PhoneGap Build is making some big changes

[lucas_b_]

Hi,

since i can't use intel xdk to build my app ,i started to use phonegap builder and it worked fine for me and i'm used to it now .

But i saw that they are making a major update in 1 October to their system ,and my question is will that affect us (the people building and extracting our app packages from intel xdk ) ?

and we will still be able to build our apps like before or Mr Paul will make another tutorial for us then ?

[Ad]

O no, not again . . .

[PaulF_IntelCorp]

PhoneGap Build is doing two things:

1. Removing support for CLI versions prior to 6.0
   > https://blog.phonegap.com/old-phonegap-versions-being-retired-from-phonegap-build-20219dc9e296
2. Adding support for CLI 7.x
   > https://blog.phonegap.com/phonegap-7-0-1-now-on-build-and-it-includes-some-important-changes-89087fe465f5

Regarding the first item:

> https://blog.phonegap.com/old-phonegap-versions-being-retired-from-phonegap-build-20219dc9e296 <

The XDK export tool creates a config.xml file that explicitly states which version of CLI to use when building your app with PhoneGap Build. That CLI version is controlled by what your Build Settings specify in the Projects tab:

If you are using Cordova CLI directly, that setting (in the Build Settings), and the config.xml tag it generates (e.g., <preference name="phonegap-version" value="cli-6.2.0" />) is ignored. This setting only affects building with PhoneGap Build.

Regarding the second item:

> https://blog.phonegap.com/phonegap-7-0-1-now-on-build-and-it-includes-some-important-changes-89087fe465f5 <

The main thing Adobe is announcing is that they are adding support for CLI 7 to PhoneGap Build, as a beta build; and that they are making their config.xml file conform to the standard Cordova CLI config.xml file. In fact, most of the recent additions to the Cordova CLI version of the config.xml file were based on features that PhoneGap Build created and Cordova CLI then included.

The XDK already exports a config.xml that conforms to the CLI 6.x standards. So these changes that Adobe has announced, regarding changes to their config.xml directives, will not impact what is already being exported by the XDK.

An important point Adobe makes in that blog regards changes to the default manifest files that are used when a project is assembled for build by PhoneGap Build. They are saying that some subtle differences may appear in your app when compared to the default manifest files that PhoneGap Build has historically used (which are different than what you get when you create your project using Cordova CLI).

There were some subtle differences between the XDK default manifest files and what PhoneGap Build has historically used, which we addressed in an earlier version of the export tool.

Note that these changes to the default manifest only happen if you target CLI 7.x when using PhoneGap Build. If you are specifying CLI 6.x their historical default manifest files are still being used. In other words, this change does not impact you if you have been using CLI 6.x and continue to use CLI 6.x with PhoneGap Build.

We do not support CLI 7.x and do not offer it as an export option. Also, our documentation for exporting to Cordova CLI explains how to install Cordova CLI 6.x, not CLI 7.x, because we cannot guarantee that the projects we export will work properly with CLI 7.x. This is because the CLI project added additional requirements to the CLI 7.x config.xml file regarding plugins, requirements that we do not support.

If you are planning to use Cordova CLI then we highly recommend that you start with CLI 6.x!!! See the instructions on the above-referenced page for instructions on how to do that.

[lucas_b_]

Thank you Paul for the explanation, also i saw that we will be a able to set icons and splash screens via phonegap builder too, the xdk splash screen always mal functioned for me, it get stuck or the screen stay black so i deleted it for all my apps, i hope the phonegap one will work fine

[PaulF_IntelCorp]

p.s. For maximum compatibility with Cordova CLI builds on Android, PhoneGap Build has added the following preference tag for using in their config.xml files:

<preference name='pgb-builder-version' value='2' /> 

If you add that tag to your intelxdk.config.additions.xml file, it will be included in the config.xml file that is exported by the Intel XDK for use with PhoneGap Build and Cordova CLI. This tag causes PhoneGap Build to use a Cordova template to create the project that will be populated with your application source before they perform the build. Otherwise, when using CLI 6.x and lower, PhoneGap Build will use their older custom template.

Making this change may have subtle effects on your application behavior. For an example, see this forum post > https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-xdk/topic/740344#comment-1910284 <

This preference tag is ignored by Cordova CLI, it is relevant only to building Android on PhoneGap Build.