IPWorks from /n software in Chapel Hill is a suite of programmable Internet components, designed to eliminate much of the complexity of developing connected applications, by providing programmable components that facilitate tasks such as sending email, transferring files, browsing the Web, consuming XML Web services, and more.
It is suitable for making portable applications, with almost the same code for several platforms. You can access native features of the device or use an open source plug-in from the repository to create a local database and access the internal storage of the device. It is wonderful for the construction of a native application, through the use of standard web code. It is not recommended for enterprise applications.
The HTTPS control definitely supports proxies - The HTTPS control contains a ProxySSL property which is used to tell the control whether or not to use SSL for the connection with the proxy itself. The customer is probably not setting the value to the appropriate proxy type. I have used [/n software IPWorks] and they do work very well. I also agree that the upgrade process is not the best. I have contacted support of several occasions and they are helpful. They even provided a compile that help on a Delphi upgrade when they could have charged me for an upgrade.
Adobe Phone Gap has an extremely simple user interface that allows for easy learning to occur.
Adobe Phone Gap provides support for web languages and allows you to write in three of the main languages and transfer them to another language for use. This solves a common programming issue and is the greatest strength of the software.
Their desktop application allows for easy installation and programming.
Adobe provides quick support with questions about how to use the software.
The build interface notifies you of errors extremely quickly and helps identify the issue in your programming. You get an easy idea of what needs to be updated and adjusted.
Cordova app code runs inside a webview component. So, expect the performance to be a little slower as compared to the native apps. This is more noticeable on older devices though. It is hardly noticeable when it comes to newer mobile devices.
Crashes can be hard to debug since the crash logs will not point you to the culprit javascript code. This is not a limitation of Cordova alone. Any other hybrid mobile app development platform suffers the same problem.
Even with tools like Safari debugger and Chrome debugger, it can be tricky to measure graphics and animation performance. Achieving smooth animations can be a bit of a challenge sometimes with hybrid mobile apps in general.
Apache Cordova is the mother of all other frameworks. The Ionic developed framework is well suited for development but most of their features are offered by paid services. As Apache Cordova is open source and has a license to modify it, it has no legal problems to work with it. Also, most well-known IDEs recognize the Apache Cordova snippets.
I've switched all my IPWorks over to Clever - while the support was good, there's nothing like being able to look at the code and work out the cure for yourself. It does have a class for servers - TclTcpServer - but I suggest you test their support and ask about your specific requirement. They've been good with support to me in the past.
