Hybrid Apps

  • Part 4 in a Series: Mobilizing your business with ViziApps Visual Rapid Mobile App Development

    Now, you might be wondering how ViziApps can mobilize your business. Let’s go back to the criteria listed in Part 3 of this Series, and look at how ViziApps addresses those needs for Rapid Mobile Application Development:

    • Security – ViziApps is built on a highly reliable Amazon AWS network with an eye on “protecting your app” with utmost priority. ViziApps leverages the latest security AWS tools to build a secure network that does not slow down performance of your app.
    • Publish Your Mobile Apps In An Instant

      ViziApps has pioneered fast creation of custom mobile apps without the need for coding. However, you may need a faster more controlled way to distribute your apps than available through the public app stores.

      Now you can also publish your custom mobile apps directly into the hands of your iPhone, iPad, and Android users, literally in minutes, with ViziApps Instant Publisher.

      The Need for Instant Publishing

      There are a number of situations where you may not want your custom mobile app to be distributed through a public app store:

      • Your app is only to be used by company insiders and channel/supply partners
      • Your app contains ideas, concepts, or intellectual property you don’t want competitors to see
      • You want to avoid the complexity, delays, and cost of publishing through public app markets
      • You need fast distribution to a limited set of users
      • Your user population is small
      • You are conducting a Beta or Pilot test

      How It Works

      ViziApps Instant Publisher™ creates a special App Installation Web Page, unique for your app, that guides your users through a simple and fast installation process.

      ViziApps also creates a unique App Invitation Card which contains a bit.ly short URL and QR code that will bring your users directly to the App Installation Web Page.

      State Capitols Invitation Card

      App Invitation Card

      Your users open your installed app directly from your custom branded App Icon on their device home screen, and the same published app can run on both Apple and Android devices. ViziApps Instant Publisher is available to use with the latest version of ViziApps from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

      Try installing the demo app shown in the Invitation Card above to see how Instant Publisher works.

    • Speed Your Mobile Apps to Market in a Major App Store

      New, disruptive technologies are enabling business and IT people to create robust, visually appealing, data-centric mobile business apps quickly and cost effectively. Using a tool like ViziApps Studio provide step-by-step directions on how to get a ViziApps-built app published in the Apple App Store or in Google Play.

      To publish an app in the Apple App Store using ViziApps, for example, you just need to complete three steps:

      • Prepare the data, icons, images and other items that will be used to promote your app in the App Store with iTunes Connect
      • Brand and build the code for your app using ViziApps
      • Deploy your app to iTunes Connect with the Application Loader.

      Deploying An App to iTunes Connect

      The process for deploying an app to iTunes Connect has changed over time, so be sure to download and refer to the current iTunes Connect Developer Guide for the latest information.

      Knowing what you will need to take your completed mobile business apps through the build and app publishing process will help you plan your time at the onset of your mobile app development project to make your apps available to your users on schedule. By clearly understanding the steps you will need to complete to meet the unique requirements of the Apple App Store and Google Play, you will avoid unnecessary delays and ensure that your mobile apps will be ready when your users expect to start using it.

    • ViziApps Eases Building Data-rich Mobile Apps with Online Guide and Graphical Query Tester

      ViziApps provides app creators with a major advantage – the ability to quickly produce data-rich mobile business apps without coding.

      And now, with a new online reference guide available in the ViziApps Studio, app makers have a handy reference to help them build apps using Google Docs spreadsheets for access to a wide range of data, including text, images, and maps. The searchable documentation speeds development of robust data-rich apps for the iPhone and iPad and Android smartphones and tablets.

      ViziApps users tell us that delivering their business data into the hands of mobile users is driving new revenue and attracting new customers for their business. Providing mobile access to business data is what sets their apps apart from their competitors. So, make the most of your business data in your next mobile app. Check out the new data management documentation in ViziApps Studio to learn how to present and manage data in a way that gives your app users the information they need – wherever they are.

      Simply click the “Spreadsheet User Guide” button in the Manage Data section for info and tips.

      • Introduction to database commands
      • Updating and deleting data
      • Incorporating images and maps
      • Using Google Docs spreadsheets
      • Data Management best practices

      This is just a sampling of the topics provided to help app creators select, create, and efficiently manage data for use in their mobile business apps. Check it out by clicking the “Spreadsheet User Guide” on the Manage Data page in your free ViziApps Studio account.

