Release History

AppBuilder v2.8

February 16, 2015

Release Notes

NEW

Features and Updates

This section contains the major new features and improvements that AppBuilder 2.8 introduces. For a complete list of the updates that AppBuilder 2.8 introduces, click here.

Feature	In-Browser Client	Windows Client	Extension for Visual Studio	Command-Line Interface
Develop, build and test your apps Windows Phone 8.1*
Develop hybrid mobile apps with Apache Cordova 3.7.0 (Verified)**
Updated values for minSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion in the AndroidManifest.xml template
Determine which changes to LiveSync via cable connection	Not Applicable
Test pinch-to-zoom gestures in the device simulator	Not Available
Improved the build process to automatically resolve plugin dependencies declared by URL
Develop with verified Kendo UI packages
Filter the Telerik Verified Plugins Marketplace plugins by tag				Not Applicable
Sign your Android apps for Telerik AppManager with any available code signing identity for Android
Sign your iOS apps for Telerik AppManager with development, Ad Hoc and in-house code signing identities
Optimized cloning of the sample apps			Not Applicable	Not Applicable
Distribute your NativeScript apps via Telerik AppManager
Improved output when you build NativeScript projects for Android

 * Develop, build and test your apps Windows Phone 8.1
You need to manually set the target Windows Phone SDK in your project properties. For more information, see Configure Your Project and Project Properties for Windows Phone Devices.

** Develop hybrid mobile apps with Apache Cordova 3.7.0
This version of AppBuilder introduces verified support for Apache Cordova 3.7.0 for iOS, Apache Cordova 3.8.0 for Windows Phone and Apache Cordova 3.6.4 for Android.
When you migrate to the latest supported Apache Cordova, keep in mind that you might need to modify your code due to breaking changes in the APIs.

FIXED

Notable Resolved Issues

This section contains the major bug fixes that AppBuilder 2.8 introduces.

