I.              Programs  and Language

The development of the SIUC Find My Classroom app is going to be required to be built for and supported by multiple brands of mobile devices.  The big problem is that Android is based on Java and us having zero experience with Java and mobile programming will create a major barrier for production of the team since it would be required learn both a new programming language enough to create a fully capable app such as is  being attempted and at the same time become familiar with the various operating systems on each mobile device platform.  The main concern is to develop for the Android platform obviously, nevertheless, if there is a way to bridge across mobile platforms easier, it must be taken. 

            Found on mobile.tutsplus.com, a tutorial by Abbas Suterwala [5] mentions a way to program for a phone using JavaScript by using Phonegap.  More literary research done on Phonegap's home page [4] gives a clear path of the intentions for the project.  Phonegap is an open-source mobile development framework developed by Nitobi Software.  Phonegap enables software programmers to build applications for mobile devices using JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3, instead of often less-known languages such as Objective-C.  This is ideal since code.google.com [3] says that to use Google Maps in mobile devices, JavaScript is needed.  So what this means is that instead of conforming to the standards of each mobile device operating system, utilizing Phonegap, it will conform to the programming style.  Using JavaScript to code the program is necessary as it will be seen in a few paragraphs.  The only choice based on the capabilities of both the team and what is available is Phonegap. 

            The first step to be able to make an Android app using JavaScript and Phonegap according to Abbas Suterwala's tutorial, is to download and install the Java Development Kit (JDK).  With JDK, there is an ablility to develop applications using the Java programming language which is the language that the Android OS uses and recognizes.

            The next step according to Suterwala is to start development, it is needed to download the Android SDK.  The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs(Application Programming Interface) necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language according to the Android home page [2]. 

            Following the last instruction, Suterwala says is to download and install the Software Development Kit (SDK) Eclipse. This is a good choice even though there are large amount to choose from for such a task.  What is being sought is a very expandable SDK with easy adaptation across multiple platforms.  The SDK that fits the bill, by known experience within the group, Eclipse SDK will work.  It is a powerful SDK that branches across multiple operating systems and has various plug-ins for different programming languages.

            Installing the Eclipse Android Development Tools (ADT) plug-in is the next step announced by Suterwala.  ADT, the tutorial says, is a complete Integrated Development Environment (IDE) via Eclipse to develop an Android application.  It is able to utilize the Android SDK and its tools effectively from in Eclipse.

            After ADT, Suterwala moves on to the next instruction which is to use the Android SDK to download the most recent Android platform released.  This is the current platform that all Android phones are updated to.

            The next two tutorial steps in Suterwala's directions are to download and install both Apache Ant and Ruby (both programming languages).  Apache Ant, according to wiki.phonegap.com [1], says that Apache Ant is a program that is used to automate software build processes.  Ruby is a programming language which Phonegap must use in its framework [6].

            Finally, Suterwala says that then can Phonegap be downloaded and implemented into Eclipse.  Then a workspace for Phonegap applications must be created.  After starting a project and adjusting certain files given in the tutorial, and making a web page via HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3, the app can be built.  When built, the emulator tool (called Android Virtual Device or AVD) downloaded in the Android SDK, will emulate an actual Android device on a PC.

            To build an app relative to the one that is being aimed for, it must have access to some form of Google Maps and the API needed to utilize it effectively in the JavaScript code.  The team needs to download the Google Maps JavaScript API v3 according to code.google.com. By using that API in the Android Virtual Device which in turn recognizes the libraries of Google Maps based on the JavaScript code in Eclipse, and be able to call Google Maps and its functions into the app.