Altova releases new versions of its app development framework multiple times a year to introduce new features added in response to customer requests and feedback, as well as to add support for newer OS and database versions as they become available.
The latest release of MobileTogether and RecordsManager introduces important new functionality for building low-code and no-code apps.
If you’re a collector – and let’s face it, we all are – of anything from books to stamps to video games, you’ve got to check out the Altova MyCollections app.
This is a free app available for Android, iOS, and Windows, and you can actually install it on all three concurrently. I love using this to, for example, enter collection info on my Windows laptop and access it on the go on my phone. It’s easy to share your collections with friends or make them public, and you can even list your items for sale or rent.
Check out this quick demo video to see how it works.
The best way to see how MyCollections works is to try it out yourself. Download it from your favorite app store using the links below.
Software design templates streamline mobile app development by eliminating implementation of repetitive components. Creating a design template also simplifies revisions and upgrades when a change to the template can roll through an entire project.
MobileTogether supports software design templates for user controls in cross-platform mobile apps to facilitate design reuse and make it easy to build efficient, flexible options for various app requirements.
A Control Template in MobileTogether is a design component that allows developers to specify and group user controls in a way that makes them easily reusable. Control Templates support parameters, and each template can be customized based on parameter values at runtime.
Let’s look at an example.
A recent mandate from the OECD called on large, multinational companies to report financials annually for each country in which they do business to their local tax authority. The OECD specified that this detailed Country by Country (CbC) Report be filed in an XML document according to their reporting schema. But for tax departments that work largely in Excel or other accounting software, this presented a significant stumbling block – and companies found themselves scrambling to meet the requirements by the deadline.
What was needed is a way to automatically generate valid, properly formatted CbC XML reports based on existing data. Altova created the Country by Country Reporting Solution to do just that, either based on manually entered data or figures imported directly from Excel. Let’s take a look at how it works.
With the right tools, a low code approach to development doesn’t mean a sacrifice of functionality or sophistication of the end result. On the contrary, low code app development frameworks like MobileTogether make advanced programming functionality more accessible and faster to implement.
Whether you’re building apps for iOS, Android, Windows, the web – or all of the above – the latest release of MobileTogether adds a mix of features that elevate programming on the platform to the next level and give developers easy access to the latest mobile device trends.
In an earlier post we described how to integrate maps into cross-platform mobile apps with each end-user device’s native map application. Our example app generated a map with pins locating major airports in the United States. Illustrations showed maps generated by the same app on an Android phone, an iPhone, and Windows desktop.
What if a list of locations to be mapped is not known in advance, but generated based on user activity at run-time? MobileTogether, the low-code cross-platform mobile development tool from Altova, also empowers developers to build custom maps in mobile apps on the fly based on a list of geolocations generated at run time.
Originally coined by analyst firm Gartner, RMAD (rapid mobile application development) isn’t just the biggest acronym in app development for 2019 – it’s an absolute necessity. Waiting six to eight months for an app ensures that it will be completely obsolete once it’s finally ready for prime time: requirements will change, another app will fill the niche, or end users will already be entrenched with another solution.
In addition, a traditional, non-RMAD approach assumes you have a team of mobile developers ready to tackle the project, and for many businesses, hiring experienced app developers is a lengthy, expensive process. Outsourcing your app development work that well, either. Many have tried, but few have succeeded in getting third-parties to realize the original vision of the app, on time, and while ensuring the integrity of their intellectual property rights.
Luckily, with the increasing prevalence of RMAD tools, developing a sophisticated, full-featured app in a week or two – and with your existing tech team – is suddenly a reality. Of course, not all RMAD tools are created equal. Let’s take a look at the five top requirements you should demand in an RMAD solution.
