workshop-cca-eh

Eh is a real-world messaging application, built with Chrome Apps for Mobile, that brings out the inner Canadian in all of us.

This workshop will walk you through building your very own Eh app, eh. It mostly focuses on a few powerful APIs (google cloud messaging, rich notifications, identity), but it incorporates a bit of Polymer and some Material Design elements as well.

Background

Chrome Apps are packaged, installable apps that run on desktop and are written using web technologies. They run in a hightened security sandbox, and so have access to powerful supplementary APIs, which are not available to traditional websites.

Chrome Apps for Mobile is a toolkit for porting Chrome Apps to run on mobile devices, using Apache Cordova. Read more info and caveats.

Prerequisites

Let's configure your development environment and run a sample app to make sure you can get started building the Eh app.

• First, clone this repository.

    git clone https://github.com/MobileChromeApps/workshop-cca-eh.git
  

• Next, install the Android Developer Tools and the cca command line tool, by following this Installation Guide.

  • Note: cca supports iOS, but this workshop does not (chrome.gcm is Android-only).

• Finally, connect your Android device to the desktop via USB.

  • Note: Make sure you have Developer Options and USB Debugging enabled.

    To access these settings, open the Developer options in the system Settings. On Android 4.2 and higher, the Developer options screen is hidden by default. To make it visible, go to Settings > About phone and tap Build number seven times. Return to the previous screen to find Developer options at the bottom.

Workflow

• Create a new project, importing the app/ folder from this repo.

    cca create EhApp --copy-from ../PATH_TO/workshop-cca-eh/app/
    cd EhApp
    cca build android
  

• Now, lets run the app. You have a few options:

  1. Compile and Run your Chrome App on Android: cca run android --device.
  2. Or, Run your Chrome App on your Desktop: cca run chrome.

Lets Get Started, Eh!

Now that you have your development environment set up, you can start building the Eh app on desktop or mobile. This workshop will walk through each step to build it from scratch.

Continue to Step 1: Getting Started »