5APP has unveiled Toolkit, a cross-platform app development tool that enables businesses to create apps and across all types of smartphones and Tablets on a write-once/deploy to multiple platforms basis. 

5APP says the solution is designed to enable developers to build apps that will communicate reliably even when reception is intermittent. The Toolkit  uses standard web-programming tools, including HTML5, C55 and Javascript, connecting  to any enterprise system using a standard API.

The 5app Toolkit consists of two components  – the 5APP Engines and the 5APP Factory.  A developer uses the 5APP Factory to create something called a 5APP fig. The fig, in conjunction with the 5APPengines, then runs without the need for alteration on any type of mobile handset.

5APP Engines are subsystems that load a mobile app developed in the 5APP Factory and run it on the mobile device, providing a reliable two-way communication mechanism. Unlike Ajax technology, which was designed for always-connected systems, the 5APP Engines provide communication synchronisation when data connectivity permits, allowing apps to be developed that work well both online and offline. If data changes occur while the device is sleeping the deployed app is informed and data is synchronised.

The Toolkit is supported by the 5APP Factory, a cloud-hosted rapid mobile app software development environment that enables software developers to use standard web-programming tools, such as HTML5, CSS and Javascript, and has the ability to connect to any enterprise system using a standard Application Programming Interface (API). 5APP says it brings software developers the major benefit of having workflow and transactional management capabilities built into the design of mobile business apps. This also applies when they are adding new mobile functionality to existing enterprise apps.

5APP says the Toolkit also removes the need for app store-style downloads of new or updated software. It ensures that users automatically have the latest version of software available, and provides control over who has permission to have the application on their device.

“C-level Executives are beginning to understand the value of being able to communicate effectively with a mobile workforce through the proliferation of mobile business apps,” says Dr Tim King, chief technology officer at 5APP. “This has resulted in software developers being tasked with demanding design briefs to develop business apps that need to perform across any mobile platform. But unlike fixed systems, the communication mechanism is unreliable and unless care is taken, data can be lost or transmitted twice.”