[SailfishDevel] Silica components on desktop/Android. Easily possible? Anybody tried?

Artem Marchenko artem.marchenko at gmail.com
Sat Oct 19 10:15:48 UTC 2013


Hi All

A couple of times during debugging I dove int the Silica sources and it
looks like it's either pure QML or nearly pure QML. So it might be possible
to run them on desktop and Android just as some people were running Symbian
QML components on Android (never saw myself, but have heard in the
internets).

Such a task is beyond me as any (re-)packaging and integration scares shit
out of me, but maybe somebody else tried it? Or even if you didn't, but you
know about Silica internals: would such a port be an easy thing to do?



**If you wonder about reasons**

*1. F-f-fast development cycle*
I am a fan of test driven development and as fast feedback cycle as
possible. In MeeGo-Symbian times for mostly QML projects I used desktop
development for 95% of my project. The projects ( e.g.
http://n9-apps.com/easy-discount-calculator ) were with the completely
custom UI, so I didn't depend Controls at all, only on screen resolution
that's easy to simulate.

Sure I would love to repeat that with Sailfish, but with the proper
controls. It's hard to beat no need for compilation and a hundred of QML
tests running under 10 seconds (with UI testing included). At one of my
client projects I managed to have even network integration tests running
this way too (via both the local mock server and remote API check) running
under something like 30-50 seconds.

So desktop QML development with no compilation need is powerful and it
might be possible with Silica. Is it really? :)

*2. Android demos.. or even real Android apps*
*IF* Silica happens to be easily portable, I could actually use Jolla as a
primary target for my app, yet have it running on Android too (and even on
iOS when Qt comes there for real). That would be an awesome demo, say, for
a potential client who might be interested in porting his MomentGramm to
Sailfish, but has no Jolla device to have a look at our past work.

And then again, despite all the Google efforts, there is no real golden UI
standard for Android and Silica controls would look like one more decent
alternative depending on the quality of the port. Just make PullDownMenu be
shown on the Android hardware Menu button, support hardware Back button,
minimize app on left-right swipe and.. you'll get a quite decent Android
app, just without tabs.

Best regards,
Artem.

-- 
Artem Marchenko
http://agilesoftwaredevelopment.com
http://twitter.com/AgileArtem
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