Intel XDK Release 3900, March 14, 2017 - Page 3

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎03-14-2017

Summary of the 3900 release:

With this release of the Intel XDK the Intel XDK cloud-based build servers and the Publish tab are deprecated and will be retired at the end of June, 2017. Until then, expect no further upgrades and limited support for these features. We have also addressed several bugs and issues found in prior releases. See the Intel XDK release notes for full details.

Significant changes as part of this release include:

Updated the underlying Node-Webkit runtime (0.18.9).
Simulate tab is now based on Chromium 54 (due to the NW update).
The built-in Brackets editor has been updated to the latest version.
Samples have been updated to support Intel® Gateway IoT development platforms.
Improved IoT daemon installation, especially for newer Intel IoT platforms.
Export to Cordova CLI or PhoneGap Build feature.

Features deprecated with this release:

The Build tab's cloud-based Cordova build system will be retired at the end of June, 2017.
The Publish tab will also be retired at the end of June, 2017.

When the Intel XDK cloud-based build system is retired itwill no longer be available for use with any version of the Intel XDK. Your mobile app projects will still be recognized as Intel XDK mobile app projects and will continue to work within the Simulate tab. Additionally, the Test tab is still present and can still be used to push your app to App Preview for on-device testing. Please see the new a ref="/en-us/xdk/docs/build-xdk-app-with-phonegap-cordova-cli">Cordova Build Package tile on the Build tab for an alternative to using the now deprecated on-line Cordova build system.

IMPORTANT: As of February, 2017, the Crosswalk Project has been retired. Crosswalk 23 was the last version of the Crosswalk library produced by the Crosswalk Project team. You can continue to build with the Crosswalk library using Cordova CLI or PhoneGap Build, but no further updates to the Crosswalk library will occur beyond version 23 (FYI: the Crosswalk 23 library for Android is based on the Chromium 53 runtime release).

Our automatic updater will notify existing Intel XDK users when the update is available within the Intel XDK. Updates will be released to all users within 24 hours. If you would like the update sooner, you can download it directly from xdk.intel.com and install it manually.

Important note about Intel XDK versions 2893 and older!

Versions of the Intel XDK released prior to March 2016 (2893 and older) can no longer use the Build tab, the Test tab or App Preview and can no longer be used to create custom debug modules for use with the Debug and Profile tabs. This change was necessary to improve the security and performance of our Intel XDK cloud-based build system. If you are currently running version 2893 or older, of the Intel XDK, you must upgrade to the latest version of the Intel XDK!!

------------------------------------------------

Summary of the 3759 release:

With this release of the Intel XDK we officially retired several features that were deprecated in previous product releases. We have also addressed several bugs and issues found in prior releases. See the Intel XDK release notes for full details.

New features added with this release include:

Web Services Explorer supports IoT projects
Brackets Live Preview added to Develop tab
Samples added to support the Intel® Joule™ IoT development board
Improved IoT daemon installation, especially for Intel Joule platforms

Features retired with this release:

The Debug tab has been retired.
The hosted weinre debug server used by the Test tab has been retired.
The Live Development Pane in the Develop tab has been retired.
The Game Asset Manager and related samples and templates have been retired.
Samples and templates that are not useful to developing IoT companion apps have been retired.
Featured Cordova plugins that are not useful to developing IoT companion apps have been removed.

IMPORTANT: Retirement means no longer available for use with any version of the Intel XDK. Your mobile app projects will still be recognized as Intel XDK mobile app projects and will continue to build (using the Build tab) and work within the Simulate tab. Additionally, the Test tab is still present and can still be used to push your app to App Preview for on-device testing.

Alternatives to using the Debug tab, the hosted weinre server and the Live Development pane can be found in the Intel XDK release notes.

------------------------------------------------

Summary of the 3641 update:

This Intel XDK release addresses installation issues introduced in the prior release. See the release notes for details.

------------------------------------------------

Summary of the 3619 release:

This Intel XDK release addresses several bugs and issues found in prior releases. See the release notes for bug fix details. New features added with this release include:

Keyword-based filters for new project templates and samples
New Linux* and Apple* OSX* installers
New IoT project samples using Microsoft* Azure*

Feature deprecations with this release:

Debug tab has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
The hosted weinre debug server used by the Test tab has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
The Live Development Pane in the Develop tab has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
The Framework7 and Ionic UI frameworks have been deprecated from App Designer and will be removed in a future release.

