Just curious if anyone is doing anything with flutterio for cross platform development.
I’m looking at adding a limited iOS version of my LambTracker program so I can at least use my LookUpSheep module and add sheep alerts and notes without dragging the EID reader and Kindle tablet around everywhere.
I’ve never done any iOS development at all, LambTracker is in Java on Android due to the requirement for open bluetooth. We needed to be able to use our own EID tag reader hardware that we build ourselves. Buying tag readers it too expensive for a small farm. Getting bluetooth accessories approved by Apple was not an option due to the cost.
However, it would be useful to at least get access to my sheep database on my phone and perhaps my iPad so considering trying writing something using flutter.
Just wondering if folks here have favorite places to go to talk about what works and what doesn’t. There is a fair amount of info out on the web but it’s hard to locate a newbie friendly group.
Sadly I don’t have any experience I flutter for cross platform development just yet, (you are probably about three weeks too early for me (I’ll loop back if I remember))
My only recommendations would be the usual mix of, Google fu, stackoverflow and joining your local android developers club (they tend to be going nuts with flutter at the moment)
The problem you are likely going to face is that you can’t just lift and shift your exisiting application, most likely you are going to have to start from scratch which means that you now have one codebase with radically different feature sets, or a “light app” that you will never use on android. Cross platform works best when achieving parody in features, to cut down on code reuse.
Since just connecting to a database should be pretty simple depending on the solution architecture, I wonder why you don’t just write it in swift?
OK I’m circling back, it’s winter, my major coding time and I have to move LambTracker forward. I’m dithering on what to do.
My top 4 items are:
LambTracker enhancements for Registration data including ownership info (must allow multiple breeds kept separate)
Integration of NSIP & LambPlan recording into LambTracker for automatic upload of measurements and download of EBVs
LambTracker code clean-up and documentation
Desktop program for reporting and historical data entry operations (required for registry package as well)
Item 1 is first off database changes and additions. The new database design is nearly done and will be tested against sheep this week. (No code survives first contact with the sheep. )
Item 2 is on hold pending LambPlan in Australia sending me the latest XML definition they use for data entry. They are dragging their feet and if I don’t get it I have to reverse engineer the file, something I am not very good at. So I’m procrastinating.
Item 3 is in active work, I took all my known bugs and enhancements and have now filled 5 whiteboards with post-it notes in my home built version of a kanban board to start to prioritize what needs work. Look Up Sheep is critical everywhere as is ID management so those are moving to the top of the list.
Item 4 is also critical but I’m dithering on how/what to do the coding in. In an ideal world I could write the desktop app in something that can go cross platform with minimal recoding/mods. I need Mac for sure, Windows for sure and must run under WINE for the Linux people. LambTracker mobile is in Java but I think I’m going to have to move to some variant of C for the desktop. A lot of the code I need to integrate for genetic calculations that are a prime use of the desktop app is currently written in either FORTRAN 4 or FORTRAN 77 so I either need to figure out how to include it, or what to rewrite it in. Registry functions need a robust reporting/printing system and eventually some web app or cloud portal.
There are no programmers doing major development on anything in my area so I’m turning to folks here as a sounding board and to perhaps point me to good on-line places where I can talk programming philosophy, discuss options and theri good and bad points and in general bounce ideas around with someone who has a clue. Not just the simple how do I do X in language Y on platform Z places but more like what I used to get either at lunch, or around a conference table or at a pub with a beer and lots of other programmers and engineers.
Always exciting to see software development, being is Australia myself let me know if you want me to give LambPlan a push in person
As for doing a desktop app I guess it depends, a lot of enterprise replaces FORTRAN code with Java, and while I write java every day, I can’t say I recommend swing app development. (That and I have need seen a line of FORTRAN in my life to use as a judge).
What I can talk about is our corporate approach is basically angular everywhere at this point, so our mobile apps are in Nativescript+Angular, our web app is an Angular webapp. And you can use angular with electron if we ever wanted to write a desktop app. Which is a really long winded way of saying that I would write the desktop app in electron, or look at just doing it as a webapp if possible.
Also I did get around to teaching myself flutter if you ever need any help with that, I have built a few apps and am loving it!
Much less one that focuses on a single architecture.
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