Hi all,
till now I have successfully created small to medium size single-developer projects for Windows and Linux/Raspberry Pi, and I love Lazarus for those kind of work. Testing has revealed that most of my code would run on MacOS too, great.
The next project I am working on is going to be one step beyond, a fully blown portal site with SQL database and web frontend. backend work is done, the whole thing works well.
Front-end is Browser/Javascript/Bootstrap, backend is PHP on IIS or Apache, protocol is JSON. Of course, a working Internet connection is required.
What's on schedule now is an offline client for data aquisition in buildings, where there isn't a reliable Internet connection, if any at all. The user has to synchronize his data before entering the building, do his work (data aquisition) against a local storage, and the system shall synchronize the data back to the portal as soon as the user has Internet access again. Technically speaking the client has to buffer data in the local storage and connect to the JSON interface and deliver the data as soon as the Internet connection becomes active again.
The frontend has to run on the current mobile platforms (Android & Ios are must, Windows Mobile maybe).
Must haves are:
- native look and feel (top requirement by management, where the Android and IOS fanboys fight a fierce battle, and I don't want to favor one side)
- need access to the hardware (camera, Internet connection)
- need some local storage with simple database capabilities
- must be distibutable via Application Store (i.e. whatever comes out of the development environment must be able to pass the Apple/Google/Microsoft certification process)
- must run on unmodified devices (no rooting or other kind of hack) without any dependencies except what the OS brings with it or what can be delivered via the package
- reasonably comfortable IDE with live debugger
- must *not* be free, but if it is, great.
I'd rather have a program once/run anywhere approach than develop with each platform's native development tools, but I am very well aware that not using the native tools may backfire, as the big players don't have any interest to support cross platform development, but rather lock everything in their ecosystem.
There are systems specialized on such Projects, Xamarin, PhoneGap, React Native, and from what I know I don't think Lazarus can compete with them.
Would anyone disagree?
Armin.