Mobile development environment

A complete and inclusive development environment allows you to write and test your Genero mobile apps from your desktop prior to deploying them to your mobile devices.

The environment includes the runtime DVM, the development IDE (Genero Studio), and two development agents: Genero Mobile for iOS (GMI) and Genero Mobile for Android™ (GMA). During development, the DVM and the IDE sit on the desktop, and the GMI and GMA display clients sit on mobile devices. A mobile device can be a physical device, such as a phone or tablet, or it can be an emulator.

During development, you run the app in developer mode. In developer mode, the app runs on a development machine and displays the user interface (UI) to an Android or iOS device or emulator. The server app makes the initial connection. The Genero Mobile Development Client runs on the device, listening at port 6400 (by default) for the connection.

By running the app from your development environment, you can develop and debug your app from within the Genero Studio IDE. You do not have to continuously copy files to the device. You can quickly see the user interface and engage with the app. You can quickly switch between various devices.

Figure: Developer mode


Diagram showing development mode. Main point is that DVM sits on development machine, and client sits on mobile device. Communication is bi-directional. For device logs, communication is between Genero Studio on the development machine and client on the mobile device.

Options for development

Three clients are available for use while developing Genero mobile apps.

  • Genero Mobile for Android (GMA)

    This client allows you to test your app on an Android physical device or emulator during development.

    To put the GMA client on your Android device, you must connect your device to your computer via the USB port.

    To run your app in developer mode and view it on your Android device, you must connect your device to your development machine via the USB port.

    See Configure Genero Mobile for Android for details on setting up the GMA for development.

  • Genero Mobile for iOS (GMI)

    This client allows you to test your app on an iOS physical device or simulator during development. The development machine must use a macOS™.

    To put the GMI client on your iOS device, you must connect your device to your computer via the USB port.

    To run your app in developer mode and view it on your iOS device, connect to your development machine via the USB port.

    See Configure Genero Mobile for iOS for details on setting up the GMI for development.

  • Genero Development Client
    Using the Genero Development Client, you can view your app on an iOS device when developing with a Windows® or Linux® development machine. macOS is required on the mobile device.
    Important: While this client allows you to view and test your app on the device in developer mode, it does not give you the ability to create an iOS package or to deploy your app to an iOS device.

    To put the Genero Development Client on your iOS device, you must download the app from the Apple® store.

    To run your app in developer mode and view it on your iOS device using the Genero Development Client, you must use a wireless network (wifi).

    See Display to the Genero Mobile Development Client for details on using the Genero Development Client.

Tools to assist with development

Genero Mobile has a variety of tools to aid in development.
  • Preview the form on the mobile device.
  • Debug your app using the graphical debugger.
  • Use the profiler to gather statistics on where your program spends its time and to identify bottleneck functions.
  • View the AUI tree in a browser on your development machine (or any browser on the local Wifi network).
  • Display the program logs.
  • Display the device logs.
The Genero Studio graphical debugger is part of Genero Studio. The command-line debugger (fgldb) is included with Genero BDL, and is described in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

See Debugging a mobile app.

Using command-line tools

Working from the desktop, you have the full suite of command line tools at your disposal: gsmake, fglrun. fglrun -d, and so on. See the Genero Business Development Language User Guide for information on the command line tools.

Deploy to the device for testing

The development clients are provided to ease your development efforts, allowing you to view your app without having to package and deploy your app to the device to view changes in the app code. Towards the end of the development cycle, you will want to test your app running fully on the device.

When a package is deployed on a device where the debug package has been activated, debugging tools available include:

  • View the AUI tree in a browser.
  • Display the program logs.
  • Display the device logs.
  • Command-line on-device debugging.

See Packaging, deploying, and distributing apps.