At the highest level, apps created in Aquro's App Studio are a regular HTML5 / Javascript application that, at build time, is packaged into a native mobile application for each platform. The end result (an iOS or Android app, that can be downloaded from app stores and installed on mobile devices) is the same, but the approach itself differs from writing completely in native code (Java for Android and Swift for iOS).
This concept is known as "Hybrid app development" - where a native application with platform-specific API's hosts a platform-independent HTML5 application.
The HTML5 application may use native functionality through a Javascript bridge that exposes different native API's in a platform-independent model.
You use standard HTML5 and Javascript, with help of a package of different UI Components, script packages, and libraries to develop your app. When you are ready to release you app and publish the app on Google Play or Apple's App Store, you simply use our release functionality which will package your app into a native application ready to be released - woohoo!
The underlying native packaging technology Aquro uses is called Cordova.
In Aquro's App Studio, you will build your app by constructing each of its "pages", or views.
A typical page might include, for example, a list showing relevant data, along with some action buttons. When the user taps on a button, the user will be transferred to another page where new information is shown - just as any other web or mobile application works.
Each page may be built by using the built-in Visual Page designer - where you can drag and drop different building blocks and components - or by manually writing the template for your page by coding in HTML and Handlebars.
In each page, regardless of whether it was constructed with built-in components, HTML, or a combination of the two, you can add your own page-specific CSS and JavaScript as well.
For even easier, faster, and more reliable development, you may also use Aquro Visual Coding, which allows you to connect events on your page with visually built workflows with built-in scripting blocks called managers that will do the job for you.
Components
One of the basic concepts in Aquro App Studio is that of components. Components are built in HTML, Handlebars, and JavaScript and can be reused throughout the entire app as many times as you like, just like any built-in component.
As soon as you have built your component once, you may use the component in the Visual Designer or include the component in your templates if you are writing them manually.
Data
As data is one of the most critical parts of nearly every app, Aquro App Studio includes a lot of built-in functions for handling data.
First, you'll design your Data Models, which specify the fields your different data objects should have. Then you add data objects or collections of data objects to your different pages in your app.
When you add objects or collections of object to your page, you may configure whether or not the data should be private or should be available throughout your application, if it should be saved to a database or kept temporary, and if it should be synchronized to the cloud. The platform will then take care of the work for you!
When adding data to you page, you may load data from already existing data objects.
The concept of data handling in Aquro can be a little tricky, but once you've got a grasp on it, you'll have an amazing toolset for rapidly creating all kinds of app databases and functionality.
To get started, we definitely recommend watching this video on regarding data from our Youtube channel.
Content / Scripts / CSS
You may also include global JavaScripts, StyleSheets and Content (eg. images, files, sounds and more). These resources will be available from all of the pages of your application.
To get a more detailed overview of the concept of building apps in Aquro, please view our getting started videos.
