The webMethods Mobile Designer native user interface (NativeUI) library provides a standard way to create user interfaces for mobile applications that run on multiple platforms. The NativeUI library is made up of NativeUI objects.

The NativeUI library includes platform-specific support for several platforms. When the NativeUI has platform-specific support, the NativeUI maps each NativeUI object to a platform-specific object for a target device. As a result, when the user interface is rendered on a target device, the user interface displays using the platform-specific object. For example, you might want to include a check box in the mobile application’s user interface. To do so, you can use the NativeUI object nUICheckboxButton. The nUICheckboxButton object maps to:

If you are developing an application for a platform for which the NativeUI library does not have platform-specific support the NativeUI library includes general versions of the objects. As a result, when the user interface is rendered on a target device, the user interface displays using the general graphical object.

For more information about the look-and-feel of the NativeUI objects, see Look-and-Feel When Using the NativeUI Library.

This Mobile Designer documentation describes the NativeUI objects in the NativeUI library. The description includes screen shots to provide samples for how an object displays on the various platforms. The screen shot for the “Other” platform illustrates the general graphical skin that is used for a platform for which the NativeUI library does not include platform-specific support. For additional information about the NativeUI objects, see information about the com.softwareag.mobile.runtime.nui package in the webMethods Mobile Designer Java API Reference.

The names of the NativeUI objects begin with the prefix "nUI", followed by the object's name, which is then followed by the name of the object’s parent. For example, the NativeUI check box object is a subtype of the NativeUI button object. Its name is nUICheckboxButton, where the object’s name is Checkbox and parent name is Button.

When displaying text in a NativeUI object, the font size of the text is based on the platform’s user interface guidelines and usability requirements. The font sizes are expressed as the following:

Typically, a NativeUI object uses the medium size font on most devices. You cannot override the default font sizes. However, some elements will allow you to override the font size used on a per-object basis, either expressed as a percentage value of the predefined sizes, or as a direct value.

The physical size of a font on one platform might not match the physical size on another platform. For example, a large, medium, or small font on an Android device might not match the small, medium, and large font sizes on iOS devices.