wait for the last part of the training, in 2 weeks (about iCloud, private appStore, core data, ...), to reach my second goal : be able to answer any iQuestion of my clients about iThings or, at least, to know where to ask or find the answers

92% of Market users can launch AIR apps

2012-03-07T13:50:00.005-08:00

According to last ~~Android Market~~ Google Play stats, only 7.8% of the users are still using an Android OS version less than 2.2

It's a good news for AIR and its 2.2 requirement !

Generate your own PKCS12 certificate for AIR

2012-01-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

I know... it's another one about certificate but perhaps you'll need this like I did.
If you follow this blog, you know I'm in need for a +30years certificate.

Problem
Flash Builder wizard generate 25 years certificate only

Solution
generate the certificate myself!

Again, thanks to keytool :

keytool.exe -genkey -keyalg RSA -storetype pkcs12 -alias <your_key_alias> -keystore <certificate_file>.p12 -validity 12000

Enter your password when requested only and fill the questions to complete

Note the -validity value is waiting for a number of days (not years!) so 12000 is about 32 years

Check the certificate of an APK

2011-12-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

Following previous post, if you lost your certificate file, you have 2 problems
1/ you won't be able to update your APK on the market anymore
2/ you are unable to retrieve details about the certificate used

While there is NOTHING to do for the first problem, there is a way to retrieve the certificate information.

Coming with jdk, you should use jarsigner :

jarsigner.exe -verify -certs -verbose <app>.apk

For each file of the apk, it will give you something similar to

X.509, CN=WillNa, OU=, O=, C=FR
[certificate is valid from 19/12/10 08:38 to 19/12/35 08:38]

this is the certicate details available.

Retrieve information from your p12 certificate

2011-12-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

Some days ago, one of my distributors asked me a package with a 30 years long certificate. I was pretty sure my current package was long enought but I didn't remember how much so I looked for a way to get it from this cryptic p12 file.

Be sure you have a jdk and not a jre installed else keytool won't be available.
The command to read information from a .p12 certificate is

keytool -list -keystore <certificate_file>.p12 -storetype pkcs12 -v

the magic option is -v
This way you could see the full informations

My p12 was 25 years long, it seems Google asks 30 years long now

Warning : it's not possible to update the certificate, the only way is to create a new one with the same informations and 30 years validity.
Sadly, doing this cancels the update system of Android.
Current users won't be able to update your app with the previous certificate, they have to delete and redownload it.

So backup and double backup your certificate !

Monetize 'cheap' apps

2011-12-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

Interesting post on InMobi's blog

It tries to explain you how much you could win in releasing ads based apps vs paid apps.
Of course, you shouldn't forget it for CHEAP apps only !

The side note of this post is that you have 2 ways to monetize your apps : ads or update your sell price ;)

Another even more interesting thing of this post is the linked Excel sheet : it allows you to quickly find if you will earn more advertising your app.

I made a test myself:
* for apps will a small number of downloads, the answer is defintly "NO"
* for 1M+ downloads, the answer is "YES"
Like for money, the more download you have, the more download you'll get !