I am total newbie here and I am little confused after reading some How to's and watch some videos: is it enough to create app once and then export it once for iOs and once for Android? Do I have to make it twice? What about iPad and iPhone version, is it situation the same - I can't find exact answer how to prepare images for one or another: do I have to create 2 sets of images?

Hi Miku Just wanted to say Welcome (as a fellow newbie) Im sure the advanced users of BT will help you as they have with me :) Glad to see you have 1 star (like me) Keep doing the BTU ... It is great knowledge plus a lot of fun... Cheers Terry

Well, some 'yes' answers, and some 'no' answers… but the end result is 'yes'. before you get too involved, keep a couple of things in mind… 1) Android isn't as file friendly as iOS. So when you create an app that you plan to use for both, keep your image and filenames beginning with a lowercase 'letter'. myfile.txt = good. myFile.png = good. Myfile.png = not good. (okay, okay. It's actually 'good'. but it looks bad) 1file.txt = not good. iOS hate's gifs. or maybe it's android. either way, use png, use jpg. no gif. Now, on to the 'real' information… What you're doing in the control panel isn't 'building' an app… you're 'configuring' your app. You determine what screens, some content, images, whatever… So, you're basically setting up the 'behavior' of your app in the BT control panel. great. And now you want to build an Android or iOS app… Once you're done 'configuring' your app in the control panel, on the left side of your account menu (while 'in' the app control panel) you should see a link to 'download' the package. You will have a choice of Android or iOS. And that is where you download for a particular mobile device. You're not downloading 'an app', you're downloading 'the source code' for the app. You still must compile the app on your local computer. Eclipse/ADT for Android, or Xcode for iOS. "Some" plugins are iOS only. You won't be able to use them in an Android project. Some plugins are Android only. Some are both. when you download your package, those plugins that are not compatible with the 'device' you're building for will NOT be included in the package; the code doesn't run on them. Some folks create 2 'app' configurations in their control panel. 1 Android, 1 iOS. I still create my apps for both platforms, but I use Chris1's 'Menu with Image Advanced', which has a feature that allows you to decide 'which' menu item is available for iOS, Android, or both. This keeps your app from blowing up in the users device if you have separate functions for each device, such as Cookup's 'CP_Stream' for Android, or Danny's 'BTA Streamer' for iOS. Both are audio streaming plugins that don't work on both devices. I set it up where the menu on each device only shows the plugin applicable. Does this help? Don't be shy! Cheers! -- Smug PS, the iPhone/iPad difference is done in Xcode, not the BT control panel… Think of the control panel as your 'configuration utility' and your Compiler as the 'build' part. -------- PPS, 'images' *can* be the same image, but you're soon going to find out, that for the 'best' results, you're going to want 'the same image in different sizes' to accomodate all the different 'resolutions' available on mobile devices. What's going to end up happening, is although the 'images' are the 'same', the 'image filename' is going to be a little different. android 'can accomodate' many different resolutions. iOS really only has 'two'. In iOS the way you differentiate a high resolution image from a 'regular' one is the name. in code, it may ask for 'image.png'. But the way it 'works' is, if the device is 'standard' resolution, it will use 'image.png'. if it is a 'retina' (high resolution) device, it will first look for '[email protected]' *first* and if it finds it, it uses it. If it doesn't find it, it uses 'image.png'. don't use '@2x' in your code. only in your filename. in android, 'all' resolutions will still be called 'image.png' but you keep them in different directories. the 'common' directory is res/drawable. but you also have directories for xhdpi, hdpi, mdpi, ldpi, etc… if the device is an 'mdpi' device, it first looks in res/drawable-mdpi, and if it cannot find it, it looks in res/drawable. Sorry for the long winded explanation. If you think it's a lot to read, try typing it. ;) ----- PPPS - Welcome to Buzztouch!

Great reply there, Smug, very informative for others like myself who are still getting to grips with all that Buzztouch offers. Cheers Al Miku - you're not alone! :)

Thanks for replies, good explanation. Till I finish my first project I surely will have a lot more questions. I wonder how is it possible to insert few mp3 audio files in app (not somewhere on remote servers). I can only find plugins for streaming audio.

Thanks for replies, good explanation. Till I finish my first project I surely will have a lot more questions. I wonder how is it possible to insert few mp3 audio files in app (not somewhere on remote servers). I can only find plugins for streaming audio.

If you reload/refresh the page you posted on without leaving first, it'll double post :) Some plugins (not all, but a good bit of them) make allowances for 'background music' being played while the screen is active. different than a streaming plugin. 'background music plays 'a' song once or more times. the streaming plugin accomodates streaming and playlists and stuff… I've written a couple of apps where the audio is 'embedded' in the app, and there is no network connection needed. Genuinely, it's kind of a short 'welcome' statement. 'Real' audio files can take up a bit of space, and if you want any variety, pretty soon you've got 10k of code and 10MB of audio… keep an eye on filesize. Too big (50+ mb) and Apple will reject it. Google has a facility for breaking up huge apps in multiple parts, but I've not ventured to read up on it; most of my stuff is well under that. If you want to know if the plugin has 'audio' capability, look in the plugin control panel for "background audio" controls… One thing though, although 'Android' supports audio, "Buzztouch Android" doesn't have all the wires connected just yet. In my Android project, I had to create a little audio player in the page that had the 'welcome' message. It sounds daunting, but really, don't worry about it. When the time comes I can walk you through the steps if I haven't written a tutorial about it by then. It's not that difficult, it's just a matter of 'finding a good spot' to put the code. And no one 'outside the app' will notice. To them, it's just sheer magic. Cheers! -- Smug

Is 50 MB max. acceptable file size for Apple? And for Google Play?

Personally? I think that is huge. But you know, if that's what it takes, thats what it takes. If you want variety, go online. If you want stability, stay offline. Cheers! -- Smug

Another: I just installed buzztouch Self Hosted. It works OK, I added first screen (menu simple), but when I tried to edit it I got message: Forbidden You don't have permission to access /BT-server/files/plugins/bt_screen_menuSimple/ on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request. ---- Looks something wrong with permissions, I checked it, and all my CHMODs art set to 755. I also contacted my host and guys say on their side everything is OK. What may be wrong?

I'm pretty sure that's a 'landing page' issue. We found out about it a few months ago… http://www.buzztouch.com/forum/thread.php?fid=BDBB5438B416FE570812CB8&tid=BDBB5438B416FE570812CB8 The 'known cure' discovered by Chris was 'hitting the refresh button a couple of times'. the refresh button would be in the admin section of your control panel, under 'manage plugins'. http://www.buzztouch.com/forum/thread.php?fid=5CBA23E81536CB5AD01EC3A&tid=5CBA23E81536CB5AD01EC3A Good Luck! Let us know how it turns out for you! Cheers! -- Smug

Cool, two clicks on refresh button are enough. Thanks!