Look-and-Feel When Using the NativeUI Library

You use the NativeUI library to create the user interface for your mobile application. When you compile your application, the NativeUI Class implementation for each platform is replaced by the native version of these classes that will execute when the application is running on the target device.

This class controls how a NativeUI object behaves and looks on the target device. The class to which Mobile Designer translates a NativeUI class depends on whether the NativeUI library has platform-specific support for the platform.

When the NativeUI library includes platform-specific support for a platform, Mobile Designer translates the NativeUI classes into platform-specific classes. As a result, a user interface object renders as expected on the target device, using the platform look-and-feel and behavior.

The NativeUI provides support for Android and iOS.

For example, if you use the NativeUI object nUICheckboxButton and compile your application for an iOS device, Mobile Designer translates NativeUI object nUICheckboxButton to the iOS UISwitch class. As a result, when the user interface displays on the iOS device, it uses the iOS UISwitch class to render the check box.

When the NativeUI library does not include platform-specific support for a platform, Mobile Designer uses a general, graphical skin. In this case, the user interface renders on the target device using a general graphical skin rather than a platform-specific look-and-feel.

The general graphical skin renders all of the available NativeUI objects, including features such as on-screen pop-up keyboards.

Phoney is a phone simulator that is not platform-specific. You can use Phoney to test your mobile applications. For more information, see Using webMethods Mobile Designer.

When you use the NativeUI library for your mobile application user interface and run the application in Phoney, the look-and-feel for the user interface depends on whether Mobile Designer provides platform-specific skins for the platform you are simulating in Phoney.

When Mobile Designer includes platform-specific skins for a simulated platform, Phoney renders the user interface using the Phoney platform-specific skin.

The platform-specific Phoney skins do not provide an exact representation of how the user interface will look on the platform. However, the platform-specific Phoney skins do allow you to get a better idea of how your application's user interface looks in the target platform. The Phoney skins attempt to match a platform's look-and-feel.

When Mobile Designer does not include a platform-specific skin for a simulated platform, Phoney renders the user interface using the general graphical skin.

While developing your mobile applications, using Phoney saves you time because you can use Phoney to quickly visualize your application's user interface rather than having to deploy your application to a target device.