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Deploy Your First Hybrid Mobile App
1 Introduction
Mendix supports mobile web development, and it is also possible to create and publish hybrid mobile apps. A hybrid app gives you the best of both worlds: it’s a web application that can be deployed using the Mendix Platform, but it runs inside a container that can be installed as a native app on your device. This container handles native capabilities like the camera and GPS, and it can even be published in the Apple App Store and Google Play. The big advantage of a hybrid mobile app is that you only need to go through the approval process once and every future update is just a new deployment of your app in the Mendix cloud.
This how-to teaches you how to do the following:
- Open a hybrid example app
- Install the app on your device
2 Prerequisites
Before starting this how-to, make sure you have completed the following prerequisites:
- Install Mendix Studio Pro (available from the Marketplace)
- Install the Mendix Developer App on you device, which makes it easy to see a hybrid application in action without the need to get it approved in the Mendix Marketplace (for details and download links, see Getting the Developer Mendix App in the Mendix Reference Guide)
3 Opening a Hybrid Example App
To open a hybrid example app, follow these steps:
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Open Mendix Studio Pro, click New App, and under the Starter Apps tab click Blank App.
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Click the Use this starting point button.
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Adjust your configurations (be sure to keep Enable online services > Yes selected) and then click Create app.
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Click Run to deploy this application to the Mendix Cloud:
Studio Pro will notify you as soon as the application is deployed. While you wait, go to Navigation, click the Hybrid phone app online tab, and make sure your Default home page is set to MyFirstModule.Dashboard.
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Click the small arrow to open the View App menu and select View Hybrid Mobile App:
This will open the View Hybrid Mobile App pop-up window:
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Open the Mendix Developer App on your device and select Scan QR Code:
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Scan the QR code on the screen with the Mendix Developer App:
You should see the example application running on your device.
4 Installing the App on Your Device
If you want to install this application as a native app on your device, you can install it via iTunes or publish it to one of the mobile app stores. For details on how to achieve this, see How to Publish a Mendix Hybrid Mobile App in App Stores.