Functional Area	Notable Resolved Issues
Frameworks	When you change the target Apache Cordova version, Apache Cordova discards your plugin variable configuration. If the Plugins folder contains an empty sub-folder, you cannot build your project. Sometimes, AppBuilder cannot build your project and shows the following error message: jar mismatch!. If your project contains too many or too large custom plugins, AppBuilder might not be able to build your project and the build operation might time out. Sometimes, after you install a Bower package, you might no longer be able to LiveSync changes to your app. This behavior has been reported for the following Bower packages: lazy.js lodash jquery angulerjs When the Plugins folder contains a folder without a nested plugin.xml file, AppBuilder cannot complete the build and the following error is added to the log: Error: error: Could not fetch package information for . When the Telerik AppFeedback plugin is enabled in your project, the app always rotates even if you have enabled only portrait or landscape mode. If you have enabled the Media core plugin in your project and you attempt to modify the JavaScript file that contains your media functionality while the device simulator is running, the simulator might become unresponsive and might need to close.
Mobile Devices and Platforms	On devices running Android 4.4.2 or earlier, you cannot debug apps running in the AppBuilder companion app.
In-Browser Client	You cannot create a branch whose name contains a slash (/). In Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, when you create a remote repository, the AppBuilder in-browser client shows the following error message in the log: Object doesn't support property or method 'scrollIntoViewIfNeeded'. Sometimes, the browser console shows the following error message: Failed to load resources: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found) for multiple platform.telerik.com resources. If your Mobile Testing project precedes the AppBuilder project in the Project Navigator, the AppBuilder in-browser client cannot load your project in the simulator and prompts you that index.html is missing. If the files for your custom plugin are not nested in a dedicated sub-folder in the Plugins folder, the AppBuilder in-browser client cannot build your project. When you revert the renaming of a project in the AppBuilder in-browser client, it appears that your project has become corrupted and you cannot continue your work. The AppBuilder in-browser client does not refresh the browser when you revert the renaming of a projects. This causes the project to appear corrupted. If you open the Options dialog before the AppBuilder in-browser client has loaded completely, a script error appears in the log and you can no longer complete any operations in the AppBuilder in-browser client. When you run Manage Packages in your project, it might appear that some Kendo UI or Bower packages or Telerik verified plugins are already installed, even if they are not. When you attempt to commit a large number of modified files at once, the browser becomes unresponsive and needs to close.
Windows Client	The device simulator does not show downloaded images. You cannot create a branch whose name contains a slash (/). In the device simulator, the InAppBrowser plugin sends the desktop user agent for your system instead of the mobile user agent for the currently simulated device. If you have loaded your project in the companion app via cable connection and attempt to get your latest changes with the three-finger refresh gesture, the following error message is shown: Error: Value ype java.lang.String cannot be converted to JSONObject. The device simulator does not load the default contacts base. The AppBuilder Windows client might not identify debuggable apps on your connected iOS 8 device. On iOS 8 devices, when you switch between debuggable applications in the AppBuilder Windows client, your debuggable applications might disappear from the list. When you attempt to export a very large project, the operation times out and the export cannot complete. This issue has been observed with a project exceeding 600MB in size and 9000 files in file number but it might affect smaller projects. For some accounts, the Data Navigator cannot load your Backend Services projects and shows the following error in the log: Access denied. When a corrupted Backend Services project exists in your account, the Data Navigator cannot initialize properly. If your project is not already configured to target Windows Phone, you cannot enable it for Windows Phone development manually. For mobile website projects, changes in your code do not synchronize automatically to the device simulator and you cannot preview them real time.
Extension for Visual Studio	The device simulator does not show downloaded images. In the device simulator, the InAppBrowser plugin sends the desktop user agent for your system instead of the mobile user agent for the currently simulated device. The device simulator does not load the default contacts base. The AppBuilder extension for Visual Studio might not identify debuggable apps on your connected iOS 8 device. On iOS 8 devices, when you switch between debuggable applications in the AppBuilder extension for Visual Studio, your debuggable applications might disappear from the list. For some accounts, the Data Navigator cannot load your Backend Services projects and shows the following error in the log: Access denied. When a corrupted Backend Services project exists in your account, the Data Navigator cannot initialize properly. If your project is not already configured to target Windows Phone, you cannot upgrade it manually.
Command-Line Interface	The device simulator does not show downloaded images. In the device simulator, the InAppBrowser plugin sends the desktop user agent for your system instead of the mobile user agent for the currently simulated device. The AppBuilder command-line interface does not validate the input of your commands when Node.js is installed via Node Version Manager (NVM). The AppBuilder command-line interface does not print the values for your plugin variables when you run appbuilder plugin On Windows systems, the device simulator does not load the default contacts base. When all Apache Cordova plugins are disabled, the AppBuilder command-line interface cannot start the device simulator and shows the following error message: Cannot call method 'join' of undefined. Sometimes, you cannot import a custom plugin with the appbuilder plugin fetch command. After deployment, your NativeScript apps do not launch automatically in the Android native emulator. On OS X systems, you cannot inspect elements in the device simulator.
Companion App	On iOS devices, you cannot LiveSync newly added HTML files with the three-finger refresh gesture. In the companion app for iOS, you cannot test the Telerik AppFeedback plugin. On iOS devices, you cannot LiveSync changes to your application settings stored in *.debug.json with the three-finger refresh gesture. On iOS devices, you cannot LiveSync changes to files that are not HTML, CSS or JS.

 

CHANGED

Breaking Changes

The TypeScript compiler that the AppBuilder command-line interface uses has been updated to TypeScript 1.4. Make sure to resolve any breaking changes in your code.

You might not be able to test apps developed with the latest supported Apache Cordova in the companion apps. The companion apps have not yet been updated to the latest supported Apache Cordova version.

The latest supported Apache Cordova version introduces changes in the behavior of the default splash screen. For more information, see Windows Phone app splash screens and Known Issues with Windows Phone Devices.

If you are running the AppBuilder command-line interface on a 64-bit Linux system, you need to install the runtime libraries for the ia32/i386 architecture. In the terminal, run sudo apt-get install lib32z1 lib32ncurses5 lib32bz2-1.0 libstdc++6:i386

You can no longer build projects created with NativeScript 0.1.0, 0.3.1 or 0.4.0. To be able to build such a project, create a new project, copy your code base and assets and resolve any breaking changes.

You can no longer use your system ports with the AppBuilder command-line interface. You can run appbuilder remote only on ports above 1023.

The default AndroidManifest.xml has been modified to optimize your apps for newer versions of Android. By default, AppBuilder now builds your Android apps to require Android 2.3.3 (android:minSdkVersion="10") and to target Android 5.0.0 Lollipop (android:targetSdkVersion="21").
If you have opened your AndroidManifest.xml for editing in the past, this change will not affect your future application builds. If you want to apply these settings to your Android builds, you need to manually set android:minSdkVersion="10" and android:targetSdkVersion="21" in the <uses-sdk> element in your AndroidManifest.xml.
If you have not opened your AndroidManifest.xml for editing in the past, this change will affect new builds of your app. The newly built application will not work on devices that run Android 2.3.2 or earlier and might not work as expected on devices that do not run Android 5.0.0 or later. For more information about the issues that you might experience, see Known Issues with Android Devices.