IMPORTANT: With this release, the Debug tab, the hosted weinre server associated with the Test tab, and the Live Development pane located on the Develop tab have been deprecated and will be retired in the near future. When these features are retired you will no longer be able to use them with any version of the Intel XDK. Your project will continue to be recognized as an Intel XDK HTML5 mobile app project and it will continue to build (using the Build tab) and work within the Simulate tab. Follow the links embedded in each of the deprecated features listed above for more details and pointers to free open-source alternatives to these deprecated features.

Why is the Debug tab being deprecated and removed from the Intel XDK?

In addition to our previously announced deprecation of support for App Framework, within the App Designer UI editor, we are also deprecating support for the use of the Framework7 and Ionic UI frameworks. You can still use these frameworks outside of the App Designer UI editor, as you have always been able to do with any UI framework. Existing projects that are using deprecated UI frameworks will continue to be recognized by App Designer and can be edited within the App Designer UI editor; however, there will be no bug fixes for deprecated frameworks and, once those frameworks are retired, the App Designer UI editor will no longer recognize those projects.

------------------------------------------------

Summary of the 3522 release:

This Intel XDK release is a hot-fix that addresses several bugs and issues found in the 3491 release:

Crosswalk version 19 is now the default version for newly created projects. This update will warn you of any existing projects using Crosswalk version 18 (or lower). Google does not require that you use Crosswalk 19 (or higher), so this is just a warning, not an error.
Several issues that generated a 'build tab generates ERROR (-7) from "client:upload-manager": Error in zipping package asset files:' error message have been addressed. This primarily impacted Construct2 users who were importing new projects or opening existing projects.
The new Simulate tab did not present the window.screen object correctly. See this forum post for additional details.
Attempting to run some Cordova apps that did not include any plugins would cause the app to crash or generate a 404 error in the Simulate tab. See this forum post for some examples.
Replacing an icon or splash screen with a new file but using the same name for that file would cause an incorrect prompt regarding an invalid resolution. See this forum post for more details.
Intel XDK crashes that resulted in "Error: ENOENT" and "Uncaught TypeError: undefined is not a function" errors when using the Simulate tab.
Use of the <head data-noxhrfix> tag causes the Simulate tab to fail or hang. See this forum post for additional details.
The 750x1334 splash screens (portrait and landscape) have been restored to the iOS Icons and Splash Screens UI.This forum post provides additional details.
A custom require() function was placed into the global namespace by the Simulate tab preventing use of require() within a user app. See this forum thread for additional details.

------------------------------------------------

Summary of the 3491 release:

This very important release merges the Intel XDK IoT Edition and the Intel XDK Early Access into a single release of the Intel XDK. We are moving in the direction of supporting Internet of Things (IoT) app development. Since mobile devices are part of that equation, we continue our support of the development of hybrid Cordova mobile HTML5 apps. For more details regarding this new direction, please read Joe's blog. a

We have made some significant improvements for both IoT and mobile Cordova app development with this release:

Replacing the Emulate tab with a new Simulate tab.
Added a new Cordova CLI 6.2.0 build option (CLI 5.1.1 has been deprecated).
Moved iOS mobile provisioning files, icons and splash screens to a new "package-assets" folder.
Stability improvements and many bug fixes.

In future releases we will be adding more functionality for IoT app development. We will also be fine-tuning our Cordova mobile app support to align with the needs of IoT app development. As a result, we are deprecating some mobile app development features that are not heavily used or are inconsistent with IoT app development needs.

Feature deprecations and removals with this release:

Profile tab has been removed. Please use the profiling features available in the Chrome Debug Tool (on the Debug tab).
Cordova CLI 5.1.1 has been deprecated and will be removed in our next release, likely in September 2016.
Legacy Windows 8.x build platforms have been deprecated. They are only available using CLI 5.1.1 and 5.4.1. Only Windows 10 UAP builds are supported with CLI 6.2.0. These older Windows 8.x platform builds will be removed in September 2016.
Game Asset Manager, samples and templates have been deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
Legacy Whitelist (Android only) was previously deprecated and is no longer available for new projects.

------------------------------------------------

Summary of fixes in the 3400 release:

This Intel XDK release is a hot-fix that addresses several bugs and issues:

Crashes at startup due to a variety of timeout problems.
Long startup times due to slow or spotty network connections.

------------------------------------------------

Summary of fixes in the 3357 release:

The built-in Brackets editor now includes a new "tab view" making it easier to switch between all of your active source files.
The standard Brackets Extension Manager toolbar is now exposed at the right-hand side of the edit window, where you will find it in a stand-alone install of the Brackets editor.
The Brackets Git Extension is now more easily accessed, via the standard Brackets Extension Manager toolbar (see above).
To minimize crashes due to the Emulate tab, the CDT debug window will automatically close when switching away from the Emulate tab, if you have enabled the "auto-refresh" feature of the Emulate tab (this is the default condition).

