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Any good frameworks/engines/tools out there for creating mobile apps that can run on Apple iOS, Google Android, and Windows Phone 7? Looking to develop an app which would have a GUI and network access to machines on the LAN via wireless.
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I think the closest you can get to a cross-platform code base is using MonoTouch which allows you to use .Net as your framework. The only problem with MonoTouch is that Mono (the basis for MonoTouch) is at an unknown level of compatibility for various versions of .Net.
 
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Dave Calkins 18-Apr-11 11:46am    
Thanks - worth keeping in mind for a heavier client should the need arise.
For WP7 you have to use SL/.NET. The closest for Android would be Mono although I don't know how stable or complete that is. iPhone has a Mono Touch too (again, no idea how good or stable this is).

My suggestion would be to not try and write all 3 clients in the same framework. Instead keep the UI clients very thin, and that way even if you use 3 different frameworks, the total amount of work won't be too high.

Keep most of the functionality on the server side. That way modifications will not be a pain since the clients are thin enough to not require major updates. And if you use the native frameworks for each phone, the UI will look and feel more natural than if you use 3rd party portable options.
 
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Dylan Morley 18-Apr-11 11:22am    
Yep agree, my 5
Dave Calkins 18-Apr-11 11:45am    
Thin client sounds like a good approach, thanks. Maybe provide an HTML UI served up using an embedded HTTP server within the app running on a PC on the network. Since the devices all have web browsers, that should make it easy to support them all.

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