appbuilder
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Build and publish iOS and Android hybrid apps using a single pure HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript code base
Leverage the cloud capabilities of the Telerik Platform and Telerik AppBuilder from the command line
The Telerik AppBuilder CLI lets you build, test, deploy, and publish hybrid mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8 from your favorite IDE or code editor. You can develop your projects locally from the convenience of your favorite code editor and run the command-line to test, build, deploy in the simulator or on devices, and publish your applications to the App Store or Google Play.
Latest version: Telerik AppBuilder 2.6
Release date: 2014, October 31
For a complete list of the features available in Telerik AppBuilder 2.6, see Telerik AppBuilder 2.6 Release Notes.
Before installing the Telerik AppBuilder CLI, verify that your system meets the following requirements.
Minimum Software Requirements
IMPORTANT: Download and install the 32-bit Node.js. Otherwise, you will not be able to install and run the AppBuilder CLI properly.
You can download and install the 32-bit Node.js from the Node.js web site.
Additional Software Requirements for iOS On-Device Deployment
Additional Software Requirements for Android On-Device Deployment
Additional Software Requirements for Windows Phone 8 On-Device Deployment
In this version of the Telerik AppBuilder CLI, you cannot deploy and LiveSync to connected Windows Phone 8 devices from the command line.
Minimum Software Requirements
IMPORTANT: Verify that you have installed Node.js via Node Version Manager or Homebrew. For more information about Node Version Manager, see Node Version Manager in GitHub.
For more information about Homebrew, see the Homebrew web page.
Additional Software Requirements for iOS On-Device Deployment
Additional Software Requirements for Android On-Device Deployment
Additional Software Requirements for Windows Phone 8 On-Device Deployment
In this version of the Telerik AppBuilder CLI, you cannot deploy and LiveSync to connected Windows Phone 8 devices from the command line.
Minimum Software Requirements
The Telerik AppBuilder CLI is tested and verified to run on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. You might be able to run the Telerik AppBuilder CLI on other Linux distributions.
IMPORTANT: Verify that you have installed Node.js via Node Version Manager. For more information about Node Version Manager, see Node Version Manager in GitHub.
Additional Software Requirements for iOS On-Device Deployment
In this version of the Telerik AppBuilder CLI, you cannot deploy and LiveSync on connected iOS devices from the command line. You need to manually deploy the application package using iTunes.
Additional Software Requirements for Android On-Device Deployment
sudo apt-get install g++sudo apt-get install lib32z1 lib32ncurses5 lib32bz2-1.0.sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri:i386.Additional Software Requirements for Windows Phone 8 On-Device Deployment
In this version of the Telerik AppBuilder CLI, you cannot deploy and LiveSync to connected Windows Phone 8 devices from the command line.
The Telerik AppBuilder CLI is available for installing as an npm package.
In the command prompt, run the following command.
$ npm install appbuilder -g
1. Log in the Telerik Platform
To connect to your Telerik Platform account, run the following command.
$ appbuilder login
A new tab opens in your default browser. Provide your login credentials, confirm the sign in, verify that the following message is present in the command line: Login completed, and close the browser tab after the confirmation.
To create a new hybrid project from the default template, navigate to an empty directory and run the following command.
$ appbuilder create hybrid MyApp
The Telerik AppBuilder CLI creates a new subdirectory MyApp in the current directory and places the project files inside it. The project is based on the Kendo UI TabStrip template.
To initialize an existing project for development from the command line, navigate to the local directory that contains the project files and run the following command.
$ appbuilder init hybrid
The Telerik AppBuilder CLI creates the .abproject file required for working from the command-line.
To load your newly created project in the simulator, navigate to the folder containing your project files and run the following command.
$ appbuilder simulate
In this version of the Telerik AppBuilder CLI, you cannot run the device simulator on Linux systems.
The Telerik AppBuilder CLI launches the device simulator. In the device simulator, you can change the target device form factor, mobile platform and version, and orientation. You can adjust the geolocation details, network connection configuration, file storage configuration, and the default contacts. You can debug your code using the built-in debug tools.
For more information about the Telerik AppBuilder device simulator, see Running Apps in the Device Simulator.
To run your app on an Android device, install a QR code reader on the device, install the Telerik AppBuilder companion app, navigate to the folder containing your project files and run the following command in the command line.
$ appbuilder build android --companion
After the operation completes, the Telerik AppBuilder CLI opens a new tab in your browser and shows a QR code for deployment in the companion app. On the device, use the built-in QR code scanner in the companion app to scan the QR code and load the project. To toggle the built-in QR code scanner, run the companion app and complete the tutorial. With two fingers, tap and swipe the left edge of the screen to the right and tap QR Scanner.
With the Telerik AppBuilder companion app, you can deploy and test your Android apps without the need to configure any device drivers on your system, to configure your device for deployment, and to build an application package. You can get the Telerik AppBuilder companion app from Google Play.
To run your app on an iOS device, install the Telerik AppBuilder companion app on the device, run it, and navigate to the folder containing your project files and run the following command in the command line.
$ appbuilder build ios --companion
After the operation completes, the Telerik AppBuilder CLI opens a new tab in your browser and shows a QR code for deployment in the companion app. On the device, use the built-in QR code scanner in the companion app to scan the QR code and load the project. To toggle the built-in QR code scanner, run the companion app and complete the tutorial. With two fingers, tap and swipe the left edge of the screen to the right and tap QR Scanner.
With the Telerik AppBuilder companion app, you can deploy and test your iOS apps without the need to provision them first. You can get the Telerik AppBuilder companion app from the App Store.
To run your app on a Windows Phone 8 device, install a QR code reader on the device, navigate to the folder containing your project files and run the following command in the command line.
$ appbuilder build wp8
The Telerik AppBuilder CLI opens a new tab in your browser and shows a QR code for deployment. On your device, scan the QR code for the Telerik Application Enrollment Token (Telerik AET) and install it on your device. Next, scan the QR code for your app and install the app on your device.
Edit your code in your preferred IDE or code editor. Save your changes.
In Sublime Text 2 and Sublime Text 3, you can install the Telerik AppBuilder package which provides integration with the Telerik AppBuilder CLI. For more information, click here.
6. Get code changes in the simulator and on device
In the running device simulator, your app refreshes automatically on save.
To get changes inside your running app, navigate to the folder containing your project files and run the following command.
$ appbuilder livesync cloud
On the device, in the running app, tap and hold with three fingers until the download pop-up appears. After the download completes, the app refreshes automatically.
8. Modify the application package with .abignore
When you develop apps with the Telerik AppBuilder Command-Line Interface (AppBuilder CLI), you can choose which files to exclude from your application package. To set exclude and include rules, you can modify the .abignore file in the root of your project.
Starting with AppBuilder 2.6, all newly created projects or cloned sample apps contain a default .abignore. To manage the exclude and include rules for projects created with earlier versions of AppBuilder, you need to manually add .abignore to your project.
For more information about creating and maintaining your .abignore file, see this manual.
7. List the available commands
To list the available commands, run the following command.
$ appbuilder help
To learn more about a command, run the command with the --help option. For example, to show more information about create, run the following command.
$ appbuilder create --help
Latest version: Telerik AppBuilder 2.6 Release date: 2014, October 31
For a complete list of the features available in Telerik AppBuilder 2.6, see Telerik AppBuilder 2.6 Release Notes.
To see a complete list of the available commands, click here or run $ appbuilder help in the command prompt.
| Platform | Operation | Windows | OS X | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-platform | Develop hybrid mobile apps locally |  | | |
| Develop hybrid mobile apps with third-party tools | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Develop hybrid mobile apps with Sublime Text | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Log in and out of the Telerik Platform | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| View login information | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Switch Telerik AppBuilder accounts | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Create projects from the project templates | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Initialize existing projects for development | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Clone the sample apps | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Export existing projects from your Telerik Platform account and initialize them for development | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Develop with Apache Cordova 3.0.0 or later | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Migrate between supported Apache Cordova versions | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Enable and disable the core Apache Cordova plugins | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Enable and disable the integrated Apache Cordova plugins | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Enable and disable the Telerik verified plugins | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Fetch custom Apache Cordova plugins from the Apache Cordova Plugin Registry | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Enable and disable plugins in the debug and release build configurations | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Configure plugin variables from the command-line | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Run apps in the device simulator | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Debug apps in the device simulator | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Manage code signing identities | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Configure project properties | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Edit configuration files | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Edit `.abignore` to exclude files and folders from the build process<br/>(You might need to add `.abignore` to your projects manually.) | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/support.png" style="width: 16px;">
| Design user interfaces with the UI Designer tool | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;"> | <img src="https://raw.github.com/Icenium/icenium-cli/release/no-support.png" style="width: 16px;">
iOS | Connect devices | | | 
| List connected devices | | |
| View the device log for connected devices | | |
| Build and deploy via QR code | | |
| Build and deploy manually | | |
| Build and deploy via cable connection | | |
| Run in the companion app | | |
| LiveSync changes wirelessly with the three-finger gesture | | |
| LiveSync changes via cable connection | | |
| Debug apps while running on connected device | | |
| Run apps in the native iOS Simulator | | |
| Build for distribution in the App Store | | |
| Upload application packages to iTunes Connect | | |
| Build and upload your app to Telerik AppManager | | |
Android | Connect devices | | |
| List connected devices | | |
| View the device log for connected devices | | |
| Build and deploy via QR code | | |
| Build and deploy manually | | |
| Build and deploy via cable connection | | |
| Run in the companion app | | |
| LiveSync changes wirelessly with the three-finger gesture | | |
| LiveSync changes via cable connection | | |
| Debug apps while running on connected device | | |
| Run apps in the native Android emulator | | |
| Build for distribution in Google Play | | |
| Build and upload your app to Telerik AppManager | | |
Windows Phone 8 | Connect devices | | |
| List connected devices | | |
| View the device log for connected devices | | |
| Build and deploy via QR code | | |
| Build and deploy manually | | |
| Build and deploy via cable connection | | |
| Run in the companion app | | |
| LiveSync changes wirelessly with the three-finger gesture | | |
| LiveSync changes via cable connection | | |
| Debug apps while running on connected device | | |
| Run apps in the native Windows Phone 8 emulator | | |
| Build for distribution in the Windows Phone Store | | |
| Build and upload your app to Telerik AppManager | | |
The following Telerik AppBuilder features are not applicable to the Telerik AppBuilder CLI and will not become available in a future release.
To learn how to log a bug that you just discovered, click here.
To learn how to suggest a new feature or improvement, click here.
To learn how to contribute to the code base, click here.
This software is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, quoted here.
FAQs
command line interface to Telerik AppBuilder
We found that appbuilder demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 6 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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