------------------------------------------------

Summary of fixes in 3240 hotfix release:

When selecting Apache Cordova* CLI 5.4.1 you were not limited to the minimum target of iOS 8 which resulted in developers attempting to build for unsupported platforms and then building what appear to be non-working apps.
If the index.html project file was not contained in the "www" directory of the project, The Emulator would display a '404: Intel XDK can't find your app' error.
In some cases, if the Publisher Display Name was not populated for a Windows* build, the plugin add and subsequent build for Windows would fail. Validation for requiring the Publisher Display Name has been added.
Corrected an issue where sometimes the plugin manager would not allow a third-party/local plugin to be added to the project.

------------------------------------------------

Summary of new features in 3088/3042:

We no longer support CLI 4.1.2 builds. Projects that use CLI 4.1.2 MUST be updated.
Added Cordova CLI 5.4.1 to the Intel XDK build system. See this FAQ for details.
A new Certificate Management feature allows you to create or import Android certificate keystore files and iOS P12 distribution certificate files.
The Build tab allows you to build your app for multiple targets with a single mouse click.
Android and Android-Crosswalk options have been combined into a single target platform in the Build Settings section of the Projects tab.
Crosswalk support in the Intel XDK is now based on the Crosswalk Webview plugin (AKA "Cordova 4" in Crosswalk docs).
A new Publish tab has been added to assist you with creating and publishing application assets and information to a variety of Android stores.
The Windows and Windows Phone build options have been expanded and significantly updated to include Windows 10 Universal Apps. Please use the CLI 5.4.1 build option for your Windows and Windows Phone builds.
The built-in Brackets editor has been updated to version 1.6 and several new Brackets extensions have been added.
Whitelist settings in the Build Settings section of the Projects tab have been updated.
App Preview has been updated (to version 2.8.0). Check the respective stores to be sure you have the latest version.
Updates to our project file format will require that all projects be "updated" before you can use them with this release.

This release also addresses the Google App Store warning regarding the use of older versions of Cordova-Android. You must migrate your app to our CLI 5.1.1 or CLI 5.4.1 build system to eliminate this warning and to be able to publish apps in the Google App Store after May 9, 2016. Our CLI 5.1.1 build system has been updated to address this issue (see this FAQ for specific details).

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎01-24-2017

John -- I've asked engineering to take a look. You may be asked to provide some details regarding your game via a private message.

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎01-25-2017

John -- are you still experiencing this issue? If so, could you provide an IP address so we could see if there's anything unusual about your connection? You can use a site like "http://whatismyipaddress.com/" to see what that is. I'll send you a private message so you do not have to post it on the public forum.

Deepak_S_1 · ‎01-29-2017

Hi,

I was using latest version of INTEL XDK (xdk_web_mac_master_3759.dmg) on yosemite, but from last 1 week i am not able to use it. When ever i start application it crashes on splash screen. When i restart the same it ask me to use application in "Safe Mode" or "Normal Mode".

I tried both modes but it hangs or automatically crashes after few seconds.

I am searching on Google for last week and tries almost every solution provided for uninstalling and re-installing the application via uninstaller (GUI) as well as from terminal. NOTHING WORKS FOR ME.

Even i completely formatted a new new drive and install the OS again, even then i am not able to get it worked.

I am surprised now while downloading the application from (https://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-xdk), the .DMG file is of only 143mb (screenshot attached) where as the previous version was 200MB+ and same the windows version is.

I TRIED TO INSTALL THIS VERSION ON "MAC OS LION 10.7.5" AND "MAC OS 10.8.4" BUT IT GIVES ERROR AFTER ENTERING THE ADMIN PASSWORD "NOTHING TO INSTALL IN THIS PACKAGE".

CAN ANYONE PLEASE CONFIRM IF HE/SHE ALSO FACING SAME ISSUE with this new build.

Due to this issue i have to use a virtual machine to install windows to use this application. But that makes the processing slow and offcourse that is only a temporary solution.

An early help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎01-30-2017

143MB is the correct size for that download. Several features were removed, which is likely the reason for the change in download size.

Try the instructions here > https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-xdk/topic/707314 < to manually uninstall ALL versions of the XDK from your system.

I am able to run the XDK on a Mac that has Sierra installed (10.12.3) with no issues.

Deepak_S_1 · ‎01-31-2017

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your reply.

I was also using XDK a weeks ago and it was working fine. Suddenly it stopped working. Even i tried on a new machine as well having fresh installation of Yosemite, but it does not work there. On Lion and Mountain Lion, it setup says nothing to install in package.

I tried every available link on google and also tried the mentioned link before.

However, again tried the same after your comment. But still getting same error. I am attaching 2 log files. One before uninstalling intel xdk and second after removing and re-installing intel xdk.

I just looked into the log file and in starting lines it is showing some Theme loading error.

xdk:client:[2017-01-31T17:56:53.602Z]: (1485885413602): Loading theme from: ../../public/themes/xdk.json
xdk:client:[2017-01-31T17:56:53.604Z]: (1485885413604): Failed to load theme: xdk { [Error: Cannot find module '../../public/themes/xdk.json'] code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND' }
xdk:client:[2017-01-31T17:56:54.344Z]: (1485885414344): Starting client process initialization

You are more technical about this and hope you understand the error codes and check the logs once again and help me out in resolving this issue. My 2 projects get halt due to non working of XDK on my mac.

Thanks in advance.

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎01-31-2017

Deepak -- are you trying to open an App Designer app? If so, is it using App Framework?

Deepak_S_1 · ‎02-01-2017

No, i am not using App Designer. I am using normal development/code mode only. Same project setup is working on windows platform (on virtual machine). But its very slow. So hard to work on there.

As mentioned already tried other MAC OS X versions as well. Unfortunately my macbook does not support El Capitan or newer version on OS X.

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎02-01-2017

Deepak -- not sure what is going on and having trouble reproducing the issue. Technically, we only support the two most recent versions of OSX (meaning Yosemite and El Capitan), so that might explain why it's failing on the other versions of OSX you tried, but that doesn't explain why it used to work on your Yosemite system and now does not.

Are you able to run 3641, which can be downloaded via the links in the original post to this thread? You may have to uninstall 3759 to get 3641 to install, although, they changed the installer and the install location with 3759, so it's worth trying an install first before you remove 3759.

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎02-02-2017

Deepak S. wrote:

...Same project setup is working on windows platform (on virtual machine). But its very slow. So hard to work on there.

Performance might be better if you created a 64-bit Ubuntu Desktop VM and ran the XDK in that. You can specify 1Gig of RAM for the VM and that will be sufficient to run Ubuntu and the XDK. Not sure of your Mac's specs, but it sounds like it is an older one, so Ubuntu might be a faster VM to host. Don't install 32-bit Ubuntu, support for that is going away, install 64-bit.

Deepak_S_1 · ‎02-02-2017

Hi Paul,

I am primarily using Yosemite. I tried to install 3641 as well, but it is also hanging. One thing i notice in both installations that during installations it shows installing 1/3 components and then suddenly it says installation complete and while installation it shows on 1/2 components to uninstall.

I have installed Node (version v6.9.4) as separate independent install and that is working fine. I am not sure what is happening here because i installed complete OS X 2 times as clean install.

Will you get some clue from the log files which i shared.

Does Intel XDK depend on any type of hardware as well or it just need OS only.

Regards.

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎02-02-2017

Deepak -- the Node.js installed on your system is not used by the XDK, it includes its own copy of Node.js (in this case, a very old 0.12.7 version, type "top.process.versions" at the Simulate console to see the version, but that is being updated in the next release to 7.2.0).

There are no specific hardware requirements for the XDK, Node-Webkit might have some, but the only time I've seen any hardware-specific issues are with the video adapter, which doesn't cause the XDK to crash, but results in strange video behavior (like black and white or odd color casts and resolution problems). These problems are not likely to be the case with your system.

I don't think reinstalling OSX is going to make any difference, I recommend you don't spend too much time doing that.

Are you using a remote or network-mounted disk to store your apps? That can cause problems, especially on Windows machines, but potentially also on a Mac, although I would not expect it to be a problem on a Mac or Linux machine because network-mounted filesystems use the same naming conventions as local filesystems on those operating systems.

The log files are not providing any clues. Are you getting an OSX crash log? If so, that might provide some hints.

As a reference, the installation of 3759 on my machine looks like this:

$ du -chx -d 1 /Applications/Intel XDK/
 12K	/Applications/Intel XDK//.scripts
 26M	/Applications/Intel XDK//Intel XDK Uninstaller.app
441M	/Applications/Intel XDK//Intel XDK.app
467M	/Applications/Intel XDK/
467M	total

And the 3641 install looks like this (I've renamed the name of the app in order to have it installed alongside multiple versions):

$ du -chx -d 1 /Applications/XDK-3641.app/
571M	/Applications/XDK-3641.app//Contents
571M	/Applications/XDK-3641.app/
571M	total

Which should be the same (or very close) for your installations, because the variable bits are stored elsewhere. Are these numbers consistent with what you are seeing?

Deepak_S_1 · ‎02-04-2017

Hello Paul,

Thank you for the details provided. i checked and my application info is almost same (screenshot attached).

I am not experiencing any OS crashes. Its working smoothly. There is no network drive attached with my machine. I am using the primary OS drive to install the application.

There is nodejs version installed within Intel XDK app content.

Lets hope to have a new release soon. Till them might have to use the VM only.

Thank you once again for your help and time spent on the issue.

Mahadi · ‎02-20-2017

I can't download any app after build. Its said download unsuccessful ... IntelXDK 3759

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎02-21-2017

Mahadi -- where are you unable to download from? The final build email that contains links to the download or the download link on the build tile (on the Build tab) or directly on device via the share link (also on the build tile). I am seeing an issue with the build email that you are automatically sent when a build is complete, but the other two methods are working. These two methods are working for me:

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎02-22-2017

Mahadi -- it appears that the problem has to do with too many intel.com cookies in your browser's cookie cache. To fix the problem, clear the "intel.com" cookies from your browser's cookie history.

Instructions for Chrome (obviously, instructions for other browsers will vary):

Type "chrome://settings/search#cookies" into the Chrome URL address bar:
Click the "Content settings..." button:
Click the "All cookies and site data..." button and then type "intel.com" in the "Search cookies" input box:
Delete all or some of the cookies that were found as a result of the search, for example, using the "X" icon:

Michael_B_1 · ‎03-14-2017

I really love the progress made with intel xdk, but I have noticed a minor error in the new simulate tab. alert() is not able to be used anymore. While I know using alert is not recommended, it is still nice to use for simulation of the notification plugin. It will not make too much of a difference in my project, but it would be nice to know if support will given in the future in the simulate tab. Thank you for your time.

Jur_W_ · ‎03-15-2017

Hi,

Since update 3900 for mac my left command button indent to the left and my right command button indent to the right. As you can imagine almost every key bind i use is a pain in the butt.

Offtopic: A password for my intel account between 8 and 15 characters? Every time i need to login i need to reset my password because my "common" passwords are way longer..

Thanks for the progress, keep the good work up!

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎03-15-2017

Michael B. wrote:

I really love the progress made with intel xdk, but I have noticed a minor error in the new simulate tab. alert() is not able to be used anymore. While I know using alert is not recommended, it is still nice to use for simulation of the notification plugin. It will not make too much of a difference in my project, but it would be nice to know if support will given in the future in the simulate tab. Thank you for your time.

I've reported the alert() function issue to engineering.

PaulF_IntelCorp · ‎03-15-2017

Jur W. wrote:

Since update 3900 for mac my left command button indent to the left and my right command button indent to the right. As you can imagine almost every key bind i use is a pain in the butt.

I do not follow what you mean by "left command button indent to the left" etc. Can you provide more details. I use a Mac and none of my key-bindings have been impacted by the new version, I do not believe any of the key-bindings used by the XDK have been changed with this release. What is the specific key-binding you are referring to?

Jur W. wrote:

Offtopic: A password for my intel account between 8 and 15 characters? Every time i need to login i need to reset my password because my "common" passwords are way longer..

Unfortunately, the XDK team does not get to pick the login password policy, that is a corporate-wide policy.

aykut_y_ · ‎03-16-2017

hi; i have an issue with version 3900.

when i try select a png file from package-assets folder in the Launch Icons and Splash Screens section, appear an alert "the intel xdk was unable to load that file" is this a known bug and is there any solution for this situation? thanks.

Edit: Seems it's an known issue (https://software.intel.com/en-us/xdk/docs/release-notes-information-intel-xdk)

To work around this issue, you can reference your icons and splash screen images using the intelxdk.config.additions.xml file. See this sample intelxdk.config.additions.xml file, which is part of the "hello cordova" demo app, for additional information and an example of how this is done. You must still locate your icon and splash screen images within the "package-assets" folder, to insure they will be included with your build package when submitting to our on-line build system or to PhoneGap Build and Cordova CLI.

With this solution, you'll loose simulate capabilities in xdk app. so waiting a hot fix.

Ernani_Torquato · ‎03-16-2017

After the update 3900 I am with the following problem, when opening the simulator the xdk displays a modal that was encountered a problem. Attached the log.