Understand a Sample Hybrid App

Let’s look at the ContactExplorer sample app, which is included in Mobile SDK. ContactExplorer is a hybrid local app that demonstrates more functionality than the template app. You can do this exercise on Mac OS or Windows, but you can fully validate the iOS target only on a Mac.

To begin, clone the shared repo, then create an app with forcehybrid.

1. At a command prompt or Terminal window, cd to the directory where you plan to clone the shared repo.
2. Run the following command.

   git clone https://github.com/forcedotcom/SalesforceMobileSDK-Shared.git

3. cd to the directory where you plan to develop your hybrid project.
4. Run forcehybrid create with the following values:

   Enter the target platform(s) separated by commas (ios, android): ios,android
   Enter your application type (hybrid_local or hybrid_remote, leave empty for hybrid_local): <press RETURN>
   Enter your application name: contactsApp
   Enter the package name for your app (com.mycompany.myapp): com.acmeapps.contactexplorer
   Enter your organization name (Acme, Inc.): AcmeApps.com
   Enter output directory for your app (leave empty for the current directory): <press RETURN>

   Now that you have a generic hybrid project, you can add the contactexplorer sample code to it.
5. Run the following commands, making sure to replace the placeholder in the cp command with your local path.

   cd contactsApp
   cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-contacts
   cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-statusbar
   cordova plugin remove com.salesforce
   cordova plugin add https://github.com/forcedotcom/SalesforceMobileSDK-CordovaPlugin --force
   cp -RL <local path to SalesforceMobileSDK-Shared>/samples/contactexplorer/* www/
   cordova prepare

   Windows users: On Windows, substitute the copy command for the cp Unix command. Be aware, however, that files in the js and css subfolders of /samples/contactexplorer/ are aliases to source files on other paths. Make sure that you copy the source files themselves rather than their aliases. Here’s an example:

   cd contactsApp
     cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-contacts
     cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-statusbar
     cordova plugin remove com.salesforce
     cordova plugin add https://github.com/forcedotcom/SalesforceMobileSDK-CordovaPlugin --force
     rem Make a path variable
     set SHAREDPATH=C:\SalesforceMobileSDK-Shared\
     md www
     cd www
     md css
     copy %SHAREDPATH%\samples\common\jquery.mobile-1.3.1.min.css css
     md js
     copy %SHAREDPATH%\test\MockCordova.js js
     copy %SHAREDPATH%\libs\cordova.force.js js
     copy %SHAREDPATH%\libs\force.js js
     copy %SHAREDPATH%\dependencies\jquery\jquery.min.js js
     copy %SHAREDPATH%\samples\common\jquery.mobile-1.3.1.min.js js
     cordova prepare

   
   

The forcedroid script and the ensuing commands create an iOS project and an Android project, both of which wrap the ContactExplorer sample app. Now we’re ready to run the app on one of these platforms. If you’re using an iOS device, you must configure a profile for the simulator, as described in the Xcode User Guide at developer.apple.com/library. Similarly, Android devices must be set up as described at developer.android.com/tools.

When you run the app, after an initial splash screen, you see the Salesforce login screen.

Log in with your Developer Edition org username and password. To allow the app to access your Salesforce data, tap Allow. Now that you’re in the app, you can retrieve lists of contacts and accounts. Tap Fetch SFDC contacts to retrieve Salesforce contact names or Fetch SFDC Accounts to retrieve account names from your DE organization.

With each tap, the app appends rows to an infinite list. Scroll down to see the full list.

Let's take a closer look at how the app works.

1. In the contactsApp project, open the www/index.html file.
2. Find “function onDeviceReady()”.

To initiate a user session with force.js, you call force.login(). After the user logs in to an app running in the container, the network plug-in refreshes tokens as necessary when the app tries to access Salesforce resources. The following code, adapted from the ContactExplorer sample, demonstrates a typical force.login() implementation.

When the device notifies that it’s ready, you call the force.login() method to post the login screen.

/* Do login */
force.login(
    function() {
        console.log("Auth succeeded"); 
        // Call your app’s entry point
        // ...
    },
    function(error) {
        console.log("Auth failed: " + error); 
    }
);

After completing the login process, the sample app displays index.html (located in the www folder). When the page has completed loading and the mobile framework is ready, the jQuery(document).ready() function calls regLinkClickHandlers(). This function (in inline.js) sets up click handlers for the various functions in the sample app. For example, the #link_fetch_sfdc_contacts handler runs a query using the force object.

$j('#link_fetch_sfdc_contacts').click(function() {
    logToConsole("link_fetch_sfdc_contacts clicked");
    force.query("SELECT Name FROM Contact LIMIT 25", 
        onSuccessSfdcContacts, onErrorSfdc); 
});

The force object is set up during the initial OAuth 2.0 interaction, and gives access to REST API in the context of the authenticated user. Here, we retrieve the names of all the contacts in the DE organization. onSuccessSfdcContacts() then renders the contacts as a list on the index.html page.

$j('#link_fetch_sfdc_accounts').click(function() {
    logToConsole("link_fetch_sfdc_accounts clicked");
    force.query("SELECT Name FROM Account LIMIT 25", 
        onSuccessSfdcAccounts, onErrorSfdc); 
});

Similarly to the #link_fetch_sfdc_contacts handler, the #link_fetch_sfdc_accounts handler fetches Account records via REST API. The #link_reset  and#link_logout handlers clear the displayed lists and log out the user, respectively.

Notice that the app can also retrieve contacts from the device—something that an equivalent web app would be unable to do. The following click handler retrieves device contact query by calling the Cordova contacts plug-in.

$j('#link_fetch_device_contacts').click(function() {
    logToConsole("link_fetch_device_contacts clicked");
    var options      = new ContactFindOptions();
    // empty search string returns all contacts
    options.filter   = ""; 
    options.multiple = true;
    options.hasPhoneNumber = true;
    var fields       = 
        [navigator.contacts.fieldType.displayName, 
            navigator.contacts.fieldType.name];
    navigator.contacts.find(fields, onSuccessDevice, 
        onErrorDevice, options);
});

This handler uses the ContactFindOptions and navigator.contacts objects from cordova-plugin-contacts to refine and execute a search. It calls navigator.contacts.find() to retrieve a list of contacts with phone numbers from the device. The onSuccessDevice() function (not shown here) renders the contact list into the index.html page.

The force.js Library

<!-- include force.js for REST transaction support -->
<script src="js/force.js"></script>

When you load the force.js library, it creates a global force object. This object is the entry point to the library’s functionality. As mentioned previously, the salesforceSessionRefreshed function uses the force instance to make network calls such as force.query().

This overview has been brief but meaty. Other UI widgets in the ContactExplorer app behave similarly to the ones we’ve discussed. In your spare time, it’s a good idea to study the code in both index.html and inline.js to round out your understanding. In the meantime, we’re heading on to more in-depth discoveries on hybrid interactions with Salesforce. Excited? Of course you are!