Override The Android Back Button In A NativeScript With Angular Application

Have you ever needed to perform a certain action when the user tries to hit the back button or exit out of your application on Android devices? For example, what if the user was able to back out of your application and you wanted to show a dialog. Or what if you have a video application and you wanted to pause the video when they tap the back button?

Being able to override the functionality of the back button on Android can do great things for your application as long as you don’t abuse it.

We’re going to see how to create a mobile application with NativeScript and Angular that demonstrates overriding the back button on Android, whether that be hardware or software.

3 Of The Best Frameworks For Mobile App Development In 2018

Mobile development is a necessity for every modern business, but there are many ways to get the job done. Many will tell you to go pure native, some will tell you to go hybrid, and others will tell you to use a framework to go cross-platform native.

We’re going to review my top three picks for mobile development frameworks that will thrive in the 2018 year.

Build A Ripple XRP Wallet For Android And iOS With Ionic Framework

A few days ago I released, what turned out to be, a very popular article around developing a Ripple XRP wallet. It was titled, Create a Cross-Platform Desktop Ripple XRP Wallet with Vue.js and Electron, and it focused on cross-platform desktop application development. A popular request on Twitter was around developing a mobile Android and iOS wallet for Ripple XRP coins.

We’re going to see how to use Ionic Framework and Angular to create a Ripple XRP wallet for Android and iOS. Because our desktop application focused on the JavaScript stack, our mobile application will be able to recycle a lot of our code.

Create An Android Launcher Icon Generator RESTful API With Node.js, And Jimp

When you’re developing an Android mobile application, it is critical that you come up with a nice launcher icon for all possible Android screen densities. If you’re not too familiar with Android, there are mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi, xxhdpi, and xxxhdpi densities as of now. This number could change in the future.

Once you’ve got your icon, resampling or resizing it for each possible screen density can become a pain in the butt. Instead, it makes sense to use or create a script for this.

If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll remember I wrote about image generators in an article titled, Generating Splash Screens and Application Icons for NativeScript Mobile Apps. Since we’re talented developers, we’re going to create our own service this time around.

We’re going to see how to create a RESTful API that accepts an image and generates various sizes of that same image, bundled within a ZIP archive. We’re going to accomplish this task with Node.js and Express.

Send SMS Text Messages In NativeScript With Angular

Not too long ago I wrote a tutorial titled, Use Social Media Sharing Prompts in a NativeScript Angular Application, which demonstrated how to share content from the device. The sharing included locations like Facebook, Twitter, and anything else the platform found appropriate. This included SMS text messages.

Social sharing functionality isn’t the only way to access the messaging and dialing features of an Android and iOS device.

We’re going to see how to send SMS text messages in Android and iOS via an application built with NativeScript and Angular.

Using A Mapbox In A NativeScript Angular Application

Including map functionality in your mobile application is often a very important necessity, depending on the scenario. Maybe your application needs to do navigation, or simply just show locations on a map.

There are many different map providers, the most popular being Google Maps. However, Mapbox is picking up steam because of how easy it is to use and its pricing model.

We’re going to see how to include Mapbox in our NativeScript Android and iOS mobile application using Angular and TypeScript.

Include A Hamburger Menu In A NativeScript Android And iOS Application

Most, not all, Android and iOS applications follow a similar set of rules when it comes to user experience. For example, many applications make use of what can be referred to as a hamburger menu in the top left or right hand side of the screen. These hamburger menus look like three horizontal lines and are useful for bringing up some sort of menu, typically from either of the sides of the screen.

We’re going to see how to make use of the hamburger menu in a NativeScript with Angular mobile application.