Programming Mobile Apps with

Python

Andreas Schreiber <[Link]@[Link]>

EuroPython 2012, Florence, Italy (July 3, 2012)

[Link]
 Medando – Mobile Health Apps

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 2 [Link]

 My Blood Pressure

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 3 [Link]

 Overview

• Apps and Statistics

• Apps, Hardware, Markets

• Early Mobile Development with Python

• Nokia, Windows Mobile / CE

• Current Mobile Development with Python

• Android, iOS, Windows Phone

• Everything else…
• Other systems, summary, conclusions

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 4 [Link]

 Mobile Apps

What is a mobile app?

• A software designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers, and other

mobile devices
• Limited memory, small screens, touch UI, battery efficient

• Runs on mobile operating systems

• Available through application distribution platforms

• Apps are either free or paid

• “App” was Word of the Year in 2010 (USA)

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 5 [Link]

 Smartphones

What is a smartphone?

• Mobile phone based on a mobile

operating platform

• Combination of
• PDA functions, camera, media player, Web browser, …

• Equipped with
• Touch screen, high-speed networking (Wi-Fi, mobile
broadband), GPS, NFC, acceleration sensors, …

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 6 [Link]

 Tablet Computers

What is a Tablet?

• A mobile computer that is

larger than a smartphone

• Built as touch screen device

• Virtual keyboard, sometimes

stylus or digital pen

• Mostly based on x86 or ARM

architectures

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 7 [Link]

 Mobile Operating Systems

Popular mobile operating systems

• Android

• Apple iOS

• Windows Phone / Mobile / CE

• RIM BlackBerry

• Nokia OS / Symbian

• Samsung Bada

• …

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 8 [Link]

 Market Share: Smartphone Sales

Source: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 9 [Link]

 App Distribution

• Application Distribution Platforms

• Google Play

• Apple App Store

• Windows Phone Marketplace

(and Windows Marketplace for Mobile)

• BlackBerry App World

• Nokia Ovi Store

• Many more
• Cross-platform, manufacturer-specific,
carrier-specific, …

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 10 [Link]

 Apps in the iOS App Store

Source: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 11 [Link]

 Apps in the Android Market / Google Play
Google Play Apps
700.000

600.000

500.000

400.000

300.000

200.000

100.000

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 12 [Link]

 Apps in Google Play
Google Play Downloads
[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 13 [Link]

 Apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace

Source: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 14 [Link]

 So Many Apps…

… but almost none of them

are developed in Python!

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 15 [Link]

 Early Mobile Development with Python

• Symbian

• Window Mobile / CE

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 16 [Link]

 Symbian

Symbian OS

• Operating system for smartphones and PDAs

• Micro kernel, 32bit, single user

• GUI-centric application framework

S60
A schematic diagram of the S60 platform architecture.

• User interface for smartphones

Programming for Symbian

• C++, Java, Web Widgets

• (Flash Lite), (Python)

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 17 [Link]
 Python for S60 (PyS60)

• Python port for S60 platform

• Developed by Nokia, but development has stopped

• Open-Source-License (Apache Version 2)

• Stable Release

• Last release: 1.4.5 (27.01.2009)

• Available on SourceForge
[Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 18 [Link]

 “Hello World”

import appuifw
[Link] = u„Hello World"
[Link](u"Hello World!", 'info')

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 19 [Link]

 Starting a Python Interpreter

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 20 [Link]

 Running Scripts

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 21 [Link]

 Interactive Console

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 22 [Link]

 Source Code Template

import appuifw
1. Importing modules import e32

2. Setting screen size [Link] = 'normal'

3. Applications menu def item1():

print "item1 was selected.”
4. Set. exit key handler [Link] = [(u"item 1", item1)]

(Callback function) def quit():

[Link].set_exit()
5. Setting app title
app.exit_key_handler=quit
6. Application body
[Link] = u'Simple Application'
7. Active Objects
app_lock = e32.Ao_lock()
8. Main Loop # starts scheduler -> event processing
app_lock.wait()

Complete template: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 23 [Link]
 Example „Location Based Service“

Send SMS to someone if certain cell is near (using GSM Cell ID)
import location

HOME_CELL_ID = u"98521779" # my home in Cologne, Germany

WIFE = u"+49173247****“ # cell phone number of my wife

entries = [u"can’t wait to see you!",

u"I’m hungry.",
u"I’m in a bad mood."]
listbox = [Link](entries, shout)

home = 0
while home == 0:
country, provider, lac, cell = location.gsm_location()
if (cell== HOME_CELL_ID):
home = 1
message = u"Will be at home in a moment and %s" % mood
messaging.sms_send(WIFE, message)

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 24 [Link]

 Example „OpenGL“

[Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 25 [Link]

 Windows Mobile / CE

Windows Mobile

• Operating system for smartphones

• Based on Windows CE kernel

• Implemented in C

Programming for Windows Mobile

• Visual C++ (native code)

• .NET framework

• Tcl-Tk (with eTcl)

• Python with PythonCE

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 26 [Link]
 Python CE

• Python port for Windows CE

• Python CE: [Link]

• Outdated since 2007

# Send a quick popup message to the user

import win32sys
[Link](0, "My Message", "My Title", 1)
[Link]()

# Launch another CE application

import win32sh
[Link](0, 0, "", "\\Windows\\[Link]",
"", "\\Windows", 1)

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 27 [Link]

 Current Mobile Development with Python

• Android

• iOS

• Windows Phone

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 28 [Link]

 Android

Android

• Linux-based operating system for mobile devices

• Developed by the Open Handset Alliance, led by Google

• Open Source, Apache License

• Kernel based on Linux-kernel

• Libraries and APIs written in C

• Application Framework in Java

• Java VM Dalvik with JIT

• Hardware platform: ARM

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 29 [Link]
 Programming Android

• Apps are usually developed in Java

• Software development tools

• Android Software Development Kit

• Native Development Kit

• App Inventor for Android

• Simple project and Basic4android

• some others

• Python!?

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 30 [Link]

 Python for Android

Several options

• Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A)

• Python for Android (Py4A)

• Kivy

• PySide for Android

• PyGame

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 31 [Link]

 Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A)

• Executes scripts and interactive interpreters on Android

• Access to many APIs

• Support for
• Python
• Perl
• Ruby
• Lua
• BeanShell
• JavaScript Source: Practical Android Projects by Lucas Jordan and Pieter Greyling

• Tcl
• Available on Google Code:
[Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 32 [Link]

 Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A)

• Support for some UI elements: Dialogs, Toasts, Progressbar, …

• Interactive console

Source: Practical Android Projects by Lucas Jordan and Pieter Greyling

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 33 [Link]

 Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A)

• Scripts
• Sharing via barcodes or APKs

• Hello Word:

import android
droid = [Link]()
[Link]('Hello, Android!')

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 34 [Link]

 Python for Android (Py4A)

• Python interpreter for Android

• CPython, cross-compiled for Android

• Used in SL4A

• Access to many Android APIs

• Native UI support not complete

• Website: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 35 [Link]

 Building an App

• To build a stand-alone app, the Python for Android interpreter must be

included in an APK
• Project: [Link]
• Template files

• Build files

• Basically requires to change Java code to add your own script

public static final String

PYTHON_MAIN_SCRIPT_NAME = "[Link]";
public static final String
PYTHON_PROJECT_ZIP_NAME = "my_python_project.zip";
File: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 36 [Link]

 Kivy

• Cross platform framework for innovative user interfaces

• Multi-touch

• Runs on Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OSX

• Graphics engines uses OpenGL ES2

• Open Source
• Website: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 37 [Link]

 Kivy Hello World
from [Link] import App
from [Link] import Button

class TestApp(App):
def build(self):
return Button(text='Hello World')

TestApp().run()

Source: Kivy Website [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 38 [Link]
 See Kivy Poster Outside…

Poster by Mathieu Virbel

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 39 [Link]
 PySide for Android

• For writing GUI applications for Android using Python

• Based on
• Python for Android (Py4A)

• Qt for Android (Necessitas)

• Python bindings for Qt (PySide)

• Website: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 40 [Link]

 PySide for Android Example
import sys
import traceback

def main():
from [Link] import *
from [Link] import *

app = QApplication([Link])

w = QLabel('Hello World!')
[Link]()

app.exec_()

if __name__=="__main__":
main()

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 41 [Link]

 Pygame Subset for Android

• Subset of Pygame for the Android platform

• Good for developing simple games

• Website: [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 42 [Link]

 iOS

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 43 [Link]

 Apple iOS

iOS

• Mobile operating system by Apple

• Multi-touch user interface

• OS layer: Core OS layer, Core Services,

Media layer, Cocoa Touch layer

Programming iOS
• Apps are written in Objective-C

• Software Development Kit and IDE Xcode

• Python on iOS almost not possible

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 44 [Link]

 Python for iOS – A Python IDE for the iOS

[Link]
EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 45 [Link]
 Python for iOS – On iPhone

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 46 [Link]

 Python for iOS – On iPad

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 47 [Link]

 Python for iOS – On iPad

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 48 [Link]

 Python for iOS – On iPad

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 49 [Link]

 Kivy

• You can publish Kivy Apps

in the Apple App Store

• No dynamic linking

• First App: Deflectouch

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 50 [Link]

 Windows Phone

Windows Phone

• Mobile operating system by Microsoft

• Successor to Windows Mobile

Programming for Windows Phone

• Apps must be based on XNA or Silverlight

• Windows Phone Developer Tools

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 51 [Link]

 IronPython

IronPython

• Python implementation for the .NET platform

• Since version 2.7.2 (March 2012):

• Preliminary support for Windows Phone 7.5

• No documentation yet
• [Link]

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 52 [Link]

 Everything else…

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 53 [Link]

 Other Mobile Devices

Many other devices with Apps

• Livescribe

• Amazon Kindle

• No Python support

• Maybe support via Jython

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 54 [Link]

 Summary

Symbian Android iOS Windows

Phone
Python Yes Yes, with Via Kivy Not now
support restrictions

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 55 [Link]

 Comparison Matrix by Thomas Perl (@thp4)

Source: [Link]
EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 56 [Link]
 Questions?
@onyame
Conclusions

• Python on mobile phone not ready for production

development of apps

• Some solutions for scripting and interactive interpretation

EuroPython 2012, Florence, 03.07.2012 Slide 57 [Link]