      Easier Testing of Data Management Designs

      Recent enhancements to the ViziApps mobile app creation platform allow testing of any spreadsheet query directly from the ViziApps Studio. In other words, it is no longer necessary to go out of ViziApps to your mobile device to test individual spreadsheet queries

      Now mobile app creators can use this new graphical query tester early in the app design process to verify which queries are working and to identify issues that require attention. Every spreadsheet query in the ViziApps graphical query tree now has a green icon that represents this new testing tool for that particular query.

      When a user clicks on it, a pop-up appears with that query for testing.

      This new ViziApps capability speeds app development and eliminates the need for app creators to move in and out of the ViziApps Studio to test every query made to a database.

      The tester works for all query types. For update, insert and where condition tests, the app creator enters test values in the empty device fields and clicks the “Test” button. That simple action submits the query and then displays the results in a second graphical response tree. Both single values and array values are displayed, as well as any query errors that may occur.

    • ViziApps Expands Intuit QuickBase Support – Now includes Sub-Account Authentication and Query Response Limits

      Companies worldwide use QuickBase to create cloud-based business process applications, without doing any coding.

      Those businesses often require access privileges to company data at different levels of authorization.These QuickBase apps can run on iPhones, iPads, and Android smartphones and tablets.

      For example, a Sales VP may have a higher level of authorization than regional sales people have. While the Sales VP may access sales results in all regions, an individual sales person might have access to sales results only in his/her region. When an end user logs into their QuickBase ViziApps app, their login credentials will automatically determine which data to select depending on their level of authorization.

      Here's how it works. When you register QuickBase as a data source for your ViziApps app, you will see a dialog box like the figure below. Add the field names in your app that will be used for end users to login and access your QuickBase data. Then, when the app runs, your users just login and the data query you designed in ViziApps uses the authorization from their login.

      Now includes Sub-Account Authentication and Query Response Limits

      Also, the ViziApps Studio now enables you to specifiy a limit to the number of responses for any data query, since large data sets may have much more data than is needed by a mobile user.

    • ViziApps Expands Quickbase Support to include Sub-Account Authentication and Query Response Limits

      Companies worldwide use Quickbase to create cloud-based business process applications, without doing any coding.

      Those businesses often require access privileges to company data at different levels of authorization. Using ViziApps Studio, enterprises and small businesses can design Quickbase apps that enable end users to access data at the appropriate level of authorization. These Quickbase apps can run on iPad, iPhone, and Android tablets and smartphones.

      For example, a Sales VP may have a higher level of authorization than regional sales people have. While the Sales VP may access sales results in all regions, an individual sales person might have access to sales results only in his/her region. When an end user logs into their Quickbase ViziApps app, their login credentials will automatically determine which data to select depending on their level of authorization.

    • ViziApps JavaScript Capabilities Enhance Hybrid Mobile Apps

      ViziApps built its reputation as the only platform that allows users to create robust, data-centric mobile apps without coding.

      But for IT departments and app creators who want to use their programming skills to further customize their apps, JavaScript support in ViziApps makes that possible. Adding JavaScript provides the ability to add unique “glue logic” to apps, giving ViziApps app builders ways to include more complex operations in hybrid mobile apps.

      Features and functionality that ViziApps app creators can provide with JavaScript include:

      • Using the accelerometer
      • Media capture (media files)
      • Connection (check network state and cellular network information)
      • Enhanced camera operations
      • Using the compass
      • Accessing on-device Contacts (work with the contact database)
      • File transfers
      • Geo-location mapping
      • Play media (record and play back audio files)
      • Send notifications
      • Accessing storage (hook into native storage options)

      JavaScript capabilities in ViziApps open up new ways of making mobile apps even more innovative. For example, a user could incorporate JavaScript as a way to record a message in a ViziApps hybrid mobile app. Another use might be to populate maps using Google Maps and the mobile device’s GPS geo-location capabilities and then provide that information to hybrid mobile app users.

    • ViziApps named one of Massachusetts Largest Mobile Startups

      The Boston Business Journal named ViziApps as one of the Top 20 Largest Mobile Startups in Massachusetts. ViziApps joined the ranks of Mobiquity, uTest, Fiksu, Apperian, and Kinvey in this recognition of our growth by New England’s premier business journal.

    • ViziApps Now Supports Quickbase for Integrating Data in Mobile Apps

      Companies worldwide use Quickbase to create cloud-based business process applications, without doing any coding.

      Now, using ViziApps Studio, enterprise and small business users can easily build mobile apps using Quickbase data to run on the iPad, iPhone, and Android tablets and smartphones, without coding. Taking advantage of the ViziApps drag and drop process for creating apps, Quickbase users can quickly and cost effectively build mobile apps that provide access to robust cloud-based data.

      ViziApps® provides the features described below for creating Quickbase mobile apps.

    • ViziApps Offline Sync – Use Your Mobile App Anywhere

      What does Offline Data Sync mean in a mobile app?

      Offline data allows a user of the mobile app to view, add, delete or modify data in the mobile app with no connection to the internet or network. All of the changes the user makes will be automatically synced with the main backend database, once the mobile app user comes back into online network connectivity.

      So, why this is important?

    • ViziApps Selected to show Rapid Mobile App Innovation at TechJam 2015!

      gtj logo

      The Mass Technology Leadership Council selected ViziApps to demo our Rapid Mobile App Platform at TechJam 2015. See us there Thursday May 11th in Boston: https://masstlc.proximate.com/btj2015#?p=np

    • ViziApps Smart Pages™ Provide Predesigned Data-Ready Mobile App Pages

      If you’re not the most artistic designer or you’re trying to meet a tight deadline, or you want to share your mobile page design with your team or our community – you will love ViziApps new Smart PagesTM. As with any design activity, starting with a blank page can be intimidating and there are often aspects of building apps for Apple and Android devices that need to be repeated or reused in a new context. Why reinvent the wheel when you can leverage existing best practices for mobile app design?

      Solving these issues is exactly what ViziApps is delivering with our new Smart Pages catalog of professionally designed Smart Pages. Use them for the fastest way yet to build full-featured mobile apps. Or create your own Smart Pages so that you can organize your designs and share components for team development or share with the ViziApps community.

      A Catalog of Smart Pages

      The ViziApps catalog offers a range of Smart Pages to perform functions like displaying data to a scrolling table or showing a place on a map. And the catalog will grow with more Smart Pages over time. Just find a Smart Page that meets your specific need, plug it into your app design, connect it to a live data source, when needed, and that page is done!

      ViziApps offers a range of data connections so you can get business data into your users’ hands in real time, without coding. Our data sources include Intuit QuickBase, Salesforce.com, Google Spreadsheets, SQL databases and REST interfaces. As with the rest of ViziApps, hooking up your data to a Smart Page is a simple drag-and-drop process.

      The process of building mobile apps with ViziApps is an easy visual experience without coding, and allows you to build complex apps from individual pages. Smart Pages makes this experience even faster because you can organize your app by selecting a series of Smart Pages, connect to live data sources, and put in the finishing touches.

      Of course the best-designed components can’t anticipate all individual needs, so ViziApps lets you add our standard fields to the Smart Pages in your app, so you can customize them to achieve the perfect user experience. You can even mix Smart Pages with your own fully custom pages in the same app in any way you want.

    • ViziApps Supports Quickbase for Mobile App Data Integration

      Using the no-coding ViziApps mobile app development platform, enterprise and small business users can easily create QuickBase mobile apps.

      Companies worldwide are using ViziApps, to build mobile apps from Quickbase to mobilize the processes vital to their business – for the iPhone and iPad, and Android smartphones and tablets.

      ViziApps provides several key features for creating Quickbase mobile apps:

      • Create Quickbase database operations with a drag and drop process for familiar database commands such as select, insert, update and delete. Adding QuickBase database operations to your mobile app takes just minutes.
      • ViziApps support Quickbase commands
      • ViziApps enables your mobile apps to run without network access. When network access returns, it automatically syncs with your Quickbase account.
      • Customize how users navigate your work flow in your app for the optimal user experience,

      Because ViziApps provides a no-coding process for mobile app development, business and IT professionals can quickly and cost effectively use the ViziApps tool to build mobile business apps that empower employees, partners, and customers.