NativeScript is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized so ...

framework to develop

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

s on the

Apple iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and Android platforms. It was originally conceived and developed by Progress. At the end of 2019 responsibility for the NativeScript project was taken over by long-time Progress partner, nStudio. In December 2020 nStudio also oversaw the induction of NativeScript into OpenJS Foundation as an Incubating Project. NativeScript apps are built using

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...

, or by using any

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that transpiles to JavaScript, such as

TypeScript TypeScript is a free and open source programming language developed and maintained by Microsoft. It is a strict syntactical superset of JavaScript and adds optional static typing to the language. It is designed for the development of large app ...

. NativeScript supports the Angular and Vue JavaScript frameworks. Mobile applications built with NativeScript result in fully native apps, which use the same APIs as if they were developed in

Xcode Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It was initially released in late 2003; the latest stable release is version 14.2, released on December 13, ...

Android Studio Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Google's Android operating system, built on JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA software and designed specifically for Android development. It is available for download on Win ...

. Additionally, software developers can re-purpose third-party libraries from

CocoaPods CocoaPods is an application level dependency manager for Objective-C, Swift and any other languages that run on the Objective-C runtime, such as RubyMotion, that provides a standard format for managing external libraries. It was developed by Elo ...

Maven MAVEN is an American spacecraft orbiting Mars to study the loss of its atmospheric gases to space, providing insight into the history of the planet's climate and water. The spacecraft name is an acronym for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolu ...

, and npm.js in their mobile applications without the need for wrappers.

Development

NativeScript was publicly released first in March 2015. Version 1.0.0 followed two months later. The framework quickly gained popularity reaching 3000 github-stars and over 1500 followers on Twitter soon after the public release. In the meantime, over 700 plugins are available, which are either officially supported by Progress or stem from the open source community. The use of Angular is an optional development approach allowing for application source code to be shared between the web platform and mobile platform.

Structure

NativeScript and all the required plugins are installed using the package manager npm. Projects are created, configured, and compiled via the command line or a GUI tool called NativeScript Sidekick. Platform-independent user interfaces are defined using

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

files. NativeScript then uses the abstractions described in the XML files to call native UI elements of each platform. Application logic developed in Angular and TypeScript can be developed independent of the target platform as well. A NativeScript mobile application is built using the node.js runtime and tooling. Progress aims for a ratio of 90% common code between the iOS and Android platforms.

Direct access to native platform APIs and controls

Platform-independent user interfaces are defined using

files. NativeScript uses the XML data structures representing the cross platform abstraction to trigger platform-specific code that directly interacts with the native elements of the target operating system. This means a call to the NativeScript Button API provides a UI abstraction for Button, which directly calls UIButton on iOS or com.android.widget.Button on Android. While application source code is written in JavaScript, TypeScript, Angular, or Vue.js, the source code is not compiled or otherwise mutated. The source code as-is runs directly on the device. This architectural choice eliminates the need for cross-compiling or transpiling. Additionally, while the application source code is written in languages commonly encountered in a browser (or in a WebView-contained mobile application) NativeScript applications run directly on the native device. There is no DOM manipulation or any mandatory browser interaction.

Notable features

Native API reflection

Another notable feature is the use of reflection to handle native API endpoints. Rather than requiring separate binding layers between NativeScript and each mobile platform API, NativeScript uses reflection to gain information and metadata about the native platform APIs. New features added to any native platform API are available immediately. Another way the reflection feature is used is in working with third party libraries. As JavaScript (or TypeScript/Angular) can talk directly to native code, there is no need to write binding layers in Objective-C, Swift, Java or Kotlin.

Angular integration

With the launch of NativeScript 2.0, it is possible to use Angular to build cross-platform mobile applications. Additionally, when using Angular with NativeScript you have the ability to share large chunks of code between your web and mobile apps.

Vue.js integration

The Vue.js framework is supported in NativeScript via the nativescript-vue plugin.

Supporting tools and services

* NativeScript Sidekick is a

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, ins ...

that builds off of the capabilities provided by the NativeScript CLI. With Sidekick a developer can leverage app templates, cloud-based builds for iOS and Android, and publish apps to the public app stores. * NativeScript Playground allows developers to experiment with NativeScript in a web-based environment, and preview apps on physical devices. * NativeScript Marketplace is a curated source of NativeScript plugins, pre-built app templates, and runnable sample apps.

References

External links

* {{ECMAScript Rich web application frameworks 2014 software Software using the Apache license Mobile software programming tools