Add to App Preview Native Web View mode

[Elias_B_]

Hello!

Please, add to App Preview Native Web View mode for testing some features that may doesn't work without CrossWalk.

If I run my app in App Preview, almost functionality works well. But when I build my app with native without CrossWalk, more my functions doesn't work.

[Amrita_C_Intel]

he Crosswalk build option is always your best choice when your HTML5 app uses any of the advanced HTML5 features that are not supported in the default Android WebViews. This includes HTML5 features like WebGL, WebRTC, IndexedDB, Web Sockets, CSS3 features like flexbox, etc. (to name just a few). A more complete analysis can be done by reviewing this HTML5test.com comparison chart.

If your HTML5 app is a simple app that uses a standard framework like Bootstrap* or App Framework then Crosswalk may not add any significant value, in which case you might be able to use the default Android WebView (the standard Android Cordova build). We recommend that you test your app on Android 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 versions from a variety of manufacturers to make sure that your HTML5 app works consistently. If you experience problems with inconsistent or missing HTML5 features, or poor CSS3 performance on Android, we recommend you switch to the Crosswalk build for a consistent, up-to-date runtime environment for your HTML5 app on Android.

Android Crosswalk provides two basic advantages over building just for Android:

• A high-performance runtime (aka webview) when compared to the native Android runtime.
• Consistent runtime features on all Android devices (which is not possible with the native Android runtime).

For more details please refer to these documents: 

https://software.intel.com/en-us/xdk/docs/why-use-crosswalk-for-android-builds

https://software.intel.com/en-us/xdk/docs/using-the-crosswalk-for-android-build-option

[Elias_B_]

Thank you for the answer! But I understand you and I know for what needs CrossWalk. I just want to have a simple way to test my app not based on CrossWalk without building and installing.

[Amrita_C_Intel]

Ok! So you can use debug tab in that case. Here is the video link which you can refer to.

https://software.intel.com/en-us/videos/using-the-debug-tab-part-1

[PaulF_IntelCorp]

Elias -- the current version of App Preview (2.7 and 2.8) does use the native webview, it does not use the Crosswalk webview. The Debug tab does use the Crosswalk webview. If you are running App Preview on an Android 5+ device the webview is based on a very modern version of Chrome, and will have features similar to the Crosswalk webview. The Android 4.4 devices use an old Chromium webview. Android 4.3 and below use the original Android webview, which is very difficult to use. See this blog for some useful links > http://blogs.intel.com/evangelists/2015/05/12/build-high-performance-html5-cordova-apps-with-crosswalk.

So if you are using an Android 4.4 or higher device with App Preview, especially an Android 5+ device, you are seeing a fairly good webview. To test on a "bad" webview get an Android 4.3 or older device. Even Android 4.4 devices have problems (they are based on ~Chrome 30).