appjs - compile into single executable?

Question

I've spent all night trying different tools for building cross platform desktop apps via html5 and so far appjs seems to be perfect. I've only been playing around with the windows executable-based demo project but I'm wondering if there is any guide or tutorial on how to convert the project to cross platform executables (single files) instead of the appjs loader executable with all the sources in a subfolder.

I've also tried adobe air however css animations is beyond poor, slow/choppy (might be doing something wrong not sure). A year or so ago I was tinkering with titanium however they've since abandoned compiling for desktop.

All I'm basically doing is loading an external URL (eventually will add in authentication).

Answer 1

Titanium Desktop (now called TideSDK) is not dead. It has been taken over by the community and is in full swing for a new version coming out this year. There are a good amount of developers working on it, as well as many people from the community contributing example code, documentation, and tutorials.

If your looking for serious cross platform this is a great way to go, as for your executable, it turns the application (using some special build scripts) into a native installer for Window, .DMG file for Mac, and whatever format you need for *Nix platforms.

Answer 2

I was interested in the same technology almost year ago too. Also today I remembered about this problem and started to look for an answer. I'll mention that I DO NOT tried to create apps, just read the web. Here is what I've found.

Good frameworks so far:

• TideSDK - I also thought it was abandoned. If anyone knows serious apps or companies involved with this technology, let me know
• PhoneGap - I heard it's quite good, but have some flaws. Never tried. Could be interesting.
• AppJS - I came to the same conclusions. Everything is great, besides NodeJS as server. I don't like NodeJS, or maybe I don't like the idea to write business logic/server side code in Javascript language. Javascript itself is hard to maintain. And if someone tells me it's fast. OK, it is, but PyPy vs NodeJS. So it's not the case. V8 as engine for UI is great. Write UI in HTML5, JS, CSS and do server stuff at any local Python/.NET/Java/Ruby server is the best idea for me.
• There is also something like jQUery Mobile, haven't tried so far

Also I've found: Mobile Frameworks Comparison Matrix.

Still haven't found the One. Let me know if you find something interesting :)

EDIT:

CEF - Chromium Embedded Framework could be also interesting option. Someone stated AppJS is built on top of that.

EDIT

Nice categorization and few examples

Also looks promising Googles javascript apps

Answer 3

Actually node-webkit supports executables, even though it includes a node.js runtime with the app itself. So it adds extra memory. But overall it works great!