One of the biggest new features of LiveCode 8 was the Browser Widget. This new control allows any LiveCode application to take advantage of an embedded browser by just dragging and dropping a control onto a card – just like other LiveCode controls. This replaces the previous way you would use an embedded browser in LiveCode – either via revBrowser on Desktop, or mobileControlCreate(“browser”) on Android/iOS. It goes without saying that this widget was implemented using the power of LiveCode Builder!
The new browser widget really does make using an embedded browser so much easier: there’s no cross-platform difference between how you use it; and there’s no need to manage the browser’s lifetime yourself as it works just like a normal engine control (because that is what it is!). We’d like to extend this ease of use to mobile-specific feature which is widely used: the native field control accessible via mobileControlCreate(“input”).
This stretch goal’s proposal is to build a Builder widget which uses a native layer to make it possible to drag-drop native mobile field controls onto your stacks and use them, with exactly the same functionality as currently provided via the mobileControl functions, but in a way much more in keeping with how LiveCode should be.
For this Infinite LiveCode stretch goal we will:
- Wrap the relevant classes needed to use a native input control on iOS and Android using the glue generator
- Use the widget’s native layer feature to host the native input control just like all other LiveCode controls
- Write a widget which works just like every other engine control, but when run on Android and iOS presents a native input control.
Further to the actual code, we will also make this feature ‘fully worked’ – we’ll provide associated documentation and training materials explaining how it all works so that you can start learning how to implement similar things yourselves. This will be a gold mine for seeing how to work with the Android and iOS native layers, and how to use native layer features already present in Builder widgets to build your own native controls. With this information you’ll be able to go out and start wrapping your own native controls on the mobile platform yourself – tailoring them to your applications needs!
Finally, remember, that this will all be open source code, built and included in the community edition – you will be able to take it, adapt it and help improve it!
We only need $15k more to ensure this stretch goal is met. Pledge for infinite LiveCode